Cheap upgrade from 8800GT?

[DefDC]

Current machine specs:
Athlon 7700 Black
2GB DDR2
WinXP (out of sheer laziness)
ASUS 8800GT

I play a wide gamut of games, and right now everything is very playable at 1680x1050

I haven't really been put off by game performance, until I started playing Bad Company 2 and Stalker: Clear Sky (and will be playing S:COP)

Neither of these are unplayable, but I certainly know there could be room for improvement.

I've got a 3 year old who is dominating my time and budget now, so I haven't had the time in watching GPU dev cycles, so I'm a little out of the loop. However, I've put in the basic reseach but can't seem to come to a clear conclusion if there is a reasonably priced single card upgrade right now.

Looks to me there could be a sweet spot of the ATI 4870. NewEgg has one that's $119 after rebate. Looks to be highly rated and in the upper tier on many benchmarks. (for the price) Reading user reviews, I hear some saying that they aren't seeing a huge improvement over an 8800*GTS*.

I've also been keeping an eye on NewEgg's open boxes. I'd like to find something under $200, and if a $100 (worthy) upgrade exists, I'd do that until a new wave of cards pushes a 5870/GTX280 class card under the $200 point.

I also have a BFG 9800GT card in another computer, but my current mobo doesn't have support for SLI, and the heat and power it would draw would probably neccessitate a PS upgrade...

So, the main question is, is there a budget upgrade from an 8800GT right now?

 

[toyota]

well first off you are going to need more memory. Clear Sky and Warhead were the first games I played where having 2gb was not enough. no matter what video card you get those two games and probably a few more will hitch with just 2gb of memory. next at 1680x1050 an 8800gt is pretty decent so it would take something much faster to notice a difference. the problem in getting something way faster is it will be a bit wasted with that cpu in many games. in games like BC 2 its already your cpu thats causing just as much sluggishness as your 8800gt.

 

[DefDC]

Yeah, that's what I figured. I guess it's time to bite the bullet and upgrade to Win7 so I can put in a decent amount a RAM.

 

[Rifter]

Yeah i would grab another 2GB and see how it goes.

 

[viivo]

As long as your PSU is good, some more ram and a mid-grade card like a 4870 or even a 4850x2 would hold you over. I too am using a system as old as yours (C2D e7200, 4 gigs, 4850) but can still eek out some new games (Just Cause 2 runs great at 1280x720 with all options except the HD shadows.)

Have you checked the FS/T forum here? You could probably find a really good deal there, better than Newegg open box at least.

Also, I don't know where you read there's no improvement over a 8800 GTS. Unless they are CPU bottlencked, that is impossible. My dinkey little 4850 beats up 9800GTXs all day; a 4870 with DDR5 will beat all contenders released the same year or after.

 

[DefDC]

As long as your PSU is good, some more ram and a mid-grade card like a 4870 or even a 4850x2 would hold you over. I too am using a system as old as yours (C2D e7200, 4 gigs, 4850) but can still eek out some new games (Just Cause 2 runs great at 1280x720 with all options except the HD shadows.)

Have you checked the FS/T forum here? You could probably find a really good deal there, better than Newegg open box at least.

Also, I don't know where you read there's no improvement over a 8800 GTS. Unless they are CPU bottlencked, that is impossible. My dinkey little 4850 beats up 9800GTXs all day; a 4870 with DDR5 will beat all contenders released the same year or after.

Those were reader reviews. They prompted me to post here. That didn't sound right, and I figured it might be some less savvy users with bad cooling, underpowered PSUs...

Just wanted to get some opinions that I could trust a little better.

Jeeze, looks like it's time for a system makeover... Time for a day-trip to Frys! (luckily only 3 hours away)

 

[Termie]

I think the $120 4870 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121376) is a good deal and would offer up to 50% more speed than your 8800gt. That being said, your system is pretty balanced right now, and for newer games like BC2, a graphics card upgrade on its own may show the limitations of other components in your system, as mentioned by other commenters. You're on the right track...so just save up for a new system. I went from a e8400/8800gt to an i7-860/5850, and I believe it was the right "one-two punch" to offer true advantages.

I'm not an expert on AMD systems, but you might be able to upgrade that 7700 Black to a Phenom II 940 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103471) if you have an AM2+ motherboard. It's the highest-performance chip ever put out for AM2, and would do nicely in modern games. That would preserve your motherboard (and DDR2), assuming it's compatible, and allow you to avoid a complete upgrade. You'd just need another 2GB of DDR2, Windows 7, and the video card. And yes, that 4870 would still be a good option, although with a higher-end system, cards as fast as the 5850 would be a good match.

Can you tell us what your motherboard is and what your whole budget might be?

 

[kalrith]

Used 4870 for $85 would do it. That's what I bought to replace my 2900XT, which has similar performance to your card. It would be about $95-100 for a 4870 1GB.

 

[RussianSensation]

4870 or 5770 1GB are very good cards for 1680x1050. I would recommend another 2GBs of ram as others have said. It's hard to find better value than these cards for $120-140.

 

[Termie]

I think you are mistaken. 4870 1GB is a good 70-90% faster than an 8800GT. A 4890 1GB is more than 2x faster than a 9800GT.

Depends on the game, but in some cases, particularly where 512MB of VRam is limiting, you are correct: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2947/4. In others, the difference is closer to 50-60%. In any event, I was being conservative, because on his current system, he will not realize those gains in modern games, as they'll be CPU-limited.

 

[RussianSensation]

Termie, agreed. I think 50-60% average is reasonable at 1680x1050. If this was 1920x1200, then it would have been more.

 

[evolucion8]

Definitively get more RAM, the HD 4870 1GB is a nice card, but if its possible to find an HD 5770 will be better, almost same performance, much lower power consumption and more features. The HD 4870 usually will be between 50% and 60% faster in average, but in many scenarios it can be even twice faster, specially with recent driver development which puts it sniffing the heels of the GTX 280 which is a powerful card by today's standards and its only slighly slower than a 9800GX2 in non VRAM limited situations.

 

[taltamir]

I would upgrade the whole system, you need more ram, you need a faster CPU, you need a faster GPU, and you need to move to win7 64bit.
Just build a whole new system and take your apart to sell the parts on ebay.