ATI 3850 High end graphics card just £78.95 delivered!!!

[digicol]

How long in the future are you talking mate?

I always think it is better to buy a good card, sell it when you feel the need for some more grunt and put the cash towards another good card.

I have never personally been a fan of bridging cards, the day they start to bring out games that cards can't handle will be the day that bridging will be worth the cash. Crysis was a start, lets hope they bring more out like that, but also make them playable on lesser cards. At the end of the day it is just lazy programming trying to rush out games to earn the cash!

If I were you mate I would get the 8800GT and then sell it on later when you feel it is struggling and buy another high end card, to me that is always the best option.

If you add a second crossfire card later on you are still using older technology but adding just more speed, as the times move it is always best to upgrade as you go along due to new architecture and so on.

Hope that makes sense mate.

 

[sargie]

i would get the hd 3870 tbh its a cracking card 512mb ddr4 giving a total of 2.2gb memory overclocks well too. worth the extra cash imo.

http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?origin=gbase16.2&prodID=B93344

 

[digicol]

Yeah as much as I do love ATI and it does have better specs, for some reason the 8800GT 512mb at stock seems to outperform a 3870 at stock.

Never really looked into overclocking of the two, but as most of the average users who ask me advice only run cards at stock then I try to give the best bang for buck.

 

[sargie]

Yeah as much as I do love ATI and it does have better specs, for some reason the 8800GT 512mb at stock seems to outperform a 3870 at stock.

Never really looked into overclocking of the two, but as most of the average users who ask me advice only run cards at stock then I try to give the best bang for buck.

well there is a pre overclocked card out there that comes in at 800mhz core clock and still a 2.2ghz mem clock.

thats card i have.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/138656

 

[calisto]

Best choice mate, you will be well impressed! :thumbsup:

May I ask what you have upgraded from?

Upgrading from a 6600GT AGP.

The card has turned up, installed it but nothing on the screen, have tried it through HDMI & DVI but still the same result, just a blank screen.

When the card turned up the foil that seals the box had been cut, wondering if it is a returned one?

 

[digicol]

Hmm, seems strange.

Especially considering you have used two cables.

What were you using before this card?

I know the card should normally over-ride any onboard if you have it, but just to make sure go into bios and make sure onboard VGA is disabled and PCIe is enabled if there is an option.

Do you have the 6 pin power adapter plugged into the card from your PSU? Turn the PC off and take the side off the case, when you fire up the PC let me know if the fan on the card spins.

Also what PSU are you using as it may be too weak for the card, I shoul dhave mentioned that before your purchase to be honest.

 

[calisto]

Hmm, seems strange.

Especially considering you have used two cables.

What were you using before this card?

I know the card should normally over-ride any onboard if you have it, but just to make sure go into bios and make sure onboard VGA is disabled and PCIe is enabled if there is an option.

Do you have the 6 pin power adapter plugged into the card from your PSU? Turn the PC off and take the side off the case, when you fire up the PC let me know if the fan on the card spins.

Also what PSU are you using as it may be too weak for the card, I shoul dhave mentioned that before your purchase to be honest.

I was using the DVI cable before with no problems.

There is no onboard VGA but have changed setting in bios to PCIe.

The fan is spinning with the 6 pin plugged in to it & it spins without it plugged in to it to.

My psu is a Thermaltake X Aser

 

[digicol]

Hmm, trying to rack my brains, was pissed as a fart last night and am about to go and get pissed again for the match.

You say a blank screen? Is it as if it is accepting a signal then not showing it, or is it as if the monitor is not seeing anything at all.

Do you get a "No Signal" on your screen?

Do you get one of these at anytime even with no cable in?

I am just trying to work out whether the montior is actually registering a feed or not.

Also does you monitor power button flash on and off when the cable is plugged in or is it on constant?

 

[sargie]

have you uninstalled the drivers for your old card and then installed drivers for new card m8? also check in the device manager and see if the card is enabled and make sure that onboard is disabled too.

 

[sargie]

Upgrading from a 6600GT AGP.

The card has turned up, installed it but nothing on the screen, have tried it through HDMI & DVI but still the same result, just a blank screen.

When the card turned up the foil that seals the box had been cut, wondering if it is a returned one?

how many watts is your psu m8 and you must keep the 6 pin pcie power cable connected or your card will not get enough juice.

 

[calisto]

You say a blank screen? Is it as if it is accepting a signal then not showing it, or is it as if the monitor is not seeing anything at all.

