Radeon 5000 series or higher?

[Eldaer]

Hi everyone,

I'm interested in upgrading my current desktop's graphics card in order to get higher performance with games. Specifically I play Starcraft 2 and would like to play it on higher settings. Also, I like to record games such as SC2 and Counter-Strike with FRAPS. I'm mainly looking for higher quality gaming as well as higher quality FPS on my FRAPS recordings. Here's what I currently have:

HP Pavilion p6270z

Athlon II X4 620 Processor 2.6 Ghz
Motherboard Name
* Manufacturer: Foxconn H-RS880-uATX
* HP: Aloe-GL8E
6 GB (2 x 2 GB, 2 x 1 GB) DDR3 PC3-8500
Radeon HD4650 Graphics Card


When I FRAPS SC2 at medium settings I still dip below 30FPS. I'm looking for a card where I can preferably play on HIGH (not Ultra) settings and not dip under 30FPS. If I played Medium settings I'd like to record at ~50 or higher FPS.

My budget is around $150 for a card. Is a 5000 series the answer for me? Is my CPU bottlenecking my performance at all? What would you all suggest to bump this system up to where I'd like to have it?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[Tamz_msc]

Upgarde that power supply to any decent 400 W and get a HD 5770

 

[Eldaer]

Upgarde that power supply to any decent 400 W and get a HD 5770

Thanks for the quick response. Anyone else have any suggestions?

 

[deweycd]

Removed due to incorrect info... to be fixed with a later post.

 

[Eldaer]

Thanks for that chart ct, really helps me. And thanks for being mindful of my price range.

I found this combo deal on Newegg, perhaps you all could evaluate it and see if it might work for what I'm looking for:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?nm_mc=AFC-SlickDeals&cm_mmc=AFC-SlickDeals-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA&ItemList=Combo.514493

I suppose the biggest downside is $35 in MIR across 2 rebate forms. MIR's are always a hassle!

 

[deweycd]

love how idiots post recommendations outside someone posted budget

the cheapest ATI 5770 is $140 out the door (wait 6-8 weeks for a rebate) and you still need a PSU upgrade and for the same FPS as the GTS250 in the game

I do agree that my suggestion was incorrect, I didn't realize that the HD5770 was higher priced, I had orignaly thought that Tamz_msc quoted the 5770 as $150 but now I realize that he didn't.

Does the GTS250 (150W) not require more power then the HD5770 (108W)? Therefore you still require a PSU upgrade for the GTS250

 

[Eldaer]

Any thoughts on the combo I posted?