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Best graphics card

  • Thread starter Thread starter daniel smith
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daniel smith

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im thinking of getting a new graphics card - whats better - geforce or ati? ati is cheaper, though i have heard they are also powerful... though i have also heard that geforce are better in terms of frame rate - this doesnt really mean much to me - perhaps somene could help me out here....
 
Depends on your price point i have had both. tried top and midde range cards never seen much in it just the cost
 
so you are saying that it doesnt really make much of a difference to what make of card i get.... as the only difference is just cost? (assuming spec is the same)

- guess this is the same for intel and amd processors... amd is cheaper than intel - though they perform relatively well compared to each other (ssuming the system is built around the chip)
 
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Both the ATI X800XT and 6800 Ultra's are absolute monster cards but as I hear it, a new graphics standard is on the cards, something like PCI-X and is to replace AGP ( So I was Told anyway)

Also, I hear that the 6800 Ultra will need at least 230Watts from ur PSU for itself never mind the rest of the system.. maybe you'll need that 500Watt PSU you have been promising yourself? lol :D
 
think my system currently uses AGP - so looks like to get the best will need new motherboard :eek: bit of a bummer then... - probably would need a new processor aswell then, just for updating everything - then i would also need a new psu - when would it stop - lol.... at least can keep same OS on hdd and ram :P ... though would it be better to wait for 64bit to take off and upgrade then :crap: - so many things to think about :shrug:
 
the current varients of the ATI X800XT and nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra's are AGP 8x <phew> lol :D some amount of cash tho :eek:
 
A quick heads-up for you

Make sure you check that the card will actually fit on your motherboard. Some of the new cards are as long as the mobo is wide. Check how big the card is if possible, then check that there are no sockets (like IDE etc) in line with the AGP slot. I bought a GFX5900 and it would'nt fit on my mobo as the IDE slots were in line with the AGP slot. Solution, I bought an ASrock mobo for under £30.
 
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I would also suggest that you investigate buying an ATI 9800 Pro or 9600 Pro, both are physically small sized cards (by comparison to Nvidia), they run quietly, require very little motherboard power and have stable drivers.

I can't comment on their latest chipset yet, but Nvidia's current (technically now 'last') generation of cards have been of poor quality. They've been big, some have been loud and driver quality has always been an issue.

I have both a GeForce FX and ATI Radeon 9800 Pro in my two home systems and the ATI still wins out for me. I guess it comes down to what you can afford, any ball park on that?
 
I say ATI, not because I have tried nvidia, but because I have found ATI so good.

Currently have an ati 9800 pro for £129, which was great value.

Also bought an arctic cooler for it, only around £6. Very easy to fit too.

Its now going faster than a 9800XT would (thats one up from the pro version).

Havent found a game that taxes it yet. Spending more on a graphics card is always worth it in my opinion, dispite many people saying 'wait for the new ones, they will push prices down.'

There is always new ones coming out!

I wouldnt touch the new nvidia ones, because:

a. I dont have a house so I cant remorgage

b. They use FAR too much power

c. They use two slots rather than one

d. They do not have that much of a increase in performance over the ATI's to justify the extra power consumption and extra slot taken.


In the end, it depends what you want it for. Unless its games, then its very unlikely you will need one over £60.
 
daniel smith said:
im thinking of getting a new graphics card - whats better - geforce or ati? ati is cheaper, though i have heard they are also powerful... though i have also heard that geforce are better in terms of frame rate - this doesnt really mean much to me - perhaps somene could help me out here....

Depends what you want it for. If its not for gamming any card will be more then adequate. Certainly no point inspending £200 plus. About £50 to £80 would get you a good one.
 
It really depends how much you game, and how much you're willing to spend. If you're an average gamer, than a mid range card is for you. The Radeon 9600XT is a great card for a good price, although you may want a 9800 Pro since they're realtively cheap and are moving into that "mid range" bracket, to be honest. As for nVidia mid range, the FX5700 is a good card as well for the same price.

As for high end, the X800 just got released, and you can grab one on eBuyer for around £290. They're very, very good, and will cope with the new games such as Half Life 2 and Doom 3 with ultimate ease. It's AGP 8x compatable etc etc, all the usual blurb really. As for nVidia's new offering, the 6800, it's also a damn good card, and I heard that it was only the reference card given to reviewers that would take up two slots. I hear that the official release card will only take up one slot (AGP), but it'll still require a heck of a lot of power. So to be honest, if you're looking for that sort of power for that price, I'd got for the ATI X800.

As for driver issues etc, ATI have gotten a lot better with their drivers recently, although nVidia do have excellent drivers, very easy to set up. When I was building my friends computer with an ATI card, I was a bit unsure when the drivers basically did three setups (I forget what for now, one for actual drivers, two others for Windows stuff I think). nVidia just does it like that.

Oh, and as for PCI Express, that won't be avaliable in motherboard or graphics form until much later in the year. Intel might shift something out for summer, though. For now, both cards are AGP 8x.

Both companies have great cards, though I'd say ATI still have that slight edge over nVidia at the moment.
 
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lol... thanks for your help guys :) so many cards, so much variation in prices... guess it will be a case of looking inside my current machine see what i can fit in it (which would be agp or pci if i really felt like it...) - and what i can afford... seems like ATI seems to be the best valued....

surely the only thing you would use a graphics card is for games, and perhaps some top multimedia designing - like computer generated films (like toy story), and just designs for products (for the shadows)... though i guess there is a heck more to it...
 
no really sure... came with the system i purchased... though i think it is written down somewhere...
 
nice piece of software... or analyser... though it made my hard drives bigger than they actually are.... my 160gb hdd -> shows as 160.03gb -> actually is 149gb..... and 80gb -> shows as 81.49gb - actually is 76.2gb.... if it says i can have an extra 16 or so gb - let me have them :P ... though i think it might just be a software error that might just calculate it wrong... as manufactures mean something different to what is on the box... ie they say 10gb is 10,000,000,000bytes - which is actually about 9.75gb... so is it software error - or can i get this space?
 
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aha.....

Board: TriGem Computer, Inc. Imperial 2.04
BIOS: Phoenix 6.00 06/25/2003

Though im undecided whether to get a graphics card for this machine or another.... prob this one
 
Hmmm they make mutants and computers (FarCry) :laugh:
 
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