Enough Gfx power - advice for new system

[Chunkers]

I am considering a new system and as usual I am finding the most difficult component to select is the graphics card. I enjoy FPS games and would like my new machine to be able to play current games at my monitors native resolution (will be widescreen so something like 1600 x 1050) at high quality settings.

Could someone advise me how high up the heirarchy of graphics power will I need to go to achieve say 40 - 50 fps with games like Oblivion, BF2 with high quality settings?

Key message here is I don't want to spend £350 on a monster gfx card to achieve higher frame rates than I need at a resolution I will never see.

My expected spec will be something like :

AMD X2 3800
NForce 4 motherboard
2 Gb RAM
SATA hard disk

Am I within 7600 GT territory? I am not massively keen on ATI cards as I have had nothing but problems (driver related) with my current 9800 Pro.

Cheers

Jimus

[sawyen]

Actually you're safe within 7900GT/X1800XT territory.. and both of them are decently cheap nowadays.. You're looking at 190ish for the 7900GT/1800XT..

Then again, 7600GT is just as decent.. perhaps you'll have to tone down on AA on newer titles tho..

[listy]

scan had 7900gt going for 140ish quid

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=78371

[FatalSaviour]

Listy's referring to this card:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=366870

It's out of stock at the moment, but if you plan on being a regular contributor to these forums, you can get free shipping from Scan also.

This will do you fine for 1680x1050 with high levels of AA and AF on for the vast majority of games presently around.

[Chunkers]

Thanks for the advice, the 7900GT seems a sensible choice, £190 is within budget and I will certainly consider Scan (although I always seem to end up getting stuff from E-buyer)

Edit : I take it 256 Mb is enough for these games and 512 Mb is OTT?

Cheers

Chunkers