What budget graphic card would you recommend?

[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.