What to look for...

[Mackem]

Looking out for a graphics card, what do i need to look at before buying one and whats low , medium to high range that people can recommend? Upto £100.

 

[Shard]

You need to look at your motherboard to see what graphics card it can take. AGP or PCI, most likely PCI. Nvidia I believe are better than the other one that begins with A haha. 8 series I think you'd be looking at for that budget. 8800GT maybe?

 

[RedDragonX]

a HD 4850 would destroy a 8800GT for about 10 quid more, if your PSU can handle it.

 

[mapadale]

You need to look at your motherboard to see what graphics card it can take. AGP or PCI, most likely PCI. Nvidia I believe are better than the other one that begins with A haha. 8 series I think you'd be looking at for that budget. 8800GT maybe?

WoW can you still buy PCI G/cards.

If PCI-E, then you need to be looking at ether the 9600GT at 1024MB GDDR3 - This currently is retailing at around £70 - £100 - Its a damn good graphics card - Below is the card specs.

GPU: GeForce 9600 GT (G94)
Interface: PCI-Express x16
GPU frequencies (ROPs/Shaders): 700/1750 MHz (nominal - 650/1625 MHz)
Memory frequencies (physical (effective)): 1000 (2000) MHz(nominal - 900 (1800) MHz)
Memory bus width: 256bit
Vertex processors: -
Pixel processors: -
Unified processors: 64
Texture processors: 32 (BLF)
ROPs: 16
Dimensions: 190x100x33 mm (the last figure is maximum thickness of the graphics card).
PCB color: green
RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU.
Output connectors: 2xDVI (Dual-Link), HDMI, Display-Port, Audio
VIVO: not available
TV-out: not available.
Multi-GPU operation: SLI

If looking at VGA, then I would sugest going for anything over 512MB on DDR2 - IE: 7600GT

Don't ever go for anything with GTA or G as these are the crappier type of cards and performance wise are not very good.

Your best option though, is to look at the current high performance game and see what it requires to run and then go from there.

 

[Mackem]

Board: MSI Boston 1.0
Bus Clock: 800 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 5.05 03/21/2008

Is that PCI PCI-E or AGP? Or is myn MSI?

Sorry im lost on this topic and cheers for the replys so far.

 

[Warlock]

First of all forget about Nvidia 8800's and 9600/9800 unless you are willing to pay

You should look at the ATI 4850, it is a brillian release from ATI, its only £110 for the lowest model and blows most Nvidia cards out the water, if you have any spare ontop of that i would throw it at a 4870 or wait till the 4870 x2 card is release, then you will be looking and some seriously good perforamce, alough i dont know what motherboard that is but these are somewhere to have a look anyway.

 

[RedDragonX]

Unless your buying like a 7600gt for like 15 quid second hand then it would be a complete waste of money, like i said earlier, look to get the HD 4850.

 

[Shard]

WoW can you still buy PCI G/cards.

http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=pci+graphics+card&btnG=Search+Products

Yeah, pretty much.

Before you try and be all 'I AM THE MASTER OF COMPUTERS' because I forgot a -E.

 

[Mackem]

Found out my motherboard can handle PCI - Express 300W PSU.

<3 you matt

Edit: Is this any good or will my computer not be able to handle it?

ATI Radeon HD 3850 GPU @ 668MHz
512MB GDDR3 Memory @ 1655MHz
320 stream processing units
PCI Express 2.0 x16 bus interface
256-bit GDDR3 memory interface
512-bit Ring Bus Memory Controller
Microsoft® DirectX® 10.1 support
ATI CrossFireX™ Multi-GPU Technology
ATI PowerPlay™
ATI Avivo™ HD Video and Display Platform
Integrated HD audio controller with multi-channel (5.1) AC3 support
Up to 24x Custom Filter Anti-Aliasing (CFAA) for improved quality

OR:

ATI HD 4850
512MB GDDR3 Memory
256-bit GDDR3 memory interface
Microsoft DirectX 10.1
Shader Model 4.1
Unified Video Decoder 2 (UVD) for Blu-ray and HD Video
PCI Express 2.0
GDDR3 memory 256-bit memory interface
DirectX® 10.1
24x custom filter anti-aliasing (CFAA) and high performance anisotropic filtering
ATI CrossFireX™ multi-GPU support for highly scalable performance
Use up to four discrete cards with an AMD 790FX based motherboard
PCI Express® 2.0 support
PCI Express® 2.0 supportDynamic geometry acceleration
Game physics processing capability
ATI Avivo™HD video and display technologyUnified Video Decoder 2 (UVD)
ATI PowerPlay™ technolo

 

[Zero]

First of all forget about Nvidia 8800's and 9600/9800 unless you are willing to pay

The 9600GT is only £79 on PCI-E with 1024MB DDR2

Unless your buying like a 7600gt for like 15 quid second hand then it would be a complete waste of money, like i said earlier, look to get the HD 4850.

There's nothing wrong with the 7600GT, I own a 7600 have it fully clocked and it still responds brilliantly with top end games. I've not seen it flag yet and thats on a AGP and not PCI-E ether.

Oh and the 7600GT handles HD very well as well.

 

[RedDragonX]

7600GT is is **** compared to the newer graphics card that are like 40/50 quid, they slaughter it. I love it when people try to justify something being good JUST because they own it, its like choosing a x1950 over a 3850/70

And Mackem, you'd need a better PSU if you was to get either of them, a Corsair VX 450W will power a HD 4850.

 

[Warlock]

Ye you should deffo get a Corsair VX 450 PSU, brillian PSU's, i got a VX 550w to power my X1950XT card, but i would deffo opt for the 4850 card, how much is your budget, can you afford £120? if so get this one http://scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=837911 - Its a 4850, 1GB Mem, you couldnt ask for more on your setup.

Btw, a 7600 is a waste of money these days, its getting the point a 8800 is worthless unless you already have one and throw SLI at it. The 4850 is on par the the 9800 GTX model from Nvidia that ranges from £150 up to £230 but then again if you can afford the £70 for a 4870 then you get a card thats on par with the £200+ GTX 260 from Nvidia.

But tbh i cant say much im still running a X1950XT but it does the job for now + im waiting on the 4870 x2 card coming out to pwn

Hmm just the thought of it a 2GB memory card, with GDDR5, gonna be mint. Alough it does recommend a 650W or greater power supply and a really well cooled case, which i think my be a tad over the top, the 44A 12v rail on my PSU will hopefully be enough to handle one.

 

[mapadale]

7600GT is is **** compared to the newer graphics card that are like 40/50 quid, they slaughter it. I love it when people try to justify something being good JUST because they own it, its like choosing a x1950 over a 3850/70

And Mackem, you'd need a better PSU if you was to get either of them, a Corsair VX 450W will power a HD 4850.

Of course its going to flag compared to a newer card, hence why they release newer cards.

But I play most top end grapic games and it plays them perfectly.

Its all good and well paying money out for a top G/card, but is it really worth it. I was using an old MX4400 untill recently, as had to upgrade it for the games I played.

 

[Mackem]

Can anyone recommend a few that is compatible with my motherboard and work with the pcu i have. Cheers

 

[Warlock]

But I play most top end grapic games and it plays them perfectly.

Its all good and well paying money out for a top G/card, but is it really worth it. I was using an old MX4400 untill recently, as had to upgrade it for the games I played.

Now you ask is it worth it, well yes, i was using an old FX5200 for years and never upgraded, i built my new system and put a cheap x700 pro in it, it just felt the same as the FX5200, so i chanced it and got my X1950XT, its 100 times smoother, EVERYTHING looks better and you enjoy your gaming more.