8800GTS 512 Replacement for Bad Company 2 smoothness

[iNVADER84]

I've been out of PC gaming for a while and haven't really upgraded anything since my GFX card 2 years back to the 8800GTS 512.

My setup is older now -


Core 2 Duo E6600 (OC'd to 3.2GHz)
4Gb PC2-6400 DDR2
8800GTS 512
Asus P5B motherboard
Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit)


It's running things fine, MW2 runs at 1920 x 1080 on HIGH on my 23" Samsung TFT (not even a slideshow at its max res of 2048 x 1152) and my new favorite Bad Company 2 running at 1600 x 900 pretty well - it runs OK at 1920 x 1080 in BC2, but it was choppy enough for me to step down to 1600 x 900 - settings on HIGH.

This is where my predicament lies - I want to be able to play BC2 smoothly but I don't want to spend the earth as I'm supposed to be saving for a wedding.....

... the easiest option would be to ditch the broad and start a new life of gaming and one-handed websites, but I can't so I've got the budget to upgrade my CPU and motherboard or get a new graphics card.

I have around £200 ($300) to invest.

What do you think would be the best move?

Please let me know! (nana2)

[snowmanwithahat]

If you're looking to spend it all, which would probably be the best option given the video card in that range.... I'd suggest going with a 5850. It'll perform great (especially in BC2) and bring some new life to your rig.

An alternative that you should highly consider if your motherboard supports it would be something like a cheaper quad core ~$100 - $150 and a GTX 260 or 5830.

BC2 in particular gets a huge improvement from quad core cpus, but its not the only game taking that direction. More and more games are seeing huge advantages from quad core cpus

[iNVADER84]

Cheers for the info.

I checked out the 5850 and it looks good, I've never had an ATi in my life but I've always gone with what I've known.

I toyed with the idea of just the GFX card until I looked back over the compatibility of my current motherboard and it will actually take the Q9400 processor.

So, after some enquiries (luckily, I'm a Systems Engineer, so I deal with a lot of hardware companies) I've managed to find a Q9400 for £133 and an HD5850 for £209 total of £342 ($521).

It's more than my original idea, but I'm guessing it will last me longer, just until after the wedding maybe.... :)

[billmaudio]

I just upgraded to a q9550 and a gtx260 and BC2 runs smooth as silk. At all high settings, I get over 70 fps and have hit 100 on a few maps. It's amazing!

[Eltigre88]

I'm running both BC2 and MW2 maxed out with FPS over 70 with my 8800GTX fact settings. I lied I'm running MW2 ain 70's and BC2 in low 30's with card over clocked slightly.

[Kemo]

getting married huh? sorry to hear that. my condolences. ;)

[Eltigre88]

getting married huh? sorry to hear that. my condolences. ;)

Yup have to agree your done buying toys.....:thumbdwn:

[Madpistol]

Yup have to agree your done buying toys.....:thumbdwn:

I guess it's a blessing that my future wife is into computers as well. Her computer is nearly as powerful as mine. I told her that my mouse is starting to show its age, and she immediately got on newegg and started looking for a replacement for me. :D

BTW, In order to get Bad Company 2 to run flawlessly, you need a Quad Core CPU. A new GPU will help, but that processor won't cut it. My fiance has an e8400 overclocked to 3.8Ghz, and even at that level, the game slows down noticeably on full servers. However, a Quad Core CPU (like mine) has no problem getting the frame rates up into the 50-60 FPS range and staying there.

Hope this helps. :)

[Eltigre88]

I'm assuming you are not talking to me seeing how I have a quad core CPU.....