Upgrading 8600 GTS need advice

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

I was planning on waiting on the AMD 6900's but after extensive research browsing the forums using the search function I have come to the realization that my 4 year old computer will not be able to handle any of the newer high end cards without getting bottlenecked.

I have an Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 @2.66 GHZ OC@3.2ghz
evga nForce 680i SLI SPP A2 motherboard model 122-CK-NF68
4GB Mushkin PC2-6400 DDR2 4/4/4/12
evga Nvidia Geforce 8600 GTS 256mb
Hipro 700watt PSU, 4-12v rails@ 16A
Samsung Syncmaster 2232BW+ (1680x1050 max)

I just want to get a new video card and don't want to get a new motherboard or cpu. I may get a new computer in a few months, I just want a better card for now.

The common consensus in the posts I read was that the Nvidia Geforce GTX 460 was the recommended Nvidia card for my MB and cpu.

Some people mentioned that a bottleneck might still occur at lower resolutions. Is that true?

I usually play games at 1024x768 but will likely use the native settings of 1680x1050 if I get the GTX 460.

Will playing at that resolution prevent a bottleneck or do I have to get a new monitor and play at higher resolutions or will that be fine?

I also play Counterstrike 1.6 at 640x480, I just prefer that res. I've been playing it for 10 years like that, better perceived recoil and I like the zoomed in look! Will that resolution be impossible with the gtx 460?

My main question is about the type of gtx 460 I should get. If a bottleneck can happen using that card with the E6700@ 3.2ghz, should I just get a standard gtx 460? If I get an evga superclocked version or the FTW version would those factory overclocks be wasted or increase the frequency of a bottleneck or cause any problems?

I know what you're thinking just get a standard GTX 460 and overclock it myself. I prefer just getting factory overclock and not worrying about the warranty or frying the card. I didn't overclock my CPU until a few months ago. My computer is so old I thought screw it, if I fry it i'll just buy a new computer and that was after reading up on it and people saying they easily got their E6700 to 3.2 on factory air cooling and no voltage increase.

Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Pretty sure an E6700 at 3.2 will be a tiny bottleneck at best for an GTX460.

1680x1050 will be fine and will use the GPU more than 1024x768.

I would get the standard or the FTW edition. I only got the factory superclocked because it was the only lifetime warranty card they had the day I bought it. There were shortages at first. A regular clock card from them will go to 800 core just about guaranteed. The FTW edition is probably cherry picked and will go higher. Personally I run mine at 821-1642-2000.EVGA has a great overclocking tool and the Overclock scanner to actually test stability.



http://www.evga.com/articles/00530/

http://www.evga.com/precision/