Graphics card for £150

[R4z0r]

Hi All,

I'm putting together a new system but have hit a brick wall with the graphics card - I've absolutely no idea what to get! I'm not a huge gamer but would like the ability to play the odd game when I feel like it and want excellent performance for when Vista comes out so I can run with max eye candy

I'd like to spend around £150 and preferably go with nvidia but will go ATi if it makes more sense to do so.

Suggestions?

 

[Biohazard]

6600GT if your wanting to save money and your only gaming every so often

 

[Raj]

X1800xt is at a cracking price and will cream the nvidia equivalent.

 

[fish99]

If you don't game often then save yourself some money and get the BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 while it's on offer at the moment. Awesome card for £88. It also shouldn't give you any power/heat issues.

 

[ACESHIGH]

Best bang per buck card.

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

 

[Darkwave]

X1800XT without a doubt.

 

[R4z0r]

Thanks guys, I think I'll go with an X1800XT as suggested. How noisy are these things? I'd like to keep the thing silent (Or just quiet) if possible so is this easy to do with these cards?

 

[Gibbs]

Sub £150 GFX Card show down:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2006/08/25/sub_200_pci_express_graphics_card_showdown_uk/

 

[ACESHIGH]

Thanks guys, I think I'll go with an X1800XT as suggested. How noisy are these things? I'd like to keep the thing silent (Or just quiet) if possible so is this easy to do with these cards?

They do spin up a bit loud for a few secs on bootup but are quiet during normal use / gameplay. Shouldnt be a problem for most people.

But if you want it more silent you could look at the HIS ATI Radeon X1900 GT ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-057-HT), not quite as fast, but a very good buy too & has a very nice cooler.

 

[Darkwave]

Thanks guys, I think I'll go with an X1800XT as suggested. How noisy are these things? I'd like to keep the thing silent (Or just quiet) if possible so is this easy to do with these cards?

If you want a silent graphics card then definitely go with the HIS X1900GT with IceQ 3 as ACESHIGH suggested. Same price, just a tiny bit less performance, but the cooler is miles ahead.

 

[fish99]

Thanks guys, I think I'll go with an X1800XT as suggested. How noisy are these things? I'd like to keep the thing silent (Or just quiet) if possible so is this easy to do with these cards?

It's quiet when idling but a little more noticeable when gaming as the fan spins up as the card warms up. It's never loud though. You can replace the HSF with the quieter Zalman VF900 but that may invalidate the cards warranty.

Btw X1800 XT is a big card so check it will fit your case and it also needs a decent PSU. It's a great card for gaming though, even something like Oblivion flies on it, and it does beat the X1900GT by a healthy margin.

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

x1800xt gets my vote aswel. the fan is very quiet during normal internet etc usage, and i would say any day that a bigger cooler is better if it blows the hot air out of the case than a smaller one that doesnt

 

[Craig321]

7600GT - £130

 

[ACESHIGH]

7600GT - £130

Wow that card just looks like really bad value when you can get an X1900GT for £140 or an X1800XT for £150, both of which are far superior to the 7600GT. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Darkwave]

Wow that card just looks like really bad value when you can get an X1900GT for £140 or an X1800XT for £150, both of which are far superior to the 7600GT. Thanks for pointing that out.

Agreed, and he forgot that there is a 3DFuzion 7600GT on this week only for £88. I would still recommend an X1800XT/X1900GT by a mile though.

 

[UKTopGun]

Sub £150 GFX Card show down:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2006/08/25/sub_200_pci_express_graphics_card_showdown_uk/

They obviously havent visited OcUK and seen that a X1800XT and X1900GT are both sub-£150 cards .

 

[Darkwave]

They obviously havent visited OcUK and seen that a X1800XT and X1900GT are both sub-£150 cards .

Aye, it's a shame sites like that go on MSRP rather than true selling price, but I guess that would count as advertising.

 

[Arthalen]

Heh, I had a good chuckle at the sub £150 article on Toms. Especially since I had just visited the updated Video Card Chart showdown and seen how impressive my X1900GT stacks up against the competition.

For £140, I love it. I've invested in a Zalman VF900 to cool it and get a little more out of it....

 

[Darkwave]

Heh, I had a good chuckle at the sub £150 article on Toms. Especially since I had just visited the updated Video Card Chart showdown and seen how impressive my X1900GT stacks up against the competition.

For £140, I love it. I've invested in a Zalman VF900 to cool it and get a little more out of it....

Yup, the X1800XT, X1900GT and X1900XT are all unbeatable value for money right now. With ATI's image quality and super-aggressive pricing right now, there are very few reasons to even consider going Nvidia this time around. They simply cannot compete.

Hopefully that will change next-gen, because I like to switch brands from time to time. Buying the sameone all the time gets boring. I doubt it'll switch around though, as Nvidia don't plan to use unified shader architecture for a while and while that's not going to revolutionise gaming or anything, it's still going to be a great advance in technology (especially when it comes to improving the quality of console ports.)

 

[Hamoodii]

X1800XT, no question