graphics card within £150 , at the moment i have an ati radeon x700 pro?

Question

what do you recommend

Answer 1

judging on your current graphics card i presume you have a pci-express interface so heres my 3 top recommendations for under £150
1) BFG GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 ThermoIntelligence 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-051-BG&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=912),this is technology at its best,the 8600gts is a pixel punching beast with some stunning specs including ...............................................................
- GeForce 8600 GTS core running at 720MHz
- Shader Clock speed of 1566MHz
- 256MB GDDR3 Memory running at 2220MHz
- 128-Bit Memory interface
- Shader Model 4.0
- Memory Bandwidth: 36.2GB/s
- Designed For Extreme HD Gaming
- Nvidia Pure Video Technology
unlike the earlier cards these are direct x 10 compatible and pixel and shader model 4.0 meaning your in for some amazing graphics never seen before on a p.c
with 36.2gb memory bandwidth your games will be smooth and with a core clock of 720mhz and a memory clock of 2200mhz these should be stunning
this is the best card you will get for less than £150 and will future proof your p.c for years to come,however make sure your p.c has at least a 500watt p.s.u to run this card
2)for ati gamers the Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB GDDR4 HDTV/Dual DVI (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-152-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938)is a bargain of a card,this is also a direct x 10 card and also has pixel and shader model 4.0,however this card is much cheaper than the geforce but still has most of the specs including ................
ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT Core running at 800MHz
- 256MB GDDR4 Memory running at 2200MHz
- 120 Stream Processors
- 128-Bit Memory Interface
- Full-featured DirectX® 10 Support with ShaderModel 4.0
- CrossFire™
- Full-speed UVD (Blu-ray and HD-DVD)
- Non-visual game computing enhancements
- Integrated HDMI – One-cable video and audio with no compromises
- No data compression no conversion = no loss in quality
- Extreme data rates – up to 5GB/sec!
- Integrated HDCP over Dual Link DVI
- All this is included on the board – get HD features for free!
- Ultimate Windows® Vista™ Experience
- 65nm process – low power consumption
- Support for high speed GDDR4 memory
- Support for the Windows Aero™ 3D interface
- Remarkable combination of DirectX® 10 performance and HD 1080p video/media
- Multi-monitor support
- Supplied with Full PC DVD Game Call of Juarez with all orders placed 13th July 2007 and after whist stock
the good thing about this card is as its so cheap you could get 2 of these if your motherboard supports "crossfire" and have some stunning graphics in games!
3)finally the OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-064-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=404)is a brilliant card designed for gamers and looking at the specs you can see why.................................
Powered by ATI Radeon X1950 PRO - 575MHz (RV570 80nm)
- 512MB-256bit 8 channel GDDR3 memory - 1.30GHz
- 36 Pixel shader processor
- Ultra-threaded SM 3.0 Engine
- 512-bit Ring-bus
- Low power consumption (Consumes 60W less than equivalent X1900 XT)
- Crossfire2 READY (Internal Crossfire Connection) - Just buy another X1950 Pro for Crossfire
with a core clock of 575mhz and a memory clock of 1300mhz(using 512mb of video memory) you can see why this is a calss choice by gamers,and also with 36 pixel pipelines this will means the graphics are as good as they come
again with this card you should make sure your p.c has a p.s.u of about 500watt or more otherwise your games will suffer from lag and stuttering
all these cards are top in their range but are also inexpensive ,however they still produce pro quality graphics and will all future proof your p.c for years to come
any problems let me know
good luck mate!

Answer 2

We need to be careful here, as the X700 can come in AGP, PCI-e and integrated flavours.

First off, if it is integrated there is no real upgrade option, as it is unlikely that the motherboard will have a gfx expansion slot. This is especially true if it is a laptop.

If you have an AGP slot only, I would go with the AGP version of the X1950 Pro 512mb. Without doubt the best AGP gfx card ever produced, and now that the format is obsolete it will not be bettered.

If you have PCI-e I would only look at cards which are DirectX10 compatible. These include the Nvidia 8800 and 8600 range, and from Ati the X2600 and X2900. I would not bother with the X2400 as it may be too underpowered to run newer games at reasonable frame rates.

The deciding factors will be: do you want to go with Nvidia or ATi, and how much do you want to spend? Generally speaking, with gfx cards, the more you pay the better the performance.

Answer 3

i wouldn't have either to be honest they are older cards than the computer you already have. when you get your new system ask them how much it would be for an upgrade on the graphics and go for atleast a radeon x1650 pro 256mb or nvidia 6600gt i wouldn't touch anything lower than them if you like games but as i said atleast one of them. higher the number the better and 512mb even better for memory.

Answer 4

The Radeon X1950 Pro is a great midrange choice. For twice the money, the GeForce 8800GTS 320mb is awesome.

Here's a list of best gaming cards for every price range:

Answer 5

1.5GB ATi Radeon HD 2600XT Graphics Card approx £125
8600 GTS 512MB PCI-E HDTV NVIDIA 8600GTS XV GEFORCE approx £140
Both of these are good cards but it depends on what you are using it for? (games,tv etc) it also depends on the type of slot you use? i.e. PCI/PCI-E/AGP