Best PCIE GFX for 100-150 quid
24 March 2010, 12:28 AM
#1
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 10,954
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Best PCIE GFX for 100-150 quid
Running a Q6600 with 8GB RAM, Win 7 64bit and an 8800GTS. Its got to the point the GTS just isn't cutting it anymore.
Gonna chuck it on ebay, but whats the best value for money card to replace it with at the moment, or is something better around the corner for the cash?
Mainly been playing Mass Effect 2, CoD MW2, and BFBC2 all at 1280x1024 on my 1600x1200 monitor coz the gfx card can't handle any more, and even struggles on anything more than medium gfx on BFBC2.....
TIA
Gonna chuck it on ebay, but whats the best value for money card to replace it with at the moment, or is something better around the corner for the cash?
Mainly been playing Mass Effect 2, CoD MW2, and BFBC2 all at 1280x1024 on my 1600x1200 monitor coz the gfx card can't handle any more, and even struggles on anything more than medium gfx on BFBC2.....
TIA
24 March 2010, 09:13 AM
#3
Scooby Regular
iTrader: (6)
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Northampton, Xbox GamerTag - Neanderthal1976
Posts: 6,850
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I've got exactly the same spec as you Jawa so will be interested in what you end up getting 
It was nice when I first had the 8800GTS running stuff at max resolution but those days are over with the new generation of games
It was nice when I first had the 8800GTS running stuff at max resolution but those days are over with the new generation of games
24 March 2010, 09:32 AM
#4
I also had a 8800GTS but it couldn't deal with Batman Asylum so I went for a GTX 275 end of last year for £155 and now easily deals with COD MW2.
I bet it can be found cheaper now, but as its six months old there is more than likely an even better card out there for less money.
I bet it can be found cheaper now, but as its six months old there is more than likely an even better card out there for less money.
24 March 2010, 10:50 AM
#5
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 10,954
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
MW2 isn't too bad, nor ME2, but BFBC2 is horrific. Being as thats the newest and most games now will be like that I want something which will run that fine, as then I know the others will be good and it will have a little future proofing!
Cheers for the heads up Tony, (I thought Nvidia were launching a new range shortly) I'll wait till Nvidia do their launch then and start looking
24 March 2010, 02:01 PM
#6
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 10,954
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Some interesting food for thought here:
Best PCIe Card: ~$190 To $250 : Best Graphics Cards For The Money: March 2010
Price of around £215 for the new 5830, but with Nvidia so close to launch the DX11 cards its not a wise move.
Other thought since I own a Crossfire supported mainboard was along the line of whats in the article and get a Crossfire solution, only where they say dual 4850's (only DX10) I could get dual 5670s with 1gb (DX11) for £150-170......
Best PCIe Card: ~$190 To $250 : Best Graphics Cards For The Money: March 2010
Price of around £215 for the new 5830, but with Nvidia so close to launch the DX11 cards its not a wise move.
Other thought since I own a Crossfire supported mainboard was along the line of whats in the article and get a Crossfire solution, only where they say dual 4850's (only DX10) I could get dual 5670s with 1gb (DX11) for £150-170......
Last edited by ScoobyJawa; 24 March 2010 at 04:53 PM.
Trending Topics
28 March 2010, 12:14 PM
#9
Scooby Senior
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Slowly rebuilding the kit of bits into a car...
Posts: 14,333
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
They won't need to drop them, IMHO. Nvidia have gone ahead on performance, but at a higher price. I'd rather buy a 5850 and have the option of getting another, than pay £400+ for an untested product, at a rip-off price ( due to high demand ).
dunx
P.S. 5770 was my choice, but the 5830 fits my budget.
dunx
P.S. 5770 was my choice, but the 5830 fits my budget.
28 March 2010, 04:53 PM
#10
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 10,954
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Most reviews say the 5830 is barely better than the 5770 anyway!!
I've bitten the bullet and gone with a Sapphire 5850 Vapor-X from Amazon, awaiting stock but their price was 30 quid less than the nearest rival at around £215.
Will update when I have it in my grubby mitts and have given it a bashing on MW2 and BFBC2
I've bitten the bullet and gone with a Sapphire 5850 Vapor-X from Amazon, awaiting stock but their price was 30 quid less than the nearest rival at around £215.
Will update when I have it in my grubby mitts and have given it a bashing on MW2 and BFBC2
28 March 2010, 09:56 PM
#11
Scooby Regular
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Zed Ess Won Hay Tee
Posts: 21,611
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I only run 1024 x 768 res as my monitor is old, but my gtx275 seams to run everything fine, the only game I have had trouble with is ARMA 2, but that's not really a fault with the card, more unoptomised game code.
In fact my pc specs are well above the devs own machines (along with many others) yet we sometimes struggle.
In fact my pc specs are well above the devs own machines (along with many others) yet we sometimes struggle.
29 March 2010, 08:05 AM
#12
Scooby Regular
iTrader: (6)
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Northampton, Xbox GamerTag - Neanderthal1976
Posts: 6,850
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Most reviews say the 5830 is barely better than the 5770 anyway!!
I've bitten the bullet and gone with a Sapphire 5850 Vapor-X from Amazon, awaiting stock but their price was 30 quid less than the nearest rival at around £215.
