I am upgrading next week my video card atleast..

I need some help for my final decision..

This is my PC specs as of right now

E6850 Duo Core 2 3.0 Ghz
2GB PC6400 800mhz ddr2
Geforce 7950GT 512mb ddr2 (broken, will replace no matter what)
Nforce 650i Ultra NON-sli board
650 Watt PSU

I was thinking of atleast replacing my video card with a much better updated card atleast a 9 series card, something good.. And I was thinking of updating to Windows Vista 64 Bit edition and upgrading to 4 Gigs of ddr2 pc6400 with vista will utilize all the ram, 4gb enough? I think so..


Thanks for any help!

Also, I am a gamer, heh

I'm running 64bit Vista Home Premium and enjoying it so far. 4 gb seems like a good idea - though you may want to see how 2gb runs for you.

As for a video card, I feel like you can't go wrong with the ATI 4850, which you can get for $200 with a $20-$30 rebate right now. Also, the 4870 for $300 is a great deal. The only issue with these cards right now is a lack of driver support, though rumor has it new drivers will be out within the next few days/weeks.

Well true, the 4870 is tempting, but I want a really powerful card...that I won't need to upgrade for like a year......there you go..

If you want something better than the 4870 the next step up is either the 4870x2 or the gtx 280.

well I was thinking and got some advice to get the EVGA GTX 260 FTW edition as it is out of the box on par with it's big brother the GTX 280 and it can be overclocked even more. It also costs 369.99, which is a good deal, the Step-Up program from EVGA is very good too, so if the new GTX 350 or what not comes out in the next 3 months from my purchase I will upgrade easy, if need be from that...

um, you're not going to need to upgrade the 4850 for a year. definitely won't need ot upgrade the 4870. the 4800s are the best price/performance out there.

see:

4850: http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,1957.html
4870: http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,1964.html
best graphics cards for the money, july08: http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,1965.html


also: if you're going to get one of the nvidia's, i'd strongly suggest waiting a few weeks, they are rumored to be dropping prices even more to compete with ati.

hmm The 4870 is tempting...

also on tom's july 08 guide, notice no mention of the 260/280 - at least for now that's just because they're too pricey (or at least were when they wrote that)

well the FTW edition of the GTX 260 is basically the same as the GTX 280 right out of the box and it beats the 4870 in basically every test, this edition atleast, and you can OC it more with EVGA's included precision utility

My only question is, when is the ATI radeon 4870x2 come out exactly? and if it is coming out for 499.99, I think that will be a viable option over the GTX 260 FTW