Enquiry on a PC Upgrade! Need help and advice please!

A lot of them are about right, but tests like the last remnant completely destroy which tests are right and wrong. I'll be posting a more accurate benchmark of crysis shortly.

 

Interesting you should say that, i was just on the hunt for a Crysis bench that had a wide range of cards

 

I am using the Bit-tech test which compares the HD4830, HD4850, HD4770, GTS250 (512MB & 1GB) and HD4870 1GB - I will then cross-reference the scores to add in the HD4870 512MB, HD4890, GTX275, GTX280, GTX285, HD4850X2, HD4870X2, GTX295 and GTX280 SLI.

 

Crysis tests (Balanced by resolution & AA weight)
Detail: High (DX10)
Resolution: 1280x1024, 1280x1024 2x, 1280x1024 4x, 1680x1050, 1680x1050 4x, 1920x1200.

HD4830: 415.9
HD4770: 497.0
HD4850: 549.1
GTS250: 660.2
GTS250 1GB: 686.2
HD4870 1GB: 718.5

It is of course worth remembering that Crysis is an nvidia-biased title, and its performance characteristics do not match more even games on the market.

 

How's the HD4870 512MB stack up (since it's something like £20 cheaper)? Still impressed by the GTS250, i thought it'd only be a little above the HD4850 (from remembering the old 9800GTX).

 

The HD4870 512MB scores within 2% of the HD4870 1GB at all 'High' settings up until 1920x1200 with 2xAA inclusive.

 

See Graphics card thread for Crysis High chart.

 

Wow - almost makes the 1GB seem a waste of money

 

The 1GB is really designed for high AA (at least 4x, usually 8x) and 2560x1600. Crysis is too demanding on the GPU to require 1GB of memory. nvidia cards, however, do have memory issues.

Crysis chart now up

 

Yeah, that's just it - especially at the resolution 3dluis'll be running Crysis at (1024x768, presumably).

EDIT: Actually no, he said a 16" LCD... Is there such a thing? Well, if it's in fact a 17" it'll be 1280x1024 - still too small to need 1GB of RAM.

 

I think you could get 16" 1400x1050 monitors for a bit, but it might have been 18". Agreed, 512MB is ample for anything under 1.8 Megapixels.

 

Cheers,

Well it looks like the 4850 is back in stock on Scan, but I am intrigued by the GTS 250. So it'll probably be between them two. The 4870 seems to only be better than the 250 by a bit but I don't think its worth the 26 pounds increase from the 4850.

Also can anyone recommend me a monitor for less than 100 pounds with HD and 20+ inchs!? Is HDCP basically HDMI!?

I was looking at this:

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Disp...itor+with+HDCP+compliant+DVI+?productId=36628

Edit:

And I think the monitor I'm using now is as you say running on 1240x768 resolution but it isn't widescreen it's more of a squard monitor lcd.

 

No, HDCP is the content protection technology employed by DVI and HDMI. It is mandatory to play back legal HD video and play PS3 games with digital output.
Less than £100 is tricky without resorting to a crummy brand like Acer.
These aren't too bad:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/163440


Remember the GTS250 and HD4870 are only really close in Crysis. In other games there's a more substantial gap.

 

Ah so how can I tell if the monitor is HD or not,

That monitor link looks good, is that HD?!

And finally what would you recommend out of the 2 graphics cards (4850 or GTS250 then, note that its a HD 4850 not a 4870

 

Monitors aren't really HD or not, it's more for TVs, since monitors have had higher resolutions than HD for a long time - 720P (1280x720 - although most 720P TVs are 1280x768) is a HD signal and it's a worse resolution than a 19" LCD, which would be 1440x900. 1080P (1920x1080) is the highest resolution HD and there are a few monitors with that exact resolution but they're not really worth it, you may as well go with a 24" 1920x1200.

All that said and done, there's no point thinking about it in terms of HD unless you want to watch BluRay films on it or play a PS3 / 360 through it. You've got to keep in mind that the larger the resolution of your screen, the worse performance you'll get in games.

I don't really want to choose your card for you, since at the and of the day all three of those are good, just go with the one you're willing to pay for

 

I think HD4850, because I don't think the performance gap between it and the GTS250 justifies the GTS250's extra cost.
There isn't really any 'HD' with PC monitors exactly. Basically any PC monitor you can buy today will be able to play 1280x720 (720p) properly. For 1080i/1080p you need a resolution of at least 1920x1080 (minimum size for this is about 21"). However, for gaming purposes 1920x1080 monitors aren't ideal, you should really be looking at 1920x1200 (23"+)

 

Alright thanks for all your help to the both of you, will start buying the equipment now

 

3dluis, just a quick comment, stick with these guys that are trying to help you now, hardly any come better than sammy, these people usually hang at the pc building thread, I who knew nothing about PC,s let alone build one, well these guys guided me in to buiding one and I have never been more satisfied or happier with my build, good luck.