Upgrading my 9800GT, which GPU to get? $150-$200 range

[frozentundra123456]

That 5850 is the best deal for sure. Faster than a GTX460 and AMD cards are less sensitive to slower CPUs. Lifetime warranty too. So no brainer right there.

Performance is very good for 1680x1050.

I have a question in this regard. I am running an E4500 at stock, and a 9800GT. It seems like I am CPU limited in a lot of games. How much extra CPU performance would I get if I went to something like a HD5670 or HD6670? Would it be worth the switch?

I am running an off the shelf system, so I cant really overclock the E4500. I am running at 1440x900, and can play most games at med to high settings.

 

[RussianSensation]

I have a question in this regard. I am running an E4500 at stock, and a 9800GT. It seems like I am CPU limited in a lot of games. How much extra CPU performance would I get if I went to something like a HD5670 or HD6670? Would it be worth the switch?

Did you mean GPU performance? You don't get more CPU performance by getting a new GPU. If you were asking about GPU performance, HD5670/HD6670 are slower than a 9800GT, so you'd lose performance.

I am running at 1440x900, and can play most games at med to high settings.

What games do you play? Do you use AA settings? The next decent level up from a 9800GT is an HD5770/GTX460.

 

[bryanW1995]

I have a question in this regard. I am running an E4500 at stock, and a 9800GT. It seems like I am CPU limited in a lot of games. How much extra CPU performance would I get if I went to something like a HD5670 or HD6670? Would it be worth the switch?

I am running an off the shelf system, so I cant really overclock the E4500. I am running at 1440x900, and can play most games at med to high settings.

That could be the saddest sentence I've ever read... Those things with a decent mobo are good for ~ 75% + OC. I normally don't recommend this sort of thing on an outdated rig, but if you can find a decent, used lga775 mobo, maybe an ip35e or ds3L for $40 or something like that, then it would be worth your while to snag it.

Ah, here's one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gigabyte-Te...767170946?pt=Motherboards&hash=item1c1e48c982

 

[happy medium]

Galaxy gtx560ti for 171$ AR.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2185513

 

[RussianSensation]

Galaxy gtx560ti for 171$ AR.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2185513

For a stock E4500? No freaken way. That CPU bottlenecks a stock GTX460!

 

[Fallengod]

Yeah I started to see some bottleneck myself recently. I have been running an 8800/9800GT's for the past 4 years or so on my C2D E6400 @ 2.9ghz. I recently tried an ATI 5670 and ultimately went with a GTS 450. Honestly, I see almost no improvement in FPS at all.

Anyways, planning on upgrading by end of the year. I dont game all that much anymore so it isnt a huge issue.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Did you mean GPU performance? You don't get more CPU performance by getting a new GPU. If you were asking about GPU performance, HD5670/HD6670 are slower than a 9800GT, so you'd lose performance.



What games do you play? Do you use AA settings? The next decent level up from a 9800GT is an HD5770/GTX460.

I thought AMD cards were supposed to use less of the CPU power that comparable nVidia cards. That was what I was referring to. In other words, would an AMD card free up some CPU resources compared to an nVidia card?

 

[s44]

For a stock E4500? No freaken way. That CPU bottlenecks a stock GTX460!

So what? It runs cool and unused now and is that much more useful when OP gets a real CPU.

edit -- except this thread was necroed after 3 months. argh

 

[RussianSensation]

I thought AMD cards were supposed to use less of the CPU power that comparable nVidia cards. That was what I was referring to. In other words, would an AMD card free up some CPU resources compared to an nVidia card?

Ok put it this way, E4500 = 2.2ghz 2mb cache ~ E6400 2.13ghz 2mb cache

Starcraft II - 1920x1080 - Most GPU settings on High
E6400 = 37 fps avg / 9 fps min
i5 2500k = 98 fps avg / 38 min

BF:BC2 - 1680x1050 - Visuals on High
E6400 = 27 fps avg / 21 fps min
i5 2500k = 87 fps avg / 73 fps min

Civilization 5 - 1920x1200 - 4AA/ High settings
Late Game view
E6400 = 15 fps
i5 2500k = 43 fps

F1 2010 - 1680x1050 - 4 MSAA , High/Ultra visuals
E6400 = 23 fps avg / 18 fps min
i5 2500k = 50 fps avg / 47 fps min

Metro 2033 - 1680x1050 - High
E6400 = 29 fps / 11 fps min
i5 2500k = 51 fps / 17 fps min

Even after increasing the demands on the GPU to try to move the bottleneck to the GTX460 (without cranking 8AA and supersampling), the E6400 is completely inadequate to drive a GTX460 1GB.

AMD cards you listed are slower than a 9800GT. No amount of "driver overhead" is going to make an HD5670 faster than a 9800GT.

So what? It runs cool and unused now and is that much more useful when OP gets a real CPU.

Why spend $100 on a GPU then if you are going to get 1/2 to 1/3 of its performance (i.e., basically not much faster than an overclocked 9800GT).

 

[happy medium]

AMD Athlon II X4 635 2.9GHZ

Ooops I was answering this guy.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

AMD cards you listed are slower than a 9800GT. No amount of "driver overhead" is going to make an HD5670 faster than a 9800GT.

New optimized drivers, new game engines, and "vendor bias" can certainly put the 5670 ahead of the 9800GT. Also here the 5670 and 9800GT trade blows.

I don't really think CPU driver overhead comes into play with the 9800GT, but if it did then the two cards are close enough in performance for overhead to certainly put the 5670 ahead.

I have a question in this regard. I am running an E4500 at stock, and a 9800GT. It seems like I am CPU limited in a lot of games. How much extra CPU performance would I get if I went to something like a HD5670 or HD6670? Would it be worth the switch?

It's not worth the effort for you to swap out video cards. All three (5670, 6670, and 9800GT) are close in performance and trade blows with each other. You likely wouldn't even notice the difference at all, because your CPU is going to bottleneck you especially in multithreaded games. You would be better off researching if you can drop in a CPU upgrade to your system than switching video cards.

Also the extra CPU overhead for Nvidia drivers has only been shown on higher end Fermi cards as far as I know. The 9800GT's drivers may not have any more overhead than Radeon drivers. So again, this is just another reason to stand pat.