After a gfx card for circa 65 quid!

[Fidley]

Hi i'm currently running linux with compiz fusion on an intel gma 950 on board jobbie. When running compiz things get terribly slow so i've decided it's about time to get a half decent gfx board! I'm well out of the loop altho i'm no stranger to gfx specs so i thought i'd ask for some advice before i just bought what looks like a 'good'un'!

I've been pondering over the 256MB Gainward 8600GT SilentFx, PCI-E Mem 1400MHz GDDR3, GPU 540MHz, 32 Streams, DL DVI-I/D-Sub/HDMI on scan for around 67 quid. I see the 1GB version is only a few quid more but uses slower GDDR2 memory opposed to GDDR3 on the 256MB. Would i ever need the full on 1GB (planning on playing a few games via wine) and would i see any benefit from it?

Oh and btw silent is a must! Cheers for any and all advice.

PS: Needs to be a nvidia chipset too, ATI linux drivers are sucky!

[nichomach]

Asus GeForce 8800GS 384MB DDR3 PCI-E - Aria Technology £70 ?

[staffsMike]

Not sure how loud or quiet that 8800GS but its nice for the money.

I've got an the 256mb gainward 8500 GT silentFX and it's an awesome little card. The cooler works very well on mine, idles around 39 degrees and never goes above 50

[Fidley]

Cheers guys! Altho that 8800 looks the mutts it's not silent and probably an over kill for playing some c&c 3 and maybe the occasional FPS here and there(?). I've just realised i'd forgotten to mention something in my original post, my case is quite small and looking at the pic of that juicy 8800 i don't think it would squeeze in! So size is an issue too! God i'm awkward! Hehe.

[staffsMike]

Have you got room for the silentFX being a double width card?

[DanceswithUnix]

Given that even a 64MB 6200 card would be a significant upgrade from your integrated Intel I don't think you can go too far wrong.

I do think that 65 quid is too much for an 8600GT, I have the Palit/XpertVision one (actually the same company as Gainward) and they can be had for under 50 quid. It is very quiet in 2D, and not that bad in 3D either.

If you have enough airflow in the case a cheap passive card like this 7600GS might be ideal.

An 8500GT would be faster than the 7600GS and can also be had without any fan for reasonable money (though the 8600GT with fan is cheaper).

Note that I now have an 8800GT. It is a staggering card hence some people here slag off anything less, but unlike the 8600GT I cannot get working fan control with the Nvidia drivers so I basically cannot play games in Linux any more. My 8600GT worked fine for that, and was used quite often to play World of Warcraft under Wine.

[dagger_meerkat]

Have you looked at the Inno3D 8600gt .. that retails for 50 quid at ebuyer. Easily overclocks to 8600gts speeds.

[Fidley]

Mike, yeah it's more the length that is the problem width is fine as i only have one other card in there, at the other end of the board!

Think i'm going to take danceswithunix's advice and plumb for the palit... i can always just get silent cooler if it's too noisey for me. Or maybe the inno3D meerkat recommended.

Other thing is do i go for the 1GB/512MB or 256MB versions of these cards i.e is better to have more ram thats slower or less ram thats faster with these cards?

TIA

[Pob255]

£61 MSi 8600gt slient
MSI 8600GT Silent edition 256MB DVI HDTV PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

you will need space behind the card for the cooler.

Although I'd go for that 7600gs danceswithunix linked rather than a 8500gt, they are about the same in temrs of performance from what I remember.

[Fidley]

Pob that looks perfect (at the right price too) but i don't think it'll fit due the the heat sink sticking out at the back of the card Thanks tho m8

[Andy3536]

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
8600 £45, just have to wait till they get stock.

[Mithrandir]

Novatech GeForce 8600GT SLI 256MB GDDR3 HDTV Dual DVI/TVO PCI-E £41.71

OR


Novatech GeForce 8600GTS 256MB PCI-E VGA/DVI TV Out £49.35

Add next day delivery for £2.49

[Madafwo]

£69 3850?

Possibly the best bet I would say

[Andy3536]

£69 3850?

Possibly the best bet I would say

Thats the scan today only link, The cheapest of those i see is £82

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

Although no HDMI it does support it.

[DanceswithUnix]

Mike, yeah it's more the length that is the problem width is fine as i only have one other card in there, at the other end of the board!

Think i'm going to take danceswithunix's advice and plumb for the palit... i can always just get silent cooler if it's too noisey for me. Or maybe the inno3D meerkat recommended.

Other thing is do i go for the 1GB/512MB or 256MB versions of these cards i.e is better to have more ram thats slower or less ram thats faster with these cards?

TIA

Slow RAM will almost always hurt you, more ram occasionally helps. If you can find a decent speed GDDR3 512MB card then that is probably the sweet spot, but go for ram performance not amount and I wouldn't spend much extra on the extra RAM. 1GB is a gimmick on a card in this segment.

[aidanjt]

does it matter?.. the old Radeon 9000 series is more than enough for compiz, and it has great open drivers for X11 and radeonfb support, the x1000 series works with the open drivers now iirc. 128MB is more than enough for this purpose. Also the x2000 and 3000 series are on their way to having open drivers with radeonhd in X11's repo if you really think you need a bit more grunt.