Do you get a "No Signal" on your screen?

Do you get one of these at anytime even with no cable in?

I am just trying to work out whether the montior is actually registering a feed or not.

Also does you monitor power button flash on and off when the cable is plugged in or is it on constant?

I have got it hooked up to my 32' LCD through HDMI cable, so do not get message saying no signal but when I start com up with my 6600GT AGP I get a beep from the com & then the screen starts up but with the new graphics card in ti, there is no beep from com :Angryfire

have you uninstalled the drivers for your old card and then installed drivers for new card m8? also check in the device manager and see if the card is enabled and make sure that onboard is disabled too.

Have uninstalled drivers for the old cardbut have not installed new drivers becuase thought would have to put new card in 1st & then reboot?

how many watts is your psu m8 and you must keep the 6 pin pcie power cable connected or your card will not get enough juice.

My PSU is 550w

Thanks to both of you for trying to help me out

 

[sargie]

I have got it hooked up to my 32' LCD through HDMI cable, so do not get message saying no signal but when I start com up with my 6600GT AGP I get a beep from the com & then the screen starts up but with the new graphics card in ti, there is no beep from com :Angryfire



Have uninstalled drivers for the old cardbut have not installed new drivers becuase thought would have to put new card in 1st & then reboot?



My PSU is 550w

Thanks to both of you for trying to help me out

ok m8 your psu should be ok then and yes youve done the right thing with regards to drivers. so when you boot pc all yoyu see is a blue screen?

 

[calisto]

yep, just get a blank blue screen

 

[samir12]

Can you post your computer specs?

 

[calisto]

Can you post your computer specs?

Specs are as follows:

Intel Quad Q6600
2 Gb of ram
550w PSU
Nvidia 6600gt graphics card
ASRock 775Dual-VSTA mother board

 

[calisto]

Have just googled the problem & it comes back with this:

I use a NVIDIA® 8800GT PCIE VGA card on VIA ® ® ® chipset motherboard. But I got black screen on the monitor. How do I solve it?(11/5/2007)
Answer:The NVIDIA® 8800GT PCIE VGA card is GEN2 mode VGA card. Unfortunately VIA ® ® ® chipset does not support GEN2 mode VGA card. The only solution is to set 8800GT PCIE VGA card to GEN1 mode.
We have tested 8800GT PCIE VGA card. After flashing GEN1 mode BIOS for 8800GT, it works fine on VIA ® ® ® chipset motherboard.

Please contact VGA card vender to get the VGA BIOS with GEN1 mode for your 8800GT PCIE VGA card."

So in other words it is no good with my motherboard????

So what Mobo would you suggest, alos with using the HDMI out with sound s well please

Thanks

 

[calisto]

Oh & can be overclocked & my hard drives & dvd drives are still using IDE connections, thanks

 

[samir12]

Ok take a look at this link and read the topic.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1130608&page=6

 

[digicol]

Flipping heck mate, feel a littlle gutted for you.

The dreaded VIA chipsets, I fecking well hate them, only ever bought one for an Intel board and it was crap, I could not overclock my core 2 duo by even 0.1ghz, lol.

Msybe worth trying the above flash, other than that, how many drives are you running on IDE, because nearly all new boards only have one ide slot meaning you can only connected one DVD and one hard drive via IDE unless you buy an adapter.

 

[prag]

A little off topic guys but Im just thinking about upgrading my old X800XT to one of these HD cards from ATI, Im not sure what to do be honest my current spec is about 4 years old or so

Abit VI7 (VIA PT800 yeah yeah I know VIA gulp)
P4 Northbridge 3.2 Ghz HT
1GB DDR 3200 Ram
500GB Sata HD
256mb X800XT

Ive just bought the 500gb Sata and am astonished at the improvment in system performance even when the 300 is setback to 150 (as the mboard wont do 300). Basically is it worth me upgrading to one of these cards on the AGP bus and get an extra gig of ram or should I go on and upgrade to the quad core, I know there is quite a difference in price doing that but is it really good value for money, because Im playing games like Crysis albeit all on low setting on this current system at the moment it plays fine btw. Would getting a 3850 improve the quality of the graphics on crysis and frame rates or am I clutching at straws, and also would the High defination mkv files look any better on my samsung 40 inch LCD, as I use a DVI to HDMI cable for that and extend my desktop onto it.
Sorry for the rather long waffling post here but Im at loss as to what to do to be honest and some opions from some of you would be most appreciated, thanks.