Graphics card sweet spot

A little under 2 years ago i asked the same question and was told the Nvidia 6600GT was where it was at. I managed to get a good deal on a 256mb one for a little over 30 quid last year. The new need for speed is out in november, so i think it's time for an upgrade. What should i be looking at now?

The upgrade is likely to include a new system to go with it, so the previous stipulation of AGP is no longer important. Although i'm still not going to spend silly money on it.

Your going to have to work hard to find a system with AGP these days, so it's a pretty sure bet you will have a PCI-e slot on a new motherboard.

Performance wise, I'd browse this review to see what you would be comfortable with. Not sure how much these cards go for in the UK, but your price range is likely to be with the lower 8600 cards, or the older 7800s. A 7600 isn't going to be a huge jump for you, and anything lower in the 7 or 8 series is likely not to provide much benefit at all over what you have now.

Also, the Need for Speed games also always hit the consoles. If the only use of the card would be for games that also ship on a console, it might be worth a look to grab a Core XBox 360 to still get decent resolutions. The XBox will run on a monitor using the VGA cable, and the PS3 will run on DVI using an HDMI->DVI cable, though I have a feeling the PS3 is likely to be more then you want to spend currently.

I think you're right about just getting a games console. Back when i asked last time the 360 wasn't even out. Now the cost of buying one is comparable to the hardware upgrade for my pc. I'd prefer a ps3, but the prices are still high, however they appear to be dropping all the time so maybe by christmas they'll be more justifiable.

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PS3 will run on DVI using an HDMI->DVI cable

Your monitor has to support HDCP if you want to use the HDMI port. No way of turning this off. Even the system menus need it.