Graphics Card Upgrade - Help Plz

[liquidstool]

hey all, new here so be nice!

i'm running Vista x64, intel quad core, 4gb ram blah blah blah.

i currently have an NVIDIA 1gb 8500GT SLi grafix card, and am looking to upgrade. do a lot of gaming, call of duty W@W really struggled on this card, even turning all the settings down so gonna surf for a better one. I'd like some advice on a decent card, don't want to be inundated with fact and figures, don't want ATI, not worried about overclocking. must be able to run COD W@W and Far Cry 2 decently, obviously needs to work with x64. Have a thermaltake case so lots of room. Don't want it to sound like a jumbo jet.

i have narrowed it down to a choice of 3, money being tight.....

Zotac GTS250 512MB DDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PhysX and Cuda ready PCI-E Graphics Card (5 year warranty) £82


Zotac 9600GSO 512MB DDR3 Dual DVI TV Out PhysX and Cuda ready PCI-E Graphics Card £55 (5 yr warranty)



XFX 9600GSO 1536MB DDR2 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card including Far Cry 2 game - £73.98


Zotac 9800GT ECO Edition 512MB GDDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PhysX and Cuda ready PCI-E Graphics Card £79.99 (5 yr warranty)

any help here would be good, also if someone can find it cheaper or suggest a better spec, staying in the £80 prive bracket?

 

[floppybootstomp]

The first one on your list, the GTS250.

It has the fastest core and memory speeds.

Bear in mind that both Zotac and XFX are budget manufacturers.

 

[liquidstool]

Bear in mind that both Zotac and XFX are budget manufacturers.

cheers, may be budget manufacturers but you won't get many cards with a five year warranty ;-0

 

[liquidstool]

actually, how much better are these cards against my existing Nvidia 8500GT 1gb?

 

[floppybootstomp]

actually, how much better are these cards against my existing Nvidia 8500GT 1gb?

Your card:

Core: 450Mhz
Pipes: 8
Memory: 400Mhz
RAM: 1Gb DDR2 128 Bit

GTS250:

Core: 738Mhz
Pipes: 16
Memory: 1100Mhz
RAM: 512Mb DDR3 256 Bit

You figure it out

Lots of video cards carry a five year warranty, all the BFG range for starters, but it is not so common in the cheapie range I'll grant you.

You'll probably get about £20.00 for your old card on E-Bay as well, if that's your thing.

 

[guest_9323wk]

BFG cards carry a 10 year warranty on their cards in the UK. In the US
and Canada, they offer a lifetime warranty. You need to register the card with BFG then the warranty starts with them.


Hope this helps

 

[Abarbarian]

I'd save up and get a 260. By the time you have saved up a few more quids the price will have dropped a little and you will get much better gaming.

http://www.ultimatehardware.net/nvidia/asus_geforce_gts_250_page2.htm