Upgrading 8800GT $450 budget

[VindicatoR]

Looking at something in the range of $270 - $450 to replace my 8800GT with, so that I can play new generation games on close to high settings as possible.

My current setup is a E6750 with a 550w PSU and 4gb of ram @ 1920x1080. I'm planning on going i7 in about 4-5 months time(hopefully).

I'm open for either brand ATi or Nvidia, was looking at the 5850 and the 5870 mostly, but also saw the 5770 xfire/GTX 460 sli as a option as I can buy one now and then another when I actually do a upgrade of my motherboard and get sli/xfire on that.

What I'm basically looking for is something that would be a good investment in the long run, as I don't want to have to look at upgrading my GFX in a years time, also I'm not sure whether the 6xxx will be released before I actually do my other component upgrades, which opens another 'unknown' factor to my research.

Any advice would be helpful and thanks.

 

[Maziar]

My vote goes for HD 5850,its a great card and will give you a great boost in performance.

 

[skolpo]

I would personally snag two GTX 460s (1GB) and put them in SLI. They scale comparatively well to any xfire combo and is a champ in overclocking. However, you will need a new PSU in order to run both of them efficiently. If you look around long enough for deals on the GTX 460 1GB, you'll be able to get two of them for about $400USD, but you'll need at least a decent 700+W PSU to be safe.

 

[VindicatoR]

Thanks for the replies.

My current motherboard is only a single GPU board, but the motherboard I'm looking at for the i7 will most likely contain sli/xfire.

A close friend of mine got a GTX 460 768mb, I see that the memory bus is a bit lower than the 1gb version, how much difference does that really make?

 

[Maziar]

On a resolution like yours,you'll notice a difference especially with AA/AF,so go with 1GB version.

 

[VindicatoR]

On a resolution like yours,you'll notice a difference especially with AA/AF,so go with 1GB version.

I'll keep that in mind.

I'm very keen on getting a 5850 for now seeing as I'll be using only 1GPU for a few months, but I've randomly seen threads on other forums of people having issues with DX11 in some cases, didn't really read much in detail, but is this something common with the 5xxx series?

 

[Petey1013]

Yeah. Grab a 460 for now, and then upgrade to SLI when you go i7. I'd say grab a 470 but it'll be bottlenecked on your current rig, and you'd get better performance going for a 5850. DON'T buy a 5870, absolutely not worth the money right now.

 

[mimart7]

Looking at something in the range of $270 - $450 to replace my 8800GT with, so that I can play new generation games on close to high settings as possible.

My current setup is a E6750 with a 550w PSU and 4gb of ram @ 1920x1080. I'm planning on going i7 in about 4-5 months time(hopefully).

I'm open for either brand ATi or Nvidia, was looking at the 5850 and the 5870 mostly, but also saw the 5770 xfire/GTX 460 sli as a option as I can buy one now and then another when I actually do a upgrade of my motherboard and get sli/xfire on that.

What I'm basically looking for is something that would be a good investment in the long run, as I don't want to have to look at upgrading my GFX in a years time, also I'm not sure whether the 6xxx will be released before I actually do my other component upgrades, which opens another 'unknown' factor to my research.

Any advice would be helpful and thanks.

The 6800 Series will start to become available around holiday time. The first release will not be be high end cards. The high end cards will be available Q1 of 2011 When are you looking to upgrade? If you can wait, the current cards will drop in price, or you can buy a new one.

 

[unknown_13]

I'd get a GTX460, 'cause of better DX11 & tesselation performance. You might wait for the 6xxx series though if you want.

 

[namelessonez]

The 460 SLI option is the best bet for the money! But then again, the 470 in SLI would be awesome(er)! Here's an Asus for $294:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121372&cm_re=GTX_470-_-14-121-372-_-Product

If you're ok with the power requirements and the (slight) noise levels, go for this! It would definitely be a good investment!

EDIT:
My bad! Just re-checked and saw your budget! I stick with the dual 460 option! Just make sure if you're going with it, get the 1gb/ 256-bit version

 

[unknown_13]

The 460 SLI option is the best bet for the money! But then again, the 470 in SLI would be awesome(er)! Here's an Asus for $294:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121372&cm_re=GTX_470-_-14-121-372-_-Product

If you're ok with the power requirements and the (slight) noise levels, go for this! It would definitely be a good investment!

EDIT:
My bad! Just re-checked and saw your budget! I stick with the dual 460 option! Just make sure if you're going with it, get the 1gb/ 256-bit version

The E6750 will bottleneck dual GTX460 or a single GTX470.

 

[decode]

Upon review of this thread it is my decision to recommend that you get either a GTX 460 or 5850, However do not crossfire or SLi because of the above stated issues (CPU bottlenecking.)

 

[VindicatoR]

Thanks for all the advice and recommendations.

I think it might be the best for myself to rather wait until the new series is out and then take a look at how it affects the markets, also with my plan on upgrading to either a i7 930/950 I'll then decide what would be the best and most feasible option to go for.

So for now I'll tough it out with the 8800GT, but I'll definitely keep the 2 x 460 1gb and 5850 options in mind.

 

[unknown_13]

Thanks for all the advice and recommendations.

I think it might be the best for myself to rather wait until the new series is out and then take a look at how it affects the markets, also with my plan on upgrading to either a i7 930/950 I'll then decide what would be the best and most feasible option to go for.

So for now I'll tough it out with the 8800GT, but I'll definitely keep the 2 x 460 1gb and 5850 options in mind.

Don't do a SLI setup with your current CPU! You can get a single GTX460 now or in the near future, and when you buy the i7 you can throw in another GTX460.

 

[skolpo]

The E6750 will bottleneck dual GTX460 or a single GTX470.

If the CPU is OCed, the "bottleneck" will not be by much. Once he gets his i7 system, it won't be an issue. Plus, the "bottleneck" will hardly be noticeable in most games.