Which GPU to upgrade too?

connor m

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I have the Nvidia 8800GTS, and I want to upgrade. My Motherboard is an Asus P5N-E SLI. So basically I was thinking about the Radeon ATI 4870 card, but I really don't know alot about GPU's. My budget is no more then $200 at max.

-Thanks
 
Alright. The HD4870 wouldn't have been a huge upgrade over the 512mb version which is much more powerful.
I would probably recommend either an HD5770 or HD4890 with that budget. However what is appropriate for you depends highly on both your monitor's native resolution and the specifications of your power supply.
 

connor m

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Alright thanks yall, I have a 500W power supply, and I'm not really sure what my Resolution is at currently. I run around 60-80 FPS in World of warcraft, so I never lag unless its server lag.
 
Looking here....

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-310-5970,2491-7.html

I don’t recommend upgrading your graphics card unless the replacement card is at least three tiers higher. Otherwise, the upgrade is somewhat parallel and you may not notice a worthwhile difference in performance.

3 teirs up puts you at the 9800 GTX GTS 250 range

At your resolution, anything more than that would be overkill.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-310-5970,2491.html

Here's the "winners" from THG's latest (December) GFX Roundup
Best Graphics Cards For The Money: December '09

$50 - HD 4650
$65 - HD 4670 / 9600 GSO
$85 - 9600 GT
$95 - 9800 GT / HD 4830
$110 - GTS 250 512 MB
$120 - GTS 250 1 GB
$155 - HD 5770 / GTX 260
$200 - HD 4890
$240 - 2 x GTS 250
$310 - No winner (HD 5850 Honorable Mention)
$330 - 2 x GTX 260 / 2 x HD 5770
$400 - 2 x HD 4890
$410 - No winner (HD 5870 Honorable Mention)
$465 - No winner (GTX 295 Honorable Mention)
$625 - No winner (HD 5970 Honorable Mention)








 
An 8800GTS 320mb is on par with a 9600 GSO which I've used a good bit at similar resolution. It's a good card for that but I wouldn't call it great. He should definitely see a noticeable difference in a lot of current games and probably in most if he wants to max out AA.
 

sbcharlie

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Be aware that best card for the money chart published in december is alreayd hopelessly wrong.

Prices have changed alot due to 4xxx series now stopping production, costs going up as they become scarse.

In fact cost of all cards seem to have increased alot.
 
He hasn't mentioned what he is playing but he came here for advice on upgrading. I don't see why he would do that unless he wanting better performance in the games he is playing. Can you think of another reason?
Bottlenecking hasn't been mention of course because he hasn't told us his CPU which is a decent question actually.