Should I Upgrade an From XFX 9800GT to the GTS260 Range??

Hi everyone, I cant play my fav games on high without glitching and stuttering, this is getting to be a bit... honestly, dis-hart-ning

I am playing crysis warhead, Cod WoW, DOOM 3, UT 2004 at the moment. I have OC it from 675 to 705 and 975 to 1050 and managed to turn a few settings in cCrysis to enthusiast (were all at gamer before).

I would like to know if I would notice a difference if I upgraded a little bit, GTS250 128 cores or GTX260 with 216 cores or 192 cores (is there a noticable difference?), here are a few I have in mind.

Zotac GTX260 192 cores 896Mb
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160748

Gainward GTX260 216 cores 896MB
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/896M...z-GDDR3-GPU-625MHz-216-Cores-2x-DL-DVI-I-HDTV

Or the cheaper- XFX GTS250 128 cores
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512M...it-2200-MHz-GDDR3-GPU-738-MHz-HDTV-DVI-Retail

and BFG GTS250 with 1MB memory but more expensive
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168740


I know I should spend a little more money and get a 260 but Im not sure about amount of power my psu can give it, the 250 only needs a 400watt and 1 6 pin connector but the Gainward GTX260 needs a minimum 550watt.

My PSU is an Enermax Modu82 425W, it has two 6+2 connectors but how about the power draw, is this really important.

I suppose the reason of this post is to find out If either GTS250 will suffice enough to be a reasonable and noticable upgrade from my 9800GT.

Does more memory make a difference?

Can you help me?

Opinions (£100 mark)??

What I will say is that the GTS's aren't THAT much more powerful than you current GPU

Yeah, the GTS250 is not much more powerful than what you have.

Go 260+ or it isn't worth it.

I dont think I need one that is a a lot more powerful because of my PSU.

I have just found this,

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169149

It has a 448 bit memory bus, is this true, will this be noticably faster than my current card.

abarth_1200 said:

I dont think I need one that is a a lot more powerful because of my PSU.

I have just found this,

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169149

It has a 448 bit memory bus, is this true, will this be noticably faster than my current card.

Click to expand...

That has to be a typo, GTS250's are on a 256-bit memory bus.

Link to some garble about it, GDDR3 memory, down the left hand side

http://www.inno3d.com/products/graphic_card/ichill/ichill_arcticcooling/gts250_twin_turbo_pro.htm

All the research I dug up on it shows a 256-bit memory bus.

the GTS series are actually re-badged 9 series which are just re-badged 8 series. the 260 would be a better by imo.

Yeah I read that somewhere too.

Would my PSU be up to the job of powering a GTX260, nvidia states that it needs a minimum of 550 watts to run, my PSU has a max of 425W... I dont think that will work, has anyone tried running a card with less then the recommended power, and done so succesfully

I would either just get the GTS 250 1GB or I'd get the GTX 260 Core 216 and a new PSU. Getting the GTS 250 would only give you a small performance boost over your 9800 GT and might not be worth the upgrade cost, whereas the GTX 260 is a very powerful card and will last you much longer.

On the GTS 250, you probably won't notice any difference in games between the 512MB and 1GB versions. The card just isn't really powerful enough to utilize all that extra memory. For the slight price difference, I'd still go with the 1GB version as it might help some games play a bit smoother.

The GTX 260 Core 216 is something like 5-10% faster than the Core 192 version. I'd say the 260 Core 216 is one of the best value cards around in terms of $$$/performance.

Ill be selling the current one and I have a few extra pennies but I dont want to be upgrading my PSU, that can wait till I get a whole new system, for now I think ill get the XFX GTS250

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169214

Unless your current card is defective you're not going to notice much if any difference. As everyone has said its essentially the same card with different stickers and a different cooler. Upgrade your power supply and then look for a used 4870 or GTX260

The PSU recommendations are with a specific setup I am running a card that has a recommended PSU higher than what I have but I also run a low power quad, 1.8v ram and the like so it is dependent on your total system draw not the system that is speced out.

Please don't think I'm trolling, but if you don't want to upgrade you PSU, but do want to upgrade your GPU, I think a 4770 would be great. There easy on power and plenty fast.
Again, making a suggestion not trying to troll

Isnt the 4770 about as fast as 9800gt?

OK, the reason I want to upgrade is because Crysis doesnt cope to well when I start switching to enthusiast settings, also CoD 5.

I ran 3D Mark05 the other day and on the last test, the one with the ballon and the water monster I was getting 4fps...wtf is with that, is it meant to do that or is my gpu just slow

So dont play it on Enthusiast.

It wont cope well at that level with any card you listed either.

Truth be told the 250 will yield you almost no results, and if overclocked it could cause the same underpowered issues. Stick with a 260 if you have your heart set on nvidia, the GTS 250 will strain nigh identical to your current card, and possible worse. The GTS 250 is nothing but a rebadge of the g92 series gpus and really isnt and upgrade for you. Wait, save your euros and get a nice 850 corsair PSU that you wont have to worry about upgrading for some time. By then the price of the GTX 260 core 216 will have dropped a little more and you game grab one on sale.

Wow 4fps? I think I get alot over 100fps in the 06 version of it...
Even with a single 9800gt you should get over 50...

ok I wont get a 250, I have however just put a bid on a GTX260 on ebay, If I win it great, if I dont im not that bothered.

But the problem with my 3D Mark 05 run, it goes well up until the last test, it gets from 3 to 5fps, all the other tests didat the lowest 22fps and average was about 60