GPU Suggestion - £60 budget

Hi there,

Haven't done this for a while so need some help! I'd like to use the 'Which GPU for £x' thread but it seems a little outdated now.

So, as per title, which GPU would you go for for around £60?

Thanks!

Second hand HD4870?

As redddraggon said: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sapphire-Radeo...item4cf194f3dd

or spend a tad more and get a GTX260 if you play more OpenGL than DX

But either way, you'll get a lot of card.

The OP has a Shuttle SN27P2 which has a 400W PSU which has one PCI-E power connector. I have an SD37P2 which also originally came with the same PSU AFAIK. Even with the 450W version of the PSU I would consider an HD4870 a stretch in both size and power consumption.

This bus powered 9800GT Green Edition is around £65 delivered from Ebuyer:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169143

If the OP can stretch to around £75(including delivery) they can get this HD4850 512MB:

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/...t=superSpecial

There is also the HD4670 GDDR3 which is slower than the previous two cards but consumes less power too and is also bus powered:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/226723

Unlike the previous cards this HD4670 DDR3 has a dual slot cooler which vents the hot air out of the case:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/177121

The other cards I mentioned do not vent the hot air they generated out of the case.

For an absolute maximum budget of £60 then a 4670 is the best brand new card you're likely to get unless scan get some of these in soon. The best option in that ballpark - by a long way - is the 9800GT that CAT linked to: it's somewhat faster than a 5670, which is the next best card in the price range but generally can't be had for less than ~ £70 (except the XFX I've linked to above at Scan, which is currently a pre-order but "due today"...)

I've used a Green 9800 GT as proposed by CAT and it's pretty damn good :)

Wow thanks for the replies everyone! There's a load of info there - you've made my life easier - thank you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH

The OP has a Shuttle SN27P2 which has a 400W PSU which has one PCI-E power connector. I have an SD37P2 which also originally came with the same PSU AFAIK. Even with the 450W version of the PSU I would consider an HD4870 a stretch in both size and power consumption.

This bus powered 9800GT Green Edition is around £65 delivered from Ebuyer

---

With regards to this, it's not actually for me - it's for my flatmate. He has a shuttle too though, so I guess the same logic applies. I was under the impression that Shuttle PSUs were very good and could usually handle what was thrown at them?

I think I'm going to get him the 9800GT - seems to have been recommended by a number of people so is probably a solid choice!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by timtim86

Wow thanks for the replies everyone! There's a load of info there - you've made my life easier - thank you.



With regards to this, it's not actually for me - it's for my flatmate. He has a shuttle too though, so I guess the same logic applies. I was under the impression that Shuttle PSUs were very good and could usually handle what was thrown at them?

I think I'm going to get him the 9800GT - seems to have been recommended by a number of people so is probably a solid choice!

---

The Shuttle PSUs are quite decent but if the PSU is a few years old they can be a bit flaky at times. The HD4870 also needs a pair of PCI-E power connectors meaning that at least one of the molex connectors will be used. The Shuttle PSUs I have seen tend to have a limited number of molex connectors due to their size.

Also, you need to consider the amount of heat the graphics card produces as well.

Are any of those suggested cards single slot? I forgot to mention that as a criteria - he has a shuttle

If it is a Shuttle P2 like what I have then a dual slot graphics card should be fine.

I have managed to find some pictures of the Inno3D 9800GT.

http://akiba-pc.watch.impress.co.jp/...e/min98gt4.jpg

http://akiba-pc.watch.impress.co.jp/...e/min98gt3.jpg

It maybe able to fit in a G2 case but it looks like the cooler might be slightly taller than a single slot.

This Sapphire HD4670 GDDR3 can be had for around £50 delivered from Play.com:

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/117403...cat:Components

TopCashBack and Quidco do cashback on Play.com purchases!

However,the Sapphire HD4670 GDDR3 does come with two different coolers of which one is dual slot.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/images/r...0_Side_Fan.jpg

http://media.pcadvisor.co.uk/cmsdata...4670_large.jpg

The 9800GT has a single slot backplane, but I'm not sure about the cooler itself: it doesn't look *huge* but it *could* be more like 1.5 slot (it's very hard to find any side- or end-on pictures of it, grrr!).

This ASUS 4670 looks like the cooler is single slot, and any 4670s with the reference cooler are also single slot. The 4850s / 4870s will all have 2 slot coolers (some 4850s has a single slot cooler, but were noisy and ran *very* hot - stay away from those!).

This HD5550 is slightly over budget at £62.25 but would provide similar performance to a 4670 - it's single slot *and* low profile! Or you could look on ebay for something like a 9600GT, I guess...

The problem with the HD5550 is that the GPU is clocked significantly lower than the HD4670.

Even an HD5550 GDDR5 is much slower than an HD4670:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/H...D_5550/28.html

This GT240 GDDR5 looks like it would be good single slot card:

http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...NGT24512&af=50

However,I am uncertain whether the retailer is good or not.

Just saw a 4770 on Ebay for £40 which should be good.

EDIT: Missed some stuff in the thread about needing a single slot, however the listing has ended anyway.

the 9800 GT from PNY is DEFINATELY A SINGLE SLOT WIDTH>.>>..

definately.

I fitted one to a Shuttle with the PCI express card at the edge of the motherboard, so right up agsinst the case.