Time for an upgrade

[DaleWP2602]

Hey guys, have been browsing the forums for quite some time but decided to sign up finally!
I built my pc sometime last year and it was a decent system but as you will see its quite dated! It still plays all the games on full settings but as you can imagine it lags more than often!

Im currently running a;

2.4ghz core 2 duo
Asrock P5B-SE Motherboard
2 Gb Ram
EVGA 8800gt 512mb
600w thermalite psu

Now obviously christmas is approaching and im considering buying a new motherboard and another 8800gt and using SLI.
I am going to try to keep this small upgrade underneath 200 pounds, i understand i need another 2gb ram but i can buy that seperately.
Anyone have opinions as to what motherboard i should buy and will i need a new PSU?
Or would i be better buying a newer graphics card?

Any help or information would be great! Thanks.

 

[obsidian86]

better buy a newer graphics card

 

[DaleWP2602]

Thermaltake 600w PSU*

Would you recommend a Gainward GTX260 from Novatech costing £136?
Will my powersupply be compatible and I understand that these cards are BIG!

 

[obsidian86]

i would say ati 5770 for future expanddibility

 

[DaleWP2602]

future expandability in what way?
Doesnt the 260 out perform!?

 

[mortonww]

You should also try and overclock that Core 2 to around 3.0 GHz so that you don't bottleneck your new SLI setup or your new graphics card. A 4890 would be a stronger card than a 5770. And then anything stronger in the 5xxx series of cards will be more expensive and might be too much for your processor.

 

[obsidian86]

the 5xxx series has dx 11 support

 

[DaleWP2602]

how do i go about overclocking, and would it be safe to do so, 3.0 is a big jump?
Ive never had an ATI card before, does the 4890 card also suport DX11?
Im also looking at the Geforce 275...
Any input on that?

 

[obsidian86]

the 4890 and gtx 275 is bout equal but the 4890 hasn got dx 11 support the 5770 is under them both in performance but for the price of a gtx 275 i'd rather look into an ati 5850

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2464.html

here is a great overclocking guide http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-240001_11_0.html

 

[DaleWP2602]

thanks for the help obsidian!
Decisions decisions

 

[DaleWP2602]

Any information on whether or not the HD 5850, which i have decided to purchase, will fit into my P5B-SE motherboard?????

 

[obsidian86]

if it has a full lenght pcie x16 slot it will be fine