Hey guys, Right its been some years now since the construction of my PC and I feel its time the graphic processor made a jump up in the world. I game at 1680x1050 and have been using the above mentioned card but its starting to show its age. It has served me well but it certain games L4D2 especially the fps is going right down. I am still on XP, but will reluctantly be upgrading to 7 sometime soon. So ideally want a card that can support DX11 and play BF:BC2 reasonably at 1680x1050 (as it will be the next game I probably buy). I was looking mainly at the second hand market (or ebay) and it seems GTX 260's I going for sub £100 or just about and a friend of mine is using one of these currently. However I've been out of the custom pc game for a while so I am not sure what it is out there that I could get second hand or even new for sub £100? Willing to give up my nvidia fanboyship and buy ati for the first time but I don't have a clue about any of the current range. Any advice guys? Cheers -Fused
I also game @ 1680x1050 and had an 8800 GTS 320mb. I play BC2 mainly. I wanted an ATI 5850 but couldn't afford it so I bought an ATI 4870 Vapor-X instead, cost me about £120 and they are even cheaper now. I haven't run FRAPS on it to see what FPS I am getting but it plays fine at that resolution. Edit: Just found that the one I bought has gone UP by £16...
i wouldnt go any less than a 5770 or 4890. not sure what those run for over there. hopefully in ur range. nvidia side a gtx 260 would probably be the minimum. but id go 5770 personally.
A 4870 has near identical performance to a 5770, the main difference being the lack of DX11. I play BF:BC2 at 1680x1050 with most of the details turned up so I can also vouch for it being capable enough. Having said that, if you can get a 4890 for under £100 go for it, extra graphical horsepower is always good! Out of interest, what CPU do you have? BC2 is more CPU reliant than most games.
+1 on this ^, I found the biggest speed increase on BC2 was when I overclcoked (then replaced) my CPU. If you can afford £234, buy a new 5850 and it will last you years - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-...5MHz-1440Cores-DP-DVI-HDMI-Aliens-vs-Predator If you can't, you can get a new 4870 1GB for £105 - http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials...R5+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+?productId=38747 or a new 4890 1GB for £135 - http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials...R5+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+?productId=37323 I don't know the second hand prices.
I asked a similar question on another forum recently, and the short answer is unless you can afford an HD5750 or greater, the cost really wont be worth it.
I am running at E8400 at 3.6GHz currently. I presume that's enough unless BC2 really make use of more than two cores? Just had a new issue of custom pc pop through the door, so ill have a read and browse your suggestions thanks for your help guys.
It ran fine for me with an E6600 C2D @ 3.2GHz + 4870 and it runs even better for me know with an E8600 C2D @ stock 3.33GHz (will o/c it soon) and the same 4870. BC2 loves GHz and AFAIK can only utilise 2 cores - someone correct me if this is wrong.
Judging by this article (http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/battlefield_bad_company_2_tuning_guide,7.html) I think it's one of those rare games that actually does benefit significantly from a quad core.
I have an E6600 and an 8800GTX and I also game at 1680x1050. BBC2 ran great for me with all the settings cranked apart from AA. I don't even think my CPU was OC'd when I played it, so it was at it's usual 2.4Ghz. Hope that helps. In fact most games I play I can still crank on this PC. The only exceptions are Arma2 (which is a very extreme 'game') and GTA4, which runs beautifully but no AA and only average view distance.
I have a sapphire 5770 and it's a great budget card. It will play most games at 1680 x 1050 with most of the post processing effects turned, though probably not more than 2x AA. And for BF:BC2 with all the in-game settings on high a 5770 will really start to struggle especially when you start adding AA and AF. I wouldn't recommend a 5830 (a step up from the 5770) as it's really close in price to the 5850 which is a far superior card, though that would set you back just over £230. So unless you can before a 5850 i'd go for a HIS 5770 as it'll play most hands with decent fps and be able to handle medium to high detail settings in all but the most demanding games where you might have to sacrifice some post processing filters.
I have a HD4890 (and Q9450) now installed and it runs the game with medium settings at 1920x1200. One of these cards would be great at 1680x1050. The HD4890 is faster than either the HD5750 or HD5770, so it's a pretty solid buy if you don't REALLY want to pay for DX11.
1GB Powercolour 4870 being sold for £80 in the Marketplace at the moment. http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=189471
it does actually with avg settings, but thats not the rez he is gaming at. the 4890 would be faster, but lack dx11. thats the trade off really, a little more speed or current gen gaming. dx11 games are rolling out faster than dx10 were.
sorry for the slight off topic, but when i clicked on the marketplace forum link i got rejected. I also don't see any Trade/Marketplace section in the main forum view. Can't find anything in the faq section on marketplace restrictions for new/low post users.
you need to have 75 posts first.if tou go into your profile and click send personal message, you can ask him about the card.Send it to PegasusM
Thanks for you advice guys, it seems that what I had hoped to find in the second hand market in terms of performance and DX11 didn't quite match my budget. Also had a review of the finances (or lack there of) and decided its best to wait for me birthday and go for something new and high end. Thanks alot anyway guys -Fused
