Video Card Upgrade Question

[JJordan]

My system is failing and I am considering building new (memory slots are bad I think). I currently have a Gigabyte MB with an e4300 chip and a "Nice At The Time I Bought It 2 Years Ago" EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB Video Card. I want to upgrade to a new i5 or i7 system with Windows 7 but cannot afford to buy a new $300+ video card for the system. My goal is to buy MB, RAM and Chip - use my 500 Gig SATA drive, dvd, and video card. Since I have not bought a card for 2 years, I am lost in the new ones and how they would compare to my old card. Am I wasting my time upgrading if I try to use the same old video card? It will work I assume in an i7 MB. If not, what would be comparable today so I know where to go "up" from. I play games like Bioshock, FarCry2, Call of Duty, Fallout3, etc.

 

[happy medium]

Yes your video card is the bottleneck.
Your card will work fine in a I7 board.
A good noticable upgrade would be a 5750 or gts 250 for less then 140$

gts 250's go for 110$ and the 5750 goes for 140$. The 5750 is a little faster.

What is your monitor resolution and are you planning on upgrading it anytime soon?

 

[JJordan]

Monitor is 20" Dell Ultrashrp at 1600x1200 I think. Not planning to upgrade anytime soon.

 

[blanketyblank]

1600 x 1200 your 8800 gts should still do pretty well.
If you're looking for a decent upgrade for about $150-160 I'd go with a 5770 for directx 11. If you ever decide to upgrade your monitor in the future adding a second in crossfire will put it on par with a 5870. I upgraded from a 4850 and I'm pretty happy. New card is much cooler, and even more quiet. Seems faster too. I game at 1920 x 1080 for comparison.