Video Upgrade: Current PC speed is bottlenecked.

[Coldkilla]

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 2.2GHz Socket 939
Video: 6800GT AGP
RAM: GeIL Value 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel
Mobo: ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 ULi M1695 ATX AMD
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 320GB
Monitor: BenQ FP93GX Black 19" 2ms LCD

Alright. A few examples with low framerate:
Major Game:
Operation Flashpoint. Can't have 5,000m view distance without 3fps. Only AVG FPS: Under 20. Seen people with 5000m view distance and high textures.. Amazes me how the hell they do that.

Minor Games:
Just Cause: Cannot Play even on LOW Settings. Super LAG
Company of Heroes: Cannot play above medium
Battlefield 2: Cannot have 4x Anti-Aliasing

Some game's show "static" or "snow", I don't overclock and I don't know what could be wrong. Is it a hardware issue? Or is it that my hardware is out of date.. or what do you all suggest.

Also; if I save up 450 bucks. Would it be smart to shoot for the 8800GTS or something else? Or... should I be able to play my games with a much better frame-rate without spending any money?

 

[CurseTheSky]

Upgrading to the 8800GTS (provided you have a PCI-E board) will give you the best performance increase with that hardware, IMO. You can probably keep the processor and RAM for a while longer without running into a huge bottleneck in games.

 

[Duvie]

I agree get an X1900 XT card....Not sure on nvidia equivalent but I think the price point is good and that 6800GT is so oldschool for games....I am not a gamer and I have that card...

 

[CurseTheSky]

The 6800GT was a solid gaming card about a year, maybe two years ago. These days it's pretty outdated. I can run BF2 on high/medium settings at 1600x1200 without too many problems, but I know I'd see better performance out of a better card. I bought it when the four main choices were the 6600GT, 6800GT, 7800GT, and 7800GTX (just debuted, top-of-the-line). I really wish I had gone with the 7800GT, but oh well.

If you're looking for a solid performance upgrade without spending TONS, consider a 7900GS, 7950GT, 1950 Pro, or 1900XT. I'm not up to date on the ATI cards, but I believe those are the two bang-for-the-buck cards in the medium / high end.

If your budget allows you, you might also consider upgrading to a Core 2 Duo system. It will certainly get you better performance, and allow upgrades for the future. Something like an E6300 ($185ish), ASUS P5B-E ($150ish), 2GB of decent DDR2 667 RAM ($230ish), and a 7900GS ($150ish) will give you significantly better performance. It's a lot more than you'd spend on just a graphics card, but if you're looking to upgrade a few other things anyway, you'd might as well do it all at once.

I do not suggest spending cash on another AGP card. Though it will be more expensive, you could pick up a PCI-E card and a socket 939 PCI-E motherboard to hold you over. At least this way, the PCI-E card can be used in future builds.

 

[Coldkilla]

My motherboard is also a PCI-E board. So, would it be smart to just buy say a 7950GT, wait (save) and then just upgrade the whole system down the road. Because this video card will be the last thing (I think) that I will add to this PC to keep it chugging along. As soon as I can afford a new part, the other part is outdated. So buy the cheaper end 7950GT? Instead of a 8800GTS?

Which Brand Yall think for a 7950GT is best? If I bought it, I want to be sure I get the best bang for me buck

 

[NYslipstream]

Originally posted by: Coldkilla
My motherboard is also a PCI-E board. So, would it be smart to just buy say a 7950GT, wait (save) and then just upgrade the whole system down the road. Because this video card will be the last thing (I think) that I will add to this PC to keep it chugging along. As soon as I can afford a new part, the other part is outdated. So buy the cheaper end 7950GT? Instead of a 8800GTS?

Which Brand Yall think for a 7950GT is best? If I bought it, I want to be sure I get the best bang for me buck

BFG

This BFG one above is a pretty damn good deal. Were I you, I'd probably opt for that one. If you want to snag an EVGA (step up program, overclock) one, there's also one of those for like $50 bucks more.

 

[Coldkilla]

Well I won't be upgrading any time soon after I purchase a video card, so no step up program for me

1. Is there a difference between the 50 dollar more EVGA and this BFG?
If not, I'll buy this VC right now.

Also; I have an Antec 400W PSU.
2. Will I be okay?

