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what's the best way to spend around 300 bucks?

W

Wadded Beef

Banned
geforce 6800 GT or new cpu & mobo? i currently have an xp 2600 tbred @ 2255mhz & asus a7n8x-x mobo, and a 9800 pro w/ vga silencer @ 430/365. and the video card can be had on ebay for around $310-$330 on ebay, including shipping.
 
What resolution do you want to play at? For 1280x1024 a plain 6800 is fine, for 1024x768 a 6600GT is fine.

If you don't need 1600x1200 you could get one of those new from a safer place than eBay, then upgrade the motherboard later. The drawback is that you'd then need an AGP motherboard.

If you upgrade the motherboard now, you'd need AGP to use your current card, which again forces you to buy an AGP replacement video card later.

The best option might be to keep saving until you have enough for both a PCI-E motherboard and video card.
 
Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
What resolution do you want to play at? For 1280x1024 a plain 6800 is fine, for 1024x768 a 6600GT is fine.

If you don't need 1600x1200 you could get one of those new from a safer place than eBay, then upgrade the motherboard later. The drawback is that you'd then need an AGP motherboard.

If you upgrade the motherboard now, you'd need AGP to use your current card, which again forces you to buy an AGP replacement video card later.

The best option might be to keep saving until you have enough for both a PCI-E motherboard and video card.
Click to expand...

well i have a giant 75 pound 21inch crt (which is getting old and a bit faded) that'll do 16x12 at 85hz so i try to play at highest res possible. and i love high aniso & aa...but you're right its probably wisest to upgrade to pci-e all at once...do you think agp video cards will lose their resale value once pci-e is the standard in a year or two? i could just sell my 9800 and get the 6800gt agp now, and sell the 6800 on ebay next year...
 
I'd guess a 6800GT could be worth anywhere from $150-200 in a year. How much depends on whether speeds have doubled again yet by then and $200-250 cards are as fast or faster (like a 6600GT is over a 9800XT).
 
A 6800 GT will definately be better than a new CPU & Mobo combo. Your current CPU shouldn't bottleneck since it's heavily overclocked.
 
You asked about the best way to spend $300... capice? I would be suggesting something other than computer gear - they can read the PM too - never write anything personal or illegal in there. 😉

.bh.
 
If you play a lot of games and you want to upgrade now, the videocard will definately give you a better value since no CPU will give you 100% speed boost but 6800GT is usually 2x faster over 9800Pro.
 
Originally posted by: Wadded Beef
geforce 6800 GT or new cpu & mobo? i currently have an xp 2600 tbred @ 2255mhz & asus a7n8x-x mobo, and a 9800 pro w/ vga silencer @ 430/365. and the video card can be had on ebay for around $310-$330 on ebay, including shipping.
Click to expand...

In pretty much the boat here. Just bought a used 6800GT. So I, of course, recommend the vid card upgrade.

Fern
 
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