[Solved] Another upgrade question

Forum Graphics & Displays : Graphics Cards [Solved] Another upgrade question

Hi I was looking to upgrade my system. Here's the specs:

MB : GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor

Ram : OCZ Platinum Revision 2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

P Supply : COOLER MASTER eXtreme RP-500-PCAR 500W ATX12V V2.01 Power Supply

V Card : EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP

OS :XP (for now may want to go to windows 7)

Monitor :Samsung SyncMaster 226bw (1680*1050)

I'm kinda on a limited budget so I'm not going for top of the line, but I would like to see a jump in performance.

1. If I were to keep mobo and up it to 4g ram and say maybe a Nvidia card arround $200 would the processor be a choke point or is it good enough to keep.
2. If you were to upgrade this system, where would ya notice the biggest jump?

Any help would be appreciated, I've learned a lot from this site and the people.

Reply to Fernaufer

Hey fernaufer,

I'd suggest (since you prefer Nvidia) that the GTX 260 would be your best upgrade option. The processor should be fine (especially if you overclock it a bit) and you'll notice a very large performance increase as the 8800 GTS 320MB is very, very slow these days. Everything else, component wise, is fine and you really don't need to upgrade.

Reply to brockh

I don't really prefer Nvidia over ATI, just only can afford a card arround the $200 price range give or take $30.

Reply to Fernaufer

First step: Overclock your CPU. With a decent heatsink, you should be able to reach 3.3 - 3.4 GHz.

Second: If your budget allows, put inan ATI 5770.

Reply to jsc

Best answer

Around $200 the only other card I would recommend would be an HD 4890 or 5770. The HD 4890 will offer comparable (if not selectively better) performance than a GTX 260 and offers a similar featureset, though it supports DirectX 10.1 instead of just 10. The HD 5770 will offer comparable performance to an HD 4870 (which doesn't really have an Nvidia counter-part, except maybe the GTX 260 underperforms around it sometimes), supports DirectX 11 and is super efficient in that it does not use much power and doesn't output much heat.

It's your choice.

Reply to brockh

Hi Fernaufer

If you’re planning on installing Windows 7, I’d recommend either running the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor or visiting the Windows 7 Compatibility Center, or both. The upgrade advisor will scan your system and provide a report of your system’s compatibility with Windows 7. The Compatibility Center will allow you to check for compatibility for components that you’re planning on adding.
You can download the Upgrade Advisor here: http://bit.ly/4C8qem . If you’d like to check out the Compatibility Center, please follow this link: http://bit.ly/4uZDu2 .

Good luck

GeoffV
Windows 7 Client Team

Reply to GeoffV

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