4850/70 upgrade

[dawgtuff]

I need to upgrade my 7600GT, but I'd like to get a card to reinstall in my next build which will probably be in the next 9-12 months. The Radeon 4850/70 will work in my present system,although it will be CPU limited, but still work better than my 7600GT. My next build will be a Dualcore Wolfdale (maybe ),or a an eqivalent AMD....something that overclock's well. I don't plan to upgrade my Viewsonic VG2021m (non widescreen 1480x1050), so I don't need high resolutions.
Present system: Opty 144 @2.6, 2gb Crutial DDR at 2-3-3-8-1T@ 1-1 divider,Asus A8N-e mobo,Antec 450 with single 12 volt 17 amp rail.
All my builds have been second generation gaming machines and I spend $800-1000. Am I right with my vid card choice, or should I go with a 4830 and later build a entire new system?

 

[MrK6]

The component market has pretty much tanked in recent years, and $800-1000 will build you a brand new high-end system. You can build a great second gen system for under $400 if you aren't upgrading your monitor (which I'd recommend doing, after all, that's the only part of your PC you really "use" ). Right now, I'd say your PSU will limit you in options for what you could buy for a graphics card. What are you looking to do with your PC right now that you can't with your 7600GT?

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I'd say get a HD4830 (or faster, if you want to spend more) and a good power supply. Reuse the power supply in your upcoming build, since you can get a really good one for under $100 easily these days. 17A on the +12V rail(s) just really won't cut it. Although it is strange to see it that low on an Antec unit. Are you sure it does't have two 12V rails? Is this a really old power supply?

But $1000 right now will pretty much build you a high end machine. At the end of the year, or whenever you plan to buy, you should be able to get even better value.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Must be very old. My secondary spare antec True Power 430w v2.0 has 18A on its 12V rail.

 

[dawgtuff]

Sorry, my bad on the PSU. It's an Antec SP-450 with 15A 1st rail and 17A 2nd rail. I don't know if they are true split rails, but I'm not running a bunch of other hardware. I only have a Sata drive, floppy, DVD/CD, mouse,keyboard, joystick, 20" monitor @1450x1050 32bit,and hardwired eternet. I play my games with minimal ops running. I like good futuristic space sims that use a joystick. It seems like they're getting hard to find.....my latest one is DarkStar One, and that's 3 years old! I use a joystick because it's a lot easier than a mouse/keyboard, and there's games out there that are great, but don't support a joystick!
Am I wrong to upgrade to a new Vid card, but mostly will I be wrong for a new build because of the games I like? Are there any good joystick supported space sim games coming up ?

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Ok, you'd probably be fine with a 4800 series card.

Although I still stand by my first statement and implication. I don't think you need to spend very much money on an HD4850/4870 when you consider

a) You won't be using its potential for at least another 9 months.
b) In 9 months, a 4850-class or better card is going to be significantly cheaper anyway
c) HD4760/4830-class video cards are extremely affordable options right now, would be enough for your current system, and should still offer a noticeable improvment over a 7600GT - especially in shader-heavy games.