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New card required

Associate
Joined
18 Feb 2006
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450
Location
Halifax
New card required help me spend money

Hi All

I am wanting to buy a new graphics card, I am using a Radeon Pro 256 at the moment though my Core Clock speed is lower than it should be check out this post http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...ghlight=Exibit

Now I am looking at 3 cards at the moment though I have never had a Geforce card I here good things tell me what you think please.

The Radeon X850 XT 256MB DDR3 AGP Card or

BFG GeForce 7800 GS OC 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - Retail (GX-016-BG)


Or

XFX GeForce 7800 GS Extreme Edition 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - Retail (PVT70-KUAD7) (GX-069-XF)

Now what I want to know is which card do you suggest, I play Battlefield 2 lota and would like to turn on some of the features all at Medium or Low at the moment

I friend of mine has told me not to do this, he says I should by another motherboard and proc, pci graphics card ect. Now money is a bit tight though I have a budget of £300-00 for this video card, I am looking for a big bang for my AGP buck hoping this upgrade will last me 12 months
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
24 Dec 2004
Posts
11,353
Location
Knowle, Solihull, UK
Hi

Welcome to the forums :)

What PSU are you using? If it's an ATX2.0 PSU or a high quality PSU of 400W+ with at least 24A on the 12V rail then you'll be OK with PCI-E, otherwise you'll need a new PSU

For £300 I'd get a PCI-E motherboard and a 256MB X1800XT (faster than the 7800GT). If you're on Socket 939, 754 or LGA775 then this would be the best option:

GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£199.95 £199.95
MB-088-AS Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS)
£61.95 £61.95
Subtotal £261.90
VAT £45.84
Total £307.74

If you are stuck on AGP (Socket A system) then I'd go for the 7800GS but I'd get the XFX Extreme Edition. The 7800GS is slower at stock than the X850XT but when overclocked it really pulls ahead. If you don't mind clocking the card yourself then go for the BFG one and increase the clocks yourself

At the end of the day though, the X1800XT is a lot faster (equivalent to a 7800GTX, which is faster than the 7800GT and 7800GS)
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Aug 2005
Posts
4,297
ajgoodfellow said:
What PSU are you using? If it's an ATX2.0 PSU or a high quality PSU of 400W+ with at least 24A on the 12V rail then you'll be OK with PCI-E, otherwise you'll need a new PSU

For £300 I'd get a PCI-E motherboard and a 256MB X1800XT (faster than the 7800GT). If you're on Socket 939, 754 or LGA775 then this would be the best option:

GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£199.95 £199.95

MB-088-AS Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS)
£61.95 £61.95
Subtotal £261.90
VAT £45.84
Total £307.74
Agree with this!

ajgoodfellow said:
If you are stuck on AGP (Socket A system) then I'd go for the 7800GS but I'd get the XFX Extreme Edition. The 7800GS is slower at stock than the X850XT but when overclocked it really pulls ahead. If you don't mind clocking the card yourself then go for the BFG one and increase the clocks yourself
This part i have a different opinion on. Both the X850XT & 7800GS will last you 12 months. If you intend upgrading after about 12 months, then get whichever is cheaper of these 2 cards as both a really good & do what you want. No point spending more money without need.
 

egt

egt

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Exibit said:
I have a budget of £300-00 for this video card, I am looking for a big bang for my AGP buck hoping this upgrade will last me 12 months

Get the cheapest 7800GS you can find, they will all overclock the same. It's faster than the x850 and has SM3.0 support ;)
 
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OP
Joined
18 Feb 2006
Posts
450
Location
Halifax
Thanks for the replies so far

I dont want to sell this PC as the kids use for watching TV - going on the internet ect...

