Hrsturbo

for windows vista, which is best to get for under £150?

is it best to stick with nvidia?

cheers

BigMouthBillyBass

Is it for gaming? if not, you don't need to spend anywhere near £150 for Vista

I've got a NVidia 256mb 7300 GS for £40 odd quid that runs Vista ultimate and media centre perfectly That's with Aero and all the effects whacked right up

If it's for gaming, best to stick with Nvidia as they seem to be making the best mid range cards at the moment. Look at the forums on www.overclockers.co.uk for what models are best as theres benchmark tests etc

I gave up playing games on the PC a long time ago, as every time you buy a new game for £40 you have to spend £80 on hardware to get the fucker to play properly Thats what Xbox's are for

BM08

As above is it for playing games at a decent quality or not? thats the main question here, once i have an answer ill point you in the direction of a card

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

i'm a member of the overclockers forum and yes the main question everyone will be asking is what do you use it for. I have an Nvidia 7600GT that I bought for £82 capable of running Vista and is a pretty decent gaming card as can run all the latest games. Nvidia are making the best cards atm but some of the ATI range are pretty decent.

It's all dependant on what you will use it for though.

Hrsturbo

yeah for gaming, mines not coping well with oblivion and fear with the graphics on high

DanRSturbo

Secondly, do you need an AGP card or do you need a pci express card ?

Hrsturbo

sorry, pci express card.

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

i'm playing FEAR currently and the graphics are excellent. no lag with everything on high and AA and soft shadows turned down to compensate for everything on high.

For under £150 I'd say http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=56&subcat=912 definitely if it does come back in stock. if not get the asus or EVGA 8600GTS

But definitely get the GTS model. For the price, ATI can't match at all benchmarks wise and gameplay wise

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

also another thing, is your mobo SLi ready?

Hrsturbo

is what sli ready?? not that gd with graphics cards, just plug and play lol

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

mobo=motherboard (sorry been on oc forums too long!) basically, does it have 2x PCI Express slots. If it's SLi ready, you can run 2 graphics cards and have double the graphics power

Hrsturbo

oh i dnt think so, it has 3 spare pci slots and 1 pci express slot which is used which will be the graphics card i guess. do I have to be careful on which card i choose?

danneth

[quote="pani_k"]i'm playing FEAR currently and the graphics are excellent.


http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...tid=56&subcat=

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

that BFG is a lot better than the ATi card. And that's an ASUS one, one that I would stay away from. I only generally trust BFG as they do the best quality cards and offer lifetime warranty, something that other manufacturers do not offer.

the guy wanted a card for games and under £150. The 8600GTS is the best thing around for that money. It's a new card so I couldn't give you the benchmarks for it. the closest thing to it is a 7950GT and that wouldn't beat it on benchmarks but the 8600GTS would definitely beat the ATi. But for gaming, go nvidia GTS and this is on Vista as well which requires DirectX 10

danneth

i also have a BFG 7900GTX but your saying get the 8600GTS its the best thing around for the money, but yet you havent seen the benchmark results?

Paulo P

That's the same card I run too and I haven't had any problems yet either I got mine from Scan http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=458375

Hrsturbo

BFG GeForce 8600 GTS OC going bit cheaper on ebay!

might go for this one, just gonna read specs again

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

the 8600 range is superior to the 7900 range and the 7950 range. the 8600 memory core runs a 2000mhz wheres the 7950 only goes up to about 1600mhz or so. The gfx core itself is also much quicker off the top of my head around 100mhz or so faster than the superclocked 7950GT.

The 8xxx range of nvidia cards are just pure class at the moment but I am willing to bet that the 8600 benchmarks will be much better than the 7950 benchmarks

BM08

i wouldnt bet on it though!

I have red in a forum that the 8600 is just an entry into DX10, i think how a 7600GT(for example) performs in DX9 games is how the 8600 will perform in DX10, i.e nothing to shout about.
Im running a 7950GT 512mb and it can run every game i have on max settings with like 80+fps(very smooth gameplay)
Oh and if you dont have windows vista or dont plan on getting it any time soon then dont bother with 8600, id get a 7950.
The 8600 are very cheap for a good reason.

