Upgrade 79GTX? Two older 939s (2.8 single)

[EliteRetard]

O.K. so I don't know if I confused everyone with the title, but basically Ive got two older/similar single core AMD systems both running at about 2.8GHz (and both 1MB L2) w/ 1GB RAM (DDR1) my primary gaming rig has a 7900GTO clocked to GTX level (runs 55C max so lets call it a GTX)

Anywho, the other system doesn't really have a video card and the person getting this system is going to be more a moderate gamer. Running things like world of warcraft and other older titles ect.

What Im wondering is if I should give them the GTX/system and then get myself an additional 1GB of RAM (DDR1 COSTS MORE WTF?!) and say a cheap 88GT or if I should get something like an 8600 (GT GS GTS?!) for the system without a GPU.

I'm lightly interested in getting a faster DX10 card, but I don't know if my CPU will be the limiting factor and I'm also kinda wondering if I should wait for the GF9s if for anything just to make the current 8 series cheaper or possibly go for one if its worth it.

Oh and I run at 16x12 (actually I can go up to 20x15@70Hz but still cant handle that res lol been waiting like 6 years for hardware to catch up to my CRT) and I'm fairly sure this other rig will be the same (~16x LCD don't know exact monitor). I know at 16x12 I cant currently run all my games with max settings (like Q4 and newer) but again I don't know if thats the fault of my CPU or GPU (possibly RAM?) And I also don't really know how the various cards perform...lots of benchies, but the systems the cards are in are all different so I don't know if I can properly compare numbers.

Oh and the systems are already overclocked, so basically the CPUs ain't gonna get any faster. I actually feel special, one system is running 280MHz with 1:1 RAM

I kinda need to make a decision soon, all help appreciated...and thanks in advance!

 

[TC91]

i would go for an 8800gt (or a 3870 if you like ati more) if you can grab one for ~250usd/cad or less; a 8600gt only if you can grab one for ~80bucks if you need performance right away. not like a 7800gtx/7900gtx is slow anyways so it may be worthwhile to wait for the nextgen stuff ala r770 or gt200/g100.

 

[EliteRetard]

Hows an 8600 compare to the 79GTX? And I totally don't understand the version suffixes and such...the GS GTS GT etc...which one is the faster or which is better? Hows about the 85/84s? Its not so much that I need "performance" its that I need both systems working which means I need to buy a new video card no matter what.

So thats what I was wondering, buying a cheapo for the second system I'm giving away or buying a nicer card for me and giving him the GTX that I have. I'm O.K with my current performance (for fairly current games at least...newer stuff I dunno yet), but if the 86 and lower cards aren't that great and he could use more juice then that and a newer card for me would be beneficial then Id be happy to go that route. I just don't really know where the performance lines are at. Ive got a choice between a 100$ and 200$ card with nothing in between. So if the cheaper card isn't that great then spending more on the 200$ card may be worth it because we'd both get better performance (ie if the 79GTX is faster than the 86s) And just to make things a little more complicated is the fairly old tech of the systems themselves...running slower clocked single cores and just 1 GB of older DDR...so I don't know if newer cards will help or not. (both systems are PCIE though)

Do you see what I'm saying? I'm a little confused by how your response came out, and whats an r770 and gt200 and stuff? Is that what your saying the newer cards are called (seems like it, though I thought it'd be like a 39/89 or 4/9 series) Thanks though...I think I'm just a retard

Oh and any idea (realistically) when newer series cards are coming out? I don't really care for any one brand or the other...maybe just a slight lean for nvidia currently because they seem to be doing a better job with drivers.

 

[TC91]

oh sorry my bad, the 8600gt would be slower than your 7900/7800 gtx, it will NOT improve performance at all whatsoever. basically for nvidia, GS<GT<GTS<GTX<Ultra with the older 320mb/640mb gts an exception in regards to the 8800gt this time around. the newer cards i expect to be out in may/june, maybe july at the latest. the 8500gt i will say is about the speed of a 7600GS or a little faster than the 6600gt. you could grab the cheapest card for that second machine for now if you need the machine to be working and get a nice card afterwards. however, a single core cpu will be a big bottleneck with most of the newer performance cards ie 8800/2900 series+ so an upgrade to a cheaper dual core 939 cpu like the x2 3800/4200 may help if they are oc'ed to 2.6ghz+. otherwise, maybe wait until the next gen cards come out, and build a new system around them, with an oc'ed 45nm core 2 quad perhaps.

 

[secretanchitman]

go for an 8800GT or higher. if you go for an 8600, it WILL be slower.

 

[superbooga]

8600gt will certainly be slower except for Crysis; 7900gtx is equal to x850xt in that game (seriously).

 

[EliteRetard]

I'm not on crysis yet, I have a lag time on games and stuff cause I ain't the richest guy around. Buy older outdated hardware and then trying to find the older games to go with it. Id like to think it saves me money...but it is a little more hassle and I seem to miss allot of games. Though I don't think even with a newer GPU I could play crysis, rest of the system would self destruct or my hard drive would launch of my computer like some hobby rocket lol.

Can you believe Ive still got an 80GB and haven't even half filled it yet? Actually Ive got hard drives as small as 10MB (yes MB) from my kaypro lol.