Upgrade worthwhile?

[Dreamweavernoob]

How old is the 8800GTX now? Im totally out of date. Ive had mine since launch and to be quite honest its done me superb. Ive never had a card like it before in my life (never had a card that has lasted me 2+yrs).

Anyway, compliments aside, I noticed that with my old C2D processor (not overclocked) it was running sluggishly in Fallout 3 and Far Cry 2.

Ive just upgraded my CPU to the one in my sig as well as my motherboard. Is a GPU upgrade on the cards?

To be honest, the reason why I havent upgraded as of yet is because I havent really had the time to play that many games. The major game I will be playing soon is GTA IV.

So, for gaming @ 1920x1200 is an upgrade a must, and will a significant notice be seen in the following games.


Fallout 3
Far Cry 2 (though if this is the only game that is worth the upgrade ill miss. Piece of **** sequel)
GTA IV
Counter Strike Source
Left 4 Dead


Many thanks

P.s another factor in all of this, is that I have a really crap PSU (Corsair 650w) :( So I will probably have to upgrade this as well?

[methimpikehoses]

Get a GTX 280 if money is no object, or a GTX 260 if it is. Then OC you CPU to at least 3.0.

[Dreamweavernoob]

Get a GTX 280 if money is no object, or a GTX 260 if it is. Then OC you CPU to at least 3.0.

hehhehe, money is a slight issue tbh. (student with no job). If the benifits were worth it though I would go for it.

What sort of difference will I be looking at?

[spokenfor]

hehhehe, money is a slight issue tbh. (student with no job). If the benifits were worth it though I would go for it.

What sort of difference will I be looking at?

Dont waste your $$$ on a GTX 280. Get a 260 like I did and overclock it, most will do 700 on the core and 1500 on the shaders which will make it faster than a stock GTX 280 at a fraction of the cost.

The difference will be well worth it, I came from a heavily overclocked 9800GTX and my 260 smokes it where it counts in gaming. Higher frame rates and deals with AA and AF much better.

[Dreamweavernoob]

What sort of FPS increases will I see in my mentioned games? Will they provide substantially higher FPs's?

Sorry for the stupid questions, but ive been out of touch for a while. :o

[john19055]

But you can overclock a plain BFG GTX 280 to 665/1512/2400 plus it will do over 700on the core if I back down the shaders to 1458 and the memory will do 2592.and it will run game a lot higher in some games and not so much on others.If you have a board that has SLI then I would go with two GTX 260's in SLI.So Yes upgradeing from a 8800GTX to a GTX 280 or GTX 260 is very worth while.

[spokenfor]

What sort of FPS increases will I see in my mentioned games? Will they provide substantially higher FPs's?

Sorry for the stupid questions, but ive been out of touch for a while. :o

You should see a nice increase, I know I did. Just check this review here of FC2 with different cards to give you an idea of the increase.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/far-cry-2-pc-vga-graphics-performance-review/5

[spokenfor]

But you can overclock a plain BFG GTX 280 to 665/1512/2400 plus it will do over 700on the core if I back down the shaders to 1458 and the memory will do 2592.and it will run game a lot higher in some games and not so much on others.If you have a board that has SLI then I would go with two GTX 260's in SLI.So Yes upgradeing from a 8800GTX to a GTX 280 or GTX 260 is very worth while.

Well he said money was an issue so I just thought an overclocked 260 which would equal that of stock 280 performance would be the best bang for his buck.

[Blacklash]

I'd get an Evga GTX 260 for 220usd on Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130370

OC it to 660-700 on the core. Evga supports that under their lifetime warranty as well as HSF replacement. The also have a nice tool available to do just that. It works well with the latest drivers and under Vista x64.

http://downloads.guru3d.com/EVGA-Precision-1.3.3-download-2112.html

If you decide to go X58 and i7 down the line you could grab another for SLi.

If you're looking for the absolute fastest single GPU you can get, buy the GTX 280. I feel the GTX 260 or 260 216SP are better deals though.

[Dreamweavernoob]

ah if only I lived in america :(

[Blacklash]

In that case buy the best card you can afford where you live.

If the HD 4870 1Gb is cheaper than the GTX 260 Core 216 where you are, consider it. I really can't recommend cards with 512Mb ram at this stage in the game. While they can play some very demanding titles fine they will hitch or stutter much more than cards with larger ram amounts. So their FPS might look fine on paper and feel like garbage in a demanding game.

Also make sure you're buying from a company that has good support in your country.

A manually overclocked GTX 260 is a nice move from an 8800GTX. I used a manually overclocked 8800GTX from their release until the GTX 260s hit. I definitely noticed a difference @ 1920x with AA active. 8800GTX is still possibly the best card nVidia has ever made.

The new cards are good and they are more of a modest evolution than revolution.

[NarcissistZero]

Just got my 260 up and running a few hours ago... SMOKES my 8800GT. Like, it takes it to the woodshed and all that. Twice the frames at higher settings. Very pleased.

[Dreamweavernoob]

In that case buy the best card you can afford where you live.

If the HD 4870 1Gb is cheaper than the GTX 260 Core 216 where you are, consider it. I really can't recommend cards with 512Mb ram at this stage in the game. While they can play some very demanding titles fine they will hitch or stutter much more than cards with larger ram amounts. So their FPS might look fine on paper and feel like garbage in a demanding game.

Also make sure you're buying from a company that has good support in your country.

A manually overclocked GTX 260 is a nice move from an 8800GTX. I used a manually overclocked 8800GTX from their release until the GTX 260s hit. I definitely noticed a difference @ 1920x with AA active. 8800GTX is still possibly the best card nVidia has ever made.

The new cards are good and they are more of a modest evolution than revolution.

Don't tell me :( I brought a GTX with an aftermarket cooler on it. Got it really REALLY cheap and found out why >_> It was artifacting etc. Problem is that BFG don't allow you to modify your card so essentially it was a waste of money.

Meh, only cost a bit so not to bad. Still annoying though.

[Blacklash]

Sorry to hear that. For future reference both EVGA and XFX support end user overclocking and HSF replacement under their lifetime warranties.

[stncttr908]

To be honest my 8800GTX is fine for what I play now (CoD5 and RA3). I'm running 1600x1200, but if you turn down the AA and AF one notch I'm sure you'll be fine for now.

[john19055]

If money is a issue then the GTX 260 (192) for around $209 is a great card and they overclock real good.Plus you will see a good increase in power in the games you play.If you want a GTX 260 (216) then it will cost you around$239 and get around 5% to 10% increase with games,but the GTX 260 (192) is still a great card and you will see a good increase in games over the 8800GTX at 1920x1200 resolutions.