Graphics card upgrade advice needed

[Pjam2003]

Hey all, Currently im on a 128mb GeForce FX5700 and I want something with a lil more power for games like doom 3, half life 2, world of warcraft etc etc. I dont need the most powerful beast on the market if i can I dont wanna spend more than 100-150 quid for now. I was lookin at the ati radeon 9800 pro and whether it would be worth picking up one of those?

any advice please?


Phil.

[SubparMario]

Yeah I'd say a 9800 pro would be a good choice as long as it's going for sub ?120. It's still a nice card but it's been around for a while now.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/9700_to_9800_Series.html

[wod]

if you can go a bit more 200 you could get a 6800 which would be better

[MartyG]

You can get a 6800 for ?170, it's not an ultra, but it is the next gen on from the 9800.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/GeForce_6800.html

Edit - actually that's an LE - 8 pipelines - the 9800 pro might be the better option.

Edit 2 - I've just been looking up the bench marking, the 6800LE seems close to the 9800XT in most of the tests, mind, whether that's worth the additional ?50 is debateable.

[superkully]

Why not a 6600GT? Can't see why you'd want to buy a 9800 Pro when the 6600 is the same price.

PS I've got one and it 'does' HL2 grand.

[wod]

but with some 6800 you can lock the extra pipelines in rivatuner as that might be an option

[Ciaran]

Get a 6600GT for about ?150. It will perform better than the 9800.

[superkully]

Indeed, but never buy a card thinking that - if you can overclock and unlock pipes then it's a bonus, don't take it as a given.

[MartyG]

Yeah, 6600GT might be a good option, the AGPs seem to be a bit thin on the ground though, most are PCI-E. They have some at komplett: http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=307919&cks=SER

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/action/printarticle/1755/

[Valken]

It also depends the rest of your system specs though... a slowish CPU or a slow FSB could mean that you wouldn't get the most out of a 6600gt

[VR46]

ebuyer.co.uk has some AGP 6600GT's, it's where I got mine 2 months ago for about ?145, highly recommended and all pipes are open as default but can be overclocked 99% safely from 500mhz chip and 900mhz memory to 585mhz chip and 1090mhz memory no probs

PS. I got the Inno one.

[Kotatsu Neko]

I used to run a 9800 Pro 256mb but it really didn't cut it in Doom 3, Chronicles of Riddick, or Far Cry. I could turn stuff down, run in low-res etc, but that's not the way the play PC games! (at least not for me, I like the eye candy!)

I've just upgraded to a GeForce 6800 GT 256mb, and I'm absolutely loving it. It's an ASUS single slot design with a very sleek all metal cooler which runs right over the RAM as well as the GPU. No heat problems at all, which is something I could not say about the 9800 Pro. (Doom 3 caused overheats within a few minutes)

It was a fair bit more than your ?150 budget (add an extra ?100 and you're closer to what I paid!) but I really think it was worth the money. You need to think of games of the future too, stuff running on Unreal 3 will push the 6800 and likely run like crap on an old Radeon 9800. STALKER looks demanding too, as will be FEAR.