What budget graphic card would you recommend?

[Velero]

What budget graphic card/chip do you recommend to be able play this game to it's full potential. Especially with Open Horizons II now available for download. I have the newest Intel quad i7 processor with 6 GB of ram, so I don't think I need to upgrade that. Ideally I don't want to spend more than 100 pounds - Is it possible?

Thanking you all in advance.

Edit - just found online a GTX 460 SE - 1 GB GDDR5 for less than 100 pounds, hopefully this will meet SH5 high requirements.

[Gerald]

ATI or Nvidia

[Velero]

Nvidia I guess, as that's what I'm used to. Better the devil you know

Reason I ask, is because I always seem to be underpowered when it comes to graphics cards, always struggling to get the FPS above 30 on minimum settings. In SH4 it was the same thing, never never seem to get it right . Don't believe in spending 300 pounds for the latest gadget but then budget cards tend to be a waste of time as they are 2 slow to start with. Same old same old, out the rapper and it's out of date.

Current graphics card GTS 9500 1 Gb I believe, ( I'm on my laptop so can't confirm)

[Gerald]

Nvidia,have good card's...and the card that you describe will not have problems with SH5.

[Velero]

Thanks Vendor for your reply. I'll order the GeForce GTX 460.

Right were are those dolphins and mines

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by Velero

Thanks Vendor for your reply. I'll order the GeForce GTX 460.

Right were are those dolphins and mines

You are welcome,

[Feuer Frei!]

@Velero:
Will you be running just the one card, or in SLI? Ie 2 cards, side by side?
If i may make a suggestion, the 570 is better against the 460, in single card setup.
Future-proof, the 460 is a dead end upgrade, ie you can only run 2 460's side by side.
No future to upgrade, w/o replacing both cards. With a 570 you have the option to add a second, third or fourth down the track.
That's if you think sli ofc.
Single comparisons only, go for the 570.
I don't know your budget though.
Anyways, just a thought, the 460 isn't a bad card at all, just if you are thinking futurewise.
Here's something to ponder over:

http://www.hwcompare.com/9005/geforc...force-gtx-570/

[BigBANGtheory]

The Ati 6950 2GB (reference design) is excellent value as it can in most cases be unlocked to a 6970, but it retails around £200.

I use an Ati 4890 myself having owned many Nvidia cards in the past so I'm not bias either way.

What I would say though is that in recent years Ati seems to deliver better raw GPU power per $ and that the gap in game GPU demmands over time is decreasing compared to previous years on account of console hardware holding back development. So unless you intend on using a 3 screen setup you should get a lot of milage out of a GPU.

Where you may get unstuck with an Nvidia 460 is if you intend to play ArmA3 next year, but at £100 your not taking a big risk by any means.

[Velero]

Thank you Feuer Frei! and BigBang Theory for your advice and recommendations. I went to the hardware compare website, very informative, clear concise definitions and descriptions of the different benchmarks. Very good comparisons between the two cards.

All this now lives me with a conundrum. Here are my options;

GTX 460 on offer for £80, the GTX 570 for £230, ATI 6870 - 1 GB GDDR on offer for £139.00, and finally the the ATI 6950 2GB for £200.

As with many things there's the "you pays your money you pay's your choice' trade off between budget/performance. Highly tempted to go for the 6950 but my head say's get the 460 (not planning to play Arma2).

Thank you all again for your advice, makes for a more informed decision.

[Feuer Frei!]

BTW Velero, what specs are you running?
RAM, PSU and CPU in particular?
You seem to be computer-literate so you will know already if your Mobo is compatible with the 460

[Velero]

"BTW Velero, what specs are you running? RAM, PSU and CPU in particular? You seem to be computer-literate so you will know already if your Mobo is compatible with the 460" - Feuer Frei!

Hi Frei. Well I'm not literate now, all the opposite. I've left gaming for a bit due to family commitments (baby) so I missed the whole crossfire, quad processor advances. (Wow, There can be 2 graphic cards in one PC, 4 chips in one processor, 600 watt power requirement, wtf. :)

Here are my specs:

Intel i7 Cpu 920@2.67 ghz (8 CPU'S) - 2.7Ghz
6 GB DDR3 ram
Windows 7 64 bit
Gigabite x58a-ud3r motherboard (has crosswire support, 3 way sli - whatever this means!!)
Geforce 9500 GT 1gb

This configuration should be OK shouldn't it?

[Gerald]

"600-watt power requirement", is the minimum I would recommend 750 watts is a minimum if you are going to run dual cards.

[Feuer Frei!]

Velero, your specs are fine, since you are upgrading your GPU.
Run your machine through this:

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/

A 1 click web tool to scan your system for hardware and setup configurations, select Silent Hunter 5 from the dropdown and hit canyourunit, let it do its thing and it'll give you a result.
And what power supply are you running?
What Vendor said is a good measuring tool.

[SeaWolf U-57]

For a 460 minimum power supply needed 700 watts
and a x2 PCE power leads as I recall

[Feuer Frei!]

450W PSU minimum recommended by Nvidia, 600W PSU is adequate.