which graphics card for this rig?

[MantisCSS]

looking to make the total of this PC to come to between £400-£450 which graphics card should i get? or any other suggestions on how i could chnage it. or make it cheaper.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 SLACR, Kentsfield Core, Socket 775, 2.40 GHz 1066MHz 8MB Cache, Retail £138.59

2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-12 £31.13

Coolermaster Centurion RC-532 Black+Silver Trim Case w/o PSU £39.82

Abit IP35-E, iP35 Express, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/800, SATA II, ATX £56.15

580W HiperPower HPU-4M580 Black SLi Ready 20+24Pins P8 Ready ATX2.2/BTX £39.82

500GB Samsung HD502IJ Spinpoint F1, SATA II, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ £45.81

Total comes to: £362.71 w/o Graphics card

Cheers

[staffsMike]

Well I would change that power supply and probably spend a little more on it.

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
this for £4 more, it's not modular but it's a great PSU on a budget. 450W is plenty by the way.

There is also this currently on scan today only for £55
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

or you could just get this
Antec NSK6580 Mid Tower ATX/MATX Case - With 430W EarthWatts PSU ATX12V 2.0 USB/FireWire/Audio - Ebuyer

a very nice case and a decent PSU all for £60

If you have £140 try and get an 8800GTS 512mb. You could save a bit with the 8800GT which can be found around £110, or for around £80 you can get an ATi HD3850 512mb, which is great for media and still pretty good for gaming at 1680 x 1050 or below.

I'd also get an aftermarket HSF so it runs quieter and cooler as well as giving a lot more room for overclocking
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

[MSIC]

You have many options open to you, so i'd consider the following:
If you are gaming at ABOVE 1600 x 1200 resolution, go with a Geforce 8800GTS 512MB. Plenty of them are available for the £130 to £140 mark.
For gaming at 1280 x 1024 -> 1680 x 1050, get either an 8800GT or Radeon 3870. Both are in the £100 to £110 range.

The other factors to consider are heat, power draw and noise. Your PSU will provide enough to cover all the above, but you may still want to have a lower powered card for other reasons.
Or you might not factor gaming in highly.

Something that comes with an arctic cooler on (like the HIS cards often do) or a Zalman fan is worth the extra, or consider fitting your own aftermarket one like one of the Accelero ranges or similar.

[Andy3536]

You have £90 left of your budget, so a 9600 @ £90 would be the best option
Inno3D 9600GT Armor Edition 512MB DDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

[Hicks12]

as people have said id recommend changing that psu. Now not everyone will agree but i can recommend the Xclio psu, my 700w is going strong and is well worth the price ~£55. The stability of mine so far is great, the 12v at load is aat 11.97 and it has a 3% tolerance.

[Thorsson]

Yeah, do not buy the Hiper. Many of us have bad experiences with that PSU. At the moment both the 8800GTS and the 8800GT are really good value. Depends on your monitor which you should choose.

[MantisCSS]

cheers guys....im gonna look into all the options you suggested.....but i was thinking is it worth me gettin the intel 2 quad core or spending a bit more on better quality bits with a dualcore instead? i wanna be able to game but im not over fussed on a massive spec!

[Thorsson]

This is a perennial argument. IMO if you upgrade every 3 years get a Quad. Every year get a Dual.

[UseItNow]

You have £90 left of your budget, so a 9600 @ £90 would be the best option
Inno3D 9600GT Armor Edition 512MB DDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

Would spend the extra tenner to get a 8800GT from Ebuyer as posted in this thread by RoBe:
http://forums.hexus.net/current-barg...00-ebuyer.html
Has a HDMI port, great for HTPC use, if you have any need for that.

[Thorsson]

Totally agree. 8800GT>>>9600GT. No way is it worth saving a few squids to get the cheaper card.

[mediaboy]

DO NOT SKIMP ON GPU!!!

One of the worst things you can do, ranked up there along with buying a cheapo PSU or the wrong mobo (AMD motherboards instead of Intel motherboards are always good... especially with a Q6600 )

I bumped my budget up by ~£30 to get a HD3650 as opposed to a 8400 and haven't regretted it yet...

[EarlGrey]

This is a perennial argument. IMO if you upgrade every 3 years get a Quad. Every year get a Dual.

What he said

You can save a fair bit getting a dual core though, the E7200 is £82 at Scan at the moment:
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
a 45nm chip at 2.5GHz and with 3MB cache is a great deal.

Might be worth it as you really don't want to skimp on the graphics card if you want to play games. You want a 512MB 8800GT minimum, but if you can stretch to the 512MB 8800GTS you'll be glad you did

[UseItNow]

You can save a fair bit getting a dual core though, the E7200 is £82 at Scan at the moment...

Might be worth it as you really don't want to skimp on the graphics card if you want to play games. You want a 512MB 8800GT minimum, but if you can stretch to the 512MB 8800GTS you'll be glad you did

What he said.