X1950 Pro 256MB to 8800gts 512 worth the upgrade ?

[severus]

Using a 19" CRT and was wondering if it would be worth the upgrade. My monitor bugs out on anything higher than 1280X1024 in most games, sometimes i'm allowed to play 1600X1200 if i'm lucky. Is this a worthwhile upgrade? I found an 8800GTS for $120AR.

I play DOD:Source, Counter Strike 1.6 UT3 and Battlestations Midway. Never tried Crysis, not big on single player games so I really don't care about Crysis performance so don't mention it.

I know I made another thread addressing this same topic, but I feel that this one is much more specific, so please don't flame !

 

[unr3al]

The 8800GTS would definitely be a decent upgrade, but why not just get a Radeon HD4850 while you're at it? Much faster than the 8800GTS. Don't know what you would pay for it though. And do yourself a favor, play Crysis... lol

 

[hemmy]

I upgraded from a X1950 Pro to a 8800GT 512, and it has been a great upgrade.

 

[johnno]

Originally posted by: hemmy
I upgraded from a X1950 Pro to a 8800GT 512, and it has been a great upgrade.

Same here, fantastic upgrade. You'll be amazed!

 

[severus]

Originally posted by: unr3al
The 8800GTS would definitely be a decent upgrade, but why not just get a Radeon HD4850 while you're at it? Much faster than the 8800GTS. Don't know what you would pay for it though. And do yourself a favor, play Crysis... lol

I was thinking about the HD4850, and I would get it if it was cheaper without the hassle of rebates. Most of them are around $184.99 and I don't want to put that much out of my pocket and wait for a rebate. This 8800gts is only $159.99. I am by no means an NVidia fan at all if that's why you think I'm saying this. I've gone from a Radeon 7500 - Geforce4 Ti4200 - Radeon 9800PRO - Radeon X1950PRO.

I bought Crysis for my friend as a Christmas present and I looked at it, I didn't find it impressive and he has very good hardware so it looked great and all. I don't want to play games that will effect my skill at Counter-Strike 1.6 cause I play in leagues and if I play bad I hurt my team.

Now would it be more worth upgrading to a larger CRT screen from my 19" CRT, more so than buying a new graphics card ? I've found several deals on Craigslist for cheap 24" CRT's, but would this tax my X1950 PRO too much?

 

[GundamF91]

Severus, I am where you used to be. First of all, 24" screen will be too much for gaming. It is great for looking at stuff, but if you like FPS type games, you need to be close to action, and I can tell you from experience that your eyes simply can't scan 24" as well as smaller screen, so you wont' be able to play the FPS game as well. That said, 24" looks nice in general, and also make games look nice, so that's a trade off. But you will definitely tax the GPU alot if you run the native 1920x1200 resolution.

As for GPU, I upgrade like you, I originally had GeF5600FX, then Radeon 9600SE, most recently x1950 Pro, in fact I ran x1950 just a few days ago. Now I have an Asus 4850, and things are definitely much better on my 22" 1650x1080. My frame rate basically doubled or more, and things are smooth when I play Oblivion, UT, and others. Crysis is also much more playable, but that game is a beast so you can almost never satisfy its need for speed.

Go with the rebate stuff, if you are diligent, you'll get your money. Also $30 will get you better performance over 8800. Get the HD4850. If you do it right, you can get Asus or Sapphire 4850 for around $150 AR or less.

 

[unholy414]

Originally posted by: johnno

Originally posted by: hemmy
I upgraded from a X1950 Pro to a 8800GT 512, and it has been a great upgrade.

Same here, fantastic upgrade. You'll be amazed!

Same here, too. Dominates it completely.

 

[bryanW1995]

sapphire 4850 was in hot deals yesterday for 175 - 30 mir = 145 with free shipping. sapphire rebates take 4-5 months to get, however, as I sadly know from experience :|

 

[Marty502]

I upgraded from a x1950 Pro to a 3870 (and with a humble CPU) and the difference is insane. DO IT!

 

[Blurry]

Originally posted by: GundamF91
Severus, I am where you used to be. First of all, 24" screen will be too much for gaming. It is great for looking at stuff, but if you like FPS type games, you need to be close to action, and I can tell you from experience that your eyes simply can't scan 24" as well as smaller screen, so you wont' be able to play the FPS game as well.

That's gotta be the first time I heard that. Always thought "more" was better for monitors.

 

[cubeless]

nada... i got the westinghouse 1680x1050 19in monitor, and it's way nice having big res and small screen...

 

[severus]

I notice that most of the hot deals are Newegg though, and since I live in NJ Newegg charges tax so it's not so much of a "Hot deal" to me.

 

[extra]

Originally posted by: Blurry

Originally posted by: GundamF91
Severus, I am where you used to be. First of all, 24" screen will be too much for gaming. It is great for looking at stuff, but if you like FPS type games, you need to be close to action, and I can tell you from experience that your eyes simply can't scan 24" as well as smaller screen, so you wont' be able to play the FPS game as well.

That's gotta be the first time I heard that. Always thought "more" was better for monitors.

Hehehe. Nope I tell people that (in real life) all the time.

But in my opinion 22-24" is PERFECT sized for a desktop computer. Any bigger and like he said, you need to move your head and eyes too much. That said big is great for things like an MMO where you want to be immersed in the world.

 

[nemesismk2]

Yes it would be a great upgrade providing you have a fairly decent processor so your not cpu limited.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: cubeless
nada... i got the westinghouse 1680x1050 19in monitor, and it's way nice having big res and small screen...

I went from 19 inch 1600x1200 Viewsonic CRT to 1920x1080 37 inch Westinghouse and there is no way you can even make a comparison as the LCD is superior in almost every aspect. The emersion factor of a larger screen alone is worth the upgrade. Rez to begin with is overrated because 3-4 feet away you'll have a very difficult time distinguishing between 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 for example. IMO Black levels, color and contrast have a far larger impact on image quality than resolution assuming you aren't playing at 1024x768. From that perspective my parent's 2006 Panasonic plasma at 1024x768 blows my LCD out of the water!

 

[severus]

Well my resolution depends on the game. In Counter-Strike I use 640X480, in Unreal I use 1280X1024. I'm only about one foot away from my screen maybe less.

 

[dakels]

I'll say the same as everyone else. I went from a X1950 Pro to 4850 and the difference is huge. I actually had a 28" HannsG but it was too big for FPS gaming. I was getting my butt kicked because I couldn't see my peripherals. I switched to a 22" on my gaming machine. The 4850 over the X1950 is night and day. I couldn't run high settings in these games. Now I can run max settings at higher resolutions and get double the framerate I had before. It's a whole different ballgame.

 

[bigsnyder]

If 1920x1200 is too much of a demand, 1680x1050 also works well for most 24" monitors at 1:1 scaling. The later uses about the same screen real estate as a 20"-21" monitor. Always easier to go smaller on a bigger screen than larger on a smaller screen.