sub £100 GFX recommendation

[Oobie-]

Hey guys,

I was looking for a decent gfx card for a friend, but wanted to know which one you guys think would be best. I was thinking of a xfx 8600, but I was wondering if anyone could share some knowledge on a £100 or lower priced card, as I'm not entirely sure.

Must be PCI express
No preference on manufact or nvid/ATI

Hes got a x800GTO 256mb and wants it to be better than that.

Thanks

[jackvdbuk]

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/119441

will play anything the best @ that price.... well i hope you all agree :-)

[Oobie-]

an 8600 isnt better than that?

[staffsMike]

This is a very good card for the money

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/121108

but the x1950xt will be better.

The 8600gt is worse than both of them. It's only advantage is DX10 support

[jackvdbuk]

an 8600 isnt better than that?

Nope, the only good point about the 8600 is DX10 possibilities... but it gets pwned by the x1950..

x1950 = high end (used to be)
8600 = mainstream

[Oobie-]

I see, thanks guys

[cptwhite_uk]

Best at top, worst at bottom. These are the only options you should consider really:

X1950XT for £105 at linked too above. Best performance by far, runs hot, quiet at desktop, noisy when running games. Power hungry.


X1950Pro for £89 here. Closer in performance to the 7900GS than the X1950XT. Lower power consumption, fairly quiet. Not sure about temps, but low power consumption suggests not too hot.

7000GS for £67 as linked too above. Worst performance, potentially decent overclocking. Lower power consumption, quiet.

If he has a decent 400Watt or above power supply I'd go with the X1950XT, otherwise both of the other cards are good value, the 7900GS value, but the X1950Pro more attractive of the two for the extra bit of performance (they're at a level verging on what acceptable for modern games, so the X1950Pro's extra performance is more important than the 7900GS's better value in my opinion).

[narcist]

I'd go with the x1950xt i have a pro and its noisy running games and you cannot overclock it.

[Pob255]

The 8600's are pritty much junk for games atm. (only the GTS version is acceptable but it's pricey)

the x1950XT, x1950Pro or 7900GS are the best cards for sub £100 atm (the 7950GT is good but not sub£100, might be able to get one cheap 2nd hand)

x1950XT > x1950Pro > 7900GS is both performance, power consumption, temp and noise (with stock coolers)

[Mithrandir]

7900gt for £72
(Post #43 HERE)

[notsobig]

GTX at 106@Scan is also very hard to resist....especially when they periodically put out GTO for 120@todays only. Someone please buy them all so that I can peacefully set my mind on 8800GTS and continue saving up for it

[thejimbo]

would you guys recommend the X1950 512 or 256?

[Fatboy40]

Hes got a x800GTO 256mb and wants it to be better than that.

Thanks

Hi Oobie,

Can I ask what sort of games/resolution he intends to run ?. I only ask as I currently have an X800GTO2 (extra pipelines unlocked and OC'd of course) and that's man enough to run games like BF2 and CS: Source at 1280x1024 with all of the bells and whistles

Unless your friend runs resolutions higher than that, or needs SM3 support, or intends to buy a screen that runs a higher resolution then I see no pressing reason to upgrade ?.

Personaly I'm going to wait until I've bought Crysis, this will be the acid test in regards to what I realy need to upgrade to (8800GTS or GTX) when I choose to.

[Biscuit]

i agree with Fatboy. Wait around for a few months, the GTO is quite a good card and can play any dx9 game fine. The only real way i can see an upgrade being worth it is a move to 8800/2900xt. Tell him to save his pennies and see what happens in the next 8-9 monthsor so

[Zak33]

I'd say a 7900GS or even a second hand 7800 GT. An X1950 is great too.

[corylus]

Excuse me for jumping in on this thread but I'm also looking for a budget card.

I have an ASUS P5VM but am having problems with the on board graphics and am thinking I would be better with a sep. card anyway..

I don't do games.
I do use Linux a lot - and I'd like to play with the 3 D SuSE desktop
I might install Vista and play with it's new gui (Is it called Aero?)

£100 would be OK...

Any thoughts gratefully received...

Rgrds

Peter