Best bang for buck DX10 card

[starbuck]

Am in process of upgrading my pc. As a result of getting the p5b deluxe, I now need a new graphics card as my 7600gs is an agp card.

This will be the last major system upgrade for a while so want to "future proof" my pc as much as possible. I'm then looking at a DX10 card but looking for the best bang for buck card. Didn't really want to spend more than £200 on it(and would prefer to spend less) but if there is a really worthwhile card for less than £300 then I will save more and get that but it has to be worth it.

No preference between nvidia and ati so looking for suggestions.

[redddraggon]

8800GTS 320MB version is the best you'll get performance/price wise for DX10.

[staffsMike]

agreed. Check out the bargain section there is one on ebuyer for £160.

or you can get the EVGA for about £25/£30 more with a litetime warranty and 90 day step up etc

[shaithis]

Stretch to the 640MB version if you think you may get a bigger screen anytime soon...

[kalniel]

320mb 8800GTS is a great choice.

The 640 isn't needed, and the cheaper cards (8600) are poo.

[staffsMike]

the 640mb is very useful for bigger screens..24" and above.

[s_kinton]

I would personally go for the 640mb. Games are using more and more texture memory and dx10 will only increase that further.

If you run anything higher than 1280x1024 then definately go for the 640mb version.

But then again, if you're keeping your existing CPU and memory then a 320mb version would be a better match for your system. Theres no point having a card capable of high resolution gaming and then crippling it with 1gb of memory and not enough CPU power.

[Biscuit]

i agree with kinton... if this upgrade is to last him a long time then i think hes gunna want the 640mb one. Whilst for games now 320 is more than enough for low resolutions i feel that in a years time once DX10 games are spread; the higher detailed textures, lighting effects, geometry etc will need a lot more vram. i have the 320 one and would quite haapily rave about how good it is for the price, but when DX10 comes about and i decide to upgrade my sorry ol 939 system il probs get the next bang for buck graphics card then (if its different)

[starbuck]

I am going to change my cpu to a c2d(not sure which one yet) as I've just bought a p5b deluxe. Also already got 2gb corsair 6400 xms ram.

Not planning on changing my monitor for a long while.

[s_kinton]

What res is the monitor? 1680x1050?

[starbuck]

Don't know what the max res is, I tried it at 1600x1200 and it kept going back to 1280x1024 every few reboots. Havn't tried it at 1600x900 or 1600x1024 yet though. 1600x1200 when it was working though seemed to look the best fit for my screen.

[chuckskull]

I have the same monitor as you works great with my 8800GTS. Default res is 1280x1024 is that helps. Max useable; 1600x1200 and absolute max; 2048x1536.

I use 1280x1024, not much difference between that and 1600x1200, but nearly 3x as many pixels for the GPU to deal with.

[starbuck]

which 320mb 8800gts is the best one to go for though?

and would an extra £50 odd be worth it for a 640mb card if I will be using 1280x1024 res and 1600x1200 max?

[danroyle]

the gainward is good on scan at about £200 has good clock speeds 560/1760 and runs well the 640mb wont make a huge difference on those resolutions

[starbuck]

any point waiting for the new ATI cards?

[simonfitba]

any point waiting for the new ATI cards?

I'm waiting to see proper benchmarks for them. When are they out anyway? I read something about the 14th but someone else mentioned the end of the month.