Next year I will do the whole upgrade (Ie New Motherboard, Proc, memory, SLI cards) but I will not sell the PC I use at the moment. I am looking for my last AGP card that will give me the bang per buck
all I need is a card that will give me another 10 to 12 months and it looks like the Geforce is going to give me that.
I have found it much cheaper than the advertised price on www.overclockers.co.uk I can get the card for £230.00 www.co.uk all I am really after is enough of an increase in performane in the short term. The operating system in the below computer is Windows Media Centre 2005. Is the Geforce 7800GS XT DDR3 Games Edition a much faster card than the Radeon 9800 Pro that is really what I want to know.

Thanks again guys - happy Fragging :D

current Spec

MSI 865PE
P4 2.8GHZ
1792Mb Corsair XMS 3200 - 3 x 512mb - 1 x 256nb
Radeon 9800 Pro 256Mb
WD Raptor SATA 74G
Maxtor ATA 120G
Maxtor ATA 80G
Audigy 2
 
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egt

egt

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Posts
1,732
Hi Exibit, edit the competitors link out mate, it's against the rules. You can get the Leadtek 7800GS for £217 at OCUK anyway ;)

Yes, you will see an absolutely massive difference going from a 9800! The 7800GS is also the best AGP card you can buy.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
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Posts
450
Location
Halifax
Geforce 7800 GS Extreme - Benchmark

Hi All

Many thanks for all your help on the forum - thought I would post how I am getting on thanks again

I have just got my XFX Geforce GS Extreme Edition AGP, this is my first Geforce card I have always used ATI cards. I am replacing a Radeon 9800 Pro 256 now I benchmarked my PC 3 times using 3D Mark 05 and I was getting an average of score of 2,500

I have just installed the Geforce and I have done the same test I am now getting 5,472 - this card is bloody fast I have just turned up all the options in the video section to max Anti Ali 2X (Battlefield 2)and the game looks fantastic plays like a dream. Anyway I thought I would share this with you guys as if anyone else is thinking of changing their Radeon it is well worth it.

Just one thing though XFX why are there no XFX Geforce 7 AGP drivers in the drivers section of the web site. You select Video Drivers and they are not listed - are you not supporting this card ????

MSI 865PE
P4 2.8GHZ
1792Mb Corsair XMS 3200 - 3 x 512mb - 1 x 256mb
XFX Geforce 7800 GS Extreme Edition - AGP
WD Raptor SATA 74G - 10,000 RPM
Maxtor ATA 120G
Maxtor ATA 80G
Audigy 2
 
Soldato
Joined
24 Dec 2004
Posts
11,353
Location
Knowle, Solihull, UK
Hi!

Glad you like it :)

You should expect a higher score with 3D Mark 05 though, particuarly with the EE overclocked version (nearer 7k)

I'd use the drivers from nVidia's website instead of the ones from XFX's website - this should help with your score. I'd also check that you've got the settings in 3D Mark 05 set to 1024x768, no AA and no AF (and that this is set in the drivers)
 

egt

egt

Associate
Joined
4 Jul 2004
Posts
1,732
Exibit said:
Hi All

Many thanks for all your help on the forum - thought I would post how I am getting on thanks again

I have just got my XFX Geforce GS Extreme Edition AGP, this is my first Geforce card I have always used ATI cards. I am replacing a Radeon 9800 Pro 256 now I benchmarked my PC 3 times using 3D Mark 05 and I was getting an average of score of 2,500

I have just installed the Geforce and I have done the same test I am now getting 5,472 - this card is bloody fast I have just turned up all the options in the video section to max Anti Ali 2X (Battlefield 2)and the game looks fantastic plays like a dream. Anyway I thought I would share this with you guys as if anyone else is thinking of changing their Radeon it is well worth it.

Just one thing though XFX why are there no XFX Geforce 7 AGP drivers in the drivers section of the web site. You select Video Drivers and they are not listed - are you not supporting this card ????

MSI 865PE
P4 2.8GHZ
1792Mb Corsair XMS 3200 - 3 x 512mb - 1 x 256mb
XFX Geforce 7800 GS Extreme Edition - AGP
WD Raptor SATA 74G - 10,000 RPM
Maxtor ATA 120G
Maxtor ATA 80G
Audigy 2

Nice, now get overclocking ;)
 
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