Upgrade from 8800gt

[dnb127]

Hi everybody, I have an E8650 dual core intel cpu and xfx 8800gt and want to switch my graphics card with something better for battlefield 3. What is a good card for me to get that wont necessarily bottleneck and will give me noticeable enhancements. Also my motherboard is by ABIT (IP-35 pro) whom doesn't exist anymore and it is a pci-e 2.0. I also have 4 gigs of mid level corsair RAM. I was only concerned about my cpu lagging behind any new gpu so any good recommendations that I can buy right now before its too late? I don't really have the cash to fork out for a brand new mobo, cpu, ram,etc... so just a better card would be nice.

 

[dnb127]

Also I have an Antec 850 W Quattro psu, its overkill, but with a new card won't be an issue whatsoever

 

[madtech01]

If you are coming from an 8800gt the drop in replacement for it in price range is the nvidia GTX 560 Ti. its a good mid range card that provides a lot of improvement over the 8800gt. In fact it is the card nvidia built to replace it.

 

[dnb127]

If you are coming from an 8800gt the drop in replacement for it in price range is the nvidia GTX 560 Ti. its a good mid range card that provides a lot of improvement over the 8800gt. In fact it is the card nvidia built to replace it.

I was looking into that, but will it be bottlenecked by the cpu?

 

[Mousemonkey]

I was looking into that, but will it be bottlenecked by the cpu?

Two of them would be (I know, I've tried it) but one won't, even with the CPU at stock speed.

 

[dnb127]

Two of them would be (I know, I've tried it) but one won't, even with the CPU at stock speed.

should I go with the gtx560 or the gtx 460? I noticed the 460's are a bit cheaper on newegg, what is the advantage of the 560?

 

[madtech01]

The GTX 560 Ti offers many improvements over the GTX 460, better physx in games along with more CUDA cores. if you were thinking of going the 460 because of price you could always step down to the GTX 560 witch is nothing but an faster GTX 460.

 

[dnb127]

you know what, I messed up I meant to say my CPU is an E6850 (not E8650) , what does this all mean now? Should I still go for the 460 or 560 gpus?

 

[Mousemonkey]

should I go with the gtx560 or the gtx 460? I noticed the 460's are a bit cheaper on newegg, what is the advantage of the 560?

If you mean the non Ti 560 then a 1GB 460 is pretty much the same thing just lower clocks.

you know what, I messed up I meant to say my CPU is an E6850 (not E8650) , what does this all mean now? Should I still go for the 460 or 560 gpus?

Your 6850 will not 'bottleneck' a single GTX460, 560 or 560Ti.

 

[dnb127]

ok, i like your advice, i think im going to order the gtx 460 in a few days, im not looking for anything crazy its just that the 8800 gt is a really shitty card and like i said i dont have money to upgrade even though my setup is showing its age. Im not a huge gamer either, so im ok with just 1 card.

 

[dnb127]

Best answer selected by dnb127.

 

[madtech01]

your processor is still dual 3ghz I checked. if you are considering the GTX 460 for price reasons then get the the GTX 560 they go for around the same price. but if you can afford it you would see an improvement with going to the GTX 560 Ti. you should be ok on the bottleneck for now and would see a performance jump later when you get the chance to upgrade the rest of your system.

 

[Mousemonkey]

ok, i like your advice, i think im going to order the gtx 460 in a few days, im not looking for anything crazy its just that the 8800 gt is a really shitty card and like i said i dont have money to upgrade even though my setup is showing its age. Im not a huge gamer either, so im ok with just 1 card.

Thanks for the BA, don't take any notice of madtech01 and his 'bottlenecking', the E6850 can quite easily handle 8800GT's in SLi and a single GTX460 will not have the overhead of SLi to contend with.