What to upgrade?

[kojak61]

I am wondering what would give me a bigger bang for the buck, CPU or video card upgrade?
My current build:
Intel E4500 @2.25ghz
4gb DDR 800
Gigabyte GA-P35DS3L
EVGA 9800GT 512mb
1TB Western Digital Black
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Want to be able to play Medal Of Honor on all high settings. 1600x1200.

Was looking at putting in a Q8300 cpu or a GTX 460 768gb

 

[darkewaffle]

The 460. Your CPU can overclock quite easily to 3+ GHz which will help mitigate any bottlenecking, and the 460 can easily be taken to your next system when/if you decide to upgrade. Picking up a LGA 775 CPU at this point in time is a poor value, they're still pretty expensive despite the dead socket.

 

[mfenn]

The 460. Your CPU can overclock quite easily to 3+ GHz which will help mitigate any bottlenecking, and the 460 can easily be taken to your next system when/if you decide to upgrade. Picking up a LGA 775 CPU at this point in time is a poor value, they're still pretty expensive despite the dead socket.

:thumbsup:

 

[Bateluer]

Video card upgrade for sure, but I'd wait two weeks for the new Radeons to launch.

 

[ther00kie16]

or get the zotac gtx460 for $130 ar at newegg. unlikely anything on that level will drop any lower than that for a few months.

reminds me of g92 days cuz it's been that long since nvidia high-end cards have dropped to this price range. 8800gts 512mb had some great deals at ~$120. 9800 series never dropped below $150 and 260 never dropped below $170 retail or $150 on ebay with bing cb.

 

[DominionSeraph]

or get the zotac gtx460 for $130 ar at newegg. unlikely anything on that level will drop any lower than that for a few months.

Daaaaamn!

+1 in agreement on the price. AMD could probably get away with a price premium of ~$20-30 over the baseline GTX 460 price of ~$165 with an equally-performing 6000 series card just because it's newer (and especially since it's almost certain to have more RAM). They're not going to gut their profit margins to match a GTX 460 that's $35 under THAT.

It looks to have a different cooler design than their 1GB version that AnandTech found to be excessively noisy, too.

 

[Bateluer]

or get the zotac gtx460 for $130 ar at newegg. unlikely anything on that level will drop any lower than that for a few months.

Eh? its 155+Shipping. 130 would be an awesome price, but its almost the same price as other 460 cards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814500173

 

[ther00kie16]

Eh? its 155+Shipping. 130 would be an awesome price, but its almost the same price as other 460 cards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814500173

yea, 155 before $25 rebate, hence the $130 ar.

 

[Bateluer]

yea, 155 before $25 rebate, hence the $130 ar.

MIRs don't count. Its going to cost the buyer 155+shipping up front. 8-16weeks later, you MIGHT get a 25 dollar check. Always give the list price first.

 

[ther00kie16]

MIRs don't count. Its going to cost the buyer 155+shipping up front. 8-16weeks later, you MIGHT get a 25 dollar check. Always give the list price first.

if u don't want to take advantage of rebates/cashback, fine, better deals for the rest of us if u keep buying stuff at higher prices. but w/e, this isn't a deal thread anyway. so don't get off topic.

on topic: I find it difficult to believe that what would be a 6850 will end up as fast as the gtx480 given how the 6000's power draw is supposed to be compared to the 400 series. It will probably end up a reasonable deal compared to 5870 and gtx480 at current prices. Lack of price cuts from for 5800s and gtx480 would seem to hint at current cards' price/performance ratio to be in line with those of the upcoming cards.

but then again, u never know. the 8800gt, when introduce, basically took over the entire high-end market for awhile.

 

[Bateluer]

on topic: I find it difficult to believe that what would be a 6850 will end up as fast as the gtx480 given how the 6000's power draw is supposed to be compared to the 400 series. It will probably end up a reasonable deal compared to 5870 and gtx480 at current prices. Lack of price cuts from for 5800s and gtx480 would seem to hint at current cards' price/performance ratio to be in line with those of the upcoming cards.

Seems like the older generation cards get phased out from e-tailers pretty quick these days. Once they start manufacturing the newer cards, the old cards only get price cuts until the inventory is cleared out. Then its all used, second hand, or refurbs merchandise

Still, the OP's biggest bang right now is going to be from a video card. I'd just wait until the end of October before buying anything. That CPU isn't very quick either, but a little OCing can extend its life a bit. Unless you score a cheap LGA775 CPU somewhere, I wouldn't drop too much money into the platform. Might be able to look in the FS/T forum for some cheaper Wolfdales, but I'm not sure what your board supports.

 

[VirtualLarry]

pick up a Pentium Dual-core E6800, it's 3.3Ghz, 2MB L2. Your board supports it with the F9 BIOS. You should be able to overclock that some too.

 

[kojak61]

What do you thank of the Galaxy cards? Mainly the one below. Thanks for all the input. What heatsink and fan would u guys recommend too get it up 3ghz?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-057-_-Product

 

[mfenn]

What do you thank of the Galaxy cards? Mainly the one below. Thanks for all the input. What heatsink and fan would u guys recommend too get it up 3ghz?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-057-_-Product

Galaxy is fine, but $185 AR is waaay to much to be spending on a GTX 460 768MB. Here's an EVGA for $170.

 

[kojak61]

Think this cooler would allow me to get to 3ghz with my e4500 cpu?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835186134

 

[fffblackmage]

Yes, though I like the Scythe Mugen (SCMG-2100) at $5 more.

It's been a while since I've checked out the HSFs on newegg. There's a ton more choices now...