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Upgrade to gtx260 from 8800gt?

J

johnno

Member
Hi, I was just wondering if it would be worth upgrading from a 8800gt to a BFG NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 OC MAXCORE 55 896MB? I would like to get another year or two from my AMD Athlon 64 X2,6000+. I'm gaming on a 19" @ 1440 x 900.

Games I've got to play are GTA4 and Crysis and lots of TF2. And also new ones.

Thanks
 
Two questions you need to ask youself, does your 8800GT play your favorite games at acceptable (to you) framerates, and if it does not, are you willing to spend $200 to upgrade?

1440 x 900 actually has less pixels than your typical 17/19" monitor with 1280 x 1024 resolution. You're essentially gaming on a 17" monitor. I would imagine 8800GT is still powerful to handle any game at that kind of resolution, even Crysis if you tone the settings down a little. Your card, your rig, your games, you decide.
 
It'll be a nice upgrade, but keep in mind that GTA4 will be held back quite a bit by your CPU, and TF2 will see virtually no improvement at all from your 8800GT.

Why that specific 260? You might be able to find a better deal on a different card, or possibly even a 4890 (which is faster) for a similar price.
 
It's £145, which doesn't seem to bad. I just happened to see one left in store earlier today. The added bonus also from getting it from a shop is that the missus won't see it arrive in the post 🙂
 
why go nvidia now? I suppose BFG has a step up program that could potentially get you a fermi later, but I'd say missing out on DX 11 isn't a wise choice for a new video card. It's a little hard to say though since you're in the UK prices for computer hardware are a lot different than in the states so I'm not sure how much something like a 5850 would cost. Translated into dollars that much is about enough for one and that will cream the nvidia card.
 
Heya,

In short, no.

In length:

Your resolution is what is keeping you from gaining any real advantage by getting something faster than the 8800GT. Your CPU will be the bottleneck on a newer GPU at the resolution of 1440x900. You basically won't see a significant difference for the expense of this upgrade. If you were playing at 1920x1080 with AA enabled, then yes, the GTX260 would show an improvement in newer games. At this point you would be better off upgrading your display to something much larger with a larger capable resolution. Then worry about CPU/GPU. As it is, the 8800GT is powerful for that resolution; even for Crysis (and I've played Crysis & Warhead on an AMD5000+ with an 8800GT at 1650x1080, so 1440x900 is definitely playable at mainstream settings). Every other game will still bow down to the 8800GT at that resolution. Even today's new games. The 8800GT plays a lot of new games at 1920x1080 perfectly fine (Batman ArkAsylum, Prototype, DragonAgeOrigin, GTAIV, etc). You'll probably see more of an improvement from a new CPU (higher clock) and a mild overclock on your 8800GT. Then, get yourself a higher resolution display.

I'd spend the upgrade money on a nicer display first.

Very best, 🙂
 
MalVeauX said:
Heya,

In short, no.

In length:

Your resolution is what is keeping you from gaining any real advantage by getting something faster than the 8800GT. Your CPU will be the bottleneck on a newer GPU at the resolution of 1440x900. You basically won't see a significant difference for the expense of this upgrade. If you were playing at 1920x1080 with AA enabled, then yes, the GTX260 would show an improvement in newer games. At this point you would be better off upgrading your display to something much larger with a larger capable resolution. Then worry about CPU/GPU. As it is, the 8800GT is powerful for that resolution; even for Crysis (and I've played Crysis & Warhead on an AMD5000+ with an 8800GT at 1650x1080, so 1440x900 is definitely playable at mainstream settings). Every other game will still bow down to the 8800GT at that resolution. Even today's new games. The 8800GT plays a lot of new games at 1920x1080 perfectly fine (Batman ArkAsylum, Prototype, DragonAgeOrigin, GTAIV, etc). You'll probably see more of an improvement from a new CPU (higher clock) and a mild overclock on your 8800GT. Then, get yourself a higher resolution display.

I'd spend the upgrade money on a nicer display first.

Very best, 🙂
Click to expand...

He makes a good point if your not planning on upgrading the rest of your computer soon to match the gtx 260's potential.
 
Ok folks, thanks for the advice 🙂

I really think I would be wiser doing a full upgrade in a year or twos time.

I think I was trying to convince myself otherwise. I'm glad I asked here first 🙂

Cheers
 
yes I made that jump and am very happy I did. About a 40-60% framerate improvement for me in areas where it used to stutter.
 
Indus said:
yes I made that jump and am very happy I did. About a 40-60% framerate improvement for me in areas where it used to stutter.
Click to expand...
did you miss just the point that was made because you dont have a 6000 X2 according to your sig?
 
