What to do, 8800gts 640mb vs. new CPU or GPU?

[Mars999]

I have a e6600 and a 8800GTS 640MB card. I have the 975x chipset, and don't want to ditch my MB or RAM. I am not overclocking and don't plan on it. So that being said, would buying a 9800Gx2 or the new GT280? be better for FPS or upgrading my CPU? If I buy a new Gfx card how much better will my FPS due to the CPU is only a e6600? Anyone have a good site with a run down of using different Gfx cards with slower/faster CPUs?

Thanks

 

[biostud]

overclock it, it's quite simple and it's free. Wait for next generation of videocards before upgrading, you won't gain that much upgrading with current generation of cards.

 

[zagood]

"only" a e6600 is good enough for almost all games out there. I've got an e6400, 8800GTS 640mb, on a 965 chipset. I only play at 1280x1024 but I can run pretty much anything at max settings with AA. Crysis is the only exception, but could run all very high, dx10 at 1280x720 with AA off (when I got flat panel scaling working for a short period of time).

Of course, I'm overclocked...3.2ghz cpu, card at 600 core/900 mem. 4gb ram. Vista Ultimate x64.

So start with overclocking.

-z

 

[ChaosDivine]

More fps is nice, but IMHO you have to ask yourself whether you need the extra oomph now. No sense jumping onboard too early (like the 9800 Pro folks anticipating Doom 3).

Personally, I'm staying with my OC'ed E6600 (3.6GHz), 965P, 4GB DDR2-800 and 8800GTS 320MB quite a bit longer, since I only game at 1280x1024. The only game I had some trouble with is Crysis (the ice cave and carrier deck levels). I can set-and-forget (4xAA, 4xAF, max everything) for other titles.

Edit : Aack, I should've qualified my statement. I meant I had trouble with running hacked Very High settings (DX10 equiv) on XP. Had to turn the shader slider down to medium.

 

[postmortemIA]

I have E6700 with 8800GTS 640, and I play all my games on 1920x1200... I don't understand what your problem is.

 

[Mars999]

I have a 24" LCD running at 1920x1200, yeah most games play fine, but I was looking at keeping this system as a whole for quite awhile, maybe after the Bloomfield is out I can see what is what, but for now the issue is the next Nvidia and ATI GPUs are coming out and should be alot faster than my 8800GTS 640MB card, and what I was wondering, if my e6600 will hold back these new cards to the point that, my FPS will not change from what I see now... Thanks

 

[RallyMaster]

I'm still on an Athlon 64 X2 4200+ with a 6800GS and I'm now planning to build a new computer later this summer. I won't get more than a 9600GT/8800GT and a E2220 so I'm not sure why you would with the hardware you have.

Oh and one more thing...every single video card has issues with Crysis on very high settings and getting high frame rates.

 

[ChaosDivine]

Originally posted by: RallyMaster
Oh and one more thing...every single video card has issues with Crysis on very high settings and getting high frame rates.

Not really. I got to play with a friend's 8800GTX in my system and it made a huge difference in the ice caves and carrier deck levels - much, much smoother with high shaders (8800GTS 320MB OC'ed vs. 8800GTX stock).

 

[BurnItDwn]

If lowwering the resolution improves the framerate, then upgrading the video card would help.
If the game gets the same framerate at a lowwer resolution than at the resolution you like to play at, then the problem would be CPU limmited, and a CPU upgrade would be in order.

That being said, a e6600 should handle every game out with no problems at all. (I still use an old socket 939 x2 4000+ and the only game that I've tried where the CPU can't keep up is Supreme Commander.) 8800GTS 640 is still a very decent card, and while you may not be able to play every game with everything maxed out at 1920x1200, you should still be able to play everything at that resolution (with some sacrifices to quality settings.)

If you blow the money on a card now, you may regret it when new cards come out depending on how they are priced, and what happens to the 9800gx2 pricing.

If I was in a position where I had plenty of budget and nothing better to spend my money on, I would buy the video card.

 

[Mars999]

Thanks burnitdwn.