3. In terms of precentage, what sort of preformance gains should I expect?

4. Will I be able to crank GFX options to max on all games? (Inc. OFP?)

 

[Coldkilla]

^^^^^ I want to put the purchase in as early as tonight. Just wondering on some things *up* ^_^

 

[Mem]

If your budget allows you, you might also consider upgrading to a Core 2 Duo system. It will certainly get you better performance, and allow upgrades for the future. Something like an E6300 ($185ish), ASUS P5B-E ($150ish), 2GB of decent DDR2 667 RAM ($230ish), and a 7900GS ($150ish) will give you significantly better performance. It's a lot more than you'd spend on just a graphics card, but if you're looking to upgrade a few other things anyway, you'd might as well do it all at once

I think that is a bad move IMHO,more of a side ways move,he will see a bigger increase with a better video card,8800GTS will be a good upgrade,then later down the road he can go for quad core if he wants to change board and CPU.

 

[Smartazz]

I'd go for the 8800GTS for that much money, if you can wait, you might want to wait until Feburary.

 

[Coldkilla]

I've waited since before October. I need a card now. I believe I do want to spend around 300 bucks, and not spend anymore and just wait to upgrade my whole pc down the line.

With this, I am still wondering:

Well I won't be upgrading any time soon after I purchase a video card, so no step up program for me

1. Is there a difference between the 50 dollar more EVGA and this BFG?
If not, I'll buy this VC right now.

Also; I have an Antec 400W PSU.
2. Will I be okay?

3. In terms of precentage, what sort of preformance gains should I expect?

4. Will I be able to crank GFX options to max on all games? (Inc. OFP?)

 

[40sTheme]

The low performance is because of the 6800GT... you can't expect to play Just Cause on that. Definitely upgrade.

 

[Coldkilla]

Alright cool. So as soon as my four questions are answered (previous post) ...... I'll punch the numbers in and have it on the way tonight.

 

[Coldkilla]

Old (Unanswered Questions): If I were to buy the BFG 7950GT::
1. Is there a difference between the EVGA *Step-up* VC for 50$ more and the the BFG 7950GT?
2. With a 7950GT and a 400W (Stable) Antec PSU, will it run fine? Do I need a better PSU?
3. What preformance gains (Taking my specs into account) should I expect?
4. Will the Video Settings in my game's be able to be maxed out?

New Questions:
5. Within the next week, will 7950GT prices drop from 88 series releases? When will prices drop?
6. Putting into account that I will be tossing this PC once I have enough $$$ to purchase a complete new one (2-3 years), is the 7950GT the best choice? (For preformance gains + price (~300) + longevity.
7. Is purchasing the 7950GT a good upgrade?

Sorry for two posts under 4 hours. Looking forward to your replys. I didn't buy my new VC today based on lack of replys. Hopefully I can get online tomarrow morning and have this purchased.

 

[Coldkilla]

ehhhhhhhhhhh?

 

[Centurin]

If you to buy a card for 300 bucks, get the MSI 7900GTX from Zipzoomfly for $379 buck with an $80 rebate.

 

[Coldkilla]

I'll buy the 7900GTX. Is there benchmarks on the 7950+7900GTX together? I don't want to spend the 100 dollar jump in price (Assuming it was still $380 w/o rebate) for a tiny increase inspeed.

 

[Coldkilla]

The benchmarks between the 7950GT and the 7900GTX:

-------------------------------GeForce 7900 GTX--------GeForce 7950 GT
Core Clocks------------------650----------------------------550
Pixel Shaders-----------------24-----------------------------24
Vertex Shaders---------------8------------------------------8
Texel Fill-rate(Mtexels/s)-----15600------------------------13200
ROPs----------------------------16----------------------------16
Effective Memory Clock--------1600-------------------------1400
Memory Bandwidth (GB/s)------51.2-------------------------44.8

Are these HUGE differences for the difference in price? I've been ready to buy my new VC for day's but I just wan't to be reassured that:

A. My 400W PSU will be stable with these cards.
B. The price diff. makes one 'the better buy'
C. The longevity of the card before having to buy another one.. will be at least a few years.

 

[Coldkilla]

Guess I'll buy it then... I've been trying to get some answers for these questions over a day now, guess I'll go in blind.

*Click* bought it, now here comes the *OH Snap! You shoulda bought this instead* people that decide to wait until I purchase the VC to tell me that 'this idea' is a better deal. When, in fact, I've been asking that very question over and over again.

 

[secretanchitman]

either a 7950GT 512MB or an 8800GTS 640MB would be good for you.

i forget what the ati equivalents are...i think its an X1900XT/X1950XTX.

 

[Coldkilla]

I knew that was coming. Already bought the 7900GTX. Since no one said anything. Oh well, after the rebate it was only 300 dollars. 30 Dollars more than the 7950GT.