recomended graphics card to get?.

Ive recently just brought a new PC. Its that recent that its not even beeposted yet and carnt wait for it to come. I got the lowest of the grapic card for my new PC because i wanted to buy one sepertly. Im thinking of getting.

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 / 1GB / PCI Express 2.0 / Graphics Card

Which i can get it for £280 at a online store. (can i say which on here?)

I want to be able to play games like FlightSimulatorX as at the moment i carnt even have the graphics on medium be for my PC crashes. These are my new specs for my PC and would be greatfull for any opinions on graphic cards. Thanks.

Genuine Windows VistaTM Home Premium
Intel® CoreTM 2 Quad Q6600 Processor
(2.40GHz ,8MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz)
SLI nForce 650i Performance Mainboard
Now with FREE Digital TV tuner!
watch/record/pause live TV
4GB Memory - 667MHz DDR2
500GB Hard Drive - SATA 2 with 16MB buffer
256MB nVIDIA Geforce 8400GS (DX10)
19" Widescreen TFTLCD Display w/speakers
LightScribe Super Format 20x DVD Writer
5.1 High Definition onboard sound card
6 USB, Firewire, GB LAN
Multi-format Memory Card Reader
Logitech Cordless KB & Optical Mouse

Thanks in advanve.

IF you have the money to spend for a 3870 X2, and want the best bang for the buck, you can buy two 8800 512Mb GT's and SLI them since you have a SLI capable motherboard. Two of these cards cost about the same or less than a single 3870 X2 and perform much better.bandieramonte

Which retailer are you getting those prices for 8800GT's from? 'Cause that would be an amazing deal...

EDIT: Actually, on Newegg right now, you can get 2 8800GT's for $410, pretty good deal.

Thanks for reply and have lernt something new i didnt know what SLI ment lol DOH.

Another thing is that the sound card is only on board sound will that matter to games for the sound and music etc?.

I take it back: the lowest possible price is $420, and that's for two 256mb 8800GT's, which are very much inferior to their 512MB brethren. The lowest amount you'll be paying for 8800GT 512MB SLI is $460, which is slightly more than the 3870x2, but probably still worth the price.The_Fell_One

[QUOTE="The_Fell_One"]I take it back: the lowest possible price is $420, and that's for two 256mb 8800GT's, which are very much inferior to their 512MB brethren. The lowest amount you'll be paying for 8800GT 512MB SLI is $460, which is slightly more than the 3870x2, but probably still worth the price.Thinker_145

I agree. He can always upgrade later.

At newegg, two 8800 512Mb GT's cost $10 more than a single 3870 X2. This is 2.22% more expensive. At the same time, if you watch the following review from Anandtech: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3209&p=5 you will see that 8800 GT SLI performs a rough average of 15% better. Here is where I can demonstrate the best bang for the buck that this SLI configuration is.

This is my advice. Sure, as Thinker said, you may also try with only one 8800 GT. This is even a BETTER bang for the buck considering that SLI doesn't scale even 50% in the majority of the games.

The 8800 GT is just such an amazing card at it's price point that it's hands down THE card of this current generation. Almost as good as the elite's and at a low-mid range price point. i have just one and am supremely happy with it, i figure my cpu will be the bottleneck if i ever decide to get a second one for SLI.

get the 800 gt and if you like it, then grab another one down the road for an easy upgrade.

The 8800 GT is just such an amazing card at it's price point that it's hands down THE card of this current generation. Almost as good as the elite's and at a low-mid range price point. i have just one and am supremely happy with it, i figure my cpu will be the bottleneck if i ever decide to get a second one for SLI.

get the 800 gt and if you like it, then grab another one down the road for an easy upgrade.

wheezal

[QUOTE="wheezal"]

The 8800 GT is just such an amazing card at it's price point that it's hands down THE card of this current generation. Almost as good as the elite's and at a low-mid range price point. i have just one and am supremely happy with it, i figure my cpu will be the bottleneck if i ever decide to get a second one for SLI.

get the 800 gt and if you like it, then grab another one down the road for an easy upgrade.

Thinker_145

i take it your referring to the new GTS that uses the 65nm fab? i've heard very good things about that one too.

I personally own two 8800 GTS G92's and I can really recommend this SLI setup even more. But, take in account that you must be prepared to spend $600. But, believe me, it's really worth it.

Anyways, the GT's are a better bang for the buck than the new GTS. I bought this cards because I wanted even better performance.

But if I could only spend less than $500 on video cards, I'm 100% sure I would have gone with two GT's.

You guys left all left out an important detail, power.Im pretty shure 2 8800s are more power hungry than one 3870x2, but either way TC you might want to look into getting a decent PSU you too since it seems you just got a premade computer which usually screw you over in the PSU department.Penguin_dragon

[QUOTE="Penguin_dragon"]You guys left all left out an important detail, power.Im pretty shure 2 8800s are more power hungry than one 3870x2, but either way TC you might want to look into getting a decent PSU you too since it seems you just got a premade computer which usually screw you over in the PSU department.Thinker_145

Yes, but a HD3870x2 consumes less power than two HD3870 in crossfire as well as two 8800GT in sli.