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Looking for suitable display card

Last response: in Systems
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Hello all, I am using a desktop I built 3 years ago and I keep upgrade some hardwares to a point my mobo becomes a bottleneck for further upgrades. The idea is swap out my current display card for a newer model for gaming and HTPC purpose... here is my current system...

C2Q Q9505s
Gigabyte P35-DS3R mobo
OCZ DDR2 1066 2Gbx2
SB X-fi Titanium soundcard
XFX 8800GTS 512Mb
OCZ Vertex 2 60Gb SSD for OS
Hitachi 1Tb SATA2 HD for Data
550w power supply
Window 7 Ultimate 64bits

I understand that getting a ATI 5970 is pointless in this case since the mobo can't drive really push it to work. Then the question is with all these firepowers I have, what display card should I choose to create a balance system?

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Homebuilt system Master

Unfortunately, you're looking at a new build. Your board doesn't have a PCIe 2.0 slot, which means current GPUs will be severely handicapped, to the point it's worthless to buy one.

That said, you can get a really good gaming build for the price of a 5970, assuming you're looking to spend up to that amount. Here's what I'd look for, assuming you carry forward your HDDs and the PSU:

CPU/GPU: X3 440 and HD 5850 $348
Mobo: ASRock 870 Extreme3 $90
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2 GB 1600 mhz CAS Latency 7 $93 after promo code
Case/Optical: Coolermaster 690 and cheap SATA DVD burner $73

Total: $604
Homebuilt system Authority

If you want to piecemeal upgrade, you could buy a 5850 <or even 5870 if your PSU will handle it> now and it will still be a performance boost over the 8800 (maybe up to twice as fast GPU wise). Then you keep the graphics card when you replace the mobo/CPU/RAM/PSU later.
 
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