- Feb 9, 2007
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So, I have an E6600 (running at 3.2), 4GB DDR-800, Asus P5B Motherboard, and a GeForce 8800GTX. I'm looking at upgrading to a 4870x2 (or 280 I suppose) for the next couple years of hardcore gaming and am willing to spend $500-600 on the card, assuming that's all I need.
Some questions...
Processor and Motherboard limitations - Would my current CPU and motherboard (PCI 1.0 slot) hold back a new card? If so, how badly?
Price - 4870x2's, with the current exchange rate, run in the $750-800 dollar range here in Japan. Is there any online retailer that ships internationally? I could be raped on shipping and still come out way ahead...unfortunately shipping it to the house in the States and having family send it here is not an option just now.
Power - I'm using a Corsair 620HX, I assume that would handle any single card (even an x2)--what do you think? I do also run 6 hard drives in the system...
Resolution - I game on an LCD HDTV at 1920x1080, which immediately makes the top of the line cards seem like overkill. Still, because of the resolution I expect to play games with all the details and settings maxed with nary a frame rate hiccup, and am hoping whatever card I buy lets me continue to do that for a couple years (barring another Crysis).
I have a few weeks off over Christmas and New Year's I'd like to break in the new card with, Dead Space, Witcher's Enhanced, Fallout 3, maybe Crysis...so I'll probably look to make any purchases towards the end of November. Any advice, AT gurus? I've thought about upgrading the CPU to an E8200 or similar but am fairly certain I'd need a new motherboard, and then I'm possibly stuck upgrading memory, pushing me way over budget (assuming $800-1000 all told is my limit).
Any comments, advice, oberservations much appreciated!
Some questions...
Processor and Motherboard limitations - Would my current CPU and motherboard (PCI 1.0 slot) hold back a new card? If so, how badly?
Price - 4870x2's, with the current exchange rate, run in the $750-800 dollar range here in Japan. Is there any online retailer that ships internationally? I could be raped on shipping and still come out way ahead...unfortunately shipping it to the house in the States and having family send it here is not an option just now.
Power - I'm using a Corsair 620HX, I assume that would handle any single card (even an x2)--what do you think? I do also run 6 hard drives in the system...
Resolution - I game on an LCD HDTV at 1920x1080, which immediately makes the top of the line cards seem like overkill. Still, because of the resolution I expect to play games with all the details and settings maxed with nary a frame rate hiccup, and am hoping whatever card I buy lets me continue to do that for a couple years (barring another Crysis).
I have a few weeks off over Christmas and New Year's I'd like to break in the new card with, Dead Space, Witcher's Enhanced, Fallout 3, maybe Crysis...so I'll probably look to make any purchases towards the end of November. Any advice, AT gurus? I've thought about upgrading the CPU to an E8200 or similar but am fairly certain I'd need a new motherboard, and then I'm possibly stuck upgrading memory, pushing me way over budget (assuming $800-1000 all told is my limit).
Any comments, advice, oberservations much appreciated!