Advice/recommendations on a gfx card

[tomharto]

Im looking to buy a new grphics card but I'm totally clueless on what to get, i need 2 (3 if possible) outputs. I need something whats fairly decent as i use my pc for games and graphic design (only as a hobby) but I dont need anything amazing. Im looking at spending aroudn £100, if anyone has and reccomendations on cards or advice on what spec I should be looking for in a card can you post it here.

Thanks, Tom

 

[asteldian]

What resolution are you using?
Assuming you are on more than 1280 x 1024 I would be wanting to aim for a GTX 460 (1gb) for about £125 or the AMD 6850 for about £135.

But, if those cards are a bit over budget, the GTX460 (768mb) card is also very good though there looks to be only about £8 difference between that and the bigger 1gb brother

 

[tomharto]

One monitor is a 21.5" widescreen, (1920x1200 or something around there) and the other is a 19" normal (around 1440x1000 but i cant remember exactly) and the third output would be to my 42" tv but that isnt that important if i cant hook that up but i need to be able to dual run both the monitors. Thanks, ill take a look at those, i currently have Geforce 9800GT but its making a horrible grinding/rattling sound and the colours on my pc keep randomly changing so i think its time to change

 

[tomharto]

Now I'm home i can put a bit more about my pc, I'm running a nForce 750i motherboardhttp://www.dabs.com/products/xfx-s775-nforce-750i-atx-audio-lan-sli-59JL.html
4GB of OCZ RAM
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 S775 2.66GHz 6MB 1333FSBhttp://www.dabs.com/products/intel-core-2-quad-q9400-s775-2-66ghz-6mb-1333fsb-56ZD.html
and I currently have GeFore 9800GT graphics card. Any advice welcome

 

[Onus]

If you want to run three displays, you will need an AMD card, and one of the displays will have to connect to a DisplayPort (possibly through an adapter, which would be a separate cost). Depending on how much improvement from your 9800GT you want, a HD5770 is a three-tier improvement on the monthly graphics card hierarchy chart. With prices around $120-$130, hopefully they'll be within your £100 budget. If not, the HD5750 is $10-$20 cheaper.

 

[tomharto]

The HD5770 looks pretty good. Few things before i consider getting it, My motherboard has PCI 2.0 connections that says it needs 2.1, would it still work with mine? It says "Recommended" power 500W, my power supply is only a 405W, would i need to upgrade that too? Currently all 3 leads i have are DVI, would something like this do the job for changing them to Mini-DP, http://www.pickegg.com/wholesale/mini-displayport-dp-to-dvi-adapter-for-macbook-pro-air-white.html?currency=GBP&welcome=254 ? And finally, I want to start overclocking my pc to get a bit more out of this, I've heard some card overclock a lot better than others, whats that one like for overclocking?

Thanks

 

[jyjjy]

There are 2.0 HD5770s but 2.1 cards shouldn't have any problems with 2.0 motherboards anyway.
You will need an active display port adapter such as this one;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814999030
To use 3 monitors on the card.
Sapphire also sells a "Flex" edition of the HD5770 which doesn't need an adapter.
Your power supply may be fine for an HD5770 but we need to know the brand/model to figure that out.

 

[tomharto]

All 3 monitors have DVI ends, i guess I'd need an adapter for each lead? On the power supply it says "JeanTech", model: Pufp-405. Ill have a look see if i can find it on the web anywhere. My graphics card has just gone, when i plug power into it it cuts power off to my PC so i desperately need a new one, and I think I've narrowed it down to either the HD5700 or GeForce GTX 460 1GB

 

[tomharto]

Here's the power supply http://reviewsaver.co.uk/review/JEANTECH-PUFP-405-ATX-PC-Power-Supply-Unit-405W-1272269108 for some reason i couldn't edit my post

 

[Onus]

I did not find any useful information with a quick Google search on that PSU. As an off-brand, I'm not sure I would trust it.

