GFX Card - budget £200

[Alan]

Having been out of touch with GFX cards, could someone recomend one for around the £200 mark, been reall happy with my Geforce 3 TI - but its days are now limited i think.

Overall will be upgrading my processor to a 3.2Ghz 400Mhz AMD Barton (i already have 1GB of 400Mhz memory and a nforce2 board so should be ok) this is gona be about £100 leaving £200 for a GFX card... could go a little more if needed, but with PCI-Express getting established now would rather not waste too much - just something to last a year or two.

 

[nick]

Either wait for the new Geforce 6600 GT AGP or get this: http://www.dabs.com/uk/Search2/Product+Details.htm?quicklinx=39TC&searchphrase=6800

 

[Comos]

if you want a high end videcard you can go for the Geforce 6800 GT or ultra (but dont get ultra cuz you can overclock the gt and allmost reach the ultra vcore speed, using a simple tool called Forceware released by Nvidia) or you could get the ATI equivalent the x800XT. Personally I would go for the Nvidia one, and the GT one to be specific, I have it and it simply rox. Though if your budget is £200 I'm not sure if it's going to be enough to get the GT or x800XT, I'm not sure what the prices are these days... The standard Geforce 6800 is a lot cheaper and pretty good as well I guess, but I'd get some benchmarks to show you some results. This is one done on Doom 3 (which works a bit better on Nvidia cards, but still shows you some valid info on the cards) http://www.computerbase.de/news/har...4/september/idf_benchmarks_geforce_6600_gt_go

gl

 

[nick]

6800 NU is 200 quid as per my link!

 

[Alan]

If i wait another month - would have £300 for a GFX card, is it worth saving up for another month ? bearing in mind it will be closer to xmass so less to spend on family

 

[frogster]

You can get a 6800GT for 300 notes. i have one, and it really does roxor :O

 

[Sycho]

Barton cpus aren't supposed to be that great for games, 64 bit cpus seem faster:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/amd_64_bit.html

Oh and what nee said, 6800GT seems a lovely card and would last you a while.

 

[Aada]

radeon 9800 pro is still a good buy and will last you a couple of years yet..

 

[Alan]

Ok im looking for a 400Mhz Barton.... simple because the motherboard can take up to 400Mhz processors (currently has a 266Mhz 2.4 Athlon) the memory in the board is 400Mhz speed.... running at 266 so all i need is a new processor.

The AGP is x8 so should work with most of the GFX cards out today, leaning towards the Geforce 6800 GT which should fit around the 300 note mark.

Runnign two TFT screens (yes not the best for FPS, but ok for MMORPGS) would be nice to drive them both off the same GFX card, so one with two DVI sockets would be nice mmmmmm guess ill be doing some research tomorrow at work.

 

[Invisibul]

u wont get a 3.2 ghz barton either, they dont exist, 2.2 ghz is fastest, thats the 3200+ Barton.

 

[Invisibul]

damn editing lameness, new post


u wont get a 3.2 ghz barton either, they dont exist, 2.2 ghz is fastest, thats the 3200+ Barton. proof i know it sure aint 3.2 ghz tho


although the speed isn't important its the performance that counts, and they're ok tbh, used to have one,
Barton 2500+ 333FSB @ 1.8 ghz

want u to know what ur getting b4 u make a fool of urself

new system is way to go imo, Ahtlon 64 or FX53 even the FX 53 runs ate 2.4 ghz

or new P4 LGA775 Prescott 540 (which does actually run at 3.2ghz) or the 550 (3.4) 560 (3.6) etc

 

[Comos]

go for an athlon 64 xp imo, got a 3500+ and love it! with my asus A8V it's so easy to OC too. got it runnin at 3800+ speed (2.4ghz). But with other mobo's it's np to OC it a bit either. 10% should be ok, which is why I love amd so much

 

[Alan]

go for an athlon 64 xp imo, got a 3500+ and love it! with my asus A8V it's so easy to OC too. got it runnin at 3800+ speed (2.4ghz). But with other mobo's it's np to OC it a bit either. 10% should be ok, which is why I love amd so much

Lol that would mean new CPU, new board, new memory, new GFX card

when i dont need all that, just a cpu + GFX card will do nicely.

Thx for the comments Invisibul, I do recall now you have said that, tha t Athlon confused people with their brandings, but i know what I ment.. i think hehe

 

[Alan]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/GeForce_6800_GT.html

2nd one down

XFX GeForce 6800 GT 256MB DDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (AGP) & DOOM 3 Bundle - Retail (GX-020-XF)

Looks like its got Dual DVI so can plug both my TFT's into it - yay

 

[Esoteric]

Word on the rumour ville is that its better to wait if you are going to buy yourself one of them new mobos and cpus. Suppliers always buy too much at christmas so after christmas boom sale bonanaza. Also you have the new PCI express coming out. Ive kind of done what tears has done I have just upgraded my cpu and not so long ago got a reasonable gfx card 9600xt 256.

Barton XP SoAs are getting cheaper and cheaper, so my advice is make small mods now and then in the next year or two if you have the cash go wild!

Of course if your a multi billionaire or you have daddies credit card do whatever you like in fact if you have no budget just buy an alienware. However us people with a mortgage and kids need to watch the cost so small mods to keep things ticking is the way to go for the short term.

 

[Alan]

Well its ordered now.

Going from ->

2400 AMD running on a nForce2 board at 266 Buss speed
1GB of PC3200 memory (clocked down to 266 buss speed)
Geforce 3 TI 64MB

to

3200 AMD running on the same board but now at 400 speed
Same memory, but now running at its potential
Geforce 6800 GT with 256MB and 2x DVI sockets for my TFT's

cost about £50 more than i wanted to spend in the end, but hey... should keep me going now for a few more years, then ill just start again with an AMD 64, the board really now is at its limits.

 

[Alan]

AMD 3200 installed and Geforce 6800 GT installed

Last night ran a ML3 with 105 people in the BG, all gfx settings were set to max - all shadows on... /effects all , and running in windowd mode

I think for the duration of the raid i once saw a yellow FPS triangle..... VERY impressed with this card

 

[frogster]

Told you it was a nice card ;o

 

[Esoteric]

Sounds nice tears did you refit your heatsink yet or was it a joke on the other thread, seriously worried about your cpu temp dude

 

[Fedaykin]

give this card tbh i am poor student :*(

ge4 mx atm xD

 

[Alan]

Sounds nice tears did you refit your heatsink yet or was it a joke on the other thread, seriously worried about your cpu temp dude

I wouldnt be, the AMD 2400 ran at around 70deg for 6-12 months, could have been badly seated <shrugs> never had a problem left hte PC on most the time anyway.

The new 3200 runs at a cooler 50deg so somethings better

 

[Honza]

That card is uber. Seen it installed in school graphix machine and owwww gimme gimme. Deftly need some job to buy it.