Gibbo Posted January 20, 2009 Posted January 20, 2009 Could someone recommend a graphics card? I've just got a new PC with onboard graphics, so I'll obviously be wanting to disable that memory stealer. I'm not a big gamer, just the occasional bit of FS and GTA, so I thought a 512Mb PCI-E card would be sufficient. But which one? I'm looking to spend about £40. The PC's mobo has nForce on it so would it be better going with Nvidia? I've used them for the past several years and always been happy with the output. I'll also probably be buying from Scan as it's just down the road from me. Thanks All.
clarky2k3 Posted January 20, 2009 Posted January 20, 2009 Your probably best off with the 9500GT PV-T95G-YALG - 512MB XFX 9500 GT, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 1600MHz GDDR2, GPU 550MHz, 32 Cores, DL DVI-I/ D-Sub/ HDTV - Scan.co.uk
Haptic Posted January 20, 2009 Posted January 20, 2009 I would save a few more quids and go for at least a 9600GT as sub £40 cards are useless fella.
featured_spectre Posted January 20, 2009 Posted January 20, 2009 I am inclined to agree with CPLTD on this one. Sub £40 are next to useless, even running GTA and any FS on low, you will still have bad FPS. Save up a bit more and get a better card that will last longer.
Gibbo Posted January 20, 2009 Author Posted January 20, 2009 Hmm, didn't want to be paying £90+ though. What about the 9600GSO? 768Mb of RAM and a bit cheaper.
PeterW Posted January 20, 2009 Posted January 20, 2009 What about the 9600GSO? 768Mb of RAM and a bit cheaper. This should be your minimum really, don't get attracted to low end graphics cores with large memory its only on there because its cheap the card will have such a tiny bus it won't be able to push data round very fast at all.
Haptic Posted January 20, 2009 Posted January 20, 2009 I would stay clear of graphics cards with the prefix GSO or GS, as the memory clock speeds are very low and cant cope with modern games very well, I tend to always choose a GT version or even better a GTX
DrPerceptron Posted January 20, 2009 Posted January 20, 2009 What about an ATI Radeon 4670 1024mb GDDR3? I've got one and am still waiting to get another £70 to add another to make up my CrossFire. It runs all my games at top level, but then, I've only got Tiberian Sun, Theme Hosptial (OWNS!!!!) GTR2 and Race 07.
featured_spectre Posted January 20, 2009 Posted January 20, 2009 a 4670 GFC card is a good one, runs nicely for HD and what have you, runs a few games at a good rate. A very good card but the trouble is the drivers dont like XP or Vista much at the minute. A recent update that ATI put out caused alot of people having to use onboard GFX cards to sort out the issues.
Haptic Posted January 20, 2009 Posted January 20, 2009 below is a review on the 4670 but it still really only compares to the 9500GT Legit Reviews - ATI Radeon HD 4670 Graphics Card Review - ATI Attacks The Mainstream - Radeon HD 4670
DrPerceptron Posted January 20, 2009 Posted January 20, 2009 I thought it was just in general that ATI seem to be absoultely incapable of releasing stable drivers? I'm not using their drivers anyway, I use the Omega drivers, they work much better than ATI's it seems and I've never had any problems with the Omega set.
Halfmad Posted January 20, 2009 Posted January 20, 2009 Latest ATI Catalyst drivers are fine, aren't omega drivers quite outdated now? I'd personally go for a Radeon 4670 with 1GB on board for that price range
Gibbo Posted January 21, 2009 Author Posted January 21, 2009 Cheers guys, some good feedback there which has narrowed down my search immensely.
dhicks Posted January 21, 2009 Posted January 21, 2009 Cheers guys, some good feedback there which has narrowed down my search immensely. This month's PC Pro has a general graphics card review roundup, might come in handy. -- David Hicks
jubbi Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 Dabs had the 4850 for £72 a bit back. Ask about open box items too. And it pc pro's A-list graphics card.
Maz Posted February 6, 2009 Posted February 6, 2009 Dabs had the 4850 for £72 a bit back. Ask about open box items too. And it pc pro's A-list graphics card. 4850 is a cracking card for the price. It's what I'd recommend all day long. I'm going to put one in my new build I think - on a 8600GT at the moment, cost maybe £60 I think... and this was a good few months ago now.
russdev Posted August 30, 2009 Posted August 30, 2009 Thought would start this thread up again as need some updated advice. As I need to get card for L. Main thing needs to run Sims 3 after really looking for something in £60 to £80 prefer the bottom end of that Any advice. Russ
Dos_Box Posted August 30, 2009 Posted August 30, 2009 I belive the ATI 4770 are very highly regarded. Computer Hardware - All - GPU - ATI - Scan.co.uk ATI Radeon HD 4770 | Components | Reviews | PC Pro And in your price range.
Maz Posted August 30, 2009 Posted August 30, 2009 EAH4850/HTDI/512M/A - 512MB Asus HD 4850, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 1986 MHz GDDR3, GPU 625 MHz, 800 Cores, 2 x DL DVI-I/HDTV - Scan.co.uk 4850s are great cards too.
Michael Posted August 30, 2009 Posted August 30, 2009 Personally my overall experience of Nvidia is much better than ATI. I've had an 7800GTX since it was released (all those years ago) and still run it today. Given the choice, look at the speed/type of memory rather than the quantity. 256MB-512MB high speed rather than 768MB-1GB lower speed. I think very few games would use more than 512MB; unless you were running at an extremely high resolution!
Michael Posted August 30, 2009 Posted August 30, 2009 Sims 3 requires a 128MB graphics card. As a comparison I also looked at CoD 5 and this requires 256MB. CoD 5 is a nice game all round which proves my quality over quantity theory
Fatmas Posted September 8, 2009 Posted September 8, 2009 It's worth spending a bit more on graphics cards to get one that lasts. I got my 8800gt 1024mb over a year ago for £100 - £150 (Can't remember exact price!) and it runs everything on high - highest settings. Even Crysis..
dgsmith Posted September 8, 2009 Posted September 8, 2009 I'm currently considering an XFX 4850 1GB card for around the £80 mark. I believe GTA5 prefers more than 512MB else I would be quite happy going for a 512MB model! I agree about going for lower, faster graphics memory than just looking at which looks "the biggest", which isn't always necessarily going to yield better performance.
ahuxham Posted September 8, 2009 Posted September 8, 2009 Just got a XFX 4890 1GB - Lifetime Warranty, including warranty due to damage by overclocking. Perfect card, Cost just short of £120 and is absolutely outstanding value for money compared to the 2** series Nvidia.
dalsoth Posted September 9, 2009 Posted September 9, 2009 Got a NVidia GTX 285 Black Edition and it sends my computer into outer space. Was pricey though when i bought it. Before that i had a XFX 8800GT which was good but not going to handle a 28 inch monitor on the highest resolutions at full settings. Also bought a XFX ATI 4870 which was a lot cheaper and not a massive difference even on a big screen with Fallout 3 set to the highest settings. I expect the best bargains will be the ATI stuff at around £70-80 quid.
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