Need a little help choosing a graphics card :)

[deafjimmy]

Hello everybody,
I just built a new computer and the specs are as follow:
cpu: intel quad core q6600
ram: 2gb 800 mhz
motherboard: gigabyte ep 35 ds3l
power supply: 500 W
screen: 19" monitor from my old dell computer

Well I need to buy a graphics card but im not sure which one to get so here are the ones I thought of:
4850 512 mb sapphire (160 euros)
9800 gtx +512 mb (190 euros)
9800 gt 512 mb (128 euros)

Other options would be to get a different card or wait until prices drop if that's not going to be too long. I would like to be able to play games like: fallout 3, bioshock, assassins creed, gears of war, call of duty 4, etc...

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Ps: Im from Spain so i cant buy from newegg and the site Im buying form is appinformatica.com

 

[invisik]

the 9800gt will serve you right with those games on a 19in, but if your like me and must have all the eye candy i would suggest the 4850.

 

[deafjimmy]

Well I would like to have the most eye candy i can have xP
But is the 4850 worth 32 euros more?, am i even going to notice the difference on a 19" monitor since i think the max resolution is 1440x900 (correct me if im wrong).
Would i be able to play those games on the 9800 gt all max settings with no lag?
Thanxs for the quick reply

 

[dirtmountain]

I'd get the 4850 and i think it would be worth the 32 euros

 

[jitpublisher]

+1 for the 4850.

 

[cow_moo]

well I don't know it performs great but at that low of a resoluton it won't really matter. Same thing for me I'm playing on a 17" dell from 3-5 years ago so my 9800GTX dosent really make a huge difference from a 9800Gt (my freind has one and we did the same benchies with my system just putting the different gfx cards in

 

[invisik]

at that resolution a 9800gt is more then enough. you should be able to max everything out except for crysis and farcry 2. If you plan to play alot of the new intensive games on high settings then you might want to go with the 4850. 32 euro extra is worth it for newer games.

 

[Onus]

"power supply: 500 W"
...makes me nervous. What brand and model? If it is a cheap one, it may not be up for any of those suggested GPUs.
If it is decent, then I'll add my vote for a 4850.
...or, wait a few days for the November update to Cleeve's graphics card article and see what he has to say.

 

[deafjimmy]

@habitat87
I bought it 3 years ago with my old dell. The computer was just released then but im not sure if the screen was released 3 years ago or maybe a lil bit more.

@jtt283
I dont know what brand and model i have because it came with the tower, heres the link to the tower that comes with the power supply and tried looking on other sites to see if they said what power supply came with it but had no luck.
http://www.appinformatica.com/torres-atx-mediatorre-fx-hard-2767-negra-500w.php

And heres a link to the only site that I could find that would show a picture of the power supply
http://www.c-system.net/informatica/cajas-atx/caja-atx-mediatorre-fx-hard-2767-negra-.php
(What is the cleeves graphic card article?, is it the one where they say which are the best graphic cards for the month?)

@everyone else
Thanks for your input and I think ill be getting the 4850 which seems like the best midrange card now. Unless it doesnt work bc my power supply isnt good enough...

 

[Onus]

I could not view the closeups, but that looks like a typical cheap one that comes with a case. Particularly if that is a voltage switch in the back, it doesn't have Active PFC (Power Factor Correction), which all the better ones have now. I doubt it is capable of powering a 4850 safely. How many amps does it have on its +12V rail or rails?
Good brands include Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, PC Power & Cooling, OCZ, and Enermax. What brands of PSU are available to you?

And yes, that is the article I meant; the one which ends with a hierarchy chart ranking a lot of graphics cards.

 

[deafjimmy]

Well as long as the card works im ok with it because it has a warranty xDD. But another thing would be it affecting the fps or anything like that.

Since I dont like oppening a 100 posts im just gonna ask my new question on here:
Okay in the end I decided to buy the 4850 like everyone said , but now I cant choose wich one the options are:

1)http://www.appinformatica.com/tarjetas-graficas-gigabyte-radeon-hd4850-1024m-gddr3-pci-e.php
4850 1gb ddr3 (183 euros)
2)http://www.appinformatica.com/tarjetas-graficas-sapphire-ati-hd4850-512mb-gddr3-(11132-11-20r).php
4850 512 mb (152 euros)
3)http://www.appinformatica.com/tarjetas-graficas-vga-pcie-ati-hd-4850-512mb-sapphire---.php
4850 512 mb (160 euros)

The girl at the store said I should buy the 1gb and I told here that I have a 19" monitor and wouldnt notice the difference, but she said that I would notice the difference.. But isn't 1gb only for big monitors and resolutions??
(I might buy a better screen in the future but have no intention of doing anytime soon)

Anyways help would be greatly appreciated again

 

[murdoc]

Get 512mb. 1GB is overkill. The girl is a sales person, keep that in mind

You probably have to worry about your PSU. It looks like its a generic one so there's a chance it might not have enough power on the rails to power it. I also suggest that you move to Vista to take advantage of DX10 on your card. ATI 4800 series cards are known to perform better under vista than Nvidia. Also if you want to take advantage of DX10.1 you will need Vista and since 4850 is DX10.1 ready you might as well as use it to your advantage. I'm planning to get vista installed next week and have it dual boot with XP.

 

[deafjimmy]

Hehe your comment made me laugh it was quite witty and funny

Back on topic, which of the 2 512 mb would you get or is there any difference at all?

I really hope I dont have to get a new power supply since that was one of the reasons I chose that case instead of another one that didnt come with a power supply...
And might as well get vista but doesnt it make all games slower except for crysis? (Which is a game i dont plann on playing that much.)

Thanks everyone for helping.

 

[murdoc]

Well yes the frames do drop on vista but what I'm emphsizing on is the fact that you can get more eye candy with your graphics card and that in comparison to the nvidia competition it will do better on vista.

If I were you I would get the cheapest of the 3 because you can always overclock it yourself (if you're comfortable enough with Ocing) and only visiontek offers life time warranty so there's virtually no difference of the 3 choices that you've provided.

I wouldn't rekon you buy a case that comes with a PSU because 90% of the time they won't give you a good one unless the case itself is very expensive. My sister bought a Thermaltake Soprano case which came with a generic PSU and it died in just 3 months.

Power is a very crucial part of your case. It makes everything move so do consider spending a bit of money into it.

 

[Onus]

The risk is not merely that the PSU won't power the graphics card. The risk is that, when overloaded, it will die violently, and in the process pass destructive voltage to your system, killing other parts as well.

 

[deafjimmy]

Well considering I have never OC before, and you lose the warranty if you overclok it right?, I think the 1 gb would be better bc it has 2000 mhz memory clock while the other one only has 1500 mhz memory clock.
But there is another 4850 that say it only has 993 mhz memory clock
http://www.appinformatica.com/tarjetas-graficas-sapphire-ati-hd4850-512mb-gddr3-(11132-11-20r).php
Isnt that impossible?


But thats really confusing me bc I thought there wouldnt be that big of a difference between 2 different 4850s and another thing that made me think about was that if the 9800 gtx+ has 2200 memory clock and 738 core clock vs 625 on the 4850. Then why do people say the 4850 is better??
Why I say that made me think is because the 9800gtx+ is the same exact price as the 4850.


Anyways im really confused right now with all the grafics card if someone could explain to me what all the numbers mean right now It would help get rid of my headache :S