Advice needed - choosing new Graphics card

[Nyllus]

Hi there, would appreciate any advice on this.

At the moment I have a rubbish 8400GS. But now I have decided to invest in a much better card. I don't really want to spend much more than £200. But will go up to £250 if its worth the performance/price is worth it.

First of all, little info.

My resolution is 1680x1050.

I'm looking to play games like Mass Effect, Unreal 3, COD4 and GTA4 maxed out (including full anti-aliasing & AF) with a good frame rate (50+).
Games like Crysis, id like to be able to play on high if not very high with a frame rate that is playable. (obviously no AA for that).

Ive looked at various benchmarks and it seems my best bets are the following cards.

Would rather not spend this much money unless its extremley good value.
8800GT SLI - £280
GTX260 - £250
HD4850 (512MB) CF - £250
HD4870 (1GB) - £245

Ideal amount of money to spend.
HD4870 (512MB) - £185
HD4850 (1GB) - £170
8800GT - £140
HD4850 (512MB) - £125

Can anyone give any advice as to which is the best value for money card to get in my price range and to meet my demands?

Would really appreciate any advice thanks.

 

[Hussein19891]

A single 4850 should be able to max out all games (except Crysis) at that resolution.

 

[saltynay]

I am confused by your system but if you can get a 4870 (1gb) for less then the 4850 then go for it.
this is nearly at your price
KustomPCs.co.uk - Asus ATI Radeon EAH4870/HTDI/512M

 

[zedman3d]

Yep go for a single standard 4850 512mb. You wont regret it. Trust me.

 

[baron5]

yep, cant beat the 4850 performance value standpoint atm. but if your going to be playing crysis, imo its worth gettin a core 216 EVGA GeForce GTX 260 "Core 216" 896MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail which is about as good as a gtx 280 when overclocked. as you might no nvidia cards do very well in crysis vs ati cards. im not too familiar with euros but it seems overclockers uk is much cheaper? HIS ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail

 

[Nyllus]

Thanks guys.

saltynay - What are you confused about? A 4870 1GB for less than a 4850? Is that a typo?

baron5 - Thanks, I have to say the GTX260 is what ive been more inclined towards. What is significant about this 'core 216' version?

 

[saltynay]

I didn't see the CF after the 4850 thats what confused me

 

[Nyllus]

Ah ok.