Will update when I have it in my grubby mitts and have given it a bashing on MW2 and BFBC2
I've bitten the bullet and gone with a Sapphire 5850 Vapor-X from Amazon, awaiting stock but their price was 30 quid less than the nearest rival at around £215.
Will update when I have it in my grubby mitts and have given it a bashing on MW2 and BFBC2
29 March 2010, 11:49 AM
#13
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 10,954
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Well I've ordered with it out of stock so that when they come in I'll get one at the cheap price - I wonder if they realise how cheap they are compared to everywhere else?!?!
If you look though, no sites have the card in stock yet, alot show pre order so it must be very new and not quite out and distributed yet! But I don't mind waiting
If you look though, no sites have the card in stock yet, alot show pre order so it must be very new and not quite out and distributed yet! But I don't mind waiting
09 April 2010, 06:07 PM
#14
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 10,954
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Change of plan coz I couldn't wait 
I've got a Powercolor 5850 1GB PCS+ arriving in the morning from Overclockers UK. 760mhz and 4200mhz respectively, a bit less than the Toxic (765mhz and 4500mhz), but in stock and about 40 quid cheaper than the places with Toxic's available!
Depending on how much room I have in my case I might keep the 8800GTS in for the Physx handling but its tight in there!
I'll update the thread when its in and I've given it a good bashing!! Rest of the mach specs in a bit more detail are 975x Platinum board from MSi, Q6600 oc'd to 3.0Ghz and 8GB Corsair XMS2 RAM.
I've got a Powercolor 5850 1GB PCS+ arriving in the morning from Overclockers UK. 760mhz and 4200mhz respectively, a bit less than the Toxic (765mhz and 4500mhz), but in stock and about 40 quid cheaper than the places with Toxic's available!
Depending on how much room I have in my case I might keep the 8800GTS in for the Physx handling but its tight in there!
I'll update the thread when its in and I've given it a good bashing!! Rest of the mach specs in a bit more detail are 975x Platinum board from MSi, Q6600 oc'd to 3.0Ghz and 8GB Corsair XMS2 RAM.
09 April 2010, 10:07 PM
#15
Scooby Regular
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Zed Ess Won Hay Tee
Posts: 21,611
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Crank that Q6600 up, it should push out a bit more then that.
My Q6700 sits happily @ 3.51ghz on air cooling
It could run more but my mobo/bios does not want to push out more then 1.5vcore
My Q6700 sits happily @ 3.51ghz on air cooling
It could run more but my mobo/bios does not want to push out more then 1.5vcore
10 April 2010, 12:53 AM
#16
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 10,954
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yeah it will but its messing around with finding the stability point where its sits at 3.0 (1.25 vcore) all day long Might push it to 3.2 as I have a massive OCZ heatsink fitted. Thing is that even at current OC it hits 70 deg on the Prime test 
Might push it to 3.2 as I have a massive OCZ heatsink fitted. Thing is that even at current OC it hits 70 deg on the Prime test
10 April 2010, 11:10 AM
#17
Scooby Senior
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Slowly rebuilding the kit of bits into a car...
Posts: 14,333
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
What do normal people do that's equivalent to a prime test ?
I can encode a DVD without it melting.... that'll do me !
LOL
dunx
P.S. Q6600 + Zalman CNPS10X @ 3.3Ghz and around 40 degrees most of the time....
I can encode a DVD without it melting.... that'll do me !
LOL
dunx
P.S. Q6600 + Zalman CNPS10X @ 3.3Ghz and around 40 degrees most of the time....
12 April 2010, 11:47 AM
#18
Scooby Regular
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Zed Ess Won Hay Tee
Posts: 21,611
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I ran my q6700 at -2degrees away from thermal shutdown for around a month before i changed the cooler
It never killed it, when it did actually hit the thermal trip a few times (after 8 hours of Arma 2 lol)
All it did was drop the the fsb or multiplier to take the strain away (caused the game to crash though lol)
It was a crap cooler though, iirc nowadays its about 30-40 degrees away from the thermal trip, so its totally fine.
They can take a bit more heat then people realise......
It never killed it, when it did actually hit the thermal trip a few times (after 8 hours of Arma 2 lol)
All it did was drop the the fsb or multiplier to take the strain away (caused the game to crash though lol)
It was a crap cooler though, iirc nowadays its about 30-40 degrees away from the thermal trip, so its totally fine.
They can take a bit more heat then people realise......
13 April 2010, 07:04 PM
#20
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 10,954
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
And I have a **** mobo for oc Talk about instability, despite running fine for a few days its been having lots of Kernel-Power crashes
I initially thought it was the 5850 as a fair few others have had similar issues on the catalyst drivers. So much so that I reinstalled the 8800GTS, and it did it with that too, so at least it wasn't the Radeon!
Hardly had chance to test it yet, but BFBC on full graphics = no issue, same for MW2
Wonder what it will be like with the Proc at stock!
Its gonna take a lot more playing to get any stability with this mobo, but I'm not giving in! 
Talk about instability, despite running fine for a few days its been having lots of Kernel-Power crashes I initially thought it was the 5850 as a fair few others have had similar issues on the catalyst drivers. So much so that I reinstalled the 8800GTS, and it did it with that too, so at least it wasn't the Radeon!
Hardly had chance to test it yet, but BFBC on full graphics = no issue, same for MW2
Wonder what it will be like with the Proc at stock!
Its gonna take a lot more playing to get any stability with this mobo, but I'm not giving in!
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post