Gfx for me

[Airalith]

Ello there,

ive just got meself a new motherboard 'ASUS A8N-SLI PCI-e

Now i need a graphics card as the one on my old machine (gunna use it as a downlaod machine... not that any1 cares) isnt compatable. box says supports NVIDIA nFORCE 4 SLI supports Dual PCI-e VGA Cards.

Now i have a decent amount of cash to spend. Say £3-400, what would you recommend?
My rig has had a massive overhall, got me 2.7 mhz 64bit cpu, 2 gig ram and all the other bells but i know nothing about grfx cards and need a guide.

If i can id like to keep to and SLI card as will make me rig a bit more future proof.

Any ideas?

ready.... set.... GO!!!

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

Get a 6800 GT with 512MB
Possibly buy an extra later on when you think you'll need more graphical power.

But erm... what PSU did you buy with your system?

 

[Airalith]

PSU? If thats a power pack got a 550w power pack

(please note total noob with hardware)

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

oi, but I'd like to know a brand and type my lad.... because for instance if you got a Q-tec 550W you can just as easily immediately bin it

Check it from the receipt or orderlist, or on the PSU itself
and yes, PSU = Power Supply Unit

 

[Airalith]

Will try and find the power pack details, but is a 512Mb Leadtek nVidia Geforce 6800 Ultra PCI-E, a good card to go for? is that the one you mean?

 

[Naetha]

http://www.morecomputers.co.uk/textra.asp?pn=PV-T70F-UDF7&referer=Froogle

tbh

 

[Naffets]

Or save a little more and get a X1900XTX and have 48 pipes instead of 24

 

[Darzil]

Just got a nice Gigabyte Geforce 6600GT on my wife's PC, runs fast, cool, and very quiet (got a passive Zalman cooler - same on the Power supply). Gets about 4 times the 3DMark of my GeForce 4600 Ti (all other components about the same spec).

It's SLi'able, so two of them sounds nice, though would be under your budget.

For Camelot I'd certainly recommend Nividia over ATI, I guess you're onto 7800's, really, with that budget.

Darzil

 

[Naffets]

Just got a nice Gigabyte Geforce 6600GT on my wife's PC, runs fast, cool, and very quiet (got a passive Zalman cooler - same on the Power supply). Gets about 4 times the 3DMark of my GeForce 4600 Ti (all other components about the same spec).

It's SLi'able, so two of them sounds nice, though would be under your budget.

For Camelot I'd certainly recommend Nividia over ATI, I guess you're onto 7800's, really, with that budget.

Darzil

My X1800XL works fine with daoc thanks - can record in rvr at 60fps using fraps with no noticeable slowdown.

 

[Kaun_IA]

fraps eats memory and cpu more imo than gfx

 

[Ryuno]

I have the same motherboard as you, and I use one a Geforce 7800 GT. Its awesome.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/7800__Series.html

I bought mine from them too, really great service.

If you really want to spend all your money, look for either a Geforce 7800 GT or Geforce 7800 GTX with 512 MB RAM. That will do you well for some time to come.

I wouldnt personally recommend buying 2 cards and utilising SLI. You will get a better performance gain from buying a better single card, than buying 2 mediocre cards in SLI mode.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Naffets]

I wouldnt personally recommend buying 2 cards and utilising SLI. You will get a better performance gain from buying a better single card, than buying 2 mediocre cards in SLI mode.

Just my 2 cents.

Depends really, if you get two 6800 GT's then one current gen card will perform the same, if not better in some situations, at least from my experience. My single card system trashes my friends 6800 ultra sli setup and we have simular pc specs in terms of cpu/memory.

Of course maybe my mate just sucks at building fast systems /shrug

 

[SkarIronfist]

I have the same motherboard as you, and I use one a Geforce 7800 GT. Its awesome.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/7800__Series.html

I bought mine from them too, really great service.

If you really want to spend all your money, look for either a Geforce 7800 GT or Geforce 7800 GTX with 512 MB RAM. That will do you well for some time to come.

I wouldnt personally recommend buying 2 cards and utilising SLI. You will get a better performance gain from buying a better single card, than buying 2 mediocre cards in SLI mode.

Just my 2 cents.

I would definitely go with one card. Probably the 7800 GTX, if you can wait a while then the 7900 GTX is out shortly - Current reports are saying not much better, but a small improvement.

If at some point you want to double up, then SLI up the 7900 GTX. I would go with the 7900 GTX if you are considering the SLI route, incase an possibilie incompatibilities between a 7800 GTX and 7900 GTX in SLI mode. .

There are only a few cases where doubling up of 7800 GTX is really necessary and thats when you are running at 1900 x 1280 and you want 16x AA and 8x AS.

Good luck with what ever decision you make.

 

[confused]

I'd personally go with a 7800 gtx 256 from Leadtek or BFG, though now Gainward are doing a 512 version of the 7800 gt and i personally would chose gainward over any other nvidia make

 

[Svartmetall]

Get yourself a GeForce 7800 GTX if you're buying now this minute, although the 7900s are out soon and rumour has it they may be affordable 512MB cards than the 7800 series ones; I'm hunting for the GFX card for my new system (very similar specs to the one you describe, Athlon 64 4000, 2GB Corsair RAM, ASUS mobo etc) and am going to hold fire until I see what the new Nvidia monsters are like.

I wouldn't trust ATI's drivers myself, every time I have seen a weird GFX bug or glitch it has been an ATI card. Every time, without fail.

 

[Coolan]

I would have to agree with the people suggesting 7800 range, the 66/6800gt's are nice but a single 7800gt will out perfrom 2 sli 66/6800gt's.

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

I still would like to know the PSU brand/type

 

[pipz]

512mb cards are a gimick!

in your possition i would go for one of the 7800 series! dont bother with the lesser models just coz they got the 512mb, ive been loooking for myself and most site say that the 512 is just a gimmick,none of the games we play or indeed are likely to play need anyware near that much! the radeon x1900 cards are awsom! but whats the point in buying one whe there not compatible with sli??? makes sense to future proof yourself by going for nvidia! the 7800s are incredible! you can get them from 220 upwards! and when you need it you can go sli! no need to upgrade your mobo for a few years then!

good luck!
pipz.

 

[confused]

Get an Enermax liberty 500w modular PSU, no wires = a dream for air flow