Need new graphics card

[psychfunk]

Okay so I need a new Graphics card and I have no idea where in the market I'm supposed to be.

I prefer ATi/AMD and I have an 850w PSU. I'd like to be able to play the newest games and do extensive photo editing, but my budget is restricted to £100-150. Need an output of 1680x1050 for my monitor.

Cheers in advance

 

[stormy13]

In that price range,

ASUS HD 6850 Direct CU 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Display.. | Ebuyer.com

 

[Dwarf]

Another alternative:

XFX AMD Radeon HD 6870 - 1024MB DDR5; 4200MHz; PCI-E: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

 

[paulpicks21]

+1 for the 6870 , I have 2 friends with them and they perform very well.

They have come down alot in price lately and also it pays to shop around for special offers.

XFX ATI Radeon HD 6870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat & Shogun 2 Games - Aria Technology

 

[Solarstarshines]

Now they give away free games ,I payed 280.00 for a brand new one and i still have my 5770 as a back up-.

Those cards are well worth the cash

 

[taylorig]

Can't you unlock the extra cores on a 6850 to the same as a 6870, easily?

Not an ATI user here but i'm sure i keep reading something about this all over the place...

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

Can't you unlock the extra cores on a 6850 to the same as a 6870, easily?

Not an ATI user here but i'm sure i keep reading something about this all over the place...

At the risk of a expensive paperweight.....

 

[LiquidSnak]

Can't you unlock the extra cores on a 6850 to the same as a 6870, easily?

Not an ATI user here but i'm sure i keep reading something about this all over the place...

At the risk of a expensive paperweight.....

^^ That.

If you are on a budget, the 6850 will do you just fine. If you can fork over the cash, you will notice a difference on the 6870, but it's just a matter of if it will be worth it for you.

 

[taylorig]

At the risk of a expensive paperweight.....

Well yeh there is allways that risk if one doesn't know what they are doing. But notice i put "Easily" because from what i've read it is really easy.

It was just a suggestion for the OP to save some cash but have the same as the higher card. I also understand that not everyone likes to do flashing and such but personally i've never once had a problem in the past with any flashing at all.

If the OP as the cash to pay for the higher version anyway then it's a no-brainer

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

1. It's the 6950 that can be flashed to the 6970 spec, and only the 2 GB version.....

2.What you are doing is unlocking a shader core group, and gambling that it was locked for no good reason..

3.If you do that you void your warranty....(is that why AMD hasn't tried to stop it?)

4. Stormy recommended a 6850....if you flash that to a 6970, you will have a paperweight....

 

[taylorig]

1. It's the 6950 that can be flashed to the 6970 spec, and only the 2 GB version.....

2.What you are doing is unlocking a shader core group, and gambling that it was locked for no good reason..

3.If you do that you void your warranty....(is that why AMD hasn't tried to stop it?)

4. Stormy recommended a 6850....if you flash that to a 6970, you will have a paperweight....

Ahhh right, fair enough. Like i said it's only what i'd seen floating around the net. And seeing has i don't run an ATI card then i've not done it myself.

Personally i think these things are worth looking in to sometimes because i know for a fact most companies hold back on hardware or lock it for profit reasons. Then they bring the next generation of cards out which is basically the same chipset as the previous one's, just overclocked or unlocked versions.

But it's all down to the end user i suppose and whether or not they are competent enough to do these things and as you mentioned, more importantly void warranty.

 

[psychfunk]

I'm gonna save up and get the 6870, thanks guys.
And I'm not experienced with flashing graphics cards anyway so even if I could have, I wouldn't have bothered.

Who knows, by the time I've gathered up the money the 7xxx cards might be out. Would that make the 69xx ones cheaper or what?

 

[smarteyeball]

Who knows, by the time I've gathered up the money the 7xxx cards might be out. Would that make the 69xx ones cheaper or what?

Eventually.

 

[Solarstarshines]

Unless your a really rich man that has time to throw away money on the latest ,you'll still be behinde every 3to 6 months they have improved the product from the first release .


So don't worry about the top of the line get what works for you cause after all in a year or 2 the gpu will be the same as all otheres dinosaurs, but with any luck it will be usefull for a few years till it is time to look for another one or a system upgrade .

 

[smarteyeball]

Unless your a really rich man that has time to throw away money on the latest

You don't have to be rich to have the latest

But having no debt, no kids and an understanding GF helps a lot

So don't worry about the top of the line get what works for you cause after all in a year or 2 the gpu will be the same as all otheres dinosaurs, but with any luck it will be usefull for a few years till it is time to look for another one or a system upgrade .

True.

Although not all dinosaurs are equal - a higher end dinosaur is still quicker than a lower end dinosaur and a higher end dinosaur will always last longer than a lower end one.

IF AMD stick to their normal schedule, they will release their 'mid range' cards first ie 7850/7870 followed a few months later by the higher end versions.

It's only when the higher end versions appear that the price really starts to drop on the previous gen cards.

 

[hybridfan]

Make sure your case is big enough what ever card you getting

 

[Solarstarshines]

Unless your a really rich man that has time to throw away money on the latest

You don't have to be rich to have the latest

But having no debt, no kids and an understanding GF helps a lot

So don't worry about the top of the line get what works for you cause after all in a year or 2 the gpu will be the same as all otheres dinosaurs, but with any luck it will be usefull for a few years till it is time to look for another one or a system upgrade .

True.

Although not all dinosaurs are equal - a higher end dinosaur is still quicker than a lower end dinosaur and a higher end dinosaur will always last longer than a lower end one.

IF AMD stick to their normal schedule, they will release their 'mid range' cards first ie 7850/7870 followed a few months later by the higher end versions.

It's only when the higher end versions appear that the price really starts to drop on the previous gen cards.

To late about Kids,Wife lmao ....I have no debt .......yet i still find it hard to part with so much money in so short of time ,but im learning to take more time into looking for future instead of right now that's always a +1

 

[smarteyeball]

To late about Kids,Wife lmao ....I have no debt .......

There's your debt (same thing from the wallets perspective)

yet i still find it hard to part with so much money in so short of time

True. Then again it's also a matter of perspective.

In a previous life I used to spend the same amount of money that I do on tech stuff only to literally watch it 'go up in smoke'. The biggest difference now is that I still have a physical object to enjoy where previously it was gone as soon as the smoke cleared...

Still hurts to part with the cash, but somehow it hurts less

but im learning to take more time into looking for future instead of right now that's always a +1

Definitely a bonus.

I remember when you weren't that happy with your 5770 which you replaced with your 6870 and your much happier now because it will last a lot longer before needing to be upgraded.

 

[Solarstarshines]

To late about Kids,Wife lmao ....I have no debt .......

There's your debt (same thing from the wallets perspective)

yet i still find it hard to part with so much money in so short of time

True. Then again it's also a matter of perspective.

In a previous life I used to spend the same amount of money that I do on tech stuff only to literally watch it 'go up in smoke'. The biggest difference now is that I still have a physical object to enjoy where previously it was gone as soon as the smoke cleared...

Still hurts to part with the cash, but somehow it hurts less

but im learning to take more time into looking for future instead of right now that's always a +1

Definitely a bonus.

I remember when you weren't that happy with your 5770 which you replaced with your 6870 and your much happier now because it will last a lot longer before needing to be upgraded.

oh yes much happier