Advice for buying new GFX card?
January 22nd, 2020
The last card I had was a ‘Radeon X1950 Pro 512mb/256MHz’ on the PCI-E slot. The card was great when I bought it, played every game I threw at it, nearly flawlessly at max settings, (I was taken aback!) but less than 2 years later, the card just out of the blue, stopped working all-together and died on me (GFX aneurysm?). Now its just sitting on my decks collecting dust and belonging in the bin. Nowadays technology is so intricate that you rarely EVER get any visual clues as to what might be going wrong, and the circuit tracks are so fine and close together that even testing the components and lanes with a meter is nearly impossible. So now its time for me to start again. I want to buy a graphics card that is the best possible value for money (the best in its price range), while being significantly more powerful than the X1950 pro.
I’m thinking of choosing an nVidia card, because I always had trouble installing ATI drivers, and most games nowadays sport the ‘nVidea, how its meant to be played’ logo, so I might just go with them (my Geforce 2 was wicked in its day)
Any recommendations and advice is MUCH appreciated, I want to be able to play games again! Thanks in advance
Peace all :mrredhat:
Impossible to answer your question without knowing the following things. 1- Your full system spec including the PSU brand and power rating. 2-How much cash do you have for a new card
3-What resolution will you be playing games at.
Ive got just under 200 quid to splash. My specs are- XP pro, 3.5GHz dual core, 1gb RAM. My PSU is a bit ancient, its only a 300W box, but that can be taken care of in due time. I’ll be playing games at the highest possible resolution. My X1950 pro could run modern games at 1280×1024 (think thats the one) with max settings (like Borderlands, Bioshock, Condemned, FEAR 2, HL2, COD4, Fallout 3 at a push)
The best thing about the X1950pro, was its price/power ratio. For 120 quid, I was playing PS3/360 level games, with pretty flush framerates.
I want to strike the same kind of deal with my next card
thanks
How about a 4870? �100 And 1GB or 2GB more ram? �40 Would be very nice!
You PSU should cover it, but I would suggest an upgrade if needed?
Next card down would be a 4550. �50.
How about a 4870? �100 And 1GB or 2GB more ram? �40 Would be very nice!
You PSU should cover it, but I would suggest an upgrade if needed?
Next card down would be a 4550. �50.
Thanks! I definitely will need to get a heftier PSU, to help the card settle in (WTF am I talking about?). I’ve had that PSU for AGES!
I’ll look up the 4870, Nvidia right? Will it play the games of today? Right now im restricted to pre 2004 games only!!! peace
Edit: the 4870 looks really good. Just been looking at the HD4870-1GB for only �120
Any Nvidia equivalents? just in the interest of ‘ease of driver installation’
thanks!
the 4870 is ATI From nvidia a GTS250 should be under the 200 quid and still give u some cash for the RAM. Maybe a GTX260? although TBH running a GTX 260 with 1 gb of ram and such would be suicide IMO. Id go for the 4870 + some more ram
How about a 4870? �100 And 1GB or 2GB more ram? �40 Would be very nice!
You will also need a new PSU if you want a decent card.
The one you have will not allow you to install the new gpu.
What kind of cpu is it? what kind of ram is it? This could be a good combo if you have a ddr2 800 setup.
Would see a massive boost in games all for just under �200
PSU
�49 500W OCZ unit.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135159
GPU
Ex display 4870 on offer at ebuyer �115
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179267
Or if you miss out on that
PALIT GTS250 Green 1GB GDDR3 �93.91inc vat
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168910
Ram
2gb ddr2 800mhz -�33 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142399
Im not sure about the RAM frequency, but its definitely DDR2, at 1GB. It could be 533Mhz, but that was just an inkling.
Okay, my mobo says FSB 1333, DDRII 667 just above the RAM slots (I guess 667 is the RAM freq, dont know what the FSB stands for)
I want to get 4GB of RAM next. Is it possible to get one 4GB stick, or do I have to buy a pair of 2x2GB sticks and run them at dual channel (which is probably better anyway, but maybe more expensive)?
My CPU is a dual core, running at 3.5 MHz, my RAM is 1GB of DDRII, on single channel mode, supposedly running at 667MHz.
Edit: Just been looking on Ebay, some of the cards say “PCI-E 2.0”, does that mean I cant use them? I have 1 PCI-E slot.
Okay, so I’ve read that any PCI-E 2.0 card will work in a PCI-E 1.0 slot, but if so, what is the point of PCI-E 2.0!? Well it was a relief to read anyway.
