Building a PC? What GFX?

[Ewan]

I am planning on building a new PC from birthday money. My birthday is end of March, so I'll probably start buying stuff mid-april.

I've been looking around at components now, and just wondered whether it is worth it to get a DX10 graphics card.

I've heard the top of the range one (8800GTX) is pretty damn good, but out of my price range.

I was thinking more the 640mb 8800GS (about £275 (~$550)).

Would it be worth it to get this, or would I be better off getting a high end 7-series card for which the prices are undoubtedly going to drop.

Something such as the 7950GT is happily within my price range.


As for other parts of the PC, I'm looking at something like this:

cheapish motherboard, I'm not going to be overclocking.
Core 2 Duo (Not the bottom of the range, not the top, probably one of the middle ones. Something I need more research in)
2 x 500mb Hds (Western Digital probably)
2 x 1gb RAM (probably crucial/kingston/corsair value)
Vista Home Prem OEM (Only £70! (~$140))
Cheap case
I don't know about PSU, not looked into that yet
I'll be fine with on-board sound.

I put all this together (using 7950GT as GPU) for £825 (~$1600) including delivery and VAT.

Just wondering if there are any specific recommendations or guidance anyone wants to share.

Also, as the dollar is pretty weak at the moment, these things might seem more expensive over here.

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Toms Hardware has the benchmark tests to check out

[Pummel]

I wouldn't go for the 7950 Gt, my brother currently has a 7600 GT and I have a 6600 GT and we're just recently starting to get owned in newer games.

I reccomend something just a little better than that.

[Ewan]

You can't really compare the 7950GT to the 7600GT and 6600GT...

[Pummel]

The 7950 GT isn't much better than the 7600 GT.

[404 Not Found]

7900 GTX SLI 512MB ranked nicely on the 3D mark Benchmark, but for that price do you splurge a little and go for the 8800 GTX 768MB or GTS 640MB and skip the DX9 for the DX10? The 8800 GTS did not rank as well as I would think at the lower MB.

You gotta ask yourself too... how much are you really spending time Gaming versus MS Office and or Graphic work?

I bench marked the card using 1280 x1024

For the difference in cost and when you are looking to purchase this, it may be best to put out the extra cash and go for it. Pricing on eBay varies at the moment & newEgg and the rest are pretty competitive. Seems that Shipping costs are different...some throw that in for free.

If you have the time...wait and research it & find the best deal.

[EDIT] BTW....The 7900 out-performs the 7950

[iKillburger]

http://www.guru3d.com/newsitem.php?id=4834

Nvidia is supposed to put out it's lower 8000 series in march.

1) It'll give you a cheaper option if you want a dx10 option
2) It'll drive the 7000 series way way down.

*note that the info is a month old