Upgrading from 8800GT on E6500 CPU

[omrifunaro]

*I am aware of the fact I posted this message in another section too, I was not certain where it is more appropriate*

Hi hardware Gurus,
I currently own a machine operating with a Core 2-Dou E65500 2.33 processor, 2 Gigabytes 0f 800 Mhz Ram and a Nvidia 8800GT 512MB.

I am seriously considering upgrading my Graphics card to a Radeon 5770HD.

But I wanted to know if I will benefit from this upgrade, or if the (quite old) processor will hold me back.
At roughly 150$ for a budget, how will I get the most gain out of my machine (from a gaming perspective).

[please observe the budget, as I do not have the money right now to go with a full upgrade to my pc]


Thanks, Omri

 

[jyjjy]

Does your motherboard allow for overclocking?
If so put it up to 3ghz or so and the processor will be fine for current games.

 

[Petey1013]

Does your motherboard allow for overclocking?
If so put it up to 3ghz or so and the processor will be fine for current games.

MOST current games anyway. BF Bad Company 2 still won't run great. As long as your resolution is 1680x1050 or lower though and you OC your CPU, you should see a decent bump.

 

[omrifunaro]

Thanks for answering.
I really rather not overclock my PC, as I live in a rather hot country (Temps can get around 40 C).
anyway my resolution is only 1280X1024 (19" display), anything to gain from boosting RAM to 4G ?
M-board is a simple Intel G-33 I believe

 

[jyjjy]

2 gigs will get you by but 4 is ideal. An OC to 3ghz is well below your processors limit and really shouldn't increase temps much at all. If you would prefer you can probably just replace the processor with something fairly cheap for a similar boost. What is the brand/model of your motherboard?

 

[jonpaul37]

i agree with jyjyjjyjjyjyjyjyj...

Ideal scenario would be:

Windows operating system = 64-bit
CPU = 3.0 or greater
RAM = 4GB
Video card = 5770 1GB

With this you will be in a much better situation than your current setup and you would see a good difference in both FPS and video quality.

 

[Morales2142PL]

haha i read somewhere on ebay that 9500GT outperforms 8800GT by more than 100% ... WTF!!!!! people on ebay know nothing about PC's

 

[omrifunaro]

Thanks for all your replies, I will then proceed to get a 5770, OC my processor and down the road get more RAM.

my MOBO is "Intel Corporation DP35DP" , is there any major disadvantage to having 4X1GB RAM as opposed to 2X2GB ?

 

[jyjjy]

Forget about overclocking. Intel boards don't allow for such. Looking up your board though it can support any core 2 duo/quad and you have one of the weakest so there is a lot of room for upgrading;
http://processormatch.intel.com/CompDB/SearchResult.aspx?Boardname=dp35dp
Either of these would be a good choice;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116093
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116370
Or you can get a quad core if you can afford it.

 

[omrifunaro]

Thanks jyjjy
This really wets my appetite, but I can't afford too many upgrades at the moment, I just had an opportunity to sell my 8800 for around 100$ before it's completely dated and I figured the 5770 would provide a more than worthy upgrade. I think the CPU upgrade will wait a year or two until i finish my BSc and get a proper job.
I might get two more sticks of RAM (about 50$) . But I don't know if 4X1GB is a good setup or just a waste of money.

 

[jyjjy]

4x1gb is fine but if it is a choice between the new processor and upgrading the ram then the processor would likely be of more practical benefit in terms of gaming.

 

[Omri Funaro]

I see. 10x

 

[okini55]

youll be fine. The CPU might hold you back a bit but you will experience a significant increase in perfromance

 

[jyjjy]

youll be fine. The CPU might hold you back a bit but you will experience a significant increase in perfromance

It really depends on the game. A 2.33ghz dual core will be the limiting factor on the more cpu intensive games. In those games the upgrade to the HD5770 wont be particularly useful.

 

[sabot00]

Seeing as how those CPU's are quite expensive a cheap motherboard that allowing for overclocking might be a pretty good option.

 

[jyjjy]

I wouldn't call $80 quite expensive but that is another option. It will take much more work to install than just replacing the CPU and you will likely need to reinstall windows but it could save you a bit of money.

 

[Omri Funaro]

Mostly I'm going to play Starcraft II and NBA2K11, nothing fancier