Yes you can have 2 x 2GB and will run fine but if you use 32bit OS only 3.5GB will show up.
Also with the new card you should install ether Vista or Windows 7 for Direct X 10 support.
PCI-E 2.0 is about 20% more “efficient” then 1.0
Yes you can use 2.0 Cards in 1.0 slots.
PCI-E 2.0 offers alot more bandwidth available for cards.
250MB/SEC vs 500MB/SEC or something along those line You wont need it with a HD4870 so it will make no difference.
Thanks to all of you for your support! Ive been looking at 3 different HD4870 cards, 2 of them have a plastic chassis, but one of them is just the bare card with the fan mounted on it. Theres a pretty huge price difference between the cards with the chassis, and the one without. My old card had no chassis, just the board and fan. Is this something I should consider? does it help with heat absorption, noise reduction? Or does it just make the card look sexy? Also, does anybody know if the X1950 pro has a generally short lifespan, or it was just my bad luck LOL? I want to get the most out of the card, atleast 2 years of use before it packs in!
Am I right in assuming “Dual-Link” is just another term for “HDMI / DVI-D” (I cant use those video IO’s anyway, I just use a standard monitor)
Do the different models (or manufacturers) of the HD4870 make much difference in performance/reliability? I’ve always been a bit indecisive about which manufacturer to go with. Theres so many, like GIS, Powercolour, Gigabyte, XFX, Sapphire ETC. I dont know who to trust!!
thanks
The “chassis” is added to channel hot/cold air to/from certain areas.
All cards will come with a DVI to VGA for you.
Most manufacturer are the same, but some offer more of a warranty like EVGA offers a 10 year warranty on some cards :> and tweak there cards differently.
The chasis will vent the heat out the back of the case This is what you should want a card to do. without it the heat will be going into the case and effecting cooling of other components like cpu etc. . Other than that there should be little to no difference between cards.
Great, thanks for clearing that up! I think I’m pretty much decided now. Going through the specs of the card, it looks pretty hefty. I thought we were still in the times of Shader model 3.0! I’ll go for a chassis model then, it could have been heat, or power starvation that killed off my last card.
I’ll just need to buy a new, more powerful PSU, because 300W nowadays is probably like trying to run a Veyron with a Skoda engine!
Thanks again.
Great, thanks for clearing that up! I think I'm pretty much decided now. Going through the specs of the card, it looks pretty hefty. I thought we were still in the times of Shader model 3.0! I'll go for a chassis model then, it could have been heat, or power starvation that killed off my last card.
I'll just need to buy a new, more powerful PSU, because 300W nowadays is probably like trying to run a Veyron with a Skoda engine!
Thanks again.
Go with one of the PSU’S suggested.
The cheaper units are no good and stand a good chance of blowing up when running your system with the new gpu. This could cost you your entire computer in the long run so buy a quality unit like the ones suggested.
EDIT: Just noticed i got ninja beat on my last post by 1 min lol FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUU
Great, thanks for clearing that up! I think I'm pretty much decided now. Going through the specs of the card, it looks pretty hefty. I thought we were still in the times of Shader model 3.0! I'll go for a chassis model then, it could have been heat, or power starvation that killed off my last card.
I'll just need to buy a new, more powerful PSU, because 300W nowadays is probably like trying to run a Veyron with a Skoda engine!
Thanks again.
Go with one of the PSU'S suggested.
The cheaper units are no good and stand a good chance of blowing up when running your system with the new gpu. This could cost you your entire computer in the long run so buy a quality unit like the ones suggested.
EDIT: Just noticed i got ninja beat on my last post by 1 min lol FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUU
LOL, yea, will do man, I need to treat my PC to some quality new internal organs. I’ll go with one of the OCZ PSU’s and look at a few reviews to be sure! �50 isn’t too much more than I expected to pay anyway. Cant wait to get back in full swing, maybe have a look at CODMW2 online!
One thing worries me though, the dimensions of the card in length is 9.x inches, which seems like it could come into contact with the back of my HDD’s and leave no space for plugging the power cables in!
My PC case is a standard form factor ATX tower box. I might be able to simply raise or lower the 2 ‘in-use’ HDD’s to make room though, but definitely sounds like a squeeze!
Measure it. The cards are not so big compared to newer ones so they really should fit in any Standard ATX case, i have a card the same size in a little HP uATX case i had laying around. If not then get cutting it up lol.
Lol, I cant find any ATI certified PSU’s for under �70! I saw a couple of JeanTech (any good? not certified) PSU’s, for �55, but everything suggested by ATI have prices that would scare even richard branson off.
