Any reason to upgrade my 9800GT?

[Jman13]

Just built my new system, and I've reused my 9800GT I got a while back. It's performed well for me, and runs MW3 just fine for the most part (it can get slightly laggy at times, but nothing too objectionable.) However, it's a DX10 card. Generally I've been able to upgrade to a newer better performing card every few years by just buying a $125-$150 card....however, looking at some of the scores and such, it seems like many of those cards aren't a whole lot faster than my 9800. I'd probably be looking at a GTX 460 to see a significant gain, but would I even notice that? It's also a little more than I want to spend right now. I don't game a ton on my PC anymore...just mainly first person shooters. The rest of my games I play on my Xbox360.

Worth it? Not worth it? Anything in the $110 range that would actually be an upgrade? Are any graphical enhancements in DX11 worth the price of admission just for that?

Oh, and as an aside...WTH is with the model number conventions nowadays...it's absolutely impossible to find out if something is better just by model number. (A 470 is faster than a 285, but slower than a 295....arghh)

 

[Arkaign]

If you play at 1080p, then a 460 would definitely be a pretty large boost, and yes you would be able to tell with titles like Witcher 2, BF3, etc.

At 1680 and below, probably less so, as the 9800gt combined with medium details is still enough for most games to run fairly okay (incredible, considering 9800GT is close to 8800GTX performance from 2006!!!!!).

That said, I think you should wait a bit, and hopefully jump on a 660ti or 7950 whenever one of them sinks below $200. That will be a fantastic match to your 2500k OC, and should last a loooong time. Either of those will be quite a lot faster than a 460, and having more than 1GB of VRAM is a smart bet as well headed into the games of 2012-2013.

 

[Bman123]

What resolution are you using?

 

[Jman13]

Thanks. I run at 1680x1050, so I think I'll hold off.

 

[tweakboy]

Yes there is a problem, its slow slow slow, on todays games. Grab a 460 1GB or else that poor CPU is gonna struggle and seem like a P4 computer hmm, h gl,

 

[wahdangun]

nah grab at least HD 6870 or GTX 560TI, its cheap now. and with that resolution you can basically play modern game like alan wake ( its sooooo muuuchhhh better than its console part)

 

[Jman13]

I actually am thinking about just getting it. I can get the GTX 460 superclocked evga card at Microcenter for about $130, which seems like a good amount to spend for a good upgrade that should last me a while. Plus I can sell my 9800GT and get $40-50 back.

 

[Jman13]

The 560Ti is way out of my price range, and even the 6870 is more than I want to spend. Remember that I don't game a whole lot any more (kids take the available time for gaming way down). Plus, I don't even know if I can fit those cards in my case...my case is a relatively small mid-tower, and cards that are larger than an ATX motherboard are a no-go. The GTX460 looks small, though.

 

[skipsneeky2]

I see from time to time old cards like the gtx280 and gtx285 going on my local craigslist from around $75-$90 and if your happy with dx10 just maybe this is your ticket,plenty of 1680x1050 power and cheap too.

I had a gtx280 that replaced a 8800gts 512mb and its nearly twice the performance and i know it would handle BF3 at 1680x1050 possibly medium settings.

gtx460 would be a better deal for its dx11 of course but a used gtx280 would be a excellent start upgrade wise IF on a budget,i sold a used gtx280 last spring for $100 to someone like you Op who came from the same card,he was very happy with it and still is.

 

[wahdangun]

ok, then yes GTX 460 is good for you, but remember if you plan to buy it, you must read the speck very closely because there is GTX 460 Sucker Edition in the wild, it perform worst than HD 7750 and only have 196bit memory.


or you can grab low profile HD 6850 it was even more smaller than GTX 460, but have similar performance.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

^^ op said 6870 is out of price range

 

[Jman13]

So, I just picked up the EVGA GTX 460 SC...MicroCenter had it for $149. (edit: 129 after rebate) Should be a nice upgrade...now I won't need to worry about upgrades for quite some time.

 

[Fallengod]

The best bang 4 buck, as long as you didnt mind used and know what you are doing, is to buy for one used off forums.

