Best PCI-E Card For ~$180: Tie
| GeForce 9600 GT 512 MB | |
|---|---|
| Codename | G92 |
| Process | 65 nm |
| Universal Shaders | 64 |
| Texture Units | 32 |
| ROPs | 16 |
| Memory Bus | 256 bit |
| Core Speed MHz | 650 |
| Memory Speed MHz | 900 (1800 effective) |
| DirectX / Shader Model | DX 10 / SM 4.0 |
The new 9600 GT is Nvidia's answer to the Radeon 3800 series: cheap, powerful, and efficient. The 9600 GT usually performs a bit below the 3870 with no antialiasing, and a bit faster than the 3870 when AA is enabled. Both cards are in the $180 range, and both are excellent buys that make sub-$200 high-resolution gaming a reality.
| Radeon 3870 | |
|---|---|
| Codename | RV670 |
| Process | 55 nm |
| Universal Shaders | 320 |
| Texture Units | 16 |
| ROPs | 16 |
| Memory Bus | 256 bit |
| Core Speed MHz | 775 |
| Memory Speed MHz | 1125 (2250 effective) |
| DirectX / Shader Model | DX 10.1 / SM 4.0 |
The Radeon 3870 is a lot of card for $180. The 9600 GT has forced 3870 prices down, and if you have $200 to spend on a graphics card, either card offers an incredible gaming experience for the dollars spent.
Best PCI-E Card For ~$230
| GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB | |
|---|---|
| Codename | G92 |
| Process | 65 nm |
| Universal Shaders | 112 |
| Texture Units | 56 |
| ROPs | 16 |
| Memory Bus | 256 bit |
| Core Speed MHz | 600 |
| Memory Speed MHz | 900 (1800 effective) |
| DirectX / Shader Model | DX 10 / SM 4.0 |
The 8800 GT offers incredible Geforce 8800 GTX-class performance at almost half the price. It beats the Radeon 3870 by a notable margin, but it does tend to be a bit more expensive. That said, if you have $230 to spend on a graphics card, you couldn't do better than a nice 8800 GT.
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i have ati 9550 and im gonna buy the agp 8x 3850 512mb radeon, i was trying to figure out how many fps i will get with the change of these cards iv got my pc overclock at 3.000 mhz i got 800 fsb i got 1.5gig ram 3200 and got that overclock from 400mhz to 440mhz and i use a ram releaseso ram never runs out, at the moment i got the 9550 ati over clocked from 250 core too 420 and memory from 200 to 230,
Cheers Woli.
I should be able to see a massive improvement for just £45 if I replace my original GeForce FX 5500 (256MB) with a 8600 GT 512MB or 8600 GTS 256MB...But which is best, a 512MB GT or a 256MB GTS?
Anything else I'd need to improve for under £50? Anything else I need to know?
...Anyone?