Budget Graphics Card: x700 PRO?

[Anders]

My old GeForce Ti4200 hasn’t been able to cut it for quite sometime. The final straw is I can’t play Battlefield 2 at all so I am looking to get a cheap upgrade. I’m quite skint after a recent stag do to Budapest.

Vital Stats:
Opteron 144
ASRock 939Dual-SATA2
2 x 512MB PQI Premium PC4000 DDR
GeForce Ti4200 128MB

I’m looking at getting a PCI-E ATI Radeon X700 PRO 256MB, any thoughts?

Thanks,

Anders.

[chazt]

whats your budget? 7600gt is supposed to be pretty good for around £150. Not sure how well ati's budget cards compare, the x1600xt and x800gto may be worth a look

[Anders]

I was thinking a fair bit cheaper than £150. I’ve seen x700 for around £50, which seems pretty cheap to me. Definitely no more than £100.

[sawyen]

used x800GTO2 FTW...

[Silent Shark]

My old GeForce Ti4200 hasn’t been able to cut it for quite sometime. The final straw is I can’t play Battlefield 2

I could play the demo on a Ti4200.

AFAIK, Ati budget cards lag way behind nVidias. If you want to be able to play BF2 on that kind of budget, you'll probably need something from them. (x800 isn't a budget card, so that'll be fine if available).

How much are 6600GTs these days?

[Kumagoro]

The next Custom PC has several pages about Graphics cards so wait till its out in the shops
and flick though that. Although it does concentrate on if the card can run the newest games
like quake 4. Remember that the X700 pro is the old 9800 pro type of card.

[teachmech]

If you could stretch to £100 scan have some 6600GT's or try for a second hand 6600GT on ebay.

this is for sale
http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=72108
it could be excatly what you are after.

[Scarlet Infidel]

Heres my suggestion, not sure how long it'll last though.

128mb - 256 bit - Radeon X800

[Anders]

Thanks for all the help people! I think I’ve got a ATI Sapphire Radeon X800 GT 256MB for £70 (pending confirmation), thought the extra tenner for the 256mb was worth it. Hope you agree.

Benchmarks I’ve looked at put the X800 generally above the 6600, except in Doom III.

I’ve seen the 6600 listed as DirectX 9.0c, but the x800 as 9.0b. I didn’t realise 9.0c implemented any new features, I thought it just fixed security issues.

[sawyen]

9.0c? HDR, SM3.0 etc.. then again, most of it can be emulated using SM2.0

[crepness]

That GT you got there's a bit of a bargain. :-)

[Noni]

Is a 6600GT not better than a X800GT? SM3.0 Direct x 9.0c?

Sorry anders please dont think that Im just saying it to sway you to buy a different card but Im sure the 6600GT is better than a x800gt?

EDIT- just compared them

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102635

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16814121178R

Looks as though they both have thier pro's and cons. Good luck on the card mate, thats a nice deal you got there!

[Silent Shark]

The X800 was Ati's high end card (before the X1800\1900), the competitor to the 6800 series, so in theory, the 6600 should be behind the x800.

ATIs midrange have traditionally been behind nVidias, so if he could have got a x800 (which he did), then he'd be better off, but the 6600GT was his next best choice over any other 'x' range Ati.

[muddyfox470]

dont get the x700gt, the 256mb just makes it more expenisve and is of no use to that card.

you best bet around £60 would be the 6600gt used / second hand.

but that x800gt you have got yourself seems like a damn good bargain, they are about on par with the 6600gt, and in battlefield the 256mb of ram on that card will give you a bit of a boost too

ian

[Anders]

Thanks for all the help everyone. DHL tried to deliver the graphics card yesterday. Getting it redelivered tomorrow, I can’t wait Looks like I might not be going out Friday night.