Been away from Video cards TOO long

[DOFpayne]

Morning folks,

I have been building PC's since before 1990 and have built every single one of my machines I currently have but always about 2-3 gen's behind. Currently I have a 9600 GT. a good cards that is playing starcraft2 Beta on a 1680 x 1050 screen and enjoying it.

What confuses me is I'm reading that the new video cards (200 series?) are being killed by 9600 and 9800's. Where is a good place to start reading on these card to know if I really need to update. I plan on playing Diablo 3 but as specs aren't out that i have seen I will have to decide how to go about my computer.

Current Specs

Antec 900 case
Intel C2D 6420 (not O/C'd as I'm not sure motherboard can)
Thermaltake Orb fan
BFG 9600 GT
4 Gig Corsair 6400
2 Hitachi 1.5 tb drives
on board Audio
Biostar G31-M7 TE Ver.6.3

umm if i'm missing something you need let me know

 

[Madcatatlas]

the 200 series is anything but new. The new series are HD5xxx series and the GTX4xx series.

depending on what your willing to pay, id suggest either an gtx 275/radeon 5770 (with the radeon being the newer card using dx11) or the higher priced, best bang for buck radeon 5850, which is a futureproof card aswell if you ever consider crossfire.

 

[DOFpayne]

awesome name as the Battletech Reference


I try to stay away from the Uber high end tech as it changes to fast. Will the 275 be enough of a performance boost to justify the expense? I'm not a rich man and most of my expenses goes into the Web hosting business i started

 

[ExcaliburMM]

There have been a lot of problems noted with newer cards and SC2. On both sides of the fence.

Right now, you're in a good spot. The problems have been noted with GT 200/b units, especially GTX 280s, and also on the HD 5xxx series. Apparently Blizzard's current water textures are broken, and setting them to ultra (or in some cases anything above low) causes artifacts/crashing/ect.

If you're not worried about setting your water textures to low, pick anything. GTX 260/275, HD 5850, ect.

If you want something completely stable, I'd say wait until Blizzard fixes their water textures and then pick something.

Edit: This should help with with what card uses what core: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_200_Series
You might want to consider a GTS 250 which is roughly equal or better than a 9800GTX+. They can usually be found pretty cheap with rebates and such. Shop around or search in the for sale/trade forum.

 

[happy medium]

There is a 5870 for 310$ and a gtx 280 for 175$ in the for sale forums as I type this.

 

[DOFpayne]

Yeah that 175 is more then I have paid for my last card. Nvidia 9600GT

but thank you for looking plus I prefer New vs used as not everyone will cover warrenties

 

[ZimZum]

I don't think your going to find a new 275 for less than $200. A new 5770 can be had for around $150. At the resolution youre using a 5770 should easily handle anything you throw at it.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

the 200 series is anything but new. The new series are HD5xxx series and the GTX4xx series.

depending on what your willing to pay, id suggest either an gtx 275/radeon 5770 (with the radeon being the newer card using dx11) or the higher priced, best bang for buck radeon 5850, which is a futureproof card aswell if you ever consider crossfire.

no, the 200's ARE new, relatively speaking. go look up the release date.

the reason they are getting spanked by the older cards is because they were not made to be gaming performers.
they are low power, low heat output cards with decent performance.

 

[Dark4ng3l]

The GTX200s are fairly old cards. The GT200s are newer but they suck horribly. GTS250s are alright but they are just G92 cards that have been around for years and years.

 

[Surutcra]

In my opinion I would wait until the 5770 drops in price or until the Nvidia lower end cards come out because the graphics card market has been frozen for quite some time at these price points might as well have bought last year. If you had to choose something right now I would say the 5750/5770 for dx11 if you care about that or the hd4850 none of which are really compelling at their prices right now. So yeah my advice is wait until all the cards are out on the table.

 

[Sylvanas]

If you want something future proof for a few years and decent enough to enjoy some modern games at modest resolutions, really, the 5750/5770 is the choice here. They consume less power, are DX11 and are cheap as opposed to equivalent GT200s (I have a GTS250, if I had the choice back when I bought it I would have picked up a 5770).

 

[RussianSensation]

I plan on playing Diablo 3 but as specs aren't out that i have seen I will have to decide how to go about my computer.

1. Wait until the game you want to play is actually released. If I am not mistaken, the release Date for Diablo 3 is TBA. Based on the delays of Starcraft 2 (along with most Blizzard Games), I probably wouldn't count on Diablo 3 to be released on time anyway.

2. Wait until Starcraft 2 comes out, July 27, 2010. This will give you time to pick up even cheaper videocards.

3. With Blizzard games, a lot of emphasis still rests on the processor. So I would try overclocking that cpu to 3.0-3.2ghz at least.

4. You may want to consider selling your c2D+mobo+9600GT+4GB DDR2 used and upgrade to Phenom II. It's up to you. Or you could overclock the cpu and see how it performs when the games actually come out.

GTX260 216, 275, 280 and 285 are way faster than 9800GT. But if you are on a budget, i would consider a GTX250 for $100 or 5770. Again, don't upgrade yet.

