can anyone recommend me a <£40 graphics card?

barginboyrob

ok, well i just bought the "Sapphire Radeon 9600 Atlantis 128MB Graphics Card" with Serious Sam, Baldur's Gate,Tomb raider angel of darkness for £28 delivered

Hope that is a good price!

blinky

Doesn't seem a bad deal.

muddyfox470

Thats a great price for that card, however i would probably note it is most likely not a pro, but a 9600 vanilla (altho iirc there is hardly any difference between them anyway!).

but for that price i don't think i could find a better card for that price, and those games are going to keep you entertained for a bit (if you like them - altho they are only perks! (an added bonus ))

As with the 128 / 256mb debate, in this range 256mb is absolute nonsense, it would make no sense to buy a 256mb card over a 64mb or 128mb, as the graphics processors (GPUs) in this price range would not be able to use the ram. Also RAM is normally quite expensive, so you will most likely find that people who are dwarfed by numbers (i.e. buying highest) will find they have to spend more on a 256mb card that could perform a lot worse than a similarily priced 128mb card. So manufacturers end up spending all their budget on RAM and having not enough left, so they have to use a lower graphics chipset etc, so its best to have a great all-rounder, than one that is marketed for certain features. Always do your research!

As for Bargain Rob, here are some reviews for you, and they don't seem that bad, and as for the card i cannot find it for less than £50, so with that i would say you have done some good searching!

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/radeon/r9600-2.html
http://www.vr-zone.com/reviews/Sapphire/9600Pro/

However i cannot say whether yours is or isnt a 9600pro, but seriously it won't make that much difference!

Also just check as someone else said, to see whether it will be compatible (with your motherboard, and whether it will fit as well)-
Images from google:
PCI : http://images.google.co.uk/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=pci
AGP : http://images.google.co.uk/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=agp
Its better to be safe than sorry to make sure it will be compatible, to save having to return it. (And remember to uninstall the drivers via the add remove programs tab for the existing card, before removing it, and inserting in the new ones )

If any confusion has been caused just PM me.

Ian

PS. Some computer companies are offenders with this, Time/Tiny and PCWorld will very likely say, 256mb graphics card, but under closer inspection it will be some old generation card. From what i have always seen and read about the 256mb does not bring any improvements in this sort of price range. However the newer games, Battlefield 2 and Half Life 2, are seeing benefits from 256mb graphics cards, and now there are 512mb graphics cards. Don't waste your money, spend on what you need. I have a 128mb 6600gt graphics card doing me grand.

barginboyrob

cool, i installed it this morning, turns out it is the 256mb version! also comes with an overclocking utlity called redline, don't suppose anyone has used it before as i really don't understand the program!!

blinky

I have briefly a long time ago. There's some info on the sapphire site.

Billy_Boy

barginboyrob wrote:

ok, well i just bought the "Sapphire Radeon 9600 Atlantis 128MB Graphics Card" with Serious Sam, Baldur's Gate,Tomb raider angel of darkness for £28 delivered

Hope that is a good price!

barginboyrob

Any chance of posting a link to where you got this from - appears to be an absolute bargain !

barginboyrob

well, i got it off ebay, sorry!!
it didn't make the reserve of £50 so i made him an offer privately (which i know is quite risky). He was an ametuer seller on ebay as he didn't put what sapphire graphics card it was in the title, just "sapphire graphics card and 3 games." i think this is why he did not get many bids. Basically i thought he was a trust worthy person (which he is) so i made him a private offer (by "ask seller question"and by email) of £28 delivered. I sent him the cheque and he sent me the package. He did not even wait untill the check had cleared!! I think this i a one off thing, as i don't think i'll be able to do this again.

But, also if i did not get it from there, this had the best prices http://www.retekdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Video_Cards.html

and i checked which were good on this site:
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050705/vga-charts-pcie-02.html#3d_mark_2005


bye bye, hope you get a bargin

Billy_Boy

Thanks Barginboyrob - I'll give it a miss !