GeForce 88-- GTS versus GeForce 9800 GTX

I currently have a PNY VCG88GTSXPB GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 and am looking to upgrade. Would a EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 246-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 be a very noticable upgrade? Or should I go with an EVGA GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16?

The rest of my system specs are:

Windows Vista 32bit
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775
4 GB CORSAIR XMS2 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)


Figured this was the best place to get good answers. Thanks in advance all.

+1 for the GTX, its an imporvement.

And a lil OC to this CPU can really help ALOT.

The jump is like going from 8800gts to the 8800gtx. It is a step up but if i were you i would want to jump on a 4870 or gtx260.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121288 (4870)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814143140 (gtx260)

A 9800GTX+ can run on a 450W psu. The GTX260 can ... but its near the limit ... this 450W psu gonna get HOT !

The GTS250 ( retaged 9800GTX+ ) is sometime on sale near 100$.
The GTX260 can also be found quite cheap now but your PSU is on the very limit.

The 8800GTS 640-320 are quite old now. The newer GTX+ or GTS250 are better. not WAY better, but better !

Your CPU is also very limiting your performance. 2.16ghz is slow. You can read the OC turorial on the Toms forum.

It's actually a 500w PSU...Rosewill RP500-2 ATX12V v2.01 500W.

So how much could I safely OC my CPU? Or should I just upgrade that as well?

Thanks again all for the advice.

I can't recall for sure...I think it's an ASUS P5B-VM SE, but I'll have to look at it when I get home. Cooling is povided by Scythe SCMN-1100 100mm Sleeve CPU Cooler and Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower (1 200 mm Fan and 3 120 mm Fans).

Unfortunately I know absolutley nothing about overclocking a cpu. Maybe a cpu upgrade is what I need (along with anew gpu)?

Did i miss where we found out his resolution before recommending gpus? you know because a gtx 260 or 4870 might be just a little bit of a waste at 1280x1024 or similar resolution

Hey why we are at making pointless suggestions i say buy a gtx 295....

+1 for GTX 260 (core 216)

I had an 8800 GTS (512MB G92) and upgraded to the GTX 260 Core 216. From benchmarks I was afraid it wasn't going to be much of an upgrade. In honesty though, it was quite a bit more of an upgrade than the benchmarks I read suggested it to be.

I play @ 1920 x 1080 with my GTX 260. Most of my games I can do High/Max settings. For instance, I run Age of Conan in DX10 mode, with everything set to high. Sure I did a little tweaking to distance views and such, but it looks great and runs really well.

Of course I'm always running an OC'd Q6600 @ 3.2Ghz so that factors in.

If you have an 8800GTS 640MB (step below 8800 GTS 512) I wouldn't ugprade unless you're jumping to the GTX 260 or ATI 4870. But that's my opinion. The 9800GTX+ or GTS 250 are basically newer, and slightly improved 8800 GTS 512 cards.

If you're going to spend the money to upgrade, make sure you're really getting an upgrade.

MSI GTX 260 Core 216 OC $175 - $20 MIR = $155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127430

The above card, is apparently a newer revision of the card I have. I have the "OCv2" edition of this card. The one above is the "OCv4". I don't see any spec differences, so I can only imagine MSI did some tweaking or something. Been a great card so far. (don't have my rebate yet though, so keep in mind that takes quite some time).

Thanks for the advice. So you think the GTX 260 would be a good reasonable upgrade? I would prefer to not upgrade my cpu at this time (may do it six or so months down the road). Thanks again

So say that I'll go ahead and upgrade to the GTX 260 gpu...what would you recommend would be a good cpu upgrade (considering I have a Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 right now). I know everyone says oc'ing is easy, but I prefer to stay away from such things. Anyway, thanks again for all of y'all's inputs.

Not overclocking hardware is a ridiculous choice...good luck finding a cheap stock clocked 4ghz or 3.5ghz quad core/dual core for upgrades....

Unless your wallets loaded with cash and not iou's start googling cpu overclocking

Okay, so I think I may go ahead and try to OC my CPU. here are some vitals:
CPU = Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 65W
MoBo = ASUS P5B (just plain P5B is what is imprinted on the board).
RAM = CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (4 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

Now from what I gather I need to go into my Bios and just change my FSB? What should I change it to? Sorry, but I'm good with some computer items...just never tried overclocking. Thanks