Worth upgrading to Radeon 3870

[Rathan10]

Hi I was wondering if it would be worthwhile to upgrade my computer to a radeon 3870 or an 8800 gt? Or are my computer specs so bad that it is not worthwhile even upgrading the card?

My PC specs are as follows.

Intel Pentium D 930 @ 3ghz
2GB PC-2 5300 RAM
ATI Radeon X1900XT
ASUS P5LD2 Motherboard
Enermax Liberty 500 Watt PSU
250GB Maxtor SATA 2 HD

 

[MyLeftNut]

Unless your current videocard is inadequate for the games you currently play, I would wait till the next generation cards in the summer get released. Perhaps you could upgrade the cpu and mobo at the same time too. An x1900xt is still a decent card if you need to hold on for a bit.

 

[Goldfish4209]

Agreed. Now isn't a bad time to get a completely new rig, but your mobo won't support 1333Mhz FSB speeds. (I don't know if overclocking to 1333 will work or not) If you don't need penryn (although it'll be a good deal over conroe once prices come down), a conroe or an allendale once overclocking is (and was) a very good value. I'd take a 3870 over an 8800GT any day. They're much cheaper, and offer comparable performance. (Plus, you can put the extra cash into a cheaper card for hybrid crossfire which works very well)

Your PSU will be fine, but you may need faster RAM. My mobo won't boot without DDR2-667 or higher. I tried with 533 and it didn't work.

 

[bryanW1995]

what games are you currently playing? are you having to turn your quality settings way down? what resolution do you game at? give us a complete picture and it will be much easier to help you.

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: Goldfish4209
Agreed. Now isn't a bad time to get a completely new rig, but your mobo won't support 1333Mhz FSB speeds. (I don't know if overclocking to 1333 will work or not) If you don't need penryn (although it'll be a good deal over conroe once prices come down), a conroe or an allendale once overclocking is (and was) a very good value. I'd take a 3870 over an 8800GT any day. They're much cheaper, and offer comparable performance. (Plus, you can put the extra cash into a cheaper card for hybrid crossfire which works very well)

Your PSU will be fine, but you may need faster RAM. My mobo won't boot without DDR2-667 or higher. I tried with 533 and it didn't work.

WHY would you take a 3870 over an 8800gt any day? I own a 3870, and, while I'm very happy with it, it doesn't outperform an 8800gt. Also, I've seen 8800gt's in hot deals for $188 for off brands or $206 for an xfx iirc. how much lower than that is the 3870 right now? Don't get me wrong, the 3870 can be a better card to get in certain situations, but it needs to be a little cheaper or you need to have noise/heat considerations at least.