Graphics card upgrade question

[cassey8982]

I got a new XFX Geforce 275 GTX card as a gift and want to upgrade my system with it but I'm wondering whether it will cause any bottlenecks with my current setup.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4 AM2+ Socket
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.2 GHz
PSU: OCZ 600W Modxstream pro power
Memory: 3 Gb DDR2
OS: Windows XP


I'm willing to upgrade my system but only to about 400 total price and only if absolutely necessary. It's a great gift for my gaming habits but I am currently on a budget. Will the card work in my current setup or is an upgrade unavoidable? And what would be the best (and most economical) way of going about that upgrade?

 

[jared51182]

That card should work fine in the system, even if it does bottleneck. Bottlenecking isn't per-se bad, its just that you aren't using the full potential of the GPU or CPU or RAM, which ever is being limited. Therefore, you can go ahead and put the card into the system without too much concern - make sure you uninstall the prior card's drivers first. (or atleast disable them).

In terms of upgrading, you are at max RAM (pretty much), so you would be primarily looking to upgrade CPU (which may be limiting on the GPU - but I am unsure on those things).

Your Mobo is socket AM2+, so that has a room to take on new CPUs, so it is unlikely that you would need to upgrade your Mobo. You could pick up a Phenom for not too much - which is well within your budget, if you wanted.

Do you plan to upgrade to Windows 7? That would probably play a significant role in your upgrade options and paths.

If not, I would just pop the card in, see how it runs, if you feel you like aren't getting any benefit from having the new card, I think the next thing to upgrade would be the CPU.

 

[dndhatcher]

What GPU are you replacing? Your processor may not be able to keep up with that graphics card, but it should work fine.

 

[cassey8982]

That card should work fine in the system, even if it does bottleneck. Bottlenecking isn't per-se bad, its just that you aren't using the full potential of the GPU or CPU or RAM, which ever is being limited. Therefore, you can go ahead and put the card into the system without too much concern - make sure you uninstall the prior card's drivers first. (or atleast disable them).

In terms of upgrading, you are at max RAM (pretty much), so you would be primarily looking to upgrade CPU (which may be limiting on the GPU - but I am unsure on those things).

Your Mobo is socket AM2+, so that has a room to take on new CPUs, so it is unlikely that you would need to upgrade your Mobo. You could pick up a Phenom for not too much - which is well within your budget, if you wanted.

Do you plan to upgrade to Windows 7? That would probably play a significant role in your upgrade options and paths.

If not, I would just pop the card in, see how it runs, if you feel you like aren't getting any benefit from having the new card, I think the next thing to upgrade would be the CPU.

I am considering Windows 7 although I'm not sure when I'll get it (definitely not next week when it's released at any rate). I do have 64 bit Vista available for upgrading though (in case an increase in memory would be directly necessary). I'll run system benchmarks once I get the card in to see if the diference is marginal, as of yet I'm still waiting for the new psu to be delivered cause the old one (400W) definitely isn't up to the task.

 

[cassey8982]

What GPU are you replacing? Your processor may not be able to keep up with that graphics card, but it should work fine.

Replacing a 512 Mb Geforce 8500 GT. The graphics are enough for WoW but I just picked up a copy of Aion and it's lackluster, as it is with mirror's edge.

 

[dndhatcher]

You should notice a significant improvement over that old graphics card.

 

[cassey8982]

Hoorah to that. Thanks guys