What Graphics card?

Tightscot · 06-08-2010, 17:24

Hi all. (especially Zing

)

I need to replace my ageing (and failing) NvIdia 7900GS card.

I was looking at an 1GB ATI 5770 for around Â£100, but have just seen a 512mb ATI 4850 for about Â£50 - so which would you recommend i get?

Mainly play a few games like MW2 - which runs fine, although my card is failing so i get lots of artifacts once it warms up. I also have battlefield BC2, which only runs at a rubbish res of around 800x600, and lags like hell.... as such i've only played it for about 10 minutes in the last month!

So of the 2 options above, which would be better value, and would both cards run both games on a 22" tft at a fairly decent level?

TIA

idi banashapan · 06-08-2010, 17:35

you'll get what you pay for imo. if you have Â£100 to spend, try to spend it. get the best you can for that price - preferably a DX11 compatible (ATI 5xxx series is, but not the 4xxx series) card such as the ATI 5750 which you can get for about Â£100, give or take Â£5. the 4850 will not be DX11 compatible. you want the DX11 just to futureproof yourself. if you keep this card for as long as the 7900GS (which is mighty old in GPU land), I would totally recommend you go DX11 unless you have no plans in the next 5 years to move away from XP, in which case, it doesn't matter.

MovedGoalPosts · 06-08-2010, 17:37

You are not exactly comparing like for like there. One card is the newer generation ATI stuff with a gig of RAM, one card is older generation with only half a gig.

Most cards will support the 22" tft and do quite well You do need to establish that monitor's native resolution and decide on the graphics capacity to power that resolution. Only if you really try to max out all of the detail settings of somoe games will you see some stuttering. Indeed that is usually the issue of many poor quality images, we want too much detail on screen.

If you are likely to use any newish game that can support directx 11 stuff, then the 5770 is by far the better card to go for. If you have no forseeable need for directx11, then the 4850 might suffice. On the basis that you want BF:BC2 which does directx11, then you want the 5770.

DocDutch · 06-08-2010, 17:50

i would go for the 5770 what ram is in it gddr3 or 5 if 5 then its a bloody good bargain

damien c · 06-08-2010, 18:28

If you can save the money up to get a Nvidia GTX 460 1GB then that's what I would get, think they are around Â£170'ish but they are on average 35% faster than the ATI 5770.

06-08-2010, 20:29

5770 all the way . Its equal to the 4870 which is still a very capable card.

CycoSymz · 06-08-2010, 22:17

The 5770 is a great card for the money

Graham M · 07-08-2010, 01:43

Yep, very good card, have been using one for some months

dannybear · 07-08-2010, 02:03

The 5770 Card is brill. I have this version of the card.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179463#reviews

Its been very good, I can play all the new games on high settings with no problems. Does very well on futuremark when I tested it on there.

Tightscot · 07-08-2010, 19:12

thanks to everyone for the replies! Looks like i'll be getting the 5770 then

looking forward to playing BF2 at last!

dannybear · 07-08-2010, 22:22

Enjoy BF2, I use all the settings on high with no problems.

ZrByte · 07-08-2010, 23:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannybear

Enjoy BF2, I use all the settings on high with no problems.

Though dont forget if the rest of your system is still substandard the game could still be unplayable or at least be laggy. especially if the game is a cutting edge one. Far too many people focus on the gpu or cpu when normally at least both of these and sometimes a combination of other components are really needed to make a difference.

idi banashapan · 07-08-2010, 23:42

yeah - BC2 REALLY likes a meaty CPU. When I got the beta, I had an old C2D 6850 with 8Gb DC and it was painful. I know a few people who got new cards but still used a C2d and it grinds badly. I now have an i7 930, 6Gb TC and ATI 5870 which works flawlessly.

damien c · 08-08-2010, 09:24

If you want to improve the frame rate in BFBC2 then turn off the HBAO effect's in the option's as that will help if you get low frame rate's.

Tightscot · 08-08-2010, 12:47

i got a C2D ocd to 2.6ghz, am looking to go to an i5 or i7, but need to save up as it'll need a new mobo, ram etc!