Upgrade/Bottleneck question

[ajose]

Hey all, thanks for reading. My 9800GT graphics card failed a while ago (wouldn't do 3D, gave bluescreens, tried reinstalling and updating drivers time and time again to no avail), and I'm wondering if it would be worth it for me to upgrade to something like a 550Ti or a GTX460 over just getting a new 9800. I run at 1680 x 1050 native res. Here is my pc:

Mobo: (Don't know, it's my computer's stock AM2 motherboard with nVidia integrated chipset)
CPU: AMD Athlon x2 5000 (2.6 Ghz)
RAM: 4GB DDR2 (2X2GB) Corsair 800MHZ
PSU: 400W
HDD: 500GB 5200rpm

Eventually, of course, I'll need to do a full system upgrade. I don't, however, do heavy multitasking or 3D/video editing, just some gaming. With the 9800GT my rig did a perfectly good job maxing out recent games like Modern Warfare 2. My question is, would my dual-core Athlon CPU (wimpy by today's standards) be a significant bottleneck to any newer cards out there? Would you recommend that I upgrade to something like a GTX460 (or anything within the price range of $150) to be a little more future-proof, or hold over on a cheaper card (suggestions?) until I can spend a more significant amount of money upgrading the whole rig?

Thanks!!

 

[jyjjy]

Best deal around at the moment;
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=365434
Faster and cheaper than the GTX 460.
Your processor is going to limit the card in a lot of games but it would still be a nice upgrade over the 9800GT at that resolution. You can move it into a new system when you do upgrade. There's also a chance your motherboard can handle current AMD processors so tell us the brand/model The other question is whether or not your PSU can handle the card so give us the brand/model of that as well.
If you would rather just go cheap and save up for a new system then this is a good deal on a replacement 9800GT;
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6460821&CatId=3670
Or this GTS 250 is a decent deal as well if you PSU can handle it;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150513

 

[ajose]

That ZOTAC 9800GT might just be what I need right now, especially at $50. I can get a much more powerful card once I get to the full system upgrade. I'm not sure what the make of the PSU is, but wow, I just checked and it's actually 350 watts. Surprised it handled the 9800GT at all. I take it the newer version of that card uses even less power, as it's been underclocked from the time I bought mine.

As for the MB, Belarc Advisor gave me this one: http://www.ascendtech.us/itemdesc.asp?ic=MB64ECSMCP61PMA

Could it take any Athlon II or Phenom processors?

Thank you very much for your time!

 

[jyjjy]

Unfortunately it looks like there hasn't been a BIOS upgrade for that board for a long time so it can't handle AM3 processors.
As for the 9800GT, yeah, the card I linked is the more recent version that doesn't have or need a 6-pin power connector. It is underclocked to 550mhz from the old 600mhz speed. You should be able to overclock the card back up to the normal speed and possibly higher if you want to. If so I recommend Afterburner;
http://downloads.guru3d.com/Afterburner-2.0.0-Final-download-2562.html
It's a nice program and very easy to use.

 

[ajose]

That's great, I appreciate the suggestions. Looks like I can't do anything more with this old board, that will definitely have to go with a full upgrade. I might just go for the 9800GT for now then. Thanks and peace out!