 

[manimal]

The GTX200s are fairly old cards. The GT200s are newer but they suck horribly. GTS250s are alright but they are just G92 cards that have been around for years and years.

Sad story, a buddy of mine put together a rig with sli 8800gtxs at 8800gtx launch per my recommendation. Against my warnings he upgraded to 9800gtx SLI, then to a 9800gx2, then to SLI 250s because the gx2 blew. Poor guy wasted alot of money...

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Sad story, a buddy of mine put together a rig with sli 8800gtxs at 8800gtx launch per my recommendation. Against my warnings he upgraded to 9800gtx SLI, then to a 9800gx2, then to SLI 250s because the gx2 blew. Poor guy wasted alot of money...

lol.

I don't think your going to find a new 275 for less than $200. A new 5770 can be had for around $150. At the resolution youre using a 5770 should easily handle anything you throw at it.

It's hard to find a 275 new at all. Really the only palce you can find a GT200(b) card now is second-hand. Otherwise, AMD cards are the way to go.

 

[DOFpayne]

1. Wait until the game you want to play is actually released. If I am not mistaken, the release Date for Diablo 3 is TBA. Based on the delays of Starcraft 2 (along with most Blizzard Games), I probably wouldn't count on Diablo 3 to be released on time anyway.

2. Wait until Starcraft 2 comes out, July 27, 2010. This will give you time to pick up even cheaper videocards.

3. With Blizzard games, a lot of emphasis still rests on the processor. So I would try overclocking that cpu to 3.0-3.2ghz at least.

4. You may want to consider selling your c2D+mobo+9600GT+4GB DDR2 used and upgrade to Phenom II. It's up to you. Or you could overclock the cpu and see how it performs when the games actually come out.

GTX260 216, 275, 280 and 285 are way faster than 9800GT. But if you are on a budget, i would consider a GTX250 for $100 or 5770. Again, don't upgrade yet.

Are the Phenoms that good? Has AMD retaken the lead in the CPU and GPU race? Obviously if I go this route i'm going to be buying almost a whole new system. As I do not deal with AMD much anymore which motherboards are good for them?

Good deal or not
Biostar TA790GXE Motherboard & AMD Phenom II X4 945 Quad Core Processor & Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 Video Card Bundle for 389.99

 

[zerogear]

Intel still has AMD beat with their i5/i7 line, but generally speaking, AMD Phenom II is better than the C2D/C2Q nowadays.

 

[DOFpayne]

Although I'd love to get a I7 500ish for a mobo and processor is a tad pricey for me

 

[HumblePie]

Intel still has AMD beat with their i5/i7 line, but generally speaking, AMD Phenom II is better than the C2D/C2Q nowadays.

Err what? My q9550 stomps all over any AMD cpu's except for the 6 cores. Which are also called Phenom II's but they are the only two. I hate that a wide range of the AMDs are called the same name as it tends to lead to this generalization. Hell, it takes an AMD quad core to beat my e8400 dual core in any benchmark, test, or game. I am also just talking stock clock rates.

It is better said a few of the AMD newer processors are finally better or competitive with the C2D and C2Q.

But to answer the OP, it is good to get a decent CPU and video card. Overkill is better because then you know it will handle the games that are out and are coming out in the near future. If you can afford it that is.

Now, if you are strapped on a budget and looking to build a cheap but good system I would try picking up one of those $30ish AMD X2 that can possibly unlock to a Phenom II quad core with a $70ish motherboard that can unlock it and about 4GB of ram. Then drop some money into at least an ATI 5770 or maybe a 5850 and be set for a few years to come. We are talking about a $250 to $350 upgrade at most if done that way.

 

[RussianSensation]

Best bang for the buck would still be overclocking your current setup. With 4GBs of ram, and C2D @ 3.2-3.4ghz, and 5770 you should last until next year when Sandy Bridge (Intel next gen CPU) and bulldozer (AMD's next gen CPU) arrive.

Again, no matter what, I think you should wait until at least Starcraft 2 is released before you start buying anything. Prices are only going to fall as new stuff continues to be released:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3714/amd-release-processor-updates-

The reason I recommended a Phenom system is because you can upgrade it down the line to Bulldozer. On a budget, the only thing worth recommending from Intel is Core i3 530.

 

[MrK6]

If you're enjoying the Starcraft 2 beta and don't feel like you need to upgrade, then I'd also advise waiting until the game is released before you buy anything. In the meantime, overclocking will give you a boost should you need one.

If you want to catch up on graphics card history, just browse through the reviews here on Anandtech chronologically.

 

[nenforcer]

Absolutely don't buy anything until Starcraft 2 has been released which should be July 27th.

Unfortunately I don't think nVidia will have a card in your price range by then so your best choice is probably going to be an ATI Radeon HD 5770.

A friend of mine has the Sapphire version of this card and has had trouble free DirectX 11 gaming since last year.

 

[DOFpayne]

I want to thank everyone on here for every single recommendation. I'm attempting to OC my PC but for some reason I'm having trouble finding the settings. I have made a post in the mobo section but nothing yet.