Planning to upgrade...

[d3lit3]

Hi,

I'm planning to upgrade to a 8800GTS 320Mb but I'm not so sure it's a good idea.

I have;

Pentium D 3.2 Ghz
2 GB RAM kingston @ 667Mhz
Gigabyte 7600 GT

Will my CPU bottleneck the 8800? And do you think it's a worthy upgrade if I want to play future games on high @1280x1024?

Thanks.

 

[Maziar]

yes your CPU will bottleneck

yes its a worthy upgrade

 

[andybird123]

The 8800 will wipe the floor with your 7600, and I currently run a single core athlon with a GTS-640 and still get around 80FPS in most games to date all on high.

However don't kid yourself, "future" games will need more power than your current setup can provide, even with an 8880GTS, to play all on High. There are several games out already that need 512mb or greater to enable the highest texture setting.

 

[aevm]

Go for it, you'll see a massive improvement. You may need a new PSU though, what do you have now?

Next time you have some cash get a new motherboard + CPU. Something like GA-P35-DS3L ($100 or so) and E6750 (I think that's around $200), and you'll be all set.

Edit: you do have a PCI-E motherboard now, right? If your 7600GT is AGP then you need to change the motherboard along with the video card.

 

[d3lit3]

Thanks for the answers guys. Not sure if my PSU can handle it. Can it?

Here's the rest of my setup;

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-8I945P-G/i945P

PSU and Case: Miditower Swing Silver 430w SECC Glass Window

?

 

[aevm]

The good news is that the motherboard is PCI-E indeed.

I can't find details on the PSU. This is a Thermaltake case, and the PSU came with it, right? Can you find out how many amps it has on the 12V rails? This info should be in the case manual or on the back of the PSU.

 

[d3lit3]

Thanks for the reply aevm.

I can't find how many amps it has but I found this:

Front
(intake)
120x120x25 mm, 1300rpm, 17dBA (optional)
Rear
(exhaust)
120x120x25 mm, 1300rpm, 17dBA

Is this helpful? Sorry I don't have an instruction manual and I can't really see the back of the PSU...

 

[memoryguy]

The 8800 will wipe the floor with your 7600, and I currently run a single core athlon with a GTS-640 and still get around 80FPS in most games to date all on high.

However don't kid yourself, "future" games will need more power than your current setup can provide, even with an 8880GTS, to play all on High. There are several games out already that need 512mb or greater to enable the highest texture setting.

What do you mean "future" games will need more than his setup? You mean, he has to go balls out with those high end quad cores and high end dual gpu cards?

Pentium D 3.2 is plenty fast, man.

 

[buzznut]

What do you mean "future" games will need more than his setup? You mean, he has to go balls out with those high end quad cores and high end dual gpu cards?

Pentium D 3.2 is plenty fast, man.

Yes this what marketing does, it makes you think you need something that you can really live without. Cpu manufacturers can't really make the processors much faster, so they went to multiple cores. Unfortunately, most software really doesn't take advantage of these extra cores, which is why a quad core is not 4 times faster than a single core processor at the same clock speed.

Everyone would like you to believe (esp intel) you will suck a@# if you don't have a quad core monster, but memory guy is right. Unless you are an enthusiast that needs every single frame per second advantage, what you have is fine. memory and video card upgrades are much more significant for gaming performance currently.

The Power supply is something else, you should think of upgrading it.

 

[buzznut]

On the side of the power supply unit, inside the case when you open the side panel, should be a ul listing of the various voltages and current outputs. The 12 volt "rail" is the positive +12V listed. It should say something like " +12V@ 13 amps" The amps are important to know if this power supply has the watts (V times Amps) necessary to run an 8800 video card.
Hope this info helps.

 

[andybird123]

I was mainly referring to graphics card choice, there are games out already that need more than a GTS-320 to play with all setting on high, and Crytek have said Crysis will need an 8800GTX to play with MOST settings on high, not even all settings on high.

With rumours still abound that the next gen of nvidia cards is only 1-2 months away, I'd be more tempted to wait for another month (if nothing else they should cause price drops in current hardware).

 

[aevm]

Thanks for the reply aevm.

I can't find how many amps it has but I found this:

Front
(intake)
120x120x25 mm, 1300rpm, 17dBA (optional)
Rear
(exhaust)
120x120x25 mm, 1300rpm, 17dBA

Is this helpful? Sorry I don't have an instruction manual and I can't really see the back of the PSU...

Sorry, not helpful. It just means you got a good fan there (the numbers show how big it is, how fast it rotates and how much noise it makes).

 

[Reynod]

Yeah its a good choice given your system ... unless you want a mobo transplant which I wouldn't do unless your a hard core gamer.

Bummer that mobo won't support a Core 2 CPU or I would suggest that you look at one of those as well.

Once you get the graphics card in you can push the fsb a bit providing you have decent cooling.

The Pentium D's came out with good factory coolers (they had too !!) ... but I would definately clean and regrease the cooler on the cpu with some Artic Silver when you put the new card in.

They run hot ... so you can't push them much without water cooling!!

The Gigabyte 945 mobos weren't favorably reviewed for overclocking.

Good luck

 

[d3lit3]

Ok, I checked how many rails there are, think I found it;

AC INPUT: 115/230V 8/4A

Frequency: 47-63 Hz

DC OUTPUT:

+3.3V +5V +12V -5V -12V +5VSB
28A 30A 18A 0.5A 08.A 2.0A

Does that show many many rails I have?

Thanks.

 

[d3lit3]

Bump

 

[aevm]

Bad news, you got 18 amps and the card requires at least 26. You will need a new PSU. Sorry...
I'd recommend a Corsair 520HX.

 

[d3lit3]

*Tears fistful of hair*

Problem is I don't have enough money for an 8800 AND a PSU.

Maybe I should buy an Xbox360 instead...at least I won't have to upgrade every year...

 

[Onus]

If you could afford an 8800GTS/320, you can afford a X1950Pro and a new PSU. You'll see an immediate jump in gaming performance, then save some more money so when the next generation of DX10 cards comes out and/or the 8800 comes down in price, you can get one and the PSU will be able to handle it.