Upgrading from 9800GTX to ???

[dr4cula]

Hello,

I am currently running a 9800GTX on my PC and until lately, it got the job done. I believe it is time I upgraded my video card, but the question is - which one should I get?

I am considering the 295GTX, but am unsure as I have read for now about the GT300. I'm seriously not sure whether I should wait for it or not. Also, my current processor is E8400 - I know it's not a bad one, but would it be a bottleneck for the graphics card (for either of those)? And of course, my current rig's case is an Antec P180, which is quite small - how big are those cards (for GT300, predictions?)?

The obvious use for the monster card would be gaming, but I wouldn't go into the 1920x1200 etc era. I would stay at 1680x1050, but I would prefer my games to be maxed out. For example, currently I haven't gotten past GTA4's first mission, because the game lags so bad and with lower graphics ... Well, it kinda sucks :P I'm not talking about maxing out Crysis, since I don't even like the game, but knowing the card can run it fairly well, I would be happy :P

The reason for upgrading, besides not being able to max out graphics in games, is that I would like to replace my air-cooling for watercooling. However, I don't think wasting my money on 9800GTX's watercooling part(s) would be wise (I might sound like a complete idiot, since I have never had any experience with watercooling, so sorry if I said anything stupid there :P I saw once a page with watercooling plates for 9800GTX, so that's why I call them "parts"). Since I've researched abit about watercooling and prices, it seems the best way to go is to buy the parts seperately rather than in a kit - this would mean HUGE shipping costs for me. Last calculations showed me around $1000USD - this means, that I can't afford too expensive graphics card - perhaps a maximum of 600USD + a new power supply, since my current one is a 650W one.

Anyways, any advice you people can give me, is welcome.

Thanks in advance,
dr4cula

PS: 1st post, so don't smash me with a hammer, thank you!

[Johnny C]

Just get a 5850 1GB, no water cooling, probably won't need a new PSU and it will play just about anything out there. It should overclock fairly well and will cost somewhere around 300-320 USD.

Your processor seems fine, maybe do some digging and learn how to overclock it, if you buy a good aftermarket cooler, you should be able to get a decent overclock outta that thing, depending on your MOBO, RAM, PSU, Cooler etc.

Check the Benchmarking and overclocking section here and venture to overclock.net

I wouldn't spend that kinda money on watercooling, for 1000 USD you should be able to build a whole new air cooled quad core rig, and if you're not into monster overclocks, you don't need water cooling at all. I've had it, it has benefits but it is also a pain in the ass.


Cheers,

JC

[Fotis]

You can get a Radeon 5870 and you dont need to change your PSU.

[abtomat74]

Your GPU is fine for GTA4, it's your CPU that fails for that game specifically. If you have at least 3 cores(AMD X3) or obviously any quad core, then GTA4 will play perfectly with a 9800gtx or better.

Crysis will benefit much more from a GPU upgrade then it will with a CPU upgrade in your case.

Screw watercooling. Spend that money on a quad instead.

[DiscipleDOC]

Your GPU is fine for GTA4, it's your CPU that fails for that game specifically. If you have at least 3 cores(AMD X3) or obviously any quad core, then GTA4 will play perfectly with a 9800gtx or better.

Crysis will benefit much more from a GPU upgrade then it will with a CPU upgrade in your case.

Screw watercooling. Spend that money on a quad instead.

I agree with this. Your 9800 gtx is fine for the games you play. I would invest in a quality cpu and probably some better ram. What OS are you using?

[dr4cula]

I agree with this. Your 9800 gtx is fine for the games you play. I would invest in a quality cpu and probably some better ram. What OS are you using?

Windows 7. As for watercooling, I dunno ... I know it's for extreme overclockers, but the main reason I am considering it, is due to it being not as loud as my current rig - without my fans being at max, the GPU is just burning hot and with the fans at max - it's ridiculously loud. Maybe I should just get a proper air-cooling solution and drop the watercooling part at all?

Yes, I thought about upgrading my processor along side my GPU, but going for a better one means going for an i7, which means I need a new mobo and ram aswell. At least as far as I know?

Thanks for your replies so far!

[CaptNKILL]

I don't think watercooling makes sense at all with the heat sinks that are available these days.

I mean, I've got a 1166Mhz overclock on a Q9550 with a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme and a cheap antec tri-cool fan.

It requires no maintenance, no special treatment, no modification of my case and it costs a fraction of what a good water cooling setup would cost.

As for your system, overclock the bejeezus out of that E8400, buy a Radeon 5850 and overclock that.

[Johnny C]

I don't think watercooling makes sense at all with the heat sinks that are available these days.

