Graphics Card on a budget?

[Guest]

I want to get Dragon Age Origins on the PC. Spec is as follows -

Recommended:
Core 2 Quad with 2.4 GHz (or comparable AMD CPU), 2048 MB RAM (XP), 4096 MB RAM (Vista), Geforce 8800 GTS or Radeon HD 3850 with 512 MB

My 9500GT graphics card is not up to scratch so I am going to get a new one, but there are so many and the prices vary greatly. Can anyone recommend one for £150ish?

 

[bige420]

Radeon HD 4890 would work well for your budget. Thats really not a "budget" card, its pretty high end.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/177264

 

[shadow187]

E150 is about $300 USD, right?

Get an HD5850. It's a great card, and will last you for quite some time.

 

[Guest]

Radeon HD 4890 would work well for your budget. Thats really not a "budget" card, its pretty high end.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/177264

Thanks. Looks good, but alot of reviews say the fan noise is an issue. Things like that annoy me, to be honest. Is there a card that is comparable thats less noisy?

Also how does it compare to GeForce GTX 285, that seems to be popular, but is £232.

What is more important, shader clock speed or processor clock speed?

What amount of stream processing units should I look for?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm quite new to all this.

 

[Guest]

E150 is about $300 USD, right?

Get an HD5850. It's a great card, and will last you for quite some time.

That card is around £200 so it's over budget to be honest.

 

[bige420]

Thanks. Looks good, but alot of reviews say the fan noise is an issue. Things like that annoy me, to be honest. Is there a card that is comparable thats less noisy?

Also how does it compare to GeForce GTX 285, that seems to be popular, but is £232.

What is more important, shader clock speed or processor clock speed?

What amount of stream processing units should I look for?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm quite new to all this.

I dont think the fan would be very noticeable, only if you turn it up to high speeds.

The 4890 is about equal to the GTX 275, while the 5850 is a little better than the GTX 285. Both clock speeds are important but not ridiculously important. If you were to say overclock a 4890 by 75mhz your might only notice a 2-5fps difference.

As for stream processors, they differ between Manufacturers. Nvidia's processors work differently than Ati's so you cant compare them directly. With Ati the higher the better. The 4850/4870/4890 all have 800 stream processors. The new 5850's have 1440 i believe, and the 5870 has 1600.

Having said that I would still recommend the 4890 since the Nvidia equivalent is $100 more. The 5850 would be really nice but if its over your budget then thats fine.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply.

Are ATI generally seen as better than Nvidia?

Is there a great deal of difference between these then? (all 4890)-

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=35969&tid=frooct
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=32269&tid=frooct
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/177264
http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?origin=gbase2.4&prodID=B244949
http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?prodID=B239172&viewSpec=y&showold=#productTop

 

[Guest]

or

http://www.dabs.com/products/gigabyte-radeon-4890-hd-900mhz-1gb-pci-express-dvi-oc-6457.html#specifications

 

[bige420]

Ati inst necessarily seen as better, its a much better value though. Generally you can look to pay $50-$100 more for a Nvidia card over its Ati equivalent.

As for the 4890's, they're all pretty much the same except for their coolers and some might have a slight overclock over stock speeds. I would get the Sapphire with Vapor-X though because it has a very nice cooler and is factory overclocked.

 

[Guest]

Cool thanks. One last thing, will I notice a big difference between my current 9500GT and the HD4890?

 

[Guest]

Just ordered the Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 Vapor-X 1GB .

Thanks for your help bige420.... nice avatar by the wya

 

[bige420]

Just ordered the Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 Vapor-X 1GB .

Thanks for your help bige420.... nice avatar by the wya

lol thanks man, and yes you will see a massive difference