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Upgrading from a GeForce 6800

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - Upgrading from a GeForce 6800

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ranger1942mike   05-07-2009 at 08:17:47 PM

Hello all. I'm new to this site and I appreciate any info you could give me. I'm going to try not to sound too n00bish. I'm thinking about upgrading my video card. I currently have Nvidia Ge Force 6800 (256mb). I have the PCI-e card slot.

I'm an occasional gamer. I mostly use my computer now for work that I take home. But every now and then I'll play some Battlefield series, Company of Heroes series, Command and Conquer series, Rise of Nations, Age of Empires, etc. But I've seen some pretty sweet games recently and I want to make sure I can at least play them with some decent frames/sec.

3.0 Ghz P4
Win XP Media Center Edition
2 gig DDR2 PC 5300 memory
Nvidia Ge Force 6800 (256mb)

I've been looking at the BFG GeForce 9800 GT on Tiger Direct (mainly because it's only $100). It has 512 mb, which is double my current 256 mb, so I figure it has to be better, right?

Anywho, looking for recommendations in the $100-150 range.

Thank you! :)
Mike


Message edited by ranger1942mike on 05-07-2009 at 08:21:26 PM
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Bronze Graphics badge coozie7   05-07-2009 at 08:34:53 PM
- 0 +

Welcome aboard.

Are you in the US or Canada mate?
The card you list requires quite a bit more power than your existing 6800, can you tell us the specs of your power supply? And what resoloution do you use?
Without that I would say the HD4770 is a sound starting point, it fits your system and draws little more power than the 6800, so no need to upgrade the power supply.
Oh, and it's on the Egg for under $100;)

Message quoted 2 times
Reply to coozie7
ranger1942mike   05-07-2009 at 09:20:35 PM
- 0 +

coozie7 wrote :

Welcome aboard.

Are you in the US or Canada mate?
The card you list requires quite a bit more power than your existing 6800, can you tell us the specs of your power supply? And what resoloution do you use?
Without that I would say the HD4770 is a sound starting point, it fits your system and draws little more power than the 6800, so no need to upgrade the power supply.
Oh, and it's on the Egg for under $100;)




Hi coozie7, thanks.

In the US. Is there a way to get the power info without cracking open the case? I'm at work right now for about 3 more hours.

Reply to ranger1942mike
zipzoomflyhigh   05-07-2009 at 09:57:31 PM
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161279

No you have to crack the case and tell us how many amps are on the +12v rail/s.

Message quoted 1 times
------------------------------ P965/Q6700@3.2 8MB HD4850 OC Edition
4GB Corsair XMS 800
Vista64/Win7
Fatality 550w/Antec 300
 Reply to zipzoomflyhigh
ranger1942mike   05-08-2009 at 09:20:10 PM
- 0 +

coozie7 wrote :

Welcome aboard.

Are you in the US or Canada mate?
The card you list requires quite a bit more power than your existing 6800, can you tell us the specs of your power supply? And what resoloution do you use?
Without that I would say the HD4770 is a sound starting point, it fits your system and draws little more power than the 6800, so no need to upgrade the power supply.
Oh, and it's on the Egg for under $100;)




Hi coozie7,

Power supply is 350W. I would be interested to hear your recommendation for a new gpu.

In terms of resolution, I like 1024x768 or 1280x720 (depending on what the game offers).

Thanks!

Reply to ranger1942mike
ranger1942mike   05-08-2009 at 09:20:52 PM
- 0 +

zipzoomflyhigh wrote :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161279

No you have to crack the case and tell us how many amps are on the +12v rail/s.



Hi zip,

Power supply is 350W. I would be interested to hear your recommendation for a new gpu.

In terms of resolution, I like 1024x768 or 1280x720 (depending on what the game offers).

Thanks!

Reply to ranger1942mike
edeawillrule   05-08-2009 at 11:58:08 PM
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Does your cpu have hyper-threading?

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Reply to edeawillrule
ranger1942mike   05-09-2009 at 12:03:17 AM
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edeawillrule wrote :

Does your cpu have hyper-threading?



Hi ed,

Yes it does have HT.

Reply to ranger1942mike
edeawillrule   05-09-2009 at 12:41:42 AM
- 0 +

I would recommend the Radeon HD 4670 but since you already have an Nvidia card I would recommend the Geforce 9600 GSO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130437

Reply to edeawillrule
edeawillrule   05-09-2009 at 12:43:08 AM
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The 9800 GT would be major overkill with your cpu but I think it can handle that 9600 GSO.

Reply to edeawillrule
dragonfang18   05-09-2009 at 12:57:33 AM
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LOL I recently purchsed this 9600 GSO... Get this one! It has a free game!, making it much cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150340

I was wondering, because I am new... Is the GSO better than GT? Will GSO work with nvidia 3d vision? It says the 9600 GT can handle it...

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by dragonfang18 on 05-09-2009 at 12:59:04 AM
Reply to dragonfang18
edeawillrule   05-09-2009 at 01:10:47 AM
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dragonfang18 wrote :

LOL I recently purchsed this 9600 GSO... Get this one! It has a free game!, making it much cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150340

I was wondering, because I am new... Is the GSO better than GT? Will GSO work with nvidia 3d vision? It says the 9600 GT can handle it...



The 9600 GSO I posted has quite a few advantages over that one.
It is quite a bit cheaper.
Its core clock is 650mhz instead of 580mhz.
It has 512mb of GDDR3 memory instead of the 1gb of GDDR2 on that one.
It has a 256-bit memory bus instead of the 128-bit on that one.