I mean, I've got a 1166Mhz overclock on a Q9550 with a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme and a cheap antec tri-cool fan.

It requires no maintenance, no special treatment, no modification of my case and it costs a fraction of what a good water cooling setup would cost.

As for your system, overclock the bejeezus out of that E8400, buy a Radeon 5850 and overclock that.

/wisdom

[john19055]

They are quiet a few HSF that are very good ,that run almost as cool as water cooling unless you are wanting to do some extreme overclocking,and a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme will take you pretty far in overclocking.I had a E8500 and it ran at 4.3gig all the time and the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme kept it plenty cool enough,with a good 120cm fan.

[XDanger]

I don't think watercooling makes sense at all with the heat sinks that are available these days.

I mean, I've got a 1166Mhz overclock on a Q9550 with a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme and a cheap antec tri-cool fan.

It requires no maintenance, no special treatment, no modification of my case and it costs a fraction of what a good water cooling setup would cost.

As for your system, overclock the bejeezus out of that E8400, buy a Radeon 5850 and overclock that.

Agreed all the way until the overclock the E8400 part,

Sell the E8400 and get a Q9550 (and overclock that :))

[mustrum]

I don't think watercooling makes sense at all with the heat sinks that are available these days.

I mean, I've got a 1166Mhz overclock on a Q9550 with a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme and a cheap antec tri-cool fan.

It requires no maintenance, no special treatment, no modification of my case and it costs a fraction of what a good water cooling setup would cost.

As for your system, overclock the bejeezus out of that E8400, buy a Radeon 5850 and overclock that.

Bought my watercooling setup back when i bought a shiny new AMD Athlon XP 2800+.
I am still using the same setup 5 CPUs later currently cooling a Xeon Quad at 3.5ghz.
And it does nto require any sort of maintenance. It just runs and runs and runs.
I used to watercool my GPUs too but am back to CPU+chipset for now.
I got Two ATI HD 5770's on the way and wont watercool them unless they are loud wich they aren`t from what i read.
OC potential on GPUs hardly ever justifies watercooling them. It is worth it if the graphics card is loud though.

What i wanted to say though: Watercooling is cheaper then aircooling because you can use a good CPU cooler for 10 years. (nana2)

[CaptNKILL]

What i wanted to say though: Watercooling is cheaper then aircooling because you can use a good CPU cooler for 10 years. (nana2)

In your situation it certainly is. :lol:

You really haven't had to buy anything for your water cooling setup since you used it on an Athlon XP?

I plan on using my cooler for a very long time as well. Its still one of the best air coolers money can buy and I can hit 4.25Ghz on my Q9550 with it (too much voltage for my liking though :p).

[Maverick123w]

In your situation it certainly is. :lol:

You really haven't had to buy anything for your water cooling setup since you used it on an Athlon XP?

I plan on using my cooler for a very long time as well. Its still one of the best air coolers money can buy and I can hit 4.25Ghz on my Q9550 with it (too much voltage for my liking though :p).

DO IT!! :)

[mustrum]

In your situation it certainly is. :lol:

You really haven't had to buy anything for your water cooling setup since you used it on an Athlon XP?

I plan on using my cooler for a very long time as well. Its still one of the best air coolers money can buy and I can hit 4.25Ghz on my Q9550 with it (too much voltage for my liking though :p).

Yeah! A good copper CPU cooler from 10 years ago is still as good as the ones you buy now.
It cools my 3.5 ghz quadcore perfectly well. It`s loading at 45 degrees and idling at 32 to 33 degrees celcius. You could drop a few degrees on the load temp with a top of the line cooler and a bigger radiator maybe but the benefit would be very small.

The problem with GPU watercooling is that a complete cooler is extremely expensive and you can`t use it on different cards. I had such coolers on some cards and while they worked well they did improve overclocks by only maybe 20 to 30 mhz wich isn`t really worth it. I would do it on those screaming loud cards only.
The other solution is using a cpu cooler on a GPU wich actually works better but leaves the memory uncooled so you gotta take care of that as well. Hopefully my new 5770`s are silent enough so i can leave em as they are.

Edit: I had to do something. I had to buy a new mount for the CPU cooler because the socked of the XP was held by i believe 6 "noses". Now i got a simple metal bar pressing the CPU in place wich works on pretty much any socket.

[john19055]

I would go with a HD5850 ,it will play any game at 1680x1050 plus it is DX 11,and if you have a good 650watt power supply then it will handle a HD5870,and it just about as fast as a GTX 295 in a lot of games ,plus you have DX 11 when them games start comeing out in larger numbers.IMO i just would go with new hardware then older hardware if I was going to upgrade.