How high up the graphics card chain can I go?

[Zekey]

So here's my situation; I'm running an aging 939 system, with an Athlon 3200+, 2gbs of DDR400, and a 7600gt. I mostly play WoW, TF2, and some other steam games, but I'm planning on picking up and playing Spore heavily, not to mention some other games on the horizon.

So my question is, I currently play at 1024x786, but I'm thinking I may get a newer LCD monitor, 4:3 or 16:9, I haven't decided yet, so I'd be playing at 1280x1024 or 1440x900 or higher. Given my hardware, how far up the used graphics card chain can I go without becoming CPU limited, and should I invest in a used Athlon X2 rather than a new (to me) graphics card?

 

[JPB]

I was in the same boat as you. I had a 3500+ and a 7900GTX. And I believe it was bottlenecked somewhat. Also ran a 8800GTS 640MB with the same processor and became more bottlenecked.

You could go with something like a HD 3850 and yea it will bottleneck a *little* but that would just allow you to run maximum AA and AF.

When I was running what I stated above, I was on a 19" 1440x900

Edit: I am now on a 40" Samsung screen so I gave the HD 3870 Socket 939 system to my wife on the 1440x900 panel. She can play any game I have with maxed graphics. And no, I don't have Crysis

 

[taltamir]

you want to upgrade for spore?
how about waiting for the game to be out first?

Whatever you choose will be cheaper to buy then.

 

[JPB]

Whatever you choose will be cheaper to buy then.

Pretty cheap HD3850

 

[taltamir]

and yet, it will be even cheaper in the future...

Its not like prices of video cards will suddenly go up.

 

[octopus41092]

I would probably just wait and by then if you could probably just upgrade your whole system. Any newish system now would be a huge difference over what you currently have. But if you're going to be running at 1024x768 at and playing Spore... I'm not sure you'll really need that much of an upgrade. Spore seems to be relatively low system requirements and at that low resolution the 7600GT should be fine. Maybe going up to a 7950GT or a X1950Pro if you can find a used one for about $30. Otherwise you could probably go for and HD3850 like others are saying for about $80.