Best Graphics Card.

[ausser]

Hi all,

Im in the market for a new graphics card and would appriciate some recommendations from you guys - as there is now a plethora of options regarding GCs as I'm sure you all know.

Price range £150 to about £200 ($250 -$300)

MY system - 2Gig RAM - XP - 3GH processor.

My main concern with this card is On-Board applications ie. GAMES!!!!
I'm not interested in dual monitors or HDTV or outs or ins or anything like that.

nVidia preferably.

Peace
Ausser.

PS:
I realized my need for a new card after getting FSX and Bioshock recently.

[AnthonyB]

Hi Ausser,

I have a GTX8800 (2 actually in SLI), and run very fast - though not all games are "optimisded for SLI, so there's no need to go there really.

A popular card in your price range is the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB which is on offer for £111.61 this week. Also, at just over £200 (your budget) there is the

GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB

Other cards use SLI on a Single card, and not always a good thing as, for example, the fastest card currently available is the GeForce 9800 GX2 1024MB, but costs over £350, and will only be the "fastest card" in SLI instances, since it uses SLI teechnology on ONE card.

What games do you play? - and at what resolution?, some games won't need anything more than the 8800 GT, for the average game. However, if you use high resolutions, at lots of AA/AF, then a 9800GTX may be for you. However, the card I have (GTX8800) is a 768 MB Single card, and will be faster than the 9800 GTX at higher resoluotions, and with more AA/AF.

You can always check Toms GPU Charts and see how a typical game like Doom 3 performs on different cards. I'd buy the 8800 GT though, at £111 Qwid!

AnthonyB

[ausser]

Thanks Anthony - I will look into that.

The game that made me finaly decide this is - Bioshock.
At everything turned down - it still lumps on my current Turbocache.
Also - FSX needs a better card than the one I have..

I'll check out that card you recommended.

Peace
Ausser.

[Timo]

After reading many reviews a few months ago I went for the 8800GT, as it was meant to be close to the GTX version performance wise, but much cheaper. The GT also benefitted from the new die-shrunk architecture, unlike the other 8800's.

Specifically I have the 512MB MSI GeForce NX8800GT Zilent with Zalman heatpipes+sink.



Runs really well. Was an immense upgrade for me, far beyond anything I was ever used to.

Here's a few actual in-game screengrabs I captured on my first day on the new online multi-player game TrackMania Nations Forever (which I recommend very highly, as it's 100% FREE!):











































Those pics were originally taken at the full native 1680 x 1050 resolution, but I resized them here to better fit the forum.

Every single setting is pretty much whacked up to the Highest settings, except just one which is Medium-High for rendering the graphic transfers/logos on cars other than my own. With those settings there's no jerkiness, stuttering, or lag, or anything. It's smooth as silk, and beautiful to look at.

Those pics really don't do that game justice though! There are countless excellent and crazy tracks on there depending on the server you join, and the speed is great.

Can't say about any other games as that's the only game I've allowed on my music PC, and am not really a gamer per se.

I got the 8800GT just prior to the newer 9x00 product line being released, so they will be worth looking into now. Something like the 9800GT.