Graphics update necessary? Which of these 4 cards?

[Jwgold2]

I have been considering the purchase of a new system for several weeks, but can't quite justify spending the 800 or so dollars a new system would run (minimum.) This is doubly true since I start school again this summer and my gaming time will effectively cease...thus the next couple months are all I really care about.

Anyway, I currently run this system (sadly):
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
2 Gigs of DD2 800 Ram
650W Corsair Enthusiast PSU (this is brand new...the old one was dyin)
GT 220 1GB

Upon investigation in the last few days I discovered that I was an idiot when I bought the GT 220, and it seems I could significantly better my computer if I were to replace that card. I am looking to play games that aren't necessarily bleeding edge (Oblivion, Fallout 3, Witcher, Starcraft 2 on higher settings) and hopefully Witcher 2 and Elder 5 when they come out (obviously much lesser settings on that CPU/Memory combo)

The cards I think would be a good choice:

HIS Radeon 4670 1 GB DD3 128 Bit ($60)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161315

PowerColor Radeon HD 4830 512 DDR 3 256 Bit ($60)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-381-_-Product

XFX Radeon 5670 1 Gig 128 Bit DDR 5 ($75)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150467

HIS 5770 1 Gb 128 bit DD5 ($100 )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._-Hightech+Information+System+Ltd.-_-14161338

From what I've seen on forums, everyone loves to spend everyone else's money and usually the dialog is "spend twice that and get this instead" which I understand, but I would prefer to keep it around the $80 mark as it is a stop-gap for short term pleasure. I would consider going to the 100-130 mark if it seems crucial, but wouldn't go higher.

Obviously the rest of the system is geriatric, so I don't expect miracles, I just wanted to know if any of these cards would significantly better my system, or if it'd just make my processor feel bad without increasing FPS.

Thanks for any advice, hopefully it isn't TL;DR
-Justin

P.S. My examples were all ATI (I had a hard enough time keeping track of the heirachy of one brand) but I have nothing against Nvidia if there would be a better option in those parameters.

 

[tviceman]

I didn't bother clicking on the links; it would be more beneficial if you just told us what your price range is so people can make recommendations based off that.

 

[Jwgold2]

My price range is preferably 80 dollars, but I could be pushed into the 100-130 if people were convinced it would make a meaningful impact.

Also: my monitors have a max res of 1680x1050 and 1920x1080....My traditional primary is the former, so that 1680 is probably my usual max resolution. I could switch if it was an older game I could run higher.

 

[Skurge]

If you don't mind used.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=191970
That 8800gts looks good

If you want new
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-482-_-Product

Its faster than any of the cards you listed, but slower than the 260 in the for sale link.

 

[RavenSEAL]

5770

 

[happy medium]

I'd go with a used gtx260 for under 90$.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

The 4830 for $60 is the best deal for you. I really don't think you'll be able to tell the difference between it and a faster card with the processor and RAM you have. Performance-wise, it should be right in between a 5670 and 5770, about the same as an 8800GT.

 

[Arkadrel]

The 5770 is a nice card from what I remember reading.

Most seem to overclock pretty well... bit of extra juice (~1.20v)...
850mhz core / 1200mhz memory --> 1,000mhz core / 1400mhz memory.


i7 920@ 3.7ghz + 5770 @ 1000core/1400mem: (vantage mark of 12,491)
http://a.imageshack.us/img64/8103/vantageoc2.jpg

 

[Skurge]

The 5770 is a nice card from what I remember reading.

Most seem to overclock pretty well... bit of extra juice (~1.20v)...
850mhz core / 1200mhz memory --> 1,000mhz core / 1400mhz memory.


i7 920@ 3.7ghz + 5770 @ 1000core/1400mem: (vantage mark of 12,491)
http://a.imageshack.us/img64/8103/vantageoc2.jpg

Mine didnt overclock a single mhz.

 

[VirtualLarry]

AM2 X2 3800+? Those are pretty slow, aren't they? Will your motherboard take an AM3 CPU, with a BIOS update? Perhaps drop in an Athlon II X2 250 (3.0Ghz) or something. Or overclock your existing CPU. I think it's too slow to play games as it is.

