XFX 8800gts 320mb is DEAD... Replacement???

Yes, a 5770 is the best for your resolution.BTW you should try to overclock your CPU.It might cause bottleneck in some demanding games.

wow fast reply THX!!
Any1 else have any suggestion?

GTX460 a lot faster than the ATI 5770 and only 40$ more and Iam gussing your psu can take it .

yes, but the GTX 460 might be bottlenecked by an Athlon x2.

Yeah, on an Athlon x2 probably best to just go for the HD5770. Consider the GTX 460 if you may upgrade the rest of the system before too long.
Actually it is theoretically possible your motherboard can handle AM3 processors already. Tell us the brand/model.

A 5770 is going to just as bottlenecked as the GTX460 with your cpu.

Is it that bad? It the athlon 90nm size.

Well if I'm not to bottleneck my cpu which card should I get? (there's money to be saved here  )

5750, 5670, 5650, gts250,240?

He is saying you will see little advantage by spending more on the GTX 460 compared to the HD5770. A HD5750/4850/GTS 250 will also be alright for your resolution and maybe more appropriate for your CPU but the HD5770 would still likely help you on games that are more graphically intensive if you want to use high settings.

Lets say your cpu isn't all that good. Learned well enough with a few cards. 1900xt which held its own then moved to a hot but heavily modded 8800gtx. The fps results were to a great disappointment. Going from the x1900xt to a 8800gtx with that cpu only improved fps in wow by 5fps with the same results in other games. I later ditched it for a old but very cheap tri-core (P1 8250e B2) that I nuked. Games and apps run much better now which is great since that rig is my workstation.

I suggest that you go ahead and get the 5770 and try for a better cpu with the savings or dig a little deeper and get a new cpu along with it. Any second generation Phenom that is at least a tri core while older Phenom 1 can do the job but not the best of overclockers. Only go for the B2 chips xx50 since they properly work in x64 windows and linux.

Ok, now we're drifting a bit into CPUs.... but let's compare my 3ghz 90nm against a 3ghz 45nm like athlon II x2 550. Is that an improvment or not.
Don't get me wrong here, I've read both cpu and gpu guide here on tom's site but I'm no expert. Following the guide I should go for the athlon II X3 435 =exactly 3 tiers above my present cpu (the economic solution). And a new mobo + memory of course.

Perhaps what nforce4max meant to say?

What exactly is the brand/model of your current motherboard? As I said earlier it is theoretically possible it actually can handle current AMD processors already.
As for your question the 550 is actually a Phenom II x2 so I'm not sure which comparison you want but both would be a good upgrade. You are right though that an Athlon II x3 will be you best choice. It is in general the best value for the money processor on the market right now and even more so in that most motherboards can unlock the 4th core(not guaranteed to work but very likely.)
Something like this would be a good choice;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...
Once you unlock the fourth core it will be the same as an Athlon II x4 945. Also keep in mind these processors overclock better than your current cpu. It should be able to handle 3.5ghz just on the stock cooler and that motherboard should do the job nicely. Also that is a DDR2 motherboard so you will not need to replace your memory.

If you had somewhat stronger processor like PII 550 X2 i would have suggested the GTX460 which is faster than HD5830 in some areas. For your machine the best thing to add now is a 5770, which is a good choice and will play all of the games you mentioned.

Or as someone suggested check your mobo, it may handle some of the CPU's in AMD's current lineup, but do NOT upgrade from dual core to another dual core, that would not be a good upgrade, not at all. If your mobo supports them, get either Athlon X3 445 or Athlon X4 635. Then upgrade to GTX 460.

If you don't have the money now for both CPU and GPU upgrade, get the 5770, you won't be dissapointed.

Now it seems my budget will only allow a card around 80-100€. Will I get disappointed with a 5670 512Mb? I can't afford gts 250 or 5750 and certainly not 5770   . So either 5670 or better for 80€ or wait and save = no playing at all for at least 1 month. Remember I'm not after a upgrade I'm satisfyed if I match my old card...

Will the 5670 512mb match 8800gts 320mb in preformance in 1680*1050 res?

Can you afford an HD4850? The HD5670 would certainly be an upgrade but the HD4850 is more appropriate for your resolution and usually doesn't cost much more, in the US at least.

