What video card should I get with this setup?

[blackrain]

I'de like to be able to do heaving gaming, but realize that this system may have certain limits that are not circumventable. Assuming that I upgraded the memory along the way to 4GB, what is the best video card that I should shoot for before I hit a bottleneck with the CPU/mobo. I don't want to overspend on an overly expensive video card that I can't get the most out of (because of other system bottlenecks). Will I be able to play Crysis Warhead at a lower resolution with good frame rates and smooth playback?


e7400
p5n-e sli
DDR2 PC2-6400 • 4-4-4-12 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR2-800

 

[crisium]

E7400 is a fine CPU, especially if you overclock is past 3GHz. With the exception of GTA IV, Far Cry 2, and other games that love 3 and 4 cores, you'd experience little bottleneck.

With 4GB of RAM, I see no need for you not to get a Radeon 4890. You'd be able to do Crysis Warhead (no AA or AF) at a high resolution with that set up. I would say you could even go for the beastly Radeon 5850, but that is only if they were in stock and cost $259. They are overpriced, so the 4890 will be fine.

 

[lavaheadache]

even Far Cry 2 will play just fine on a Dual core. My buddies 3.0 e6300 rips right through it

 

[HalfCrazy]

even Far Cry 2 will play just fine on a Dual core. My buddies 3.0 e6300 rips right through it

I agree that a duel core can play FarCry 2 just fine. I'm running a AMD X2 3800+ and a HD4670 1GB version. I can play it at 1280x1024 with max graphic settings just fine. Which is the highest res my monitor can go.

 

[blackrain]

I would love to play around with some overclocking, but I don't see too many great reviews about the ability of that Asus board to overclock. Would that change opinion?

 

[Washoe]

have to second the 4890 suggestion. My setup is getting me upper 20s fps on Crysis with 4xAA, high settings, and 1920x1200 resolution. Very high knocks me down to 19fps. Which, for me is still playable.

 

[Schmide]

What's your PSU?

 

[happy medium]

Overclock that cpu to 3.x and buy these 2 used Evga superclocked gtx 260's for 260$ shipped!

http://vbforums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=318795