new video card needed - any suggestions?

gldkg

Hey,

I need to upgrade the video card in my computer so I can play the latest games (e.g Battlefield 2). At the moment I have an ancient GeForce Ti4200.

I'm looking for a GeForce 6800GT ideally, but could settle with a 6600GT at a good price, or ATI equivalent.

Can anyone recommend somewhere where I might be able to get one of these cards for a good price? I don't want to pay much more than £100.

Any discount codes around for PC component retailers for example? Or any sales going on?

I've drawn a blank, so any help would be much appreciated

Sam

brummybloke

k will it be pci-e or agp?

gldkg

Sorry, AGP. Here's my current specs:

Processor: P4 3.0Ghz - 512Kb Cache - 800FSB
Memory: 512MB DDR (184DIMM PC3200 NP CL3)

I shouldn't be limited by my processor with a card of this calibre, right?

It's been two years since I built this computer, so I've lost track of what's good and what's not.

brummybloke

im sure agp wise the max you can get is 6800gt, do you plan on over clocking it or will it be left well alone?

i say this as you may want to get a 6600gt 256meg instead for the extra £20 quid instead of the 6600gt 128 meg.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NOV-6625GT

or the radion equalivent

http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=605232

Rex_Mundi

brummybloke wrote:

im sure agp wise the max you can get is 6800gt, do you plan on over clocking it or will it be left well alone?

It is actually possible to get a 6800 Ultra in AGP, but the price of this is way over the top of what the OP wants in this instance.

gldkg

Thanks for all your replies.

Up to this point I've been a nVidia man, but I'm not averse to trying a radion. It just depends what I can get for a good price really.

Brummybloke, are you saying that the 256meg version lends itself more to overclocking than the 128meg? I'm quite happy to do a bit of overclocking, but only if its necessary for games to run well - which I'd hope it wouldn't be for over a hundred squid.

So... the question is... where can i get a good deal on one of these babies? The best deal I can find is a Club 3D 6600GT 128MB for £99.88... can anyone beat that? I was told that they aren't making many 6800GT AGP cards any more so I should be able to pick one up for a good price but I haven't been able to verify this so far... prices are nearing 200 on eBay

Any help greatly appreciated!

brummybloke

6800gts are becoming like rocking horse poo, the 7800 replaced it and out performs it so much that there is no need for it now. it is too much for a decent cheaper one but not good enough to be a high spec one.

the 256 meg as opposed to the 128 meg is purely down to you saying you wanted to play bf2, it hogs resources. and for the £20 it is slightly more future proof than the 128 meg although not by much.

i have a 6600gt 128 meg, it cost me £100 and it performs well, not a patch on the 7800gt but enough to play quake 4, f.e.a.r, bf2, half life 2 and any other new game.

having read reviews i went with a winfast 6600gt tdh, it is easy to overclock as the software is there to do it free with the gfx card.

not really the same as opening pipelines and such on a 6800 but £100 well spent for the next 2 or 3 years for me.

as i say, it isnt cutting edge but as i prefer the age of empire, civilisation sort of games and only play the 1st person shooters when i realy have too much time on my hands im not that bothered that it will be classed as !!!!!! in 1 year.

it would be unfare to comment on the performance of the radion new one as i havent seen it in action, mine however is good at what it does and gets good scores on 3d mark 05 and 03.

brummybloke

ooops, if you were going to get a 6600gt, the best reviews seem to be for either the xfx, the leadtek ( winfast) and the bfg seem to be the most popular.

bazza1603

Hi,

Bear in mind that the 6600 and 6800 there require a power lead that shouldnot be shared with any other device as they can eat a lot of power.

I had problems with my 350 watt power supply. I ended up buying a decent 500 watt one to get it to work correctly, but then had problems with the a MSI motherboards not working with the XFX card.

I ended up sending everything back and bought a new PC with a PCI Express card for £300 more than that card, supply and memory upgrade had cost me for a far better spec machine

Current Spec.

3.4 Pent 4 550HT
512MB
250GB
ATI 600X Pro with 256MB memory.

I then sold my old PC for £300!

Good luck

Baz

brummybloke

bazza1603 wrote:

Hi,

Bear in mind that the 6600 and 6800 there require a power lead that shouldnot be shared with any other device as they can eat a lot of power.


Baz

good point, the leadtek/winfast one i got came with an additional power supply splitter connector so you can just plug and play, my psu ( power supply unit) is only 350 or 400 watt and it works fine however you are 100% correct, some wont work very well without sufficient power.