Roadmap for New Video Cards, need a little help

[ledfortr]

Hey Folks!

I am in the market within the nex 6 weeks or so to upgrade my video card.

I currently have a Leadtek Winfast PX8800 GTS (640MB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814122018

I am looking to upgrade to a single card, I use it for gaming, primarily WOW, COD, Warhammer.

In my research, I see that the nvida gtx280 is top of the line (now) for a single card, my question is, should I hang tight and wait for the next generation or will the 280 be the way to go. My budget is about $500.

Thank you all for your help!

PS. The reason for the upgrade is due to a new monitor I have, I'd like to run it at max resolution 1920x1200 and my 8800gts is a little underpowered for it.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

If you want the best "single" card for $500, I suggest you pick up a HD 4870 x 2. If you don't want that, I guess most people would recommend a 4870 or a gtx 260 because at that resolution both will do fine.

 

[Denithor]

GTX 260 Core 216 or 4870 1GB will be fine for 19x12. These can be had for $300 or less.

What's the rest of your system look like? Make sure you have enough CPU/RAM. WoW & War both depend nearly as much on those as on GPU (especially when you get into the heavily populated cities -- there's an incredible amount of "crunching" that has to be handled by the CPU there).

 

[ledfortr]

CPU e6750 processor @3.6
RAM Corsair cm2x1024 8500-C5D 2.2 5-5-5-15
Case Antec p120
Vid 8800 GTS 640mb
PSU Corair modular HX620W
HD 3x7200 sata drives
V-Raptor Boot drive

I am not really looking for the current cards (whats best), I am looking more for future cards, has anyone heard of anything coming up worth waiting basically....

 

[Wreckage]

In the next six weeks the Nvidia refresh cards should be out. So you could either grab one of them, or grab one of the old cards on a fire sale as they clear out old stock.

Basically these should be upgrades to the GTX260 and 280.

 

[ledfortr]

I was just looking around at some benches for the 280 and came across some interesting benchmarks.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/in...1&limit=1&limitstart=7

Shows that the 9800gx2 is outperforming the gtx 280 in many areas.

Newegg has a deal going for $212 for a remanufactured 9800gx2!

I looked up some benches that compared the 4870x2 to the 9800gx2 and the 9800 SLIGHTLY underperforms. At 1/3 the cost of the 4780, I think I found a temporary card until the next gen cards come out.

Once I sell my 8800gts ($100) the net cost will be $120 after shipping for an amazing upgrade.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130402

Above is the link to the card.

 

[rgallant]

Originally posted by: ledfortr
I was just looking around at some benches for the 280 and came across some interesting benchmarks.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/in...1&limit=1&limitstart=7

Shows that the 9800gx2 is outperforming the gtx 280 in many areas.

Newegg has a deal going for $212 for a remanufactured 9800gx2!

I looked up some benches that compared the 4870x2 to the 9800gx2 and the 9800 SLIGHTLY underperforms. At 1/3 the cost of the 4780, I think I found a temporary card until the next gen cards come out.

Once I sell my 8800gts ($100) the net cost will be $120 after shipping for an amazing upgrade.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130402

Above is the link to the card.

I have 8800 gts 512 sli which is almost the same as the 9800GX2
-what I have been seeing in crysis war head and farcry 2 is that vista is reporting hard drive thashing (error run out of video memory)from only having 512mb of memory -they have the horse power- but not the memory and I only play at 1680-1050 ,I would say look for something with more memory.