An itch to upgrade

[DamnRena]

I play mostly WoW and the occasional CoD4. I think its time for an upgrade. My specs are

E2180 @ 3.0GHz
2GB OCZ PC6400
Windows XP Pro
BFG 8800GTS 320MB
Samsung 245BW LCD.

Looking to spend at most $200

Thanks for any Input.

 

[SneakyStuff]

For those games your system is great, IMO save your money for now.

 

[JPB]

If you must upgrade, go with a HD 4850. Just get one with an aftermarket cooler on it.

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: JPB
If you must upgrade, go with a HD 4850. Just get one with an aftermarket cooler on it.

I'd advise against aftermarket cooling, if you have a card die on you you're screwed. My 4850 went from 79c idle / 83c load to 47c idle with just the soft fan mod @ 50% - it's not even any louder. Granted, my case has superb airflow & cooling to begin with.

But yeah, WoW will probably run on a commodore 64, I see no reason to upgrade

 

[JPB]

I am referring to the *retail* cards that come *with* an aftermarket cooler on it.

I didn't mean to purchase one and install it. As I said...Just get one *with* an aftermarket cooler on it.

Like this.

 

[daveybrat]

Originally posted by: SneakyStuff
For those games your system is great, IMO save your money for now.

I agree with Sneaky. Look at my rig, almost the same as yours and COD4 still plays great on my system. I too have the 'itch' to upgrade, but i'm going to hold off for a bit until i can get a great deal on a 4850 or higher to justify the move.

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: JPB
I am referring to the *retail* cards that come *with* an aftermarket cooler on it.

I didn't mean to purchase one and install it. As I said...Just get one *with* an aftermarket cooler on it.

Like this.

Ah, my bad. Sorry, I still have a bad taste in my mouth from my 1950xt w/ arctic cooler. $130 paperweight now

 

[JPB]

I didn't mean that in a smart way. Just specifying

Artic Cooler ? I always thought those were great coolers. Did your XT die ?

 

[40sTheme]

Originally posted by: CKent

Originally posted by: JPB
If you must upgrade, go with a HD 4850. Just get one with an aftermarket cooler on it.

I'd advise against aftermarket cooling, if you have a card die on you you're screwed. My 4850 went from 79c idle / 83c load to 47c idle with just the soft fan mod @ 50% - it's not even any louder. Granted, my case has superb airflow & cooling to begin with.

But yeah, WoW will probably run on a commodore 64, I see no reason to upgrade

What's wrong with aftermarket cooling?

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: JPB
I didn't mean that in a smart way. Just specifying

Artic Cooler ? I always thought those were great coolers. Did your XT die ?

They are great coolers. The card ran in the 90s celsius @ stock speeds at load. Bout a week later I bought an arctic cooler that put it under 60c load while heavily overclocked. Everything was fine for ~9 months, then it started artifacting hard and just got worse & worse. It's in a box in my basement now, if I ever need a 2d card with radical cooling, I've got it :laugh:

Have a 4850 now @ stock speeds, stock cooler. The "soft" temp mod posted in a thread in this forum is doing me a lot of good, dropped idle temps by over 30c without an increase in fan noise, which I have at 50%.

Originally posted by: 40sTheme
What's wrong with aftermarket cooling?

It voids your warranty.

 

[ronnn]

But you don't go deaf.

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: CKent

Originally posted by: 40sTheme
What's wrong with aftermarket cooling?

It voids your warranty.

Not if you buy from EVGA, XFX, BFG ... oh, wait ... we're talking about ATi's partners here, so yeah, even basic overclocking voids your warranty.

ATi needs to get some better board partners! :frown:

 

[RussianSensation]

IMO the minimum card worth upgrading from 8800GTS is 4870, unless you are set on turning on 4AA in every game in which case 8800GTS 320mb isn't sufficient. WOW will get 0 tangible performance gain since its such an old game. So spending $150 for COD4 only seems like a major waste. Wait until FAR Cry 2 at least.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Im in the "wait" crowd to. Now, if the op wanted to play more modern games, i would reccommend a 4850.