To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade

[geokilla]

Hello everyone. With the graphic wars the way it is right now, I'm wondering whether I should upgrade the graphic card for the rig in sig. I'm a moderate gamer and I game at 1280X1024.

Should I get a BFG 9600GT for $105 AR, EVGA 9800GT (8800GT) for $140 AR, or the Gigabyte 4850 for $162 AR I know that the 9600GT is the slowest out of the 3 and the 4850 would be the fastest. However, I'm worried about the bottlenecking caused by the CPU, monitor, etc.

Ideally, this would be the last upgrade for my computer, and the card has to last for at least 2 years, but knowing me, I'll probably build a new rig next summer.

Thanks.

P.S. I've tried pushing my CPU to something like 2.7Ghz but it simply wouldn't boot, so 2.4Ghz is the max my chip can go to.

[vbironchef]

That's a tough one. I think the graphic card will yield more points. So that's what I would do, not. I think you should rob the piggy bank and build a new rig. The new gpu2 client is alot easier to set up compaired to the new SMP client.
I just think buying old stuff is fine if your just trying to prolong the life of your rig. Just remember that their is a dollar amount where it just doesn't make a wise choice. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and build a new rig. Let's face it, that graphic card won't last very long. Now your stuck with a new/old graphic card. See what I am talking about. You probably already new that though.

[geokilla]

As much as I'd like a new rig, the new rig is going to my sister. However, her rig will generally be the exact SAME as mine =.=" Waste of $400.

Ya I understand what you're saying. However, I asked my mom just now and she doesn't seem to like the idea of me upgrading my computer "again" because I'm doing it for gaming. I'll check around for some used graphic cards and see what happens.

Not suppose to be in here but I told my mom that I can sell both my rig and my sis' rig and we use that money to get a better rig for the both of us. However, she didn't seem to like that idea. She didn't even respond.

[Sporg]

LOL, luckily I'm all grown up and nobody can get on my case about spending money for parts wait a minute... don't get married!!! lol

Good luck getting it all figured out.

[LuxZg]

LOL, luckily I'm all grown up and nobody can get on my case about spending money for parts wait a minute... don't get married!!! lol

You're soooo right LOL!

[ratNukit]

Luckily I'll be away from my moms starting in september .

So my brother has a Athlon 3800+, 2 gigs of ddr400, and when upgrading from my old X1900XT - which I gave him after I got my 4850 - to his new 4850, it still gave a great performance jump even over the 1900XT. He's mostley playing silkroad and now finally is able to play at 80 FPS instead of 20 with the X1900XT ( hes got 1280 x 1024 too). We played a few rounds of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and he could max out everything with 8xAA and the games was very playable. We've been playing UT3 too and it does everything to the max easily. I'm not too sure about Crysis, because he hasn't tested that yet. But when I changed that went from playable at low to med (1280 x 800) ---> playable at high to very high (1680 x 1050).

So if you can convince your moms I think a graficscard upgrade wouldn't do bad, since you already have a dualcore and my bro only singlecore it should even give you more than a little jump.

But if you could spare the cash a new build might noch be a bad idea.

[martini161]

i would definatly upgrade now, probably go with the 4850. it would be in your best intterst to make this computer last for a good 3/4 of a year longer till Nahalems price goes down and they get the kinks worked out, which is the exact reason im going to be upgrading to ddr3 now

[geokilla]

What about a 7900GTX for around $65 CAD? Or a 1950XT for $80CAD? I also found another person selling a 1950XT for $80 and a 2900 Pro overclocked to XT speeds for $100. Would that be a good deal?

Of course I'd like a 4850, but my mom's been really....annoying lately....Too many outings and no volunteering I assume.

If I was to get the 4850 and bring it over to my next build, do you think it should last me at least another 2 to 3 years with that build? There shouldn't be any more FPS-killing games like Crysis coming onto the market for another 2 to 3 years...right? I'm probably going to rule out the 9600GT or 9800GT since they are slower than the 4850, meaning I'll probably need a new graphic card when I build a new rig next summer.

[Methious]

Hey Geo

Of the available choices I'd do a 4850 then later if you need more Crossfire another when prices drop. I've Crossfired the 4850s and a 4870/4850 and one will run you pretty good. One plays Crysis really nice and I just Crossfired them cause I had them around.

Running two was a snap, took all of 5 minutes, they don't run perfect in every game but with a 4870 in the lead slot when I have to drop Crossfire I've still got enough oomph to play.

[geokilla]

I would choose a 4850 too, but you guys probably all know what asian parents are like lol. BTW, I see your review and it's really nicely done. Just a few spelling mistakes here and there, but great overall.

Is $20 for a BFG 7900GT 256MB a good deal?

[martini161]

yes it is!

[geokilla]

The guy didn't reply to my second e-mail.....And he said his sale was already pending.....hope the buyer won't show up tomorrow lol.

[Methious]

Thanks I did a 4850 and a 4870, now I'm doing a 4850 crossfire, and 4870/4850 crossfire (only at 1680 x 1050). I have 3 Gigabyte high end boards to do so I've got to turn and burn. Their the water cooled chip set boards. (Two any way the other is a p45) Every once in a while (after heavy code) the front end editor spell checking freaks out.

Yea I deal with frugal parents all the time, I usually go with the do the job now and run for a couple of years spiel.