Sub £90 Graphics card?

[Michael]

Okay, so i'm thinking of selling my main PC and changing to a shuttle to save on space and noise. I will be getting rid of my 9800Pro, and downgrading to something else, but what?

Whats teh best performing graphics for under £90? Under £70 would be good too, s i could get a 2800 barton instead of 2500, etc... Just after best bang for buck. Thanks..

[myth]

why downgrade?

[Michael]

My computer room is 52" wide, i **** you not. and barely 2m long. No carpet and double glazed, noise echo's like crazy. I don't game an awful lot anyway, so i'm fine with not having amazing graphics, i just don't want to be looking at GF4 type rubbish.

Anyway, the room at the moment is disgraceful, wallpaper all ripped, holes picked at in the wll wih screwdrivers through boredom.. Some crappy desk that isnt as wide as the room and stuff like that. I'm having a desk made in a funky S shape that goes wall to wall (Just a piece of wood really), and having laminate flooring, tidying it up. And i just like the idea of a nice quiet SFF pc sat on the desk next to a TFT, all black, a few blue lights shining around, get the picture? I'll post pics if/when it gets done.

Also the PC will be used for working more than gaming so a barton 2500/2800 would be better than the unlocked 1700+ i currently use, or maybe 768 ram instead of 512.

[myth]

"Also the PC will be used for working"

Then why not intel? Its a known fact that intels HT will multitask better then the barton or lesser core! Anyway is your 9800 THAT loud? mine was silent.. Or do you wish to make a profet by selling it? I'd keep it if I were you!

[Michael]

"Also the PC will be used for working"

Then why not intel? Its a known fact that intels HT will multitask better then the barton or lesser core! Anyway is your 9800 THAT loud? mine was silent.. Or do you wish to make a profet by selling it? I'd keep it if I were you!

The 9800 isnt making the noise the whole PC is, psu, cpu fan, etc, etc. And by work i mean web design, and some photoshop, not too taxing, so graphics aren that important... Want to know the best bang for buck!

[Clstrphbc_donut]

"Also the PC will be used for working"

Then why not intel? Its a known fact that intels HT will multitask better then the barton or lesser core!

AMD's are cheaper and i *think* hes on a budget.

Anyway Myth, your just pimping Intels

[myth]

AMD's are cheaper and i *think* hes on a budget.

Anyway Myth, your just pimping Intels

"pimping" Shure lets go!

I'd get a shutle and put some pax mate in it, keep the 9800, put a XP 3000+ "Barton" 333 FSB, followed by a Shuttle XPC Model SN41G2B! Well thats what I'd do.... But that might not be cheap for you!

the shutle.. http://www.shuttlegroup.com/specs_access.asp?pro_id=243

[Michael]

^ nope.

[myth]

^ nope.

nope as in? Pimping....

[Michael]

As in it's too expensive to do that. Budget is 450ish for the lot. but thats not the point, i asked about a graphics card

[myth]

As in it's too expensive to do that. Budget is 450ish for the lot. but thats not the point, i asked about a graphics card

My bad! I see no reason to downgrade as they are all as loud, unless you wish to sell it and buy a new card with the mony made and still have some left over! I cant recomend anything lesser then the 9800... I think that its too slow to begin with! But if you feel the need then you could put a FX 5700 or 9600....

[Stoo]

Okay, and now for some useful sensible advice

Michael, If you're just going to be doing pure windows stuff and not really bothering with anything else, then a good Matrox card would be all you need.
Something like a G550 will do you nicely, they've still got pretty much the best 2d performance of any card, and they're only about £70 (inc vat and postage) - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...roductID=10914

If you need a bit more 3D power, then you can always check the Bargain Hunt forum for the cheap retek 9500/9700's

[Clstrphbc_donut]

As you probably know Micheal, my FX5200 is passively cooled but that'll have a new home soon so selling it to you is not poss. How about one of those?

[nichomach]

I'd go with the Matrox recommendation. Good very solid cards; if you can I'd stretch to a P650, but that's about £100. I use one at work running two TFTs with DVI connections and it's VERY solid. Like the G550 which I had previously (I had the dual-DVI version), it's passively cooled, provides excellent 2D performance and image quality, but it's not a gaming card at all.

[myth]

I'd go with the Matrox recommendation. Good very solid cards; if you can I'd stretch to a P650, but that's about £100. I use one at work running two TFTs with DVI connections and it's VERY solid. Like the G550 which I had previously (I had the dual-DVI version), it's passively cooled, provides excellent 2D performance and image quality, but it's not a gaming card at all.

How is the 2D better then the 9800's 2D? 2D is 2D right?

[nichomach]

You're joking, right? All graphics cards are not created equal when it comes to 2D performance in (crucially) image quality or even speed of rendering; the 9800 is a dead issue - Michael's ditching that, but I'd agree that ATi's cards produce in general good 2D performance and quality. That said, once you get into cards produced by other manufacturers, the quality of the supporting electronics is telling; ever compared an OEM nVidia card to a Matrox card in 2D? There's just no comparison; in terms of image quality the Matrox cards just walk all over most other cards in 2D.