Dunno I'm in Sweden and the old cards seem hard to find and ordering over the internet don't come cheap here  

Of all the decent HD4000 cards the HD4850 is the one that has the most availability so take a look. Have you considered Ebay maybe?

Found one with shipping (125€) it only 30€ up to a 5770 in store. 5670 is 85€ in store...

Does this work for you;
http://www.misco.se/product/product.aspx?P_ItemId=69733...

Looks good! How about the memory 512 or 1024, do I need more then 512?

At your resolution 1gb would be a bit better but it's not that big of a deal.

OK thx for all the help everyone and jyjjy   Case closed!

No problem. That card should do well at your resolution. You won't be able to max out the settings of the most intensive current games but you will be able to on most or at least come close. In reference to your current card the HD4850 is almost twice as powerful.

I have the same video card but a different processor and was wondering of the same advice holds for myself. I am looking to get better frames in SCII and want to stay under ~200 USD.

Intel E6600 Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz
MSI 975X Platinum
4GB DDR2 800
EVGA 8800 GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3
Antec 750W PS

What is your resolution? Have you OCed your processor at all?

My monitor's resolution is 1680x1050.

I have tried over clocking the processor, but after I added added the extra 2GB I couldn't get it to post overclocked. I tried messing with CPU, and memory voltages but it was a no go. Its all at stock speed right now.

The memory is matched (exact same part number) but I bought them 1.5 years apart. I think they are using cheaper chips now then they were then.

My real concern is that my MOBO is PCI-E 1.1 not 2.0.

If the memory wont OC you can always use a divider/multiplier so it stays at the same speed while you increase the processor. In fact the problem is likely the opposite and you are using one that you shouldn't be. DDR2 800 can handle a FSB of up to 400mhz with no multiplier. The stock FSB of your processor is 266mhz your ram is likely on a 2:3 multiplier(266:400.) A FSB of 366mhz will get your processor up to 3.3ghz which would be nice. Just remove any multiplier/divider on the ram(make it 1:1.) Then your ram will be running at slightly below it's rated speed which really shouldn't give it any problems unless it is faulty.
Don't worry about your PCIE port, the cards are backwards compatible. The 1.x boards occasionally have issues with PCIE 2.1 cards but usually decent manufacturers(like MSI) will have a BIOS update that will clear that up. You don't need to get a 2.1 card anyway.
With your budget you can get better cards than the HD4850 the OP ended up with. The two you should consider are the HD5770 or GTX 460 depending on how much you want to spend. The HD5770 will be quite good and the GTX 460 would be great. If you are in the US this looks like the best deal for an HD5770;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
and for a GTX 460 I would probably get this one as it is a good brand and comes with a free game;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...

Thanks for the advice, I will give it a try.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
It has better spec and is the same price as the GTX 460

It's specs aren't better. It's a weaker card.

In some games the GTX460 wins (in most of them), in others HD 5830 is little faster.

On average the GTX 460 768/192 is approximately 7% faster than the HD5830;

It also has significantly better tessellation performance for when games finally start using it to an extensive degree which doesn't really show up on that chart.

Thanks so much for the OC advice, I dropped the memory speed to 1:1 (From auto), set the FSB to 333 and it booted. I got a BSOD while running the Windows Experience Index. So I changed the FSB to 300, booted ran the WEI again CPU + .2 (6.5>6.7) and played an SCII mission all with much improved performance.

Would it be worth the extra $ to find a GTX460 w/ 1GB?

Yes it's worth imo.

When it comes to the older chipsets such as your 975BX and the Nforce4 and the Nforce4 Ultra cooling is key to getting the chepset clock over 300 mhz. 333mhz is about the most you can ask for and both are known to be two of the hottest chipsets ever produced for quite a long time.

The blue screen just means you need to raise the voltage of the processor slightly to achieve those speeds. 333mhz and even the 366mhz I suggested is well within the abilities of your processor if you simply raise the core voltage a very small amount. I'm currently running an E5200 that starts at 2.5ghz at 3.3ghz and to achieve that I only needed to raise the core the smallest increment my motherboard allowed for.
As for the 1gb version of the GTX 460 you can see the relative performance on the chart I posted above. At 1920x1080 I would say it is definitely worth it if you can afford it. For your resolution it is more iffy and up to you as it is your money. Really the cheaper version once OCed should be excellent for your resolution but the extra performance of of the 1gb/256-bit version will help out on the most intensive games, especially when you max out things like AA.