GFX card advice needed

[horyce]

Hi all I'm looking to buy a new Graphics card but am fairly strapped for cash pretty much all of the time.

I reckon my budget will stretch to £50 max the best I can see for this kind of cash is a 8500gt but I don't know how this will hold up against some of the newer games coming out or if they will play at all.

I don't have to play games with maximum settings or at high resolutions but I do want half decent FPS

Hopefully someone can help me out and give me some advice as to whether this card will do or maybe point me to another card.

Thanks in advance.

[staffsMike]

Ebuyer have some nice deals on older cards.

7800GTX - Nvidia 7800GTX 256MB DDR3 Dual DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer
7900GS - XFX 7900GS 450M 256MB DDR3 dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

You could also get an 8600GT if you want DX10

XFX 8600GT 256MB DDR3 540MHz Core Clock Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

[DanceswithUnix]

I would choose the 8600GT over older gen cards every time. Same performance, runs cooler & quieter.

I used the Palit/Xpertvision 8600GT 256MB board for a while and was very happy with it. I have a friend who bought a 512MB GT, they use slower DDR2 memory so should be slightly slower, but he is very happy with it overall and they can be found cheaper than 256MB DDR3 boards!

[horyce]

Thanks for the advice guys. Ive been looking at some of your suggestions and they seem like excellent options and cheap enough for me. Hopefully Ill be able to grab one on payday and be able to beef up the effects on my games a bit. my Radeon x300 card is getting just a teeny bit over the hill for my liking.

[muddyfox470]

I'd choose the 7900GS over the 8600GT to be honest, it may be dx10 enabled, but you need vista and its underpowered for a dx10 graphics card.

All depends on what games you want to play and what resolution you want to play them at.

[mediaboy]

HD3650 all the way! Lol... just my take, as this is my £50 DDR3 512mb card.

Don't know if it'll be any good for gaming though
I'm sure there's better things for gaming than a few HD3650 (2 on a crossfire setup)

Also I suppose it depends on the mobo. If you've got crossfire then it might influence your final choice.... (I have crossfire and am planning to use it as soon as I have enough spare money to justify buying another HD3650)

[horyce]

Well my current setup is not great to be honest its my second ever PC and I built it myself about a year agofrom some very cheap parts.

Although its a hundred times better than my first machine which i bought around 5-6 years ago for £350.

As for games I was actually hoping to try out some of the newer titles such as assassins creed or gears of war, I know ill never be able to run them with all options on or at high resolution but just having decent framerates would be enough or actually getting them to work in the first place (assassins creed needs pixel shader 3 and I don't have that).

I'm sure my older games would benefit too Half life 2 runs fine but I'm sure it could look better the same with Oblivion.


AMD Athlon 64 bit X2 4200+
Asus M2N-MX SE
1 GB RAM DDR2 667 MHz
Radeon X300 GFX CARD (donated from a friend)
Seagate Barracuda 160 GB SATA drive
400w PSU

[Pob255]

All depends on what games you want to play and what resolution you want to play them at.

Well as muddyfox has said all depends on the games and resolution.
I've got the xfx 7900gs xxx (which is there overclocked version) it can cope with HL2 at max settings + FSAA x2 at 1280x1024
No idea what gears of war or assassins creed would be like, although Bioshock ran quite well on it.

For £50 exact XFX 8600GT XXX Edition 256MB DDR3 Zalman heatsink that's going to be fine for £50 for anything around 1280x1024 or 1440x900 (ie 17"-19" monitor) for anything over that resolution you need to look at increaseing your budget to around £100-150

EDIT: I'd also consider trying to get another 1gb of ram to give you a full 2gb

[horyce]

Thanks once again guys some great advice and yeah RAM is an issue. After a gfx card thats my next move but Ill probably have to wait till X-mas for the cash for that lol.

[muddyfox470]

Think these links will help you. Personally I would go for the 7900GS loved it when I had one, would think it would do better on higher resolution and nicer effects turned on than the 8600GT due to the memory bus etc.

http://forums.hexus.net/graphics-car...vs-7900gs.html
7600GT vs. 7900gs vs. 8600gt
8600GT or 7900GS - Video - PC Hardware

Its a bit to read through but considering the 7900GS is £35 you could add £15 of cheap DDR2 RAM (to match your other stick) and you'll get a nice upgrade for £50. Best way in my opinion

I'd get this stick: Kingston 1GB DDR2 667MHz / PC2-5300 MEMORY CL5 1.8V NON ECC UNBUFFERED - Ebuyer £14.26 - kingston are a branded name and are good value, should help your system along given your finances. I would DEFINITELY say this is the best option over the 8600.

Select supersaver delivery on the 7900GS and 1Gb RAM from ebuyer and it will come to only £50.24 !!!

Some benchmarks... ComputerBase - Test: nVidia GeForce 8600 GTS (SLI) und 8600 GT (Seite 27)

[Mithrandir]

I agree with muddyfox470. The 7900gs @ £35 is a bargain and well suited to your system.

It would be my choice of card, unless you can find an 8600gts (ddr3) for £40 or so.

[shadowmaster]

I agree as well, the 7900 gs is a bargain @£35 and from my experience a better card then the 8600 gt. Also have look on ebay for X1900 or X1950 series cards, such as the X1950 pro or the x1950xtx.

I've seen an x1950xtx go for about £50, which is a very good price for that card.

[fraps]

Novatech GeForce 8600GTS 256MB PCI-E VGA/DVI TV Out : nov-86gts new

but personally i would go for x1900xt/xtx/ x1950xt/xtx, x1950pro (all 512mb pref) used if you have enough amps on psu