Graphics card advice...

[barcelonic]

I need some advice about Nvidia graphics cards. I am buying a new PC today and have spent a little over my budget and want to try to reduce it if possible.

With the GTX295 my build comes to £1630
With the GTX285 it comes to £1542
With the GTS250 it comes to £1325

Basically I want the best possible HD playback, but I want to get a few games. I'd like to use Left 4 Dead 2 as an example as it is the one game I know Im going to buy.

How well would the GTS250 run today's games like L4D2? And how future proof is it?
Same questions for the other two cards?

Atm Im thinking of compromising with the GTX285 but Im also thinking that if Im spending this much money I might as well pay a bit more for the very best.

I don't know anything about graphics cards so what do ppl think??

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

[barcelonic]

Sorry to double post but also could someone tell me which is better:

GTX250 (1024MB) or GTX260 (896MB)

It is confusing because you'd think more memory the better but the newer model has less memory.

[Dunstan]

Get the ATI 5970.

[barcelonic]

Originally Posted by Dunstan

Get the ATI 5970.

Id rather get nvidia - do you know anything about nvidia cards?

im starting to think that the gtx285 is overkill for me so could you pls tell me which is better between the gtx250 (1gb) and the gtx260 (896mb) ?

[Dunstan]

I honestly think you should reconsider. I think you should choose on value and performance instead of the name.

I'm not sure on the nvidia ones as everything I've read has pointed to ATI being much much better than nvidia at the moment, except in the very low range.

[cameronlaw]

just wondering if you'd looked at this pc. well below what you're planning to spend with £350 off.

[cameronlaw]

.

[barcelonic]

Originally Posted by cameronlaw

just wondering if you'd looked at this pc. well below what you're planning to spend with £350 off.

The reason mine is so expensive is because i have a 60Gb SSD as a primary drive and Windows 7 Home plus an 800W case cooling system and 12Gb RAM. Thanks tho.

Do u happen to know about graphics cards as I really want to make this decision quickly as Im ready to order. It;s between the GTX285 and the GTS250.

[cameronlaw]

take a look at this

[Dunstan]

PassMark Software - Video Card Benchmarks - High End Video Cards

[barcelonic]

Thanks guys, i took a look at that stuff but im not really sure what im looking for tbh. All i could gather is that the GTX285 is quality, and there are a couple of ATI ones really good too.

In the end I decided to go forthe Nvidia GTX285. It's pricey but still cheaper than the one I was gonna get (gtx295). Also I'll be able to get great performance on all games and it'll be future proof for a couple of years. Plus Ill have quality playback of all my bulky HD content.

Total cost is now going to be around £1550. But Ill have a beast - im specifically looking forward to using an SSD drive for my system files and software. Should be uber-quick!!

[cameronlaw]

well done, care to post the specs?

[Dunstan]

Definitely should overclock it

[barcelonic]

Originally Posted by cameronlaw

well done, care to post the specs?

Specs below. Just ordered with credit card.

Processor: Intel Core i7 920 Processor (2.66Ghz, 8Mb cache)
Motherboard: ASUS P6T: DDR3 3-way SLI & CrossfireX on Demand
Memory: 12Gb CORSAIR XM53 TRI-DDR3 1600MHz (6x2Gb)
O/S: Windows 7 Home Edition 64 bit - DVD & Licence
Storage 1: 60GB OCZ VERTEX SERIES 2.5" SATA II SSD
Storage 2: 250GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HDD (8MB Cache, 7,200rpm)
Storage 3: (empty)
RAID: No
Graphics 1: 1Gb NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX285 PCI EXPRESS
Graphics 2: (empty)
Graphcis 3: (empty)
DVD/BR 1: 22x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
DVD/BR 2: (empty)
DVD/BR 3: (empty)
Sound: ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO
Network: WIRELESS N 300Mbps PCI CARD
Case: STYLISH SILVER/BLACK TRIDENT CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Cooling: 800W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
CPU Cooling: SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER
USB: 8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT)
FireWire: 1 x IEEE 1394a FIREWIRE PORT ONBOARD
eSata: Yes
TV Card: None
Modem: None
Card reader: None
Floppy drive: None
DVI cable: None
Monitor: None
Keyboard: None
Mouse: None
Speakers: None

[Cefca]

Originally Posted by barcelonic

im starting to think that the gtx285 is overkill for me so could you pls tell me which is better between the gtx250 (1gb) and the gtx260 (896mb) ?

I don't know about the graphics card being overkill, but 12GB of RAM sure is.

[barcelonic]

Originally Posted by Cefca

I don't know about the graphics card being overkill, but 12GB of RAM sure is.

Ye but the way i look at it is you can never have too much RAM - not on a 64 bit system that is

Plus the RAM wasn't too expensive and I do an insane amount of multitasking using power-hungry programs like Firefox with 5 windows open and about 70 tabs, at the same time as my download manager, my email client and WMP/MPC playing massive 15Gb 1080p rips.

Plus i know i aint gonna need to get more RAM any time soon, lol.