According to this, it's 2.0Ghz.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103735

That's like a C2D at 1.5Ghz, not really that fast for games these days. I would go for a minimum of a 3.0GHZ AMD dual-core.

Give us the model number of your motherboard and brand and we can check for you what your upgrade options are.

 

[Jwgold2]

Yes, Larry, it is real slow for a modern attempt at gaming. My Mobo is an ASUS M2N SLI AM2 Nvidia nForce 500. (LINK: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131096)

I had very briefly considered upgrading Processors, but the thought of uninstalling and reinstalling my processor scares me and I figured that I would then just be bottlenecked by lousy ram too, so why not just replace everything? But I don't want to sink that much cash in.

As is I have played Witcher, SC 2, and Fallout 3 at moderate settings with adequate fps, so it is not as if it is entirely incapable.

Perhaps I would be better off ignoring the urge to upgrade anything, and just waiting until I can rebuild from the ground up?

 

[jacktesterson]

It's probably s939?

If so not much upgrade choice. They still sell well on eBay though

 

[VirtualLarry]

The M2N-E SLI doesn't list any AM3 CPUs, but the M2N-SLI does.

http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=NJ8fkR6ufRM9XvFC
http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=FsG6bN2HsOMpwLxD

Do you have the -E, like you linked, or the non-E?

If you have the M2N-SLI, non-E, then you can flash the BIOS, and install a Phenom II X4 CPU. That would increase your gaming FPS tremendously, if you also purchased a newer gaming graphics card than the GT220.

 

[toyota]

with that cpu, you are not going to be able to run high or even medium settings smoothly in many games anyway. in fact a 3800 X2 barely meets the minimum requirements in many games and some games doesn't even do that. also 2gb of system ram is not going to cut it either in some games.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

It's probably s939?

If so not much upgrade choice. They still sell well on eBay though

DDR2 800 ram suggests its actually OG AM2, unless he has some funky Asrock throwback board.

4830 seems like the best choice for your processor, although your best option would be to upgrade the entire system.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

The 4830 for $60 is the best deal for you. I really don't think you'll be able to tell the difference between it and a faster card with the processor and RAM you have. Performance-wise, it should be right in between a 5670 and 5770, about the same as an 8800GT.

This. I didn't notice much by downgrading from my 8800gts 320mb to a 3850 512mb on my x2 4200+ and 4GB ram setup. I wouldn't go higher than the 4830. Also, you would be able to enable AA (high amounts, probably) without any penalty hit.

 

[Necc]

Friend of mine has an X2 4000+ bought him a 2nd hand HD4850 for christmas present so he can play mass effect 2, with everything set to max no AA he has roughly 45~50fps 1280x1024. sure with a PII X4 you would have better performance, Isay go for the 4830 if you wanna keep that rig for more then a year, But if you planing on upgrading this year then why not spend the extra money now for a decent card and later on upgrade the rest?

All up to you.

 

[Lonyo]

Friend of mine has an X2 4000+ bought him a 2nd hand HD4850 for christmas present so he can play mass effect 2, with everything set to max no AA he has roughly 45~50fps 1280x1024. sure with a PII X4 you would have better performance, Isay go for the 4830 if you wanna keep that rig for more then a year, But if you planing on upgrading this year then why not spend the extra money now for a decent card and later on upgrade the rest?

All up to you.

This.

4830 now if you feel you need something and plan to keep the CPU for a while.
Something better if you plan to upgrade CPU in the near future.
HD5770 would pretty much be a waste of the extra money most of the time with your CPU.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I think the 4830 is the fastest $60 card I've seen. No rebate, too.

 

[happy medium]

I think the 4830 is the fastest $60 card I've seen. No rebate, too.

Yea , I forgot about that card, with a little overclock it can match a 4850.:thumbsup:

 

[Jwgold2]

Thanks everyone!

I took the crowd favorite (and the one that I was most inclined to) and bought the 4830. Looks like it will give the best performance commensurate with my current system.

Also, after reading both this site and Tomshardware for the last couple days, my brain really is starting to hurt. I am a nerd of sorts, but I understood only about half of what I read in articles and reviews. Thanks for the assistance both in this thread, and all of the people trying to distill technical expertise into everyday wisdom for the rest of us in other threads as well.