Please help with the right card for a brand new rig ... (1st build)

Forum Graphics & Displays : Graphics Cards Please help with the right card for a brand new rig ... (1st build)

Ok Guys ....

1st off this is a lot of 1st :-)

1st Post
1st PC Build

1st Problem

OK lets get to it ....

Im not an extreme gamer - Morrowind / Oblivion and a few on-PC RTS games ... but occasionally ...

Surfing / email - like mad

PShop Pro / Photoshop - regularly

now Im getting into Poser / 3ds Max and want to upgrade my Paintshop pro ...

So I just got made redundant so I start to spec out a nice machine - not bought anything yet but Im getting stuck on the graphics :-)

Processor : Intel® Core 2 Duo E8400

Mainboard : Asrock P45XE-R

RAM : Corsair DIMM 4 GB DDR2-1066 Kit

now do I go for ATI ? or NVIDA

I was going for a
Palit GF9800GT Super+
Sparkle 9800GT 1024MB, PCI-Express

... but then saw 9800 for extreme gamers ... I Im not into WoW etc but I do Like Second life ... and these cards are not cheap ...

so then

Club3D 9600GT, 512MB, NVIDIA Geforce 9600GT, PCI-Express

but I heard its a real old card and

Well

MY question

whats a good card for and all rounder who likes the odd game, modifying photo's creative pc photography and is just starting 3D graphics ..

something that I won't have to junk in a year

Reply to exclusiveor77

1Gb HD4870. I've seen them as low as £150.00 in UK. one of the best bang for buck cards around.

------------------------------ Core i7 OC 3.6Ghz
ATI XFX HD5970 Black Edition
Corsair 1000W
12Gb DDR3 1800
Reply to kkkk1

4830 would be ok for what you want to do
what rez does your monitor display

Reply to rangers

I haven't bought it yet but I was going for this

SAMSUNG 933SN High Glossy Black 18.5" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 15000:1 (1000:1) - Retail

my current LCD is samsung and its 4yrs old .... never had a problem .... but its 15 inch ...

Reply to exclusiveor77

oops double post

Message edited by exclusiveor77 on 03-11-2009 at 10:33:18 PM

Reply to exclusiveor77

=oops

Message edited by exclusiveor77 on 03-11-2009 at 10:35:02 PM

Reply to exclusiveor77

Every card you mentioned will do what you want. The 9600 is maybe a waste of money. A 4830 will beat it in every game for $80 - $100. The 4850 is amazing for the money.

Here's a rough performance breakdown:

Nvidia 9800 GTx >= ATI 4830
<= ATI 4850
< ATI 4870

If you run 1600 x 1050 or lower resolution there's really no difference in any of the the cards in terms of playability. The 4870 is certainly the best by a wide margin.
The 4670 should be mentioned as well. 4670's in cross fire do surprisingly well in the benchmarks. 4670's are $70 and 4830's are $90. The $20 is worth it.

Reply to average joe

That's a terrible monitor for the money.

It's old.

19" wide screen is tiny.

1360 x 768 res is low.

It doesn't even have DVI inputs.

It doesn't support HDPC so no using it for DVD's

1 year warrenty

$150.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824009145

22" wide screen is the value sweet spot.

1680 x 1050 is much better.

VGA and DVI inputs.

HDPC supoprt.

3 year warrenty.

$170.00

Message edited by average joe on 03-11-2009 at 11:27:11 PM

Reply to average joe

cpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103648
gpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814131125
mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157139
ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227298
psu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817341010
monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824236050

Message edited by invisik on 03-12-2009 at 02:04:50 AM

Reply to invisik

Well thanks guys - save me from my Samsung leanings and some money ....

Reply to exclusiveor77

Samsung makes great stuff but the model you were looking at is a 3 year old model.

Reply to average joe

Dont get the ASRock motherboard!

Go with a Gigabyte P45 or Asus

Reply to jevon

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