Now going to take the thumb from my rectum and build a good value system.

I have 2 cards in mind -

BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC2 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)

GeForce 8800 GTS core running at 580MHz
Shader Clock Speed of 1350MHz
320MB GDDR3 Memory running at 1700MHz
Shader Model 4.0
Texture Fill Rate: 24 billion/sec
Memory Bandwidth: 64GB/s

£202.09 inc VAT


OR

EVGA GeForce 7950 GT Superclocked 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)

GeForce 7950 GT core running at 600MHz
512MB GDDR3 Memory running at 1450MHz
24 Pixel Pipelines
Dual dual-link DVI supports two 2560 x 1600 resolution displays
HDCP !!

£146.86 inc VAT


Direct X10 isnt an issue for another year so........

The system it will be running on will be a dual core e6600 with decent asus motherboard and 2g ram.

Any opinions?

 

I'd get the 8800GTS as it spanks all the competition in DX9 games as well.
Saying that I would hold on a week or two as the new ATI cards are released. They aren't supposed to be much if any better than the current nVidia 8800 cards but are supposed to be priced very competitively.

 

The 8800 also has 96 pipelines and not 24 like the 7950.

 

better future proofing on the 8800 as well...

 

I've decided to buy my system now without a card, pcspecialist have very little stock of any mid range cards at the moment, apparently waiting for new models.

Allan

 

Amazon.co.uk: Zotac nFire 8800GTS 640MB PCIE HDTV: Electronics & Photo

Sadly not in stock for 4-6 weeks and possibly a misprice too but you VERY good price non the less

 

Just though i'd update with this. Plenty of power for you cash:

HIS ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

- Superscalar unified shader architecture
- 320 stream processing units
- 512-bit 8-channel memory interface
- Comprehensive DirectX® 10 support
- Integrated CrossFire™
- High-speed 128-bit HDR (High Dynamic Range) rendering
- Up to 24x Custom Filter Anti-Aliasing
- ATI Avivo™ HD video and display technology
- Built-in HDMI and 5.1 surround audio
- Dynamic geometry acceleration
- Game physics processing capability
- Free “Black Box” game bundle from Valve Corporation*
- ATI Radeon HD 2000 Series GPUs with ATI Avivo HD technology offer advanced audio, video processing, display and connectivity capabilities for high definition entertainment solutions
- Introduces a breakthrough for the playback of Blu-ray and HD DVD discs.
- UVD (Universal Video Decoding) is a new full-spec HD video processing technology that provides full hardware decoding of Blu-ray and HD DVD
- UVD technology enables a cool, quiet media PC with low power requirements for the GPU and CPU
- UVD technology enables entry level PCs to play full-spec HD discs
- ATI Avivo HD technology includes fully integrated high definition audio support enabling playback of multi-channel (5.1) audio streams and when combined with the integrated HDCP copy protection, enables a one cable HDMI connectivity solution to high definition home theaters.


All for £276 inc vat

 

That's cheaper than a PS3!

 

i take it that is a beast?

on the same lvl as a GTX card?

 

Review I've seen pitched it at the GTS, not the GTX... (cue ATI fanboys...)


PowerColor Radeon HD 2900 XT graphics card | Reg Hardware

 

"The results in 3DMark06, Half-Life 2 and Elder Scrolls: Oblivion make it plain that this hardware has no place connected to a low-resolution screen. With every quality setting enabled, the 2900 XT performs extremely capably, and with two cards in CrossFire it gave the 8800 Ultra a considerable spanking."