michael Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I need a PCI-E Graphics card - budget of around £150, what's the best I can get at the moment? It's all moving far too fast for me to keep up with now I favour nVidia and I'm getting an SLI board with an nForce 680i SLI MCP. 7, 8 or 9 series? Better to get a high end 7 than a cheaper 9? 2 cheaper ones in SLI better than one "better" one on it's own for the same cost? Chances are I'll be buying from CCL with the rest of my bits - this is the selection I'm working from if that helps you to guide me: http://www.cclonline.com/product-categories.asp?category_id=531 At the moment all I want to do is get back to Battlefield 2 (my current system has blown up) but no doubt I'll get bored in the future and want to play something more current so a bit of spare technology would be handy What do we think about this one...? http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=21403&category_id=681&manufacturer_id=0&tid=pv-t94p-zhf4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I didn't fancy forking out the £400 that modern top of the range GFX cards go for either so instead i bought a card that was £400 when it was new 3 months ago (2nd hand). Just an option you might not have thought of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 This is pushing your budget but Eclipse have a 512Mb nVidia GeForce 9800GTX for £188 inc VAT. From my understanding it's very good VFM and gets you to the 'next step' in GFX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guru Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Michael, the GPU memory is important but not really as important as speed of GPU memory. The one you suggested has 1gb but only 1800mhz memory speed. While I think this will run BF2 just fine, I think you should consider some others. I think you should be aiming for a 512mb GPU with at least 2000mhz memory speed. With those stats you could quite easily SLi two together and have a great system. I would buy one for your budget now and see how it goes. If in a few months it's not as good as you want then buy a matching GPU for less money than now! http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=21434&category_id=681 Cheaper and better, but smaller memory. Hope that helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caliAl Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 How about this? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-088-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=927 Bang on your budget Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colsoop Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 I would get the 8800 gts 512mb version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 This is pushing your budget but Eclipse have a 512Mb nVidia GeForce 9800GTX for £188 inc VAT. From my understanding it's very good VFM and gets you to the 'next step' in GFX Cheers, the plan was to get it all from CCL because it's just down the road and I can collect before the weekend but I'll have a look into that if I can manage to get some patience - they seem to be out of stock of most of the ones worth looking at anyway. The problem is understanding the benefits of the 'next step' at the moment, I need to try and keep reading up on these things instead of jumping in every 6 months and starting from scratch again Michael, the GPU memory is important but not really as important as speed of GPU memory. The one you suggested has 1gb but only 1800mhz memory speed. While I think this will run BF2 just fine, I think you should consider some others. I think you should be aiming for a 512mb GPU with at least 2000mhz memory speed. With those stats you could quite easily SLi two together and have a great system. I would buy one for your budget now and see how it goes. If in a few months it's not as good as you want then buy a matching GPU for less money than now! http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=21434&category_id=681 Cheaper and better, but smaller memory. Hope that helps I hadn't seen that one because I skipped over any that are out of stock - it does seem to be good value though Cheers. *must get patience and wait for stock* I guess I could always get the other bits and then pick one up next week. So if I get that particular card and then want to SLI later I presume I don't need to get the exact same card? Just one to the same spec? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 This is pushing your budget but Eclipse have a 512Mb nVidia GeForce 9800GTX for £188 inc VAT. From my understanding it's very good VFM and gets you to the 'next step' in GFX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=21403&category_id=681&manufacturer_id=0&tid=pv-t94p-zhf4 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=21403&category_id=681&manufacturer_id=0&tid=pv-t94p-zhf4 ? It doesn't seem to have as much grunt as the XXX Edition one though despite it costing more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colsoop Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 See here for a guide to frame rates of current g cards: http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?page=vga_3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 It doesn't seem to have as much grunt as the XXX Edition one though despite it costing more. Yeah I saw that but thought having 1GB might be more beneficial in the long run, looking at a few benchmarks it wouldn't seem like it though really. I'd definitely go with a 9600 though. What else you upgrading, any bits spare? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 Yeah I saw that but thought having 1GB might be more beneficial in the long run, looking at a few benchmarks it wouldn't seem like it though really. I'd definitely go with a 9600 though. What else you upgrading, any bits spare? I'm building a new system but mainly due to failure so there isn't a great deal going spare - maybe a socket 478 3.2GHz Extreme Edition CPU but I might just buy a used motherboard from eBay and build a server based around that. I'll have a 6800GT AGP card too but it's practically worthless so I might as well stick that in the other machine too if I can find a suitable board. What I'm going for: Antec Nine Hundred case XFX NFORCE LT 680I SLI motherboard Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 XFX GeForce 9600GT 512MB DDR3 XXX Edition Zalman Super Aero Flower Cooler (CNPS9700) 2GB OCZ Platinum Revision 2 Dual Channel Kit Feel free to check out prices on your favourite supplier sites and report back, if you get it cheaper than anyone else I'll give you a Toyota keyring Oddly CCL want £12 more for me to collect it from their shop area than they do to post it out to me which is odd - as a couple of bits are out of stock I might as well look at other online places too and potentially save a little bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 What I'm going for: Nice. I'll be looking at roughly the same once I've paid my credit card off, my old socket 478 3Ghz is not exactly cutting edge, more like rusty spoon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 XXX Edition are worth getting if you plan not to overclock them as they already are clocked. My personal preference is to buy the slowest version and then clock it up. The slower versions, should be cheaper. Whats the retail on that mobo, maybe a little over kill for what you are wanting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 Whats the retail on that mobo, maybe a little over kill for what you are wanting? £73.50 It seems cheaper than it should be which makes me think I'm missing something important but I can't seem to see any obvious issues apart from the potential for the CPU cooler to foul the cooling fan thats on the board or not have enough clearance at the top end. http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?id=13059 No DDR3 support but it'll be a while before it's cheap enough for me to consider that as an option anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Ignor me! Its not the one I was thinking of. Carry on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 Ignor me! Its not the one I was thinking of. Carry on Does it look OK though in your opinion? I'm worried that I'm cutting corners on the motherboard but it just seems to be a "get the job" done kind of thing, no fancy colours but also no heat pipes which I'm thinking might be useful to have too... and then there is the clearance thing... this is why I hate PC building, too many choices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Looks fine to me. There is no need to spend over £100 on a motherboard unless you have a use for the 'extras'. The heat pipes are a gimmic imo when it comes to motherboad cooling, yes it does work better but you wont notice the difference in a well aired case, which you are going for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 PS, this is the one I have, exactly in the same price bracket. DDR3 support too They are probably both overkill for your needs, they are both more of a clockers board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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