Moving from x1900xt 512 to 8800GTS 640

[kevin_jarrett]

Hi everyone, having searched through the threads, I think I know the answer to my question, but will throw it out for whatever it's worth. Currently rocking this rig:

Dimension XPS Gen 5 | Pentium D 840 3.2ghz | 2gb 667mhz DDR RAM | 74gb WD Raptor SATA | ATI Radeon X1900XT | Dell Ultrasharp 2407FPW 24" LCD | SB Audigy 2 ZS | 16X DVD | 48X CDRW | XP Pro SP-2

The X1900XT was a nice jump from the X850XT the Dell came with 2 years ago but I'm eyeing Bioshock and Crysis and therefore have a video card upgrade in mind. I currently like the eVga 8800 GTS 640. I would like to run @ max resolution on this 24" LCD with maximum candy. No plans to go to Vista quite yet but that's obviously an option at some point. I also play the usual FPS, HL2, D3, NFS, FEAR, Prey, etc.

The hard part is that I love my Gen 5 and really don't want a new system (I just dropped $3k on a Macbook Pro), so I'd like to get another year at least out of the Dell. This unit has the 650w PSU and not a lot of other peripherals so I know I'm okay powerwise. I've looked at the VGA charts and as best I can tell I'm looking at a 50-75% increase in performance, and I'm wondering if it's worth the money. I would sell the x1900xt on ebay for whatever I could get. Finally, I've read that to get the most out of the 8800s you really need a modern CPU. This machine is tapped out, no Core 2 in my future.

So there you have it. Thanks in advance. Peace...

-kj-

 

[San Pedro]

If you're looking at playing Bioshock on a 24" LCD at native resolution with "maximum candy" than you're going to need not only more CPU power, but you'll probably need more than an 8800 GTS 640 as well. I have a feeling Bioschock is even going to make the 8800 GTX sweat at high resolutions with settings maxed out. Maybe you should hold out for a new card until the games you're looking to play come out so you'll know what you need to run it rather than trying to prepare now and coming up short. From the other games you say you play I would be willing to guess that your cand still handles them pretty well.

 

[mactronix]

I agree i think your cpu is gonna be a big prob but as you say you cant upgrade it so maybee you can upgrade the mobo?there are some good ones about with asolid upgrade path available one such mobo is this one http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=4CoreDual-VSTA&s=n
As you will see it will run a 4 core in the future and i think it will run all your existing hardware as well so you could upgrade as and when.
As far as the cards go its a tough call untill crysis comes out but i would get a 8800gts640 min if i had to buy a card today.
Mactronix

 

[paq7512]

This is the very question I am asking myself. I have the same GPU but a E6600, I used to have an 940 Pentium D. Big difference in performance. I am sure that I will wait for second gen directx10 cards to come out. Although the 8800gts 640 is really nice of a card. I don't need it yet. I game at 1280x1024 and get like 40fps on Lost Planet. Gonna get a 22" screen soon, so I will have to step my game up.

 

[cleeve]

Basically, you're going to have to wait until those titles are released and benched before any meaningful discussion can be had on this.

I suspect your X1900 XT machine will do a decent job in those titles with a little reduced fidelity, but we'll have to wait and see.

 

[emp]

I'm just curious though, if you wanted an upgrade why would you even buy a MacBook Pro? You can get a better, faster, cheaper Laptop for around $1300-1600 from Dell... sigh... oh well the X1900XT should still be decent enough, just OC it if you need more GPU power.