Best Video Card for £200 !

[friddela]

Hi, my budget is £200 and was wondering what you think the best graphics card i could get for that money?

I want a PCI-Express card and prefer Nvidia.
I was looking at the 6800 Series but not sure whether thats the best option to go for, what do you think?

I will be using my new setup mainly for Gaming and maybe some video editing, but deffently gaming more then anything.

 

[Darkwave]

I just bought an X1800XT 256MB on this week only for around £190, can't say it gets any better for under £200.

 

[locutus12]

for your budget the best value card is the X1800XT 256mb, if you like nvidia, tough. be sensible and base your choice on the best bang for buck and not your preference for a graphics lable.

 

[Darkwave]

be sensible and base your choice on the best bang for buck and not your preference for a graphics lable.

Quoted for truth.

 

[superpc]

Thing is, if you do prefer Nvidia, i would try and aim for the 7900 GT as it is an awesome overclocker.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

xfx 7900gt can be had for £199 inc vat and delivery if you look hard enough.

 

[friddela]

Thanks for your input, i'll probably go for the x1800 xt.

If i could swing a bit more money would you recommend the 512 MB version or would you just not bother? Just wondering if you could actually notice a big difference between the two cards.

 

[nbkpsycho]

If you are gonna be gaming at high resolutions then try and stretch for the 512mb version

 

[Cyber-Mav]

how much faster is a x1800xt than 7900gt?

 

[locutus12]

how much faster is a x1800xt than 7900gt?

its about even untill you crank on the AA and AF, then it pulls ahead.

Thanks for your input, i'll probably go for the x1800 xt.

If i could swing a bit more money would you recommend the 512 MB version or would you just not bother? Just wondering if you could actually notice a big difference between the two cards.

if this is the last card your planning to buy before the DX10 cards early next year, get the 512mb version, especially if your going above 1024X768 and using AA/AF

i have the 512mb version, ive yet to find a game i cant run maxed out at 1280X1024

 

[Jack Bauer]

agree with the above, getting the 256 card is just limiting your future gaming performace. At the price differnce im supprised the 256 card sells at all.

 

[friddela]

yeh, thought so, i think ill have to go for the X1800XT 512MB then, cheers lads.

 

[Darkwave]

agree with the above, getting the 256 card is just limiting your future gaming performace. At the price differnce im supprised the 256 card sells at all.

I just bought the 256MB version, it was pretty much at the limit of my budget since I was also upgrading to 2GB RAM. This is going to easily tide me over until I build an entirely new computer with the launch of Vista.

 

[superpc]

But no need for a 512mb version if you use a normal Res?

 

[Darkwave]

But no need for a 512mb version if you use a normal Res?

The only real reason I, personaly, would buy a 512MB card is for games like COD2, Quake IV, Doom III, and I think F.E.A.R. which use extremely detailed uncompressed textures as an option for 512MB video cards, and these games tend to get huge performance increases with them.

Personally, all I'm playing at the moment is Oblivion, The Godfather, and Battlefield 2. So I will be fine with 256MB video, at least until Vista is out.