Yest another graphics card upgrade question

[CastorUK]

Hi

I'm currently running a GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB + 550W PSU + ASUS P5N-E SLI 1; and I'm think about upgrading the graphics card.

What are everyone’s suggestions that would:

1. Not cost the earth
2. Work under my 550W PSU
3. Justify the cost of upgrading vs performance boosts

I was originally looking at the new ATI Radeon HD 4770 cards which look quite good but after a longer read of reviews the performance between it and the 8800 GTS did not look that great (but that may have been the 512MB version).

Any suggestions out there?

[larrybn]

ATI Radeon HD4870

[jammyh]

Could a knowledgeable club member answer a question on different memory sizes on graphic cards? I wish to upgrade from a Radeon HD4550 to a HD4670 and notice on Amazon that there is only a few pounds difference between a 512MB and 1GB cards, in fact some of the 512MB cards offered are a lot more than the 1GB. One of course having twice the memory of the other. Which size memory should I go for?

[exvirilis]

I just replaced an 8800 GTS to a 9800 GT (my old card burnt out and i had to do it). i've been playing games now for a couple of days under the new card, and it's worse than the old 8800. So whatever you do, don't get a 9800!

I find this guide incredibly useful - compares every graphics card on the market:

Tech ARP - Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 17.3

[DJT298]

CastorUK; As per the post by larrybn the Radeon HD4870 is a very good card that can be bought for a very reasonable price but will provide a significant increase in performance compared to your 8800GTS. If you want to stay with Nvidia then the GTX260 offers equal perormance to the 4870 and can be bought for a similar price. Both cards will fit in fine with the rest of your system specs.

jammyh; In a nutshell, the more memory installed on the graphics card the less system memory needs to be used for gaming. This speeds the system up because you don't have to rely on as much data being transfered between the graphics card, processor and computer memory via the data bus.

[larrybn]

Originally Posted by DJT298

jammyh; In a nutshell, the more memory installed on the graphics card the less system memory needs to be used for gaming. This speeds the system up because you don't have to rely on as much data being transfered between the graphics card, processor and computer memory via the data bus.

Tasty nutshell