My new graphics card

[mimp]

Current card dead. Stuck with Geforce 2 MX. What to get?

Firstly, i'm a silence freak. It's got to be quiet or I'm not going there.

Secondly, I don't want to spend a fortune. The less the better.

Thirdly, I'm not looking to future proof myself - I'm currently on a socket A/AGP system. That will change but probably not for a year or so when this fancy new AMD socket is commonplace and i build a completely new system. I want something that will play games that are out now not ones coming out this year. It does need to cope at 1280 x 1024 tho as that's the resolution of my TFT and anything less looks like smeared poo. I don't need all bells and whistles to be on, but i don't want everything to be brown either.

Originally i was thinking 6600GT Silentpipe, but thats more then i really want to spend and is gonna be out of date shortly anyway.

My current leaning is towards getting a second hand 9800 Pro and whacking a Thermaltight V1 Ultra on it. Switch the fan to an undervolted panaflo and i'm guessing It'll run at a reasonable temp very quietly for about £80-£90. The bonus being that i've saved £30-£40 over the 6600 and when i upgrade I've still got a quiet cooling solution that i can bolt on to my new card.

So my questions.

1) Does this sound like a good plan? Can a 9800 Pro keep up these days without stuttering (lets say min 25fps) or losing so many FX that everything looks shoddy? Is it lots worse then the 6600 GT? Like i said I'm only looking to run pretty recent games, not Obvilion or anything..

2) How difficult is it to switch GPU fans these days? Only other time i've done it was when i stuck my stock AMD CPU cooler onto a Geforce 256 in the days before commercial passive graphics card coolers - That involved leaving it in the freezer overnight to make the thermal cement go brittle then prising it off with a razor blade, which was a tad harrowing.

 

[Dav0s]

you can get 6600gt's for £80, defiantely worth considering

1) 9800pro isnt that much worse than a 6600gt, but if a 6600gt is out of date soon.....a 9800 defo is.

2) dead easy, not a problem for anyone who has handled comp components before

 

[Ham]

Once again i recomend the X1600. You can get an AGP versions now.

 

[mimp]

you can get 6600gt's for £80, defiantely worth considering

1) 9800pro isnt that much worse than a 6600gt, but if a 6600gt is out of date soon.....a 9800 defo is.

Oooh where have you seen those? cheapest AGP 6600GTs i've found were £90inc VAT + postage from (ick) dabs.

The V1 doesn't fit onto AGP 6600GTs as well which would scupper my cooling dreams.

I get yr point about the 9800 being out of date, my thought was that there's not much point paying 40~50% more for a card that isn't going to gain you much in performance or longevity.

Thanks for clearing up point 2) I will cease my fretting on that score.

 

[Dav0s]

apologies, it seems they were pci-e

this is £100

http://scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=219245

 

[FragTek]

Wirelessly posted (Nextel BB7520: BlackBerry7520/4.0.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1)

Tbh I'd go with the 9800Pro as u can get them dirt cheap and still great performers. U might be able to find an old 9800XT for cheap too which would be even better I think.

 

[mimp]

Once again i recomend the X1600. You can get an AGP versions now.

So you can, i'd thought it was PCI-e only so hadn't looked into it. £100.. hmm

bit of invetigation needed.

-edit Can't find much concrete info about the X1600 anywhere, but have been offerend a 9800 for £40 which kinda made my mind up for me.

 

[chudley]

Sounds like you got a good deal there

 

[mimp]

Yup, it's faster then I was expecting too, just messed about a bit with some demos from last year and they're all very playable at a decent resolution. Suprisingly big step up from my dead 4600Ti.

Unfortunately the cooler is still awaiting stock (chillblast expect them early next week if anyone else wants one) so i'm stuck with the incredably loud stock fan. Have got used to not being able to tell when my computers on and this is driving me nuts.. Might have to go back to the GF2 for a bit.