It's too bad your motherboard doesn't support SLI. I'd recommend you get another 8800GT for dirt cheap and run them in SLI.

In fact, you could probably get a used M2N-E SLI AND another 8800GT for cheaper than the GTX 260.
 
nenforcer said:
It's too bad your motherboard doesn't support SLI. I'd recommend you get another 8800GT for dirt cheap and run them in SLI.

In fact, you could probably get a used M2N-E SLI AND another 8800GT for cheaper than the GTX 260.
Click to expand...
another 8800gt with his cpu at 1440x900 would not be a wise move at all. in some games he could actually get worse framerates due to overhead. as MalVeauX already mentioned he has a decent gpu for such a low res and going to a gtx260 isnt going to help his minimum framerate in many cases with that cpu. he would certainly see an increase in pretty much all games but he is looking to make GTA 4 and TF 2 better and a faster gpu isnt going to really help with that.
 
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For GTA4 and TF2, you won't particularly notice an improvement. It wouldn't be worth it, especially for TF2. For Crysis, you would be able to turn up a few settings. If these are the only games you're playing, overall it isn't worth it. Save your money for an overhaul.

toyota said:
now if I said the same thing that he did people would jump all over me...😀
Click to expand...

You should really ask yourself why that is. I do have the answer for you, but you should get some introspection.
 
cusideabelincoln said:
For GTA4 and TF2, you won't particularly notice an improvement. It wouldn't be worth it, especially for TF2. For Crysis, you would be able to turn up a few settings. If these are the only games you're playing, overall it isn't worth it. Save your money for an overhaul.



You should really ask yourself why that is. I do have the answer for you, but you should get some introspection.
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because thats the way things work on a forum. I could have said the identical thing he did but because you and a couple of others have disagreed with me before it would not have been accepted. hell I have said the same when somebody even had a much slower cpu and caused drama because of it. I am not like that because if someone makes a good point then I will agree no matter what they have said in the past.
 
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Try to find a 260 for for like 160 bucks. Frys always has deals, you can get it from Frys online www.frys.com

Your going from 112 shaders to 216 shaders, so performance increase will be very noticable. gl
 
toyota said:
because thats the way things work on a forum. I could have said the identical thing he did but because you and a couple of others have disagreed with me before it would not have been accepted. hell I have said the same when somebody even had a much slower cpu and caused drama because of it. I am not like that because if someone makes a good point then I will agree no matter what they have said in the past.
Click to expand...

I don't know about them and your relations with them, but I do jump on a few key members (*Cough* Wreckage, lol) because I've seen them get out of line (make blatantly false statements) many times, such as recommending things that are _not_ the best product and _not_ in the best interest of the buyer, backing their recommendations up with lies (such as "GTX 260 beat the 4870 hands down last gen", when as we all know the 4870 is what forced Nvidia to answer with the GTX260-216sp at which point it became a tossup depending on the game); and have gotten fed up with it.
Do you commonly make recommendations for Nvidia or ATI, or AMD or Intel? This might be why.

Ok back on topic, agree-- OP's CPU is too slow.
 
1440 x 900 is nothing for 8800GT. I have the same card which I use for gaming on my 24" at full 1920x1200 or 1680x1050. I would say just wait like you have decided already.
 
johnno said:
Hi, I was just wondering if it would be worth upgrading from a 8800gt to a BFG NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 OC MAXCORE 55 896MB? I would like to get another year or two from my AMD Athlon 64 X2,6000+. I'm gaming on a 19" @ 1440 x 900.

Games I've got to play are GTA4 and Crysis and lots of TF2. And also new ones.

Thanks
Click to expand...


Both cards are out dated. Buy a 5850 ATI card and you should be good to go. No reason to replace a 3 yr old card with a 2 yr old card.
 
gizbug said:
Both cards are out dated. Buy a 5850 ATI card and you should be good to go. No reason to replace a 3 yr old card with a 2 yr old card.
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are you really suggesting he buys a $300 video card to play at 1440x900 with a cpu that will bottleneck a card with half the power? come on now...
 
OP gave a price in UK£. Current UK prices tend to favour ATI "performance-per-pound" (bang-for-buck), but 5850 are scarce and over-priced - 5770 is available in this price bracket.

MalVeaux's point on low-res and slow-ish CPU (for CPU-heavy games) still applies though 🙂
 
gizbug said:
No reason to replace a 3 yr old card with a 2 yr old card.
Click to expand...

That's a good point.

Sometimes you just get that bug to upgraded. I'm still struggling to stop myself from popping to the shop at lunch time. I realise I won't stand to benefit much, but sometimes it's hard to control yourself 🙂 But I will not do it! Maybe!
 
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