You can find 5770's all the time for $60-$70 shipped. Sell the 9800GT for $50-$70 and it might be close to an even swap. Thats best bang 4 buck scenario. I am sure the same is true for nvidia cards as well.

Also, just so you know a GTX 460 for $150 isnt that hot. Thats about $50 over what I would pay for one.

 

[skipsneeky2]

I think the Op did very good,if i was still using my old evga 8800gts 512mb i paid $349 for on the first week of release till today,i would find a $150 gtx460 very appealing and very worthwhile.

All the Op needs to do now is update his sig.

 

[nenforcer]

Your now good to play games like Crysis 2, Battlefield 3 and Metro 2033 with DirectX 11 enabled.

 

[oynaz]

Oh, and as an aside...WTH is with the model number conventions nowadays...it's absolutely impossible to find out if something is better just by model number. (A 470 is faster than a 285, but slower than a 295....arghh)

Agreed, but Anandtech's Bench is your friend in this case. It is simply excellent.

 

[cKGunslinger]

I'm glad I searched before I made this exact same thread. Just built an i5 2500K / 8GB / SSD machine and am still using my 9800GT. I was looking at the same cards and feeling the same amount of disappointment - spending my typical $80-$120 GPU upgrade money doesn't seem to benefit me greatly.

I game at 1920x1200. However, a) I have a huge backlog of older games I'm working through (ME, ME2, DA:O, Deadspace, etc.) So far, none of these are causing me any real issues. Also, b) I have a pretty high tolerance for "slow performance." I don't like choppiness or stutters, but I can typically game at 30fps and be happy. No need for 60fps minimums for me.

For now, I think an upgrade is more of a want, rather than a need. Surprisingly - I bought this card cheap (from a user here, in the FS forums, I believe) and had it forever, quite the little powerhouse.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I have a 9800GT I got back in 2010 new for $50, can't complain I actually tested it in some modern titles and was pleasantly surprised by it's performance still.

The 8800/9800 series has some staying power that's for sure, though modern titles and crazy resolutions destroy them like nobodies business, but if that's not your thing anyways it really doesn't matter

 

[Powermoloch]

the 9800GT/GTX series is a great card. I'm using the PNY 250 GTS XLR8 (just the same card with a new name), and it works great @ 1440x900 resolution :wub: .

I can vouch for the 460GTX

 

[frozentundra123456]

the 9800GT/GTX series is a great card. I'm using the PNY 250 GTS XLR8 (just the same card with a new name), and it works great @ 1440x900 resolution :wub: .

I can vouch for the 460GTX

I am still using a 9800GT at 1440x900 and have been able to play anything I want. The only game I am disappointed in is Skyrim, which I have to lower to medium quality, otherwise I get serious slowdowns after about 30 min of gameplay. And in Skyrim, medium is seriously ugly compared to high.

My other problem is that I am also running an E4500 at stock in an OEM system, so I am going to be CPU limited if I upgrade the graphics.

But as for the OP, guess he already upgraded, but it is definitely a waste to have such a good cpu and not upgrade.

 

[aghusker]

I've got 2500k/8GB ram / SSD also, and a 8800 GTS 320MB from 2007!
Been waiting to upgrade video card for about a year now, not sure what I will do.
Targeting 6870 or 6950 or 7850 or 660, but the deals on these seem limited.

Not a big gamer, still working through old titles also. But will do something in next 1-2 months (I hope). Fingers crossed for 7850 at decent price....

 

[Jman13]

After having my new card for a while now, I have to say I'm glad I upgraded. DX11 makes for some nice enhancements that are subtle, but noticeable. Benchmark wise, the GTX460 is 3x faster than my 9800GT was. Mine is the v2 version of the card, with higher clocks, but the 192-bit bus. However, since I game at 1680x1050, this actually leads to higher performance than the original 256-bit version with slower clock speeds. In fact, my framerates in something like the Heaven benchmark as well as 3DMark are more on par with a GTX 560 than the original 460. I know if I get a new monitor that has greater than 1080p resolution that the lower memory bandwidth will lead to lower performance, but I don't plan on buying a new monitor for at least a year or two, and by that time I'll probably be in line for a new card anyway.