Graphics Improvement

M

mut

Geek Trainee
My approximate budget is around £150 and with it I want to get the best graphics card possible.

I've been looking at overclockers.co.uk who offer an X1950 Pro 256MB for £131.11 (VAT Included). It has lower clockspeeds and fewer pipelines to the XTX but comes at an amazingly cheap price. I'm just concerned about the performance.

My current rig contains:
Pentium D 805 overclocked to 3.7GHz (FSB of 744)
1GB RAM (bottlenecked to PC2-4800 due to processor FSB - should be PC2-5400)
nVidia 6600GT 256MB (PCIe)

What would the best upgrade be for me? Is there a giant leap in performance between the 6600GT and a card for around £150.

I also have the option of buying a new PSU and CPU cooler - allowing me to reach 4.0GHz and unlocking the full speed of my RAM.

Thanks in advance,

Josh Marsters
 
Oh, most certainly. The X1950Pro is the replacement for the X1900GT (I think, I might have it mixed up), so it will provide a massive boost for gaming. This isn't to say a CPU would do no good, but in gaming the 6600GT is the real bottleneck of that system. I would make sure that you have a decent PSU, because the Radeon's of late have been pretty power hungry. The X1950Pro and X1650 XT both use the new .80 micron process, which gives lower power consumption (and lower heat output as a byproduct), but you do want to have a PSU that will provide the power you need.
 
Okay thanks for clearing that up. Now as for 256MB or 512MB on the graphics card, are there great performance increases for having 512MB? Do games actually require 512MB on a graphics card?
 
It depends on the games you play, from what I've seen the difference between 256mb and 512mb VRAM isn't that noticable.
 
Like Addis said, it depends on the game. There's also the factor of the in-game settings. Higher resolution and detail settings can benefit from more VRAM. The flip-side to this is that the GPU must be capable of processing it. Sure, you might have an X1300 with 512MB go up against an X1900 with 256MB. The X1900 is going to crush the X1300, and it has nothing to do with RAM. An X1900 with 256MB may loose to a 512MB variant, assuming all else is equal: clock speeds, pipelines, etc. Basically, it's a bad idea to equate graphics performance with the amount of RAM on a card. It's marketing, but there's consumers that don't do research, but you'll find that in any area of sales. Just putting a sign up by an item advertising the regular price can make it sell like hotcakes.
 
Im still not sure which graphics card to get.
In terms of performance whats the best I can get for £150?

Here are some I've been looking at:

7600GT £99.99
7900GS £139.98
X1950PRO £129.98
X1900XT £161.98 (Slightly over budget but within range)

I'd probably play Oblivion if I had a better graphics card, which of these would play it on full with ease? Or without too low frame rates.
I also play Battlefield 2 & Battlefield 2142 - both of which I'd like to play maxed out.
 
Okay I just decided to increase my budget to £200

What card should I be aiming for? Or should I spend some of the money on a new power supply and the rest on a card?
 
I'd definately go with the X1900XT, it's a beast of a card and is one of the best you'll find for running Oblivion, especially concidering the price. But keep in mind by being one of the best this can still mean getting less then 40fps in wide open enviroments with grass turned on and even AA disabled. So no card is really going to eat it up. The X1950Pro is great but it's missing 12shader units compared to the XT so it's not ideal.
You might also want to concider the nVidia 7950GT, 7900GTO and 7900GTX or the ATI X1950XTX, they're are killer cards though they might cost you.
512MB's is advisable but not manditory. It doesn't make a huge difference with current games but with upcoming releases you'll begin to appreciate having that extra chunck of memory as games become more and more texture and shader intensive and all.
 
There's a 512MB 7900GTO on ebuyer for a tasty price - £180.67 inc vat
I can afford this, but then I can't buy a new power supply, which will cost me over £50.
I think my power supply at the moment is alright, and would probably run the card - 450W 28A shared across two +12V rails

It's just not a great PSU for overclocking with, and it's been getting worse at handling the overclocking the more ive used it.

How would the X1900XT perform compared to a 7900GTO (which I would overclock)?

Heres the 7900GTO on ebuyer
 
I don't know what brand it is, but if it's a decent brand (Antec, Enermax, OCZ, FSP/Fortron/Sparkle, etc) then it should pull off the 28A just fine. I probably wouldn't use it if you were looking at higher-end SLI/Crossfire setup, but it should be able to the job otherwise. If you don't have a decent PSU, then you'll definitely want to purchase one to go with your card. Nothing kills a gaming session like a crashing computer. ;)
 
Oh I've had experience with that. When you think your PC is stable clocked at 3.8GHz and then in the middle of BF2142 it just goes off.
The most annoying thing is when youre telling your dad what a great system you've built and it does that :P

"You should have just bought a dell..."

:P
 
The 7900GTO and X1900XT are pretty similar in performance, however the XT generally has the leg up on the GTO and also costs less.
 
mut said:
Oh I've had experience with that. When you think your PC is stable clocked at 3.8GHz and then in the middle of BF2142 it just goes off.
The most annoying thing is when youre telling your dad what a great system you've built and it does that :P

"You should have just bought a dell..."

:P
Click to expand...

Shoulda hammered it with Prime 95 first. I can hit 2.4GHz, but my box is far from stable (Winchester core memory controllers=overclock suckage).
 
Maybe you can't keep 2.4GHz but I'm fine with 2.13GHz on mine (same core and model as yours) and it really did improve performance quite a bit over 1.8GHz. I think it's worth it.
 
Actually, I start running into problems anytime I do 220MHz or more, and I know it's not the RAM holding me back. I'll just hold on and maybe jump on a real cheap X2 down the road. *shrugs*
 
Yeah that is weird, your proc just gives bad yeilds I guess, cause is sure isn't you mobo either. Shame dude but you seem to be coping fine, your rigs no slouch.
 
Well, the Winchester core had some issues with the memory controller, and given that I can run my RAM up to 285MHz (well, the Patriot +XBL, I haven't tested my Ballistix, but they might go a little further), and DFI has produced the top overclocking NF4 boards, I just think it is the CPU.
 
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