Sub £90 Graphics card?

[yamangman]

I was just wondering how much 3D power you want? Go for a GeForceFX 5200 Ultra (ive seen them around for less than £40). If you want a little more power try a Radeon 9500. I personally would recommend a 9600, around about £60.

[Steve]

Myth, if you don't know what you're talking about please don't post.

[myth]

Myth, if you don't know what you're talking about please don't post.

I didn't understand about the 2D.. I had no Idea that the maxtors was better! Now I do, at least I have learned something!

[nichomach]

That's a little harsh, Kez - lots of people make the same assumption regarding 2D, but it's an important one to correct.

[nichomach]

I didn't understand about the 2D.. I had no Idea that the maxtors was better! Now I do, at least I have learned something!

As I say, most people make the same assumption, so don't worry, and the Matrox cards are CRAP gaming cards - they really specialise in business systems; GREAT for corporate machines - and you'll see them a lot in finance businesses where people are working on multiple displays just doing 2D stuff.

[Zak33]

Lo fellas

Kez was being fair enough....he just typed it a bit....squiffy

Glad Myth learned summit today....2D image is MILES APART on each card.......

Nicho, as ever, gives good advice. Matrox 2d image quality is breath taking.....ATI are sometimes close, but not often.

Depth of colour, clarity of text, definition of edges and boxes.....Matrox owns this. Deckard used tohave a G400....quite simply stunning 2D.

Of course it couldnt render an anti aliased monster at 60 fps to save its arse, but hey ho

[nichomach]

.60 fps, though, perhaps...

[Michael]

The Matrox cards aren't for me as, as you said, no 3d at all.
I'm not getting rid of my 9800 because of image quality, im getting rid of my whole current PC and moving to a shuttle. I still want to be able to game a little and there#s crrent;y a shedload of different 9500/9550/9600#s out, and i justned to know which will get the best performance without having to spend shedloads on a high end card.

[Zak33]

I'll beg you once...dont sell the 9800...its a good card It'll last a long while without needing an update.

[Rave]

I would also say keep the 9800. You'll be lucky to get £110 for it, and the performance drop off going from an 8 pipeline/256bit memory card like the 9800, to 9600 or FX5700 type cards is huge. The difference between a decently overclocked 1700 and a 2800 Barton is hardly going to be appreciable for most normal work, whereas the difference between a mid range and high end video card will always be obvious on any recent game. I'm far from the biggest gamer in the world but I wouldn't ever consider selling my softmod 9500.

Rich :¬)

[malfunction]

I'd also suggest keeping the 9800 pro. I'd also suggest that you keep the CPU and overclock it and only possibly get new RAM. Stick the 1700+ in a shuttle (SN41G2 or SN45) and (presuming it's a thoroughbred) overclock it to a 166MHz FSB - which would make it same speed (MHz) as a 2500+ though it would still have half the cache. What RAM do you have at the mo? Will it clock to 166MHz (333MHz DDR / PC2700)? Or sell the RAM you have and get 2 x 512MB PC3200. If noise is a big issue for you then you'll probably want to swap out the fan in the shuttle for a noiseblocker. Total cost this way would likely be less than £200. Either pocket the rest of put it towards a good monitor (which is MUCH more important for work use - especially for photoshop)

[Michael]

Bah, im pennyless.
I don't own any shuttle. My system spec is: Coolermaster centurion, CWT 450W, arn8x deluxe, unlocked 1700+, 2x256mb twinmos PC3200, Rad 9800 Pro, aero 7 on the cpu, 120GB maxtor hdd and a cdrw...

Im looking at selling it locally for £450 and moving to a shuttle. And as ive been saying i rarely play games, so i just want to know the best sub £90 card, lol

[Tom]

why dont you just sell your psu motherboard and case and replace it with a shuttle? it seems the sensible option to me.

[malfunction]

I just want to know the best sub £90 card, lol

I appreciate that your original question is simple enough - and for my 2p I'd suggest a 9600 Pro - or a 9500 pro if you can get hold of one - but what everyone's trying to say is that if you sell your existing card / system you'll only (at best) have the funds to buy something very similar (if not worse)... So why not just sell your current heatsink, mobo, case and PSU and buy a shuttle? You'd probably get about £80 for the heatsink + mobo + case + psu and you can buy an SN45G for about £135 - so you'd only be shelling out £55 to move to a smaller case and keep the 9800 pro (which will perform much better than anything <= £90)...

[Swafe]

75 quid 9700 pro from retek...

[Rave]

Look at it this way mate: If someone had come in and asked "I've got £90 burning a hole in my pocket, what video card should I spend it on?" then we'd all have said "don't do it! Save up another £20 and buy a secondhand 9800 Pro, they're much much better than any card you can get (new) for £90". You're coming at it from a different angle, but basically the answer is the same. As I say, I'm not much of a gamer either, but I've just bought Max Payne 2 for a tenner and even if I only play it through once I'll have enjoyed the experience a lot more for having a pukka video card. Give it a few months and Far Cry will probably be available for £15, and it's worth playing that just to gawp at the gorgeous visuals, never mind that it's (apparently) a great game too.

If you really must downgrade the 9800 to free up a bit of cash, then I strongly recommend that you go for a lesser 8 pipe, 256bit memory card, so that means a softmoddable 9500, a 9700 or 9700 pro, or if you can find one cheap enough, a 5900 XT.

Rich :¬)