Little help with with a buget g-card

Hello there i want want a little help with buying a buget graphics card at the moment i have a conect3d x1950 512mb but as evey one knows these cards have loads of problem with crashing and so dose mine got so bad that it now crashis every 5 mins or so some time just open a game but enyways i been looking in to buying a new card i did want to dx10 and my buget is a round £100 ($200) the one i have in mind so far is
HIS ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT IceQ Turbo 512MB DDR3 PCI-E
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(21119)HIS-ATI-Radeon-HD-2600-XT-IceQ-Turbo-512MB.aspx
i think it sounds pretty good but i dont konw to much about graphics cards

the games i want to play is gears of war,bioshock and need for speed pro street preferable on full setting

so eny help with finding one would be kool or if this one i have found is good enough
thanx mr_capdown

 

The X1950 Pro? If so, the 2600XT will effectively be a downgrade for Directx10's sake.
If you can live with your current card for a short while longer, get the Radeon HD3850. That's a reasonably powerful card, and supports Directx10.1. You won't be able to run brand new games on top settings for £100 unfortunately. If you want to do that, you'll want something like an HD3870 or an 8800GT.
Note: All of these cards are currently in limited supply.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=707459
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=707471
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=691920

 

i just found this one what one do u think will be better this one is only 256mb
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=26429

 

First of all, don't buy from Microdirect, they have terrible business practices.
Secondly, the HD2900GT is hardly any better than the X1950 Pro, so I wouldn't bother with it.
If you're limited to £100, then go with one of these
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=576205
However, I can't hide from you that you won't be able to run the latest games at top settings. On that budget it isn't doable, I'm afraid.

 

ok thanx 4 the reply and the help
its a shame that i cant just get this card working i all ready put a artic cooler on it and it cant run much colder that it dose
was just tring to play geras of war on it all no low setting and it crashis every 5mins or so
but yer that Sapphire HD3850 look ok 4 now i just found this site telling you about it on gears of war
http://www.vr-zone.com/articles/AMD_Radeon_HD3850_and_HD3870_-_AMD's_salvation?/5392-10.html
would the ffs be better 4 me as i will be playing it on 1440 x 900
thanx 4 all the help

 

The HD3850 won't be quite as fast as the X1950 pro, but it'll be quiet, it should run nice and stable, and it supports Directx 10.1.

 

lol well it will run faster than mine as it is at a stand still

 

rite ok sammorris u seem to be the master of graphics card as i seen u helping others on afterdawn in the past year ive been a member let get me a good g-card.
so far for me this year g-card has not been my thing i started the year off with a ati x800 gt powercolor then chopped that in to try crossfire in the form of two X850 XT but playing around in side my computer i broke off one of the solid capacitors off the slave card so then i decideed to get a nice new conect3d x1950 pro 512mb which since the day it went in to my computer never worked i even changed the cooler to the Arctic Cooling Accelero X2 and still no joy so here i am today going for card number five this year so i kinder want to get this right ive upped my buget to a round £180 ive been looking at the HD3870 and kind of like it but if i can get more and fast and better and all the rest of it show me please

my system as it stand is as follow

DualCore Intel Pentium D 820 2.8ghz (clocked to 3500 MHz 14 x 250)
Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB ddr2667 (clocked to speeds of ddr2800)
mobo Abit AW8D (crossfire)
Seagate sata2 80gb main drive
seagate sata2 500gb back up drive
ATI Radeon X1950 Pro
psu 570W Pro PSU Dual Fan PW-5500
philips 19" php-x19w 1440x900
Windows Vista Ultimate

now to get this computer up to a good gamming level what do i need for it you recomend and i see what i can do about getting it

thanx for the help so far

 

Unlucky about your success in the past, fortunately graphics cards have been the one solid workhorse of my PC. I've only ever had to change when it's time for an upgrade.
I'm not sure whether you see this as fortunate or unfortunate, but your monitor is a low resolution, so consequently you won't need quite so much graphics power to get decent gaming performance.
On that budget given the current climate I'd recommend you try and get hold of a Radeon HD3870. At that resolution it'll run pretty much anything (maybe with the exception of Crysis on very high), and will continue to do so for quite a while. It puts out the best picture of any graphics card, and since you're a Vista user, you'll be able to make use of its Directx 10.1 capabilites.
The only downside to the card is that current availability of them is very low, so place a pre-order and hope you get one soon!

 

ok the kool
out of all the HD3850 what one do recmend that i go for

 

No, an HD3870. There's a big difference.
Out of all of them, I recommend Sapphire
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102713
I'm curious as to what the reviews mean about Sapphire's tech support. All of the Sapphire cards I've owned (I've had three) have worked perfectly. Besides, legally for the first year of ownership of something like a graphics card, it is the retailer's responsibility for replacement, not the manufacturer, so I think those who give it a negative review are talking rubbish.

 

well pay day soon so i will be buying the HD3870 Sapphire thanx for the help
BUT
one more thing
since you know your card so well i gussing your a gamer and know your gaming hardware i need a new cpu and i dont now what to go 4 it out of two
Intel Pentium EE D 965 D965 3.73GHz 1066 FSB
INTEL 2 CORE QUAD Q6600 1066 FSB 8MB CACHE

but problem it if i go for the q6600 i need to get a new mobo two but to be honest i like this mobo so out of the two what would u say

 

From a gamer's standpoint, I'd say neither. The D965 is too slow for its ridiculous power consumption, and the Q6600 is unnecessary overkill if all you do is play games.
Get a Core 2 Duo E6750.

 

I'll second that. Honestly there is a big difference between a Pentium D cpu and a E6600. There is a BIG difference, and the Q6600 is better. Here check out this chart.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=871&model2=885&chart=425

 

Dual-Cores are not worth it anymore and are slowly going to be phased out by quads. Older games and programs that do not support full multi threading usually do perform better on dual cores, but not by much at all. As more and more programs and games become multi threaded (especially supporting all four cores), quads will be superior in performance. What I do suggest is that you wait until the Yorkfield quads come (Q9300 $266 or Q9450 $316) in January and then make your purchase.

 

It'll be a long while before I will be buying a quad core. As far as I can see at the moment, it's pointless buying a Quad core CPU for the reasons you describe. Not until intelligent Quads come out that can assign multiple cores as one thread. All applictions benefit from having 2 cores because the system can respond to multiple applications at once, and the number of games that recognise multiple cores and gain performance from them is ever increasing, and becoming quite large. Personally, I think a dual core is the best decision you could make right now, and unless you do high-end video editing work, Quad cores are best left alone for a considerable length of time.

 

high speed Intel Pentium EE D i reckon you could get about 5ghz out of it
right then mate thanx for all the help let hope things are done right my my pc this time and it work better just a quick one what spec pc do have is just that i could not find it i your profile

 

Mr.Capdown, you realize that you SHOULDN'T get the Pentium D right? Just makin sure.

 

ok why would that be

 

It takes up too much power, makes too much heat, and the performance is crap. Go get a C2D or C2Q.