Grfz card Guru's neded £100 budget to spend

[Creature]

Ok my dad wants to spend no more than £100 on a grfx card
after spending so much on an Abit NF7 board and an xp3000 chip
could anyone recomend me some cards.
He is mad on flight sims,
that is all he plays and he wants to realy boost the detail on everything in the game

could you guys give me some advice on the best priced and quailty card for the money.

thanx

[Creature]

anyone

[praetorian]

What is the current card that he currently has?

I would say that most flight sims at the moment are still DirectX 7.0/8.0 in which case a GeForce Ti should do the trick (somebody else here will be able to give a better indication). If its the latest breed of FS, then it will probably need to be DirectX 8.0/9.0 compatible and so something along the lines of The upper section of the GeForce and ATI Radeon range.

Personally if he could get another £20 he could get a 9600 Pro which should do perfectly for this kind of thing and certainly other types of games as well

[Austin]

The Rad9600PRO (esp when o/c'ed) is really the best of the currently available cards but as said will be a smidge over £100. Anything less the 9600PRO (FX5600, FX5600ultra, FX5700, 9600) are all a big step down. If £100 is the absolute limit then you'll have to forgo the DX9 (good long term) and grab a DX8 card (maybe 2nd hand). Good ones being GF4TI4200, Rad8500/LE (clocks must be min 250/250), Rad9000PRO (275/275) or possibly a GF3. I take it he won't be interested in o/c'ing since he has an XP3000+.

[Creature]

Originally posted by praetorian
What is the current card that he currently has?

I would say that most flight sims at the moment are still DirectX 7.0/8.0 in which case a GeForce Ti should do the trick (somebody else here will be able to give a better indication). If its the latest breed of FS, then it will probably need to be DirectX 8.0/9.0 compatible and so something along the lines of The upper section of the GeForce and ATI Radeon range.

Personally if he could get another £20 he could get a 9600 Pro which should do perfectly for this kind of thing and certainly other types of games as well

cheers m8 but ya could of told me in the clan forum

lol

thanx prae

thanx austin

[Creature]

ive just alled my dad and he says that the radeons have problems with things like flight sim 2004 ?

dose anyone know if thats true

[steve threlfall]

Originally posted by Creature
ive just alled my dad and he says that the radeons have problems with things like flight sim 2004 ?

dose anyone know if thats true

No more problems than an nvidia card. Sounds like nonsence to me. As long as you have recent drivers you should be fine

[dgr]

oh, why did he get a 3000 btw? a 2800 --> 3200 is very aeasy, he should have saved his money and got a 9800np

dgr

[Austin]

Until VERY recently £60-70 XP2500+ o/c to XP3200+ (£300+) was VERY easy ... but not everyone likes (or knows about) o/c'ing. At the mo the DX9 Radeons are way ahead of the DX9 GF-FX so I would say the Rad would be a much better choice. If FS2004 is the main thing he's interested in then make certain first, a DX8 card may be the way to go and should be fine for a good 6-12 months.

[Creature]

because he bought it very cheap off another forum
aside of that

he wants a rad9600 now after telling him.
but he heard on many flight sim forums that there is bug with the game that dosnt work well with that card

thanx for the advice guys much apreciated

[Austin]

9600 is certainly decent but the 9600PRO is MUCh better, that's the card he should go for, perhaps even the 9600XT if he won't o/c. Be sure before you buy, I'm sure ATI will address any issues but he won't want to be disappointed with his favourite game if it won't play it properly.