£70 GPU, in stock @ scan, advice ?

[Cornholio]

What do you reckon guys, looked at a 5570 but the reviews didnt come in well, how about the GT240 ? The one thing i dont want is something that has a noisy fan ! Its only for playing SIMS 3 really, but must be in stock to buy tomorrow from scan.

[Terbinator]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB...-DL-DVI-I-HDMI Or

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB...-DL-DVI-I-HDMI

Edit: for Sims 3 you could probably go lower than the two cards above as well!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Most of the cheaper GT240 cards use GDDR3 which makes them much slower than the GDDR5 version which is usually tested.

It is probably best to go with the HD4670 GDDR3 or HD5670 GDDR5 mentioned in the previous post.

[Cornholio]

The fan on that Asus 4670 SUCKS, read reviews everywhere about the noise on them, see...ive tried to stay away from XFX, might have to try them again. The motherboard being used will have onboard VGA anyway so if the card does decide to fail the pc will still be usable.

There is this...

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB...ink-DVI-I-HDMI

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The 9800GT is still a better card than the GT240 GDDR5. The GT240 has less shaders and less ROPs than the 9800GT.

Here is one for around the same price as the XFX GT240 GDDR5:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB...112-Cores-HDMI

The card is bus powered.

[Cornholio]

Would you really buy a 9 series card now ? I mean, they are getting "dated" so to speak.

Its looking like il have to bite my lip and get the XFX 5670.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I wouldn't necessarily call the 9800GT a dated card but just a good card with "very long legs"!

According to techPowerUp the 9800GT is around 20% to 30% faster than the GT240 GDDR5 at all resolutions and around 10% to 20% faster than a HD5670 at all resolutions.

The reason that the GT240 and HD5670 don't win is because both are kibbled by the fact that they have a limited number of ROPs!

The 9800GT has 16 whereas the GT240 and HD5670 only have 8.

This has been done on purpose to stop the cards from competing effectively with higher end models and also to reduce costs.

The main improvement with the newer cards is with their idle power consumption.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It is a shame that you don't want to shop at Aria as they have a better selection of the cheaper cards:

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...NQZXJQYWdlPSY=

The HD4670 Ultimate is available for under £60:

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=38669

Even in cases with poor airflow the cooler does well:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...review-21.html

[Cornholio]

Yeah that passive 4670 was on the list, aria is only a bit further than scan but the customer service sucks ass there.

Passive 4670 (aria)
or
xfx 5670 (scan)
or
gainward 9800gt (scan).

Honest opinion cat, its obvious your the man round here

[Terbinator]

Although I'm not the moose, for the price i suggest the 5670.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Most performance = 9800GT

Good mix of performance and low power consumption = HD5670

Relatively,totally silent but has lower performance = HD4670

However Aria have an XFX 9800GT for £68 and an XFX HD4850 512MB for £82!

However an HD4670 should be fast enough to play Sims 3:

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Ga...rmance/11.html

An HD4650 can run the game at 1680X1050 using maximum settings at around 32fps.

[Cornholio]

hmm, spanners in the works.

Rest of the pc spec if it hurts (its being bought/built tomorrow morning).

Scan :

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-A...MHz-65W-Retail

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/2GB-C...d-CAS-9-9-9-24

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=1105270

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Coole...X-Case-w-o-PSU

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=893128

It was meant to be this sammy HDD

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/320-G...MB-Cache-89-ms

But its out of stock, argh. Do you know of any other single platter drives at around that price cat ?

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Samsu...SATA-Black-OEM

[Terbinator]

The Caviar Blue WD ones for around £35 ?

[Cornholio]

The Caviar Blue WD ones for around £35 ?

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/320-G...8MB-Cache-9-ms ?

If so that'll do nicely.

[McPhee]

If it was me I'd go for that 4670 from Aria. Plenty powerful for what you want and it's silent.

[Cornholio]

If it was me I'd go for that 4670 from Aria. Plenty powerful for what you want and it's silent.

Just had a quick look on the t'interweb, and the general opinion is that if you had to buy one of the two now then the 5670 is the one to go for. No doubt once she realises that it will play more than the sims 3 she will start playing a few more games. Ide rather they have "room" to play newer games.