Which Graphics Card - Good Buy?

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MrWireless

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Hi Guys

My graphics card packed up, need to get another. I game, but not a major gamers and only really play COD2 and dota!

I am looking at either the:
http://www.ngrcomputers.co.za/gigabyte-radeon-x1900xt-512mb-256bit-p-3016.html

or the

http://www.ngrcomputers.co.za/gigabyte-radeon-x1900xtx-512mb-256bit-p-3015.html

Any recommendations? They seem like really good prices, or is there something I am missing? First thought it was an error, but after checking they confirmed the price but say they have very limited stock?

Would they be a good buy?
 
A good graphics card for everyday gaming would be a 7600GT or a 7900GT, depending on how far your budget can stretch. But if you have the money, why stop there? ;)
 
MrWireless said:
Hi Guys

My graphics card packed up, need to get another. I game, but not a major gamers and only really play COD2 and dota!

I am looking at either the:
http://www.ngrcomputers.co.za/gigabyte-radeon-x1900xt-512mb-256bit-p-3016.html

or the

http://www.ngrcomputers.co.za/gigabyte-radeon-x1900xtx-512mb-256bit-p-3015.html

Any recommendations? They seem like really good prices, or is there something I am missing? First thought it was an error, but after checking they confirmed the price but say they have very limited stock?

Would they be a good buy?
Click to expand...
you could get a 8800 for less than that, and it would whooop those, bad.

and has DX10...
 
ok so lets see a 8800gts which will kill that card and is dx 10 is the same price

DO NOT BUY THIS CARD

IF YOUR GOING TO SPEND 5K SPEND IT ON A 8800GTS 640 MEG

dont be silly you will regret it in 6 months
 
Those cards are good, but they are DX9 so they will not perform very well in new DX10 games, they are also ridiculously overpriced. If you really want to buy a ATI now you can get the X1950XT which is better than the 2 you posted for just over R2k @ prophecy.

But will strongly recommend the Nvidia 8800GTS 320MB, it will thump the above cards & is DX10.
http://www.prophecy.co.za/gainward-geforce-8800gts-320mb-p-21429.html

If you have the extra cash go for the 640MB version.
http://www.prophecy.co.za/asus-geforce-8800gts-640mb-gddr3-p-2546.html
 
If I had that kind of money to spend I rather save some cash and get the
Chaintech GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB DDR3
from The Prophecy Shop for R2899.99 or if that one is out of stock the:
MSI NX8800GTS 320Mb DDR3 PCI EXPRESS + TV Out + Dual DVI
from cyberdyne systems for R3414.30

Personally I'd go for the cheapest, almost all these cards are made in same factory (the board itself) according to Nvidia specs (the companies don't have nearly enough cash to develop their own special board designs the R&D would simply kill their budget) and the Chips themselves are made by Nvidia. Only thing setting them apart is the shop and the included package (not the card)

The card performs very close to the GF8800GTX and when overclocked(they are very overclockable) performs par on par with the 8800GTX in the resolution ranges up to 1600x1200.

You'll be saving a lot of cash and although you can't boast that you wasted money on the 'best' GFX card on the market you'll be able to play all the games at high resolutions (ie 1600x1200) with AA and AF enabled.
 
guilt trip

And to think... I was feeling really guilty about spending ~1500 on a GeForce 7600GS...

Seriously, if you're not a serious gamer, don't spend that kind of money on a graphics card. You probably won't even experience the joy in any case.

Let's say you get a 7600GS for R1500 (could possibly be had cheaper), you're left with R3500. Buy some shares on the stock market, take a course, donate to Wikipedia, or, better yet, buy a ticket to Thailand and have gorgeous Thai chicks massage you!

What I would do with R3500 lying around...
 
Gnome said:
If I had that kind of money to spend I rather save some cash and get the
Chaintech GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB DDR3
from The Prophecy Shop for R2899.99 or if that one is out of stock the:
MSI NX8800GTS 320Mb DDR3 PCI EXPRESS + TV Out + Dual DVI
from cyberdyne systems for R3414.30

Personally I'd go for the cheapest, almost all these cards are made in same factory (the board itself) according to Nvidia specs (the companies don't have nearly enough cash to develop their own special board designs the R&D would simply kill their budget) and the Chips themselves are made by Nvidia. Only thing setting them apart is the shop and the included package (not the card)

The card performs very close to the GF8800GTX and when overclocked(they are very overclockable) performs par on par with the 8800GTX in the resolution ranges up to 1600x1200.

You'll be saving a lot of cash and although you can't boast that you wasted money on the 'best' GFX card on the market you'll be able to play all the games at high resolutions (ie 1600x1200) with AA and AF enabled.
Click to expand...


I presume this is just a spelling mistake but the 8800 gts 320mb version doesn't perform close to the 8800gtx it just like the 640mb 8800gts is about 25 % slower at all resolutions. 8800gts 320 is about the same speed as 640mb version untill you go higher than 1600x1200 then the extra 320mb starts counting in certain games.
 
Cool

Thanks so much for the replies guys!

Ended up going for the 8800GTS - cant wait for it to arrive, lets hope its before the long weekend.

Will let you know what I think!
 
Hope you have a powerful power supply, otherwise you'll have to upgrade.
 
zeb said:
Hope you have a powerful power supply, otherwise you'll have to upgrade.
Click to expand...

You don't need a powerfull psu to run single 8800 gts. a 500 watt psu will get the job done if your not overclocking. If your overclocking or running sli higher is needed but 500 watt is pretty medium range will be fine.
 
I'm also thinking of getting the 8800 GTS 320mb. I have 19" lcd, so I think playing games at the native 1280x1024 will be fine for the lower video memory.
I have heard that these cards need a fast cpu. Will my AMD3800+ 2.4 single core run fine with this card? Do you only need the quick cpu when running at the super high resolutions?

PS. Anybody wanna buy 7800GT.:D
 
@ MrWireless: Enjoy ;).

@ RompelStompel: Depends if you're looking at AGP or PCI-E. My recommendation, if you aren't after performance, is to buy second-hand - previously high-end AGP cards like the GeForce 6800 Ultra are now selling for R 900, and I'e seen a PCI-E Radeon X1900GT for as low as R 1,250. Only a month ago I picked up 2x GeForce 7900 GS for R 2,200... look around on the various South African computer forums and you're sure to find some good bargains.

@ Penguin: Pairing an 8800 series card with a single-core 3800+ is a waste; I'm quite sure that you wouldn't notice a performance difference with your 7800GT vs an 8800GTS at 1280x1024. (Yes, you will get a higher frame rate with the 8800, but if your games are already running at 100+ FPS, a few extra FPS isn't going to add anything.)
 
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