Time to upgrade.. questions.

[Church of Virus]

So I have been using the EVGA 8800GTS 640 card for about a year now. I absolutely love this card(the 25% oc helped a little) but am ready to upgrade. The issue I have with my decision is this. I'd like to upgrade to the 9 series when the come out, but I need a temporary upgrade. Basically I want something that will be better, and I will stepup to the 9 series when it comes out.

The only issue I see with the 8 series with the new core, is that they cannot handle high resolutions and anti-aliasing/antroscopic(sp?), where as the GTS(320/640) and the GTX can take maxed out settings in stride. I use 1680x1050 resolution and try to max out every setting. What would be my best bet for a temporary upgrade while I wait for the 9 series? Mind you I cannot afford a 8800 Ultra, as I'm going to be looking at around a $400 budget(give or take it's not set in stone). Basically would it be a better idea for me to go sli with my current gts, get a gtx or one of the new 8 series? Or none of the above I guess is a viable option as I doubt upgrade to anything would be a huge boost.

[Shiggity]

This is what I would do.

I would sell your current GPU (should be able to get a decent amount for it) then put that money + your 400$ budget into buying ATI's brand new 3870x2 card.

It looks like it's retailing around 450 atm. It also literally just came out today.

As far as futureproofing, that card will last a long long time. I would figure it to last at least 18 months with new games.

[Church of Virus]

That card is basically the same as the new core 8800s.

[WildMonkey]

So you want to spend $400 on a one month temporary upgrade from a card that can run anything on the market right now?

Send me those $400 and I'll send you a top of the line 8800GT card, and a nice shiny pebble.

[PhysX]

you may have to upgrade your cpu to get everything out of the gfx card you buy, i bought an 8800gt, and it limited to about 50% performance due to my cpu. its a pentium d 930 (3ghz dual core) only gets just over 6k in 3dmark06... so my gfx card is starving because of my crappy cpu lol...

[aja]

I would wait. You will just lose money for little gain

[chevro1et]

I would wait. You will just lose money for little gain

+1

[diaz]

+1

+1

-D

[DanFraser]

another +1

If you want to upgrade, get a new cpu. You look like you have the money to buy a decent quad core (just released or about to) and a top motherboard.

[Church of Virus]

Would upgrading proc give more performance enhancement than a new graphics card? Basically, I'm trying to get ready for Farcry 2, which I'm sure is just as if not more demanding than Crysis, of which I can only run on Medium with 0xAA.

[ViperJohn]

So I have been using the EVGA 8800GTS 640 card for about a year now. I absolutely love this card(the 25% oc helped a little) but am ready to upgrade. The issue I have with my decision is this. I'd like to upgrade to the 9 series when the come out, but I need a temporary upgrade. Basically I want something that will be better, and I will stepup to the 9 series when it comes out.

The only issue I see with the 8 series with the new core, is that they cannot handle high resolutions and anti-aliasing/antroscopic(sp?), where as the GTS(320/640) and the GTX can take maxed out settings in stride. I use 1680x1050 resolution and try to max out every setting. What would be my best bet for a temporary upgrade while I wait for the 9 series? Mind you I cannot afford a 8800 Ultra, as I'm going to be looking at around a $400 budget(give or take it's not set in stone). Basically would it be a better idea for me to go sli with my current gts, get a gtx or one of the new 8 series? Or none of the above I guess is a viable option as I doubt upgrade to anything would be a huge boost.

Get rid of that AMD rig before you upgrade the GFX card.

Viper

[Church of Virus]

'Would upgrading proc give more performance enhancement than a new graphics card? Basically, I'm trying to get ready for Farcry 2, which I'm sure is just as if not more demanding than Crysis, of which I can only run on Medium with 0xAA.'


Keeping the questions alive my friends. :)

[PhysX]

yes it would, but like everyone else is saying go with Intel you will get a huge boot, sure spend more money cause you have to switch over, but it is well worth it, go for an e6600 or e6700, or hell en an e84/8500.

[diaz]

'Would upgrading proc give more performance enhancement than a new graphics card? Basically, I'm trying to get ready for Farcry 2, which I'm sure is just as if not more demanding than Crysis, of which I can only run on Medium with 0xAA.'


Keeping the questions alive my friends. :)

I do not think a CPU upgrade would be greatly beneficial. You could jump to a 9600 or the likes for quad core performance at a low price. But i dont know how those OC.

A GFX card would make the largest improvement. Waiting for an X2 or GX2 card would be the way to go if you want to see anything worth your money. Your already at the 8800 level, so its tough to really nail higher performance.

-D

[Church of Virus]

Thanks for the responses guys. This is kind of a tough pickle here. When I built my machine I still had high hopes for AMD, but since then we've all been made to look like fools. It seems like I'd be asking to be left in the dust by going Phenom, and now especially since the new cores are being delayed.

I'd really like to get more towards the top end here. I've read that there is a new series of boards coming out, x48 for Intel, and I seen this Rampage Asus board which sounds really, really sweet. Are there any new Intel cpu's coming out that would be better to wait for than say a q6 in the next month or two?

[ViperJohn]

I do not think a CPU upgrade would be greatly beneficial. You could jump to a 9600 or the likes for quad core performance at a low price. But i dont know how those OC.

A GFX card would make the largest improvement. Waiting for an X2 or GX2 card would be the way to go if you want to see anything worth your money. Your already at the 8800 level, so its tough to really nail higher performance.

-D

Either of the X2's, just like a regular SLI or CF, would be like slapping lipstick on a pig with an AMD dual core rig.
They simply will not scale without the CPU/System speed behind them to keep em reasonably polygon data loaded.

Viper