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<£200 Graphics Card

Forum Graphics & Displays : Graphics Cards <£200 Graphics Card

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I am wondering which new card I should purchase for under £200 preferably. The primary use for it is Counter-Strike Source (:D), which isn't too demanding from a graphics point of view, on low resolutions anyway.

 

My current spec is:

 

Intel Core2 Duo E6750 @ 2.66GHz
2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-5300 667MHz
Gainward Bliss 7800GT 512MB
WDC 160GB SATA & Seagate 250GB SATA (noisy :() - I may also invest in a Samsung SpinPoint.
OCZ StealthXStream 600W
ABIT IP35-E (Motherboard)

 

All is on stock, I'm not planning to overclock as I don't need to. I have heard that the 8800GTS 512MB is a great card aswell as the 9800GTX, both similar prices right? I'd probably go for the 9800GTX out of them because it's newer, but is it better spec? and I won't be upgrading graphics card again for a while (12 months).

 

I do not want to go down the SLI route, I need one card that is high spec/performance and under £200. My 7800GT is suffering from 1280*1024 (LCD) resolution in CSS.. with higher resolutions, the Source engine finds it harder to render objects, especially things such as the smoke from smoke grenades. I know CSS is CPU dependant, and I can agree with that until you start playing on resolutions above 1024*768, this is where both a good CPU and GPU is required, and it's what is currently affecting me.

 

I'd prefer to go with NVIDIA, I have never owned an ATI card, however if it's definitely worth it I may consider using an ATI card instead.

 

Could anyone recommend me a high performance card for under £200 then?

 

EDIT: after some research, the 4870 seems to be the best card looking at benchmarks for my budget, however, the GTX 280 also seems to dominate anything out there atm, but its way out of range, will there be any price drops soon, or should I just dive for a 4870? 1GB or 512MB?


Message edited by Chris_ on 07-14-2008 at 05:03:26 PM
Reply to Chris_
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http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_9800gtx.html
http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce_8800.html

Sure the GTX280 is the fastest single-core gpu, but at what price? nvidia slashed its price to $450 US, thanks to ATI. The HD 4870 is much cheaper at $300 US and more or less the same as GTX280 in terms of FPS. On top of that, it's GDDR3 VS GDDR5.

Go with HD4870 512MB GDDR5. The 1GB may not be GDDR5. Even if it is, UK will be price-gouged as always.

Reply to akhilles

I'd definitely go with either the 4850 512mb or the 4870 512mb, both are amazing cards that have DX10.1 support and HDMI native support. They are at amazing price points right now too, so it's a steal. The 4850 512mb beats the 9800GTX by a bit, especially when AA is enabled. The same goes for the 4870 vs 260GTX.

In Assassin's Creed, you can clearly see a nice performance increase with DX10.1, which is most likely the future of DX10.1, now that Nvidia can't have it their way anymore.

Reply to IndigoMoss
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Ok, thanks for the advice, I'll go for a 4870 512MB now which is currently £180 GBP next day delivery. Maybe in the future I'll invest in a CrossFire motherboard and purchase another 4870 as that setup seems to beat all cards in benchmarks.

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