Spec me a new GFX card

[Energizer Bunny]

Gents,

My faithful old 8800 GTX appears to have died on its arse, so I find myself in need of a new card. I'm reluctant to buy myself a whole new rig, so all I can really afford to upgrade right now is the card itself, so I'll be needing a card that will work with my system. I'm a gamer and my monitor is big (28") so I need a card that can pump out 1900x1200 on average settings (I dont require 100x AA but its nice to have something above stick men, if you get my drift).

My current rig is as follows:

Windows 7
Core 2 Quad 6600
Gigabyte GA P35 DSR3 Motherboard
8gb ram
8800 GTX Graphics card
Corsair 620w PSU

I had been looking at a GTX 470 1.28gb card as a decent mid range option (the price point of £200 feels about right) but I've noticed that the card is PCI-E 2x where my motherboard is PCI-E 16x (which I think means it is 1x).

So I guess my questions are:

- Is the GTX 470 a good option? I dont mind the layout but if the rest of my rig is going to be too slow to take any advantage of it then there's no point

- If the GTX 470 isnt the right choice, do you have any recommendations?

- Is it ok to shove a PCI-E 2x card into a 16x slot?

Many thanks in advance for your kind assistance

 

[Powermoloch]

answering your 3 questions:

1) It's a good option, just be aware of its power draw and pumps out alot of heat.
2) You can take a look @ 460 GTX FTW or 68XX series.
3) Yes you can shove a pci-e 16x 2.0 card on a regular 16x pcie slot

 

[Energizer Bunny]

Thanks Powermoloch

A few follow up questions if I may:

- I hadnt considered the power. Is it more power hungry that the 8800 GTX? I always thought those things were the most power hungry card on the planet, but I may be out of date. Given my rig (see first post - no overclock running) do you think I'm likely to have an issue with a 620w power supply? The only thing I should add is that I'm running 3 hard disks but thats it from a power perspective.

- Point about PCI-E 2x fitting in a 1x slot noted, but does it hobble its performance? Just curious


Thanks for your help

 

[happy medium]

Thanks Powermoloch

A few follow up questions if I may:

- I hadnt considered the power. Is it more power hungry that the 8800 GTX? I always thought those things were the most power hungry card on the planet, but I may be out of date. Given my rig (see first post - no overclock running) do you think I'm likely to have an issue with a 620w power supply? The only thing I should add is that I'm running 3 hard disks but thats it from a power perspective.

- Point about PCI-E 2x fitting in a 1x slot noted, but does it hobble its performance? Just curious


Thanks for your help

Your power supply is fine ,the gtx 470 uses about 50 more watts then the 8800gtx.

 

[JAG87]

It sucks a lot more power than an 8800 GTX.

Go for the GTX 460 like suggested, it will give you more than enough performance and it uses a lot less power. Your PSU is able to handle either card, even a GTX 480.

Putting a pci-e 2.0 card in a 1.0 slot won't cause anything tangible to hurt it's performance.

 

[brownstone]

Are you planning on sticking with Nvidia? If not, you could think about the 6870. I'm also running 1920x1200 and it seems to be priced well and a little easier on the power and noise than a gtx 470, but it may lose a little in the performance department. Guess it just depends on your priorities.

 

[Energizer Bunny]

Thanks Gents. I will take a look at the 460 and 6870 as I hadn't really considered either before. Much obliged.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Make that the 5870 as it's a stronger card, especially for 1900x1200.

 

[happy medium]

mabe a 5850 would still be a better choice , I think there going for cheap now