So it has more raw processing power and more than doubles the memory bandwidth while costing $20 less.

The GT is better than the GSO and I'm actually not sure about Nvidia 3D Vision.

Reply to edeawillrule
edeawillrule   05-09-2009 at 01:13:06 AM
- 0 +

And although it has 1gb of memory compared to the 512mb on the one I posted it would never use more than 512 unless you were using resolutions like 2560x1600 (And under those circumstances you would need a much more powerful card anyway).

Reply to edeawillrule
dragonfang18   05-09-2009 at 01:34:35 AM
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Actually mine was cheaper... they charged the game as $50, so the card was $45. Its not that bad of a game either. Of coures, if the game was cheaper, then yeah it would be up a little more.

Cheapest I could find the game was $42. This makes the card cheaper than yours by a couple of bucks (~$7).

50-42= 8
8+45= $53 (price of my card no rebate) (comes with a $20 rebate now...with rebate its $33 + $42 game)
your card was $60 with rebate


Message edited by dragonfang18 on 05-09-2009 at 01:43:59 AM
Reply to dragonfang18
edeawillrule   05-09-2009 at 01:45:57 AM
- 0 +

Me + Math = Fail Lol

I just prefer GDDR3, a 256-bit bus, & higher clock speed =P


Message edited by edeawillrule on 05-09-2009 at 02:01:43 AM
Reply to edeawillrule
dragonfang18   05-09-2009 at 01:47:22 AM
- 0 +

BAM!!!


Message edited by dragonfang18 on 05-09-2009 at 01:48:01 AM
Reply to dragonfang18
edeawillrule   05-09-2009 at 02:03:46 AM
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Btw games accompanying a card don't make it cheaper they are there just make it look good and make up for less value in the card itself.

Reply to edeawillrule
dragonfang18   05-09-2009 at 02:07:17 AM
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so... its a $25 dollar card for me plus rebate. Would I pay $35, just to get a bit more, depends on my budget....

Reply to dragonfang18
dragonfang18   05-09-2009 at 02:08:21 AM
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Cant find any other new 9600 GSO cards with these specs at that price... (found one on ebay, but its used) (dont like sloppy seconds) :D


Message edited by dragonfang18 on 05-09-2009 at 02:10:01 AM
Reply to dragonfang18
dingumf   05-09-2009 at 02:09:51 AM
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You really shouldn't upgrade just your graphics card.

I'd recommend just sticking to your rig or completly buying a new one.

Your machine's 4 years are up.

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Reply to dingumf
dragonfang18   05-09-2009 at 02:16:58 AM
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Yeah... His PC is kinda old... best to just buy a new PC or make your own! forget the 9600 GSO.... all that math for nothing lol...

Reply to dragonfang18
edeawillrule   05-09-2009 at 02:17:18 AM
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I majorly agree with dingumf.

Reply to edeawillrule
dragonfang18   05-09-2009 at 02:25:35 AM
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you mean Dingmuff and Dragon

Reply to dragonfang18
ranger1942mike   05-09-2009 at 06:37:06 AM
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dingumf wrote :

You really shouldn't upgrade just your graphics card.

I'd recommend just sticking to your rig or completly buying a new one.

Your machine's 4 years are up.




I was afraid someone would say that.

Ok ... since we're on this subject now ... any recommendations? Not sure where to start with a DIY build. Can it be done for $500ish. I want Win XP Pro. Looking for something "mid level."

Reply to ranger1942mike
dragonfang18   05-09-2009 at 07:40:40 AM
- 0 +

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/the_500_pc_build_off

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/f [...] page=0%2C0 (I wouldnt recomment the resoewill powersupply.)

Hope these help, If you get in trouble ask here, youtube, wikipedia, or google...

1 warning about these... They probably wont last long in the technology battle. AMD's latest chip can fit in AM2+ Sockets, so you can save up if you already have a motherboard with this type future proof wise depends if they still want to use this socket. i7 is ok..., i5 is coming out with a different socket, so if you go i7 its kinda a gamble for future proofing as well.

Bang for buck: AMD/ ATI
Technology: Intel/Nvidia...


Message edited by dragonfang18 on 05-09-2009 at 07:52:35 AM
Reply to dragonfang18
ranger1942mike   05-11-2009 at 04:07:29 PM
- 0 +

dragonfang18 wrote :

Here is one from Tom's Hardware http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2144.html




Thanks to all for the replies. I'm going to stick it out with my current system for 6-9 months. After such time, I'm going to build. Great info on this site!

Assuming a $700 comp, will the links to the DIY systems you posted still be a good starting point in 6-9 months, or should I come back and post a comment asking for suggestions? Basically, will the hardware recommendations change over the next 6-9 months?

Thanks again!

Reply to ranger1942mike
rags_20   05-11-2009 at 05:11:32 PM
- 0 +

You can't go wrong with the 9800GT

------------------------------ Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4 | Thermalright Ultima 90 120mm fan | Intel DG31PR | 4 GB DDR2 @ 800MHz | HD 4850 512 GDDR3 | Corsair VX450 | Samsung 22x DVD RW | Windows Vista HP 32-bit/ Windows 7 64-bit dual boot | Samsung SyncMaster 19" LCD VGA 920NW |
Reply to rags_20
dragonfang18   05-11-2009 at 06:29:28 PM
- 0 +

Well, I'll keep checking sites, if they come out with new cheap ones in 6-9 months.

Reply to dragonfang18
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