BM08

To backup what i said above have a quick butchers at this thread on here http://www.tech-forums.net/pc/f76/76...-worth-143953/

EDIT just realised you have windows vista, hmmm i think really if you want a good gaming card for vista you need to spend abit more to get a 8800GTS really.

Hrsturbo

doesn't this need 2 pci express slots or will it work with my 1??

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=56&subcat=877

BM08

The card needs one slot to operate BUT since this is the daddy of graphics cards it will physically take up 2 slots so you couldn't put anything in the slot underneath it if your with me?
Also what case do you have? if its tiny it might be a squeeze but as long as your case isnt dinky it will fit ok.
What processor does your pc have by the way? im guessing its pretty new since you have vista?

Hrsturbo

got a big case, loads of room, think I going to look to get this. Cant find it any cheeper than £200 at the mo

ebay has 178 but then 8 for postage and vat slapped on top lol

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

Re above posts I am not talking about the 8600GT I am talking about the 8600GTS 2 completely different cards!!! The 8600GT is probably the equivalent of my 7600GT and is priced exactly the same as mine was i.e. ~£90! The one I am suggesting is the 8600GTS for £140 (BIG DIFFERENCE) 710mhz core with 2000mhz memory speed. This card is a lot more powerful than the most powerful 7950GT and all the ATIs for this price. For under £150, this is the best card period

8600GTS

Hrsturbo

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

also if you can stretch to it get this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=56&subcat=877

much better card and obliterates everything else beneath it including the x1950XTX and the 8600GTS.

BM08

Yeah ok pani k BUT, the 8800GTS is still better and it will last him alot longer because its more powerful, and for 200 quid a 8800GTS is a bargain at that trust me, and i dout you will buy another card for years if you did splash out

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

I said that above that link points to the 320MB 8800GTS. They are the business atm

BM08

yeah that would be great aswell, i just dont like the 8600 series for some reason, go for the 8800GTS you know you wanna

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

I just had a quick browse on the the OcUK forums and it seems that the X1950XTX scores in some benchmark tests better than the 8600GTS which I found odd but I can't find recent benchies for that card and I don't know if they are reliable.

I can safely say a total entry level 8800GTS is the best card you coudl have if you put that extra £30 in. For the performance, it really REALLY is worth it. the gaming would be absolutely amazing.

BM08

Hence why i didnt even bother looking up bench marks for the 8600, straight in for the big boys cards

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

yeah but for big money too was trying to stay within budget. But it's worth the extra £30 definitely. It's a lot more card for the money and if you like your gaming, you will not look back. I wish i'd have spent £20 more and got a 7900GT at the time on offer but oh well

BM08

what cpu you got mate?

danneth

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid..._13.html#sect0

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

thanks for that danneth, seems that the X1950XT does beat the 8600GTS in the benchies. The one on OcUK is an OC'd 8600GTS so it should score very slightly better than there I should assume. I normally use tomshardware.com for benchies but they haven't got the new nvidias on there yet. As you can see, the 8800GTS wallops them all!

danneth

yer, theres not to much in 8600 and the 1950XT performance wise ati might just have the edge in games and ati IMO always have better drivers availabvle, plus from what i can see the ati is around £30-50 cheaper


the 8800GTS does beat most things just not the new ati

BM08

And my 7950GT beats the new 8600, i knew it

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

I did a lot of research of cards when I built my rig a few months ago and Nvidia have ATi covered in all ranges below the top of the range cards. The only decent cards ATi produce are the X1950s at the very top of the range. I was originally planning to get what was then an X1600 Sapphire Pro but was told that whole range was pants and that the 7600 series had ATi all the way through that range and the range below (7300). So I have a 7600GT by BFG and I am very happy with it.

Which brings me onto another point, the monitor. I have a 19" widescreen LCD which makes the most out of my graphics power and gives me really crisp and sharp detailing. Make sure you get at least a 19" and if possible widescreen! And if you are wanting gaming Core 2 Duo CPU plus 2GB RAM is a must.

danneth

you did all that research into it then you went and bought an LCD monitor?

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

yes I did, what's wrong with that? mine is not like the one's that are not sharp and lose focus. compared to my 17" CRT the difference is huge. I work with IT all the time and have yet to find anything apart from the more expensive stuff thats as sharp and as highly detailed as mine?

what would you suggest I should have got danneth? and I didn't have mega bucks to spend either