Everything over 400W from OCZ is too expensive (�70 is too much for me), and that �50 OCZ unit is now out of stock.
I’ll check some online shops. Only ones I know are NewEgg, Play and Ebuyer. Any other trustworthy suppliers?
thanks
Any Corsair PSU is top dog ;>
Any Corsair PSU is top dog ;>
Thanks I’ll have a look! Do you know anything about ‘Sweex’ PSU’s? I’ve seen some bargains on those, Or any other ones you or anyone can recommend?
The graphics card looks great, makes my old one look like a salvaged PCB!
Peace
Edit: Also seeing some good prices for CiT Silent Technology PSU’s (600W for �30 on Play.com)
sweex make low price low quality pc stuff.
Avoid.
Saving cash on the PSU is never a good idea. OCZ stealth extreme PSU’s tend to be reasonable in price.
sweex make low price low quality pc stuff.
Avoid.
Saving cash on the PSU is never a good idea. OCZ stealth extreme PSU's tend to be reasonable in price.
LOL I’ve finally found some good prices on OCZ units on play, but every single one is out of stock! Typical or what lol? Theres one 500W OCZ unit, but the cards minimum PSU is apparently 500W, so it would probably struggle to power the card, plus everything else that needs juice in the computer.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127861
sweex make low price low quality pc stuff.
Avoid.
Saving cash on the PSU is never a good idea. OCZ stealth extreme PSU's tend to be reasonable in price.
LOL I've finally found some good prices on OCZ units on play, but every single one is out of stock! Typical or what lol? Theres one 500W OCZ unit, but the cards minimum PSU is apparently 500W, so it would probably struggle to power the card, plus everything else that needs juice in the computer.
The card wont pull anywhere near 500w at it highest power draw.
you will be sound with a 500w unit of good quality to run the whole system.
Forget play.com and check out scan and ebuyer.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127861
Great man! Can ATX 2.0 be used in any standard towerbox setup? Also found this, but it has to be a con. It sounds too good to be true:-
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-HUGE-850-W-SATA-PCI-E-ATX-PSU-QUIET-PC-POWER-SUPPLY_W0QQitemZ250471236331QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_PowerSupplies_EH?hash=item3a513fc2eb
Double the power, half the price, but a gamble I imagine.
Lol stop looking for cheap PSU’s!!!
They don’t perform anywhere aven close to the quality units. and never anywhere near the stated power rating over the 12v rails.
Not to mention that if one of these cheap units fails (and they do) then there is a good chance it’s going to fry every single component in your computer and your left with nothing. Here is a comparison of max power consumption of a full highend system with a few cards installed.
That is for this system,…
Intel Core i7 940 processor (operating at 3,709MHz � 22×168.6MHz); MSI Eclipse SLI motherboard (Intel X58 Express with three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots); 3x 2GB Corsair TR3X6G1333C9 memory modules (operating in dual channel at DDR3 1,349.4MHz 9-9-9-24-1T); Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 250GB SATA hard drive; Corsair HX1000W PSU; Windows Vista Home Premium x86-64 (with Service Pack 1); Intel inf 9.1.0.1007 WHQL.
PSU is the most important thing to get right in the whole system.
One of the Best PSU’s you can buy ;>
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-008-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084
Thanks for the info all of you. Tomorrow I’m gonna venture into town, have a browse through some PC hardware shops. If I cant find anything as good the ones listed here, then I’ll go for one of these!
I’ll be on the lookout for OCZ & Corsair as top priority.
peace, thanks for your continued support!
Enermax and seasonic make good units too.
NorthQ have some cheaper but still fairly good units with flex modular cables. Anywhere you go will be more expensive trhan the online prices.
Corsair TX 650 Or Corsair TX 750 Best Banks for the Buck
& if you have more money go with Corsair TX 850 Or Corsair TX 950
Alright, I finally decided on a PSU. I went for the OCZ Fatality 550W (its massive compared to my old one!)
Funnily enough, after changing the PSU, my 500gb HDD, that I thought had completely died on me, is now working as hard as a kid in a clothes factory in bangladesh, forced to make clothes for Primark, under fear of death (In other words, its working perfectly again).
Played all the graphically sh|t kicking games on my PC flawlessly, like Assassins Creed, Fallout 3, Oblivion, Burnout Paradise, UT3 and enough other games on max everything. Now I just need to check some new new games, like maybe Dragon Age (but on youtube the graphics looked worse than oblivion! which is like 4 years older LOL), maybe Crysis aswell. Just need to buy a Rapidshare account again now and I’ll be back in full swing.