Help: Buying a New Graphics Card...

[Jez]

Hello, folks.

Sorry to register and be picking your brains within a matter of minutes, but if you can spare the time, i'd appreciate some advice on buying a new graphics card.

My current computer is a P4 2.6Ghz with 512 of DDR-SDRAM, a Radeon 9600TX, a decent HDD and lots of ports I care not to know anything about.

I'm looking forward to Battlefield 2 for the PC, and would like to get a graphics card that would really make the game shine. I play XBOX mostly, and i've played HL2, Doom 3 and Far Cry at a friends house, so to have THE best card isn't a priority. I'd just like something that'll last me a couple of years.

My friend has just bought a GeForce 6600GT that ran HL2 everything on HIGH with 4 x AA and it was beautiful. I want to be able to run Battlefield 2 in the same way. I plan to get an extra 512MB of RAM to compliment the card - and improve my PC speed overall.

I have a QTEC power block (PSU)(450w) that should be able to support a decent card.

I hear EA games are better played with nVidia cards and from the look of my friends HL2, I wouldn't mind playing it looking like that!

So, i've pencilled a GeForce 6600 GT in my mind and was thinkning about getting it around May time..

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice on the card, or if anything else Sub £150 would do a better job.

Much Appreciated.


Jez

 

[seany™]

hey welcome,
if your waiting till may to buy a new graphics card....
Prices will drop so 6600GT maybe 120£ then compared to 160+ it is now......
but a 6800 GT(128) at the moment is like 220 (if u look) but will drop by May time, like 2 months away.

 

[Reefsmoka]

If i were you i would scrap the Q-Tec PSU a.s.a.p. They must be the worst PSU maker out there! There known to blow motherboards and all components in a PC at the blink of an eye. Look for something made by either Hiper, Enermax, Antec, Tagan or OCZ and 350W or more.


Anyway, once you sorted that out your best option would definatly be a 6600GT, great card for the price, will easily shift Doom 3. You should be able to pick one up for less than £160.

If you want to get more performance you should look at a 6800GT, its a fantastic card and will thrash anygame with no probs, that will be around the £250 mark though.

 

[Alf]

If any one has one , can you put some 03 and 05 3Dmarks scores? or some Doom 3 and HL2 speeds? cause when ever i look for a review on them the reviewers always have supreme systems (FX-55, Corsair Xtra low latencies, and all that good stuff) but not ever one has that kinda system.

 

[Jez]

Ram

On another note - I need 512 MB of RAM - I've found some which is 512, PC2700, 333Mhz. 184 -pin and the same cas (2.5) as the one I have but the brand is different(hyinx, compared to my current samsung), does that matter at all?

Cheers!

 

[Reefsmoka]

its better to try and stick with the current make, sometimes motherboards can get about touchy and decide not to accept that other stick of memory. I have Samsung memory in machine, heres a link to some samsung memory. Its not the cheapest memory in the world, but its better to be safe than sorry .

 

[Jez]

Yeah - Probably a touch pricey. Plus - I'd rather use PayPal, I have more money in there! Haha...

If I can get this other stuff cheap enough, i'll just go for it and pray. If the price isn't right - i'll shell out on the Samsung.

A GiG of RAm should compliment my 6600 GT quite nicely - when I get it!

 

[floppybootstomp]

Just to back up what reef recommended, I'd tend to replacing the PSU first. Annoying as it may seem, you'll be even more annoyed when the QTEC PSU takes out your nice new video card and/or maybe some other components as well.

And yes, I'd go for the 6600GT, may even get one meself shortly to replace my 9800 Pro.

 

[ChristopherP]

Theres a healthy market for 9800pros (with arctic coolers on or not) on eBay

 

[floppybootstomp]

Theres a healthy market for 9800pros (with arctic coolers on or not) on eBay

Thankee Chris

However, I'd likely fit the 9800 Pro into my daughter's machine, which would leave an Nvidia XFX FX5600 256Mb surplus.

I wonder if I could sell that OK?

 

[Jez]

Damn - just bought that bloomin' power supply too! it seems okay - it's a dual fan one and seemingly does a good job - but you guys know best.

If I had to get a PSU that would do a good enough job to cool a 6600GT or a 6800GT, which one would you recommend?

 

[Jez]

What's the problem with QTEC PSU's? Do they just cut out? Break Randomly?

 

[Reefsmoka]

Q-Tec PSUs are just ticking timebombs, they go down whenever they choose and can take all your precious components with them!

 

[floppybootstomp]

If I had to get a PSU that would do a good enough job to cool a 6600GT or a 6800GT, which one would you recommend?

As reef mentioned earlier - Antec; Enermax; Tagan; Hiper; OCZ.

You'd probably get away with a 350 watt version from any of those manufacturers, to be honest, but try and stretch your budget to at least a 400W version, it's worth it.

Sorry to be a pain, btw, but we just trying to prevent grief for you further on down the road

And if you're really strapped for cash - and I've mentioned this before - the Jeantech PSU's from PC World aren't too shabby and are reasonably priced. I have one that's been working flawlessly for a few years now, all rails are dead stable. And I do remember some link or other that was posted here (by reef I think) quite a whiles ago that listed Jeantech as one of the good makes.

But if you can afford it, best go for one of the five makes previously listed.

 

[psd99]

enermax all they way my friend..........

 

[Jez]

Does it matter if I get DDR DIMM RAM if the one I have is DDR SD-RAM?

 

[Jez]

Where can I find out if my MS-6701 MOBO is compatible with DDR2 RAM?

 

[floppybootstomp]

At Crucial

They have a service where you can find out which type of RAM is compatible with your motherboard. Right at the top of the page.

Is your board an MSI board Jez? If so, Crucial don't list an MSI 6701.

 

[Jez]

Yeah... Seems like it was beamed down from Saturn and no-one has any idea about it except a bunch of Germans!

I might just get this RAM, and if it doesn't work, i'll eBay it.

Ahhhh... eBay.