Upgrade advice?

[dan352010]

Hi everyone... first post here.

I am looking to upgrade my video card. I built this computer in late 2007, and really have not kept up with hardware since.

My computer is as follows:

Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4 (Socket 775)
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6850 @ 3.00GHz
OCZ PC-2 6400 8GB
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB
Hannspree HF259H 25" LCD 1920x1080

I've been browsing around the forums all morning and have a few ideas, but thought I'd see if someone who keeps up on this has an idea of the best card for my current hardware. Any suggestions would be kindly appreciated.

 

[tviceman]

Hi everyone... first post here.

I am looking to upgrade my video card. I built this computer in late 2007, and really have not kept up with hardware since.

My computer is as follows:

Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4 (Socket 775)
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6850 @ 3.00GHz
OCZ PC-2 6400 8GB
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB
Hannspree HF259H 25" LCD 1920x1080

I've been browsing around the forums all morning and have a few ideas, but thought I'd see if someone who keeps up on this has an idea of the best card for my current hardware. Any suggestions would be kindly appreciated.

Depends on how much you want to spend. You have plenty of options at nearly every price range. The absolute minimum upgrade I would start at would be an hd5770. The next step up appears to be the reference gtx460 or hd5830. Reviews of the gtx460 come out Monday, and it is coming in many different options.

Depending on your price range, I'd wait for the reviews of the gtx460 256-bit version, and decide between that and an hd5850 or better.

 

[dan352010]

Hi, thanks for the response.

If I could keep it under $200 that would be good, however I'll spend more if needed. When I was running at 1680x1050 my current card was not bad, but when I moved to 1920x1080 it became a problem.

I can wait to see on the GTX 460 cards, however I'm thinking that might be overkill if something else currently available will let me run in 1920x1080 with decent detail settings in games. Any thoughts?

 

[tviceman]

Hi, thanks for the response.

If I could keep it under $200 that would be good, however I'll spend more if needed. When I was running at 1680x1050 my current card was not bad, but when I moved to 1920x1080 it became a problem.

I can wait to see on the GTX 460 cards, however I'm thinking that might be overkill if something else currently available will let me run in 1920x1080 with decent detail settings in games. Any thoughts?

At 1920x1080, you should probably be considering something BETTER than both the hd5770 and the gtx460 192-bit version. In other words, I think your starting point should be a gtx460 256-bit versions, and compare how those cards do at their given price points to hd5850's at their price points.

Again, I'd wait until reviews Monday to see how it all boils down, but right now on newegg you can get overclocked gtx460 256-bit cards between $220-$245, whereas the lowest priced hd5850 is $290. I can't say anything beyond guessing at this point, but I think this card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814261076 is going to give a reference hd5850 some good competition.

 

[dan352010]

I am in no hurry, so I will do as you suggest and wait until Monday for the reviews. Thanks for your advice!