Help on purhcasing a Graphics Card

KpCollins1

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3
Hi, 1st if this in the wrong place I am sorry.

I need a little help on buying a PCI-E 2.0 ( The 16 Pin one? ) Graphics card, Im looking for a pretty decent graphics card and dont know what to buy. Ive been recently looking at the "XfX 8800GT Alpha Dog Edition". But thought about getting one more powerfull. Im thinking of having similar performance power the an Xbox 360.

Im looking for an Nvidia powered one. My power supply at the moment is only 350 Watt ( I think but im sure its not more than 400 )
I have no problem in buying another PSU in which im thinking of a 700w PSU.

So in turn I kinda need help knowing what PSU to get as well as the Graphics Card.

Im looking to Spend £140 - £160/170 no more on a Graphics Card and £40-£50 on a PSU.
My PC Specs are as follows:

Amd Athlon 64 x2 Dual
4600 Both Cores running at 2.4ghz Each
2Gb Ram - Can Be upgraded but not on the top of my list
I have 1 Sata HDD, 1 Sata DvD Rom,1 IDE HDD and 1 IDE Cd-Rw ( So I know I need a PSu with both connector types or can I get a converter ? )
My motherboard is a Biostar Group Gf7050-m2 and has
3Pci Slots,1 PCi-e x16 Slot and 1 Pci-E x1 Slot

The only thing running off my PSu at the moments are the IDE and Sata Drives and my Motherboard. I am running Windows XP Pro.

Any help on what Graphics Card would best suit my gaming needs and what PSU would be needed to run it along with my current Hardware would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
bro you the 8800GT will smoke the 360 in graphics, i would say the 360 has graphics of what the 8600GTS can do. I played on a 512 mb Nvidia GeForce8500GT before and it looked very similar to what the 360 would look like, just with a bit worse AA and a few other things but an 8800 will get you better graphics than the 360.

Im guessing that would be around $217 in USD, i am not sure if you are out of the states or not but ill give you links for prices and other things for the states as i do not know where you live. Here in the states you can buy yourself either buy a 4870 or GTX 260 core 216 for around $270. You will get better performance and graphics than the 8800GT that you listed above. You will just have to get a new PSU for sure. Their is more options, you can always go with the 9800GTX+, remember not to call that card GTX+1gb, some people around these forums are stupid and do that.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104014
this would be a nice PSU, its not the best but its good enough, its got 85% efficency so that helps and the rails are not to bad.
 
While waiting for a reply ive been browsing what an efficiant combo would be. So far ive seen these.

http://review.zdnet.com/product/gra...-graphics-adapter-gf-9800-gtx-512-mb/33142235 - Graphics Card

and

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135453 - PSU

for the graphics card i read it requires a PCI 6 Pin Connecter from the PSU which this fortunatly has, Unfortunatly my motherboard doesnt support SLI :( .

and the specs for my motherboard are here

http://www.thesystemone.com/index.p...facturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=26

The Graphics card requires Windows Vista which isnt a problem as this pc came with it.

My main question is, Would these 3 Components work in Harmony with each other? Ive set my heart on it.
 
Depends what your monitor's native res is, the higher the res, the more power needed.
While waiting for a reply ive been browsing what an efficiant combo would be. So far ive seen these.

http://review.zdnet.com/product/grap...12-mb/33142235 - Graphics Card
I personally don't think the 9800GTX is a good buy any more in the UK, in the US, the price has come down but not so much in the UK.
If your monitor is a 17"/19", I'd say go with an 8800GT.
If you have a screen with a 1600x1200 or 1680x1050 res, I'd go with the HD 4850 . It's a bit faster than the 9800GTX, cheaper and consumes less power.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135453 - PSU

for the graphics card i read it requires a PCI 6 Pin Connecter from the PSU which this fortunatly has, Unfortunatly my motherboard doesnt support SLI .
Cheap PSUs are asking for trouble, if you think about it, the PSU is THE most important part of your computer, and it has to deliver stable voltages to all of the components. Cheap power supplies often don't deliver their rated wattages, and if they do, it's only under absolutely perfect conditions. You don't need 600W to power your computer, a decent quality 450W unit would be more than enough. Hiper make some quality PSUs.
 
I think you have helped me make my mind up.

Probably going to go for the Asus

and on top of that the Hyper PSU

They seem pretty decend in both price and quality. However if the Asus Graphic Card out performes the XfX 8800 Why is it cheaper? Dont mean to be a pain in the neck.
 
1)Supply and demand. More people want the card. So, companies will make more and try to sell them.
2) The retailer didn't sell enough cards. Trying to get rid of an old batch before the new ones come in.
3) Different companies make the card.
4) Competition. Competitors will lower pricers to counteract their counterpart.
 
Most all of ATI's video cards are cheaper then the Nvidia counterparts. The main reason is that ATI's manufacturing costs are much lower than Nvidia's.
 
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