Graphics Card Picking Help

[Beefers]

Its the first time ive started to re-vamp my rig, and ive been on the prowl for a new graphics card contemplating loads of them.

 

Im at the point now where im sorta lost as to which one is right for what i want. I've got around the £150 mark (about $230) to splash out on one. I want it for gaming FF14 hopefully. And i want a nice framerate with it.

 

Ok so im asking for quite a bit. But ive several questions i want answering, so i dont disapoint myself or waste my money!

 

Ive got a 750W PSU didnt pay allot for it which worries me a tad, but if it struggles i will be prepared to buy another. And got a PCI-E slot as far as i know.

 

Now for my questions:

 

- Do i get ATI, Nvidia or neither?

 

- Whats the difference between all of them? (ive been going by the MB/GB's but have been told thats not always the case)

 

- Where should i buy one from? (i found Amazon fairly handy with a good range of them)

 

- Why do some look totally different, and yet have the same spec and are of the same series? o.o

 

A total novice as you can probably see, so any advice from you more experienced people out there is much welcome. Ty

 

Also I had a Nvidia Geforce 8600GT(p402 8600GT 256MB), which broke out of warrenty, got a new one from dell which broke 5-6 months down the line again! ''oh sorry sir only 3 months warrenty on that, you will need to buy a new one'' wtf? ''... um i dont think so''.

 

- Anywhere i can get it repaired?

[Dalo Harkin]

FF14 specs havent been released yet, so you cant choose a card based on that.

 

PCI-E is good, as is 750 Watt.

 

ATI and Nvidia are the ONLY 2 companies that make the GPU boards, they then sell the boards to the likes of PNY, ZOTAC, GAINWARD etc and they stick there own coolers and overclock the RAM and core of the GPU

 

So its down to your personal choice, as for deciding on a card the main factor when buying a card is the resolution of the monitor you plan on using it on, no point buying a powerhouse if your playing on a 15" monitor :D

 

so come back with the res etc and we can go from there...hope this helps

 

8600GT - whats wrong with it?

[Beefers]

Brilliant thanks for your reply! still a few unanswered questions but a great start.

 

Im using a 'Dell E2209W 22" Flat Panel Widescreen Monitor'

1000:1 contrast ratio and 1680x1050 resolution.

 

Just to add:

FINAL FANTASY XIV

That gives the minimum system requirements, when you scroll down. I imagine any graphics card i get at £150 unless totally ripped off will run it. So im not worried about that.

 

Why do some graphics cards look totally different, and yet have the same spec and are of the same series? o.o

 

This link should help explain

Amazon.co.uk: ATI Radeon™ HD 5770 Graphics

 

3 Cards Seem so similar yet the price varies ever so slightly... what the heck am i not noticing? and looking at the pictures of the cards would suggest they were all completely different, totally different fan positioning and style. Its got me confused ><

 

Where should i buy one from?

 

I buy stuff frequently from amazon, but just got baffled by the large amount of similar cards available. Is there anywhere else that can be recommended?

 

Ive now had 2 - Nvidia Geforce 8600GT, bought from dell, because my 1st one broke. They now want me to purchase a third...

It basically wasn't displaying anything on the monitor and kept makeing a series of anoying fan revs once turned on.

I switched the monitor to onboard graphics and it worked fine, so i got the dell engineer along to replace it for me forking out about £156 (rip off), and 6 months down the line the second one did exactly the same thing...

Its always fine until i turn the computer off for 1 reason or another. Or it crashes. And thats seems to be when the cards stopped working. Ive kept 1 of the broken ones, the dell engineer said he had to take away the 1st broken one due to some sort of policy :S

 

The card looks brand friken new, and i imagine its something so small thats stopped it from working, considering the fan on it is working but going nuts.

 

Sorry for the essay and for the links but i felt they were required to get my point across.

 

Thanks again for the reply!

[rowal5555]

For starters, I am no expert on video cards and am not a gamer, so can only tell you my experiences.

My Pavilion tower came with a 7500LE and I eventually replaced that with an 8600GT. My son gaily advised me that an 8800GTS would be much better and I found it to be 3x as fast. I recently had the chance to obtain a GT240 which has 1GB DDR5 memory and it outperformed the brute of an 8800 card.

The fact that your machine has already broken 2x8600s is of concern but I have no idea what may cause that.

If you have a PCI Express x16 slot, check out the GT240 which performs great and is pretty cheap (NZ$150).

[Beefers]

Thanks for the advice Rowal i will take a look at the GT240 :)

[ScottyCFC]

GT240 Sounds good, whatever you do, dont go ATI. They were good up until 9200 series, but after that, their drivers fell apart. Their support is awful, where as nvidia cards (though more expensive) have stable and well written drivers. To be honest, you get more for your money too, an ATI card "equivalent" is cheaper, but it really isnt an equivalent. (never had nvidia card, but my brother does). Personally getting a GTS250 next month (£90), Ive had enough of ATI.

 

Google your cards benchmark, tomshardware site usually gives good comparison scores :)

[Beefers]

awesome ty ;)

[Beefers]

Well its cheap it seems 1/2 decent i was looking to spend way more... but tbh whats the point, found it on amazon with a good review, think ill purchase it and see how i get on! thankies