The card has two DVI connectors and one DisplayPort connector, so you should only need one adapter.

 

[tomharto]

Ok, im sure i could find a more well known PSU for it, any recommendations or are they all pretty similar? Oh, http://www.dabs.com/products/xfx-ati-radeon-5770-hd-850mhz-1gb-pci-express-2-1-hdmi--includes-h-a-w-x--game-download--77KR.html on there it shows it as having 5 DisplayPort connections on it, is that wrong or is that a slightly different model to what you suggested for me?

 

[akula2]

All 3 monitors have DVI ends, i guess I'd need an adapter for each lead? On the power supply it says "JeanTech", model: Pufp-405. Ill have a look see if i can find it on the web anywhere. My graphics card has just gone, when i plug power into it it cuts power off to my PC so i desperately need a new one, and I think I've narrowed it down to either the HD5700 or GeForce GTX 460 1GB

The HD 5770 FleX is the first card available to support three DVI monitors in ATI Eyefinity mode so it's the best to your requirement:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102906&cm_re=5770_flex-_-14-102-906-_-Product

 

[Onus]

That particular HD5770 is a unique model to have those connectors on it. While it would certainly work, you'd then need to buy three adapters, and have all that cable mess hanging off the back of your PC.
A quality modern PSU has full range active PFC (no little voltage switch required) and some level of 80+ certification (confirmed at 80plus.org, because there are liars out there). Antec, Seasonic, Corsair, XFX, and Enermax are among the better brands. OCZ and FSP are ok. Most Coolermaster are junk (except their newest, high-end stuff). On anything other than "Enermax," if you see "max" in the name of a PSU, it is a reference either to the size of the pyrotechnic display, or the number and expense of the other parts it will take with it when it dies.

 

[tomharto]

I think ill get this PSU
http://www.aristacomputers.com/OCZ-Stealth-Xtream-500W-PSU-ACTIVE-PFC-1x-PCI-E-68pin-2x-SATA-12cm-Fan-Retail.html?m1track=googlebase&utm_source=google&utm_medium=M1productexport&utm_campaign=google_base&source=googlebase

And this GFX card
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-045-OC

Thanks for your help everyone. I need some better pc cooling so off to the cooling forum section i go

 

[Onus]

You linked the same PSU (from different places). That one should be fine.

 

[tomharto]

Oops, my bad >.<. Heres the link to the card http://www.elecosave.co.uk/sapphire-technology-radeon-hd-5770-flex---1-gb-gddr5---pci-express-20-11163-13-10r-365949-p.asp

 

[Onus]

Ok, will do nicely.

 

[tomharto]

I have a new PSU and the card ordered, however the GFX card will come a few days before my PSU. What could go wrong if i run my new GFX card with my old PSU (Card recommends 500W, my current is 405W), is there a chance i could blow/burn something out or would it just underpower and not run right?

Thanks

 

[Onus]

Your cheap Jeantech PSU could blow electronic chunks, taking any number of other parts with it into the fiery abyss. Safest to wait.

 

[tomharto]

Ive just got the PSU and GFX card though, and generally there working great, but randomly my screen keeps doing this,

www.todieamartyr.co.uk/files/Hmmm.png
www.todieamartyr.co.uk/files/Hmmm2.png.

Any one have/know what or why this problem happens? There's roughly 2 parts of my screen what it always does it in, as you can see from the second one, it kinda checkers back to my desktop.

Thanks

 

[Onus]

Does it happen immediately, or after the card heats up? Try underclocking it some. You may need to RMA the card; obviously it should not do that.

 

[tomharto]

I did tweak the Overdrive settings on the Control Center, i reset them, updated driver and problem seems to have gone. I thought since i just installed the drivers they would have been the newest but obviously not

 

[Onus]

Ok then, you may just have exceeded the max stable OC for the card. If it's running just fine at stock, you're ok.