VGA Confusion

right, looking at a new video card for less than $300 on account of my 1900gt slowly packing it in.

however it appears that while i wasn't looking, ati started releasing good video cards again, there are 90 million 8800gt flavours, and nvidia also released a couple new ones that i haven't heard a lot about.

here are my picks at the moment:

Sapphire HD4850 - cheapest at $250, plus i've always been an ati fanboy.

Asus 8800gt 1GB - 1gb sounds impressive, but couple benchmarks tell me it probably isn't.

XFX 8800gt Extreme Edition - this was originally my first pick, however i think i've read too many reviews today and now i'm not sure how it compares to the others.

or finally XFX 9600gt 1GB - haven't heard a lot about the 9600 series, i thought i heard some rumours that they aren't much better than 8800s?

basically leaning towards the ati 4850 because of it's bang-for-buck, but i'm uncertain of the best choice because i am having a hard time finding good definitive benchmarks comparing these cards.

what do people think i should buy?

I'd increase your budget fractionally and get the 4870 :P

I just ordered a 4850, decided since I have no games on my pc anyway no point getting anything faster atm, Could always put in another if a game comes out that runs slow anyway.

Only ever ordered from scorptec but got this from pccasegear for $215 and they have air express on orders with multiple items unlike scorptec.

would love a 4870, however the $300 price limit is there so that i can do stuff like buy food and pay rent and bills :P

but it's like a 10% variation. Pretend that you're the NT government and anything less than 100% over budget is a saving.

4850 > 8800GT > 9600GT

Decision made.

Seriously, get a 4870.

staticICE :: 4870 : Australia's comprehensive computer hardware and gadget price comparison search engine

Wait a week and spend $30 more if you HAVE to budget that tightly.

hrm didn't realize they were going quite that cheap

goddammit!

it needs 2 6-pin connectors! i think my 430w psu is going to hate me

edit: ack! Quote:
500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended

I rekon it might, mod time ;)

i say

4850

sure 4870 may be faster with a slight premium in price

but it sucks more power, which = more money to pay in your bills

in this day and age, power consumption imo is something to watch out for with ever increasing power hungry tech parts.

Switch a light globe to an energy saver globe after you buy the 4870. Bam, energy net profit.

Or just get the 4850, if ya ever need more power get another cheap :P. I just got mine could barely fit it in my Antec p182 case :/

basically i have slept on it, and decided that eating is not as important as having a good puter again.

with that in mind, i think i have decided on the hd4870 and a 650w psu, pending some extra cash from the government.

Well if your not going to eat might as well not eat for a week and get this instead :) AnandTech: ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 - R700 Preview: AMD's Fastest Single Card

[H] Enthusiast - AMD ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 Preview

Yes Tachi - that rocks.

Quote from Mungus;348975:
it needs 2 6-pin connectors! i think my 430w psu is going to hate me

edit: ack!
Read the fine print.
I not long bought a 9600GT and shat my self when on the box i read "Minimum 580W PSU required" (as I had only bought a 450W psu, as all indications on the net said it would be ok).
But it all works fine, as that recommendation is based on a system with a better CPU than mine.

but what brand psu do you have? higher quality brands (seasonic, antec) will manage ok, however i am almost certain that my shitty 430w thermaltake will not enjoy ANY video card that requires two pci-express connectors.

the fact that it only has one is also a hint.

I'm sure you can live without food, but can you live without beer? Or does that come under a different budget in the Mungus household? :P

right, so i got the hd4870.

playing crysis at 1280x1024 at very high settings, getting ~30fps. yippee

now to upgrade my cpu and ram!

Ive found Crysis to be very CPU limited as well. When I overclock my 6600 to 3.4, crysis runs about 10fps faster.

is really the only game that runs less than about 50fps so far.

have tried assassin's creed, mass effect, ut3 and colin mcrae dirt. which all run brilliantly, unlike the old x1900gt which struggled along at sub 20fps. (or 5fps in the case of colin mcrae)

yes but what are your 3dmark scores. THEY ARE THE ONLY THINGS THAT COUNT AFTER ALL.

pigs arse