GPU replacement - recommendations

[nibbler]

owned

[kalniel]

owned

Come on, this kind of childish comment doesn't help anyone.

For the moment, PCI-E 2.0 8x bandwidth is excessive for most uses, it won't be forever, but for the market of cards that would be used with a motherboard with that specification it's fine.

[watforddude]

Delete.

[watforddude]

I am also consideiring getting a cheap £20 odd temp. replacement till I get my card back.

Does anyone know any bargain atm????

I have a 9500GT 1GB if you want it for £27 inc postage. it can be used just as a run around.

not a bad card though i have it for a 4 or 5 months with no problems.

if you want it i will stick it in the for sale section, or can it be done through PM's without breaking any rules?

[tonpal]

Come on, this kind of childish comment doesn't help anyone.

For the moment, PCI-E 2.0 8x bandwidth is excessive for most uses, it won't be forever, but for the market of cards that would be used with a motherboard with that specification it's fine.

My earlier post was lacking in detail to the point it was very easy to misinterpret. I had intended to get into work and finish it off but my Monday morning did't work out as planned.

Anyway to finish off what I started earlier....

The reference I have used are articles from Tweaktown, Legion Hardware and Tom's Hardware.

In assessing the results it should be remembered that the X48, X38 and P45 boards are PCI-E 2 which has around twice the bandwidth as the PCI-e 1 that is on the P35.

So to sum up, if you are looking to use a pair of 4850s in crossfire with high resolutions on a P45 board you may want to give it some thought, otherwise you should be fine.

After reading these articles conclusion I reached was that the performance of the the P45 did start to drop off a bit at 2560x1600 ( I know I said 1920x1200 in my ealier post but that only goes to show that anything I say before the first coffee has sunk in is complete rubbish). I assigned that drop in performance to the difference in PCI-E lanes.

[{S.G}Monkey]

You can get 260's very cheap anyway, almost an equal price to a 250 in some places, and a 250 is for suckers

[pardal51]

I have a 9500GT 1GB if you want it for £27 inc postage. it can be used just as a run around.

not a bad card though i have it for a 4 or 5 months with no problems.

if you want it i will stick it in the for sale section, or can it be done through PM's without breaking any rules?

Wdude, I may get a 8400GS @ £20 for the time being....thanks anyway


{S.G}Monkey:

You can get 260's very cheap anyway, almost an equal price to a 250 in some places, and a 250 is for suckers

Please tell me where I can fin 260 @ almost 250's price when I will get it tonight.....

cheers, pardal51

[marshalex]

You can get 260's very cheap anyway, almost an equal price to a 250 in some places, and a 250 is for suckers

yeah i'd quite like to know that as well actually so if you can provide a link it would be greatly appreciated

[watforddude]

Wdude, I may get a 8400GS @ £20 for the time being....thanks anyway

Im pretty sure that the extra 7 pounds is worth it when compearing it to a 8400GS, but if you do want it just give me a PM.

[Iota]

In assessing the results it should be remembered that the X48, X38 and P45 boards are PCI-E 2 which has around twice the bandwidth as the PCI-e 1 that is on the P35.

So to sum up, if you are looking to use a pair of 4850s in crossfire with high resolutions on a P45 board you may want to give it some thought, otherwise you should be fine.

After reading these articles conclusion I reached was that the performance of the the P45 did start to drop off a bit at 2560x1600 ( I know I said 1920x1200 in my ealier post but that only goes to show that anything I say before the first coffee has sunk in is complete rubbish). I assigned that drop in performance to the difference in PCI-E lanes.

I think it's much more gpu bound at those resolutions anyway. Crossfire is okay (i have two 4870s running in Crossfire) and as long as the Catalyst driver team do the job properly you'll see decent performance gains (otherwise you're basically using one gpu).

I think techPowerUp has a good reference article on PCI-e lane scaling, although it's single card scenario, it still highlights the drops you WILL see, depending on PCI-e lane speeds.

Honest opinion to the OP, until both Catalyst and Forceware drivers mature a little more, stick with single card setups. You don't have to rely on either ATI or Nvidia supporting a specific game too much for scaling issues.

[Pob255]

You can get 260's very cheap anyway, almost an equal price to a 250 in some places, and a 250 is for suckers

I'll third that one, you can get the gts250 for under £80, please let us know where these sub£80 260gtx's can be got.

[revol68]

I'll third that one, you can get the gts250 for under £80, please let us know where these sub£80 260gtx's can be got.

Well I have one lined up to be bought for £65 including postage second hand.

I think that's a bit of a one off bargain, so I'd be very eager hear where 260gtx's can be got for under £80 brand new.

[ed^chigliak]

You can't... best deal seems to be £103 gtx260 with 192 cores and batman game and loony goggles at Novatech. Assuming the game and goggles have added value the card is cheap as chips for the performance.

[Pob255]

Well I have one lined up to be bought for £65 including postage second hand.

I think that's a bit of a one off bargain, so I'd be very eager hear where 260gtx's can be got for under £80 brand new.

Damb you lucky that's a damb good price, I still haven't managed to snag a 9800gtx for under £70 2nd hand

You can't... best deal seems to be £103 gtx260 with 192 cores and batman game and loony goggles at Novatech. Assuming the game and goggles have added value the card is cheap as chips for the performance.

Yes that's a good price, but it's the 192core version, I think a gts250 for £78 new is better, well not sure the extra is worth the £25
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160711

[ed^chigliak]

You are getting a faster card with more RAM and a game. I think it's worth £25 especially if you like the look of the game. You can hardly complain when the game is selling for £29 on steam.

I already got a GTX 260 with 192 cores and 216 core isn't like a massive leap or anything. The jump from a 250 to a 260 is bigger.

[pardal51]

Would the Asus ATI Radeon HD 4870 "Dark Knight" be on par with GTX260????? Novatech apparently getting 25 in stock today @ £91.99

I am still undecided to get a proper GFX or just buy a cheapo 8400GS to use for few weeks....