Upgrade options for older rig

[crauko]

Ok wanting some advice on an older set up this is now my brothers computer use to be mine years ago however its in need of some upgrades to keep up with newer stuff.

System is:
E2180 @ 3.2
4gb ddr2 800 ram @ 848 For 1:1
Foxconn P9657AB-8EKRS2H LGA 775 Intel P965 mobo
XFX GeForce 8800 GS 384MB
HIPER 580W psu

His monitor max rez is 1280x1024

questions is would dropping a cheap gfx card in help at all or would a cpu/mobo/ram upgrade be required as well.... Money is an issue needs to be as cheap as possiable hes fresh out of high school with no job yet.


Thanks in advance.

 

[blade061188]

Hi crauko,

What is your budget? The rest of your system is a little behind too, but you can upgrade it a little at a time.

 

[monsta]

If money is an issue , upgrading the graphics card would be the best option for your brothers PC, depends on your budget really.
How much you looking at spending?

 

[crauko]

the budget is sub 200-300 dollars cheaper if possiable

also he doenst needs eye candy just playable frame rates with newer games skyrim....swtor etc
so they look decent with playable framerate..... hes coming from a P4 with a geforce fx5200 in it.....so either way i twill be a huge improvement.


but the main question is would dropping a mid range video card around a 6790 or 6850 help or would the rest of the system kill the performance gain with a bottleneck?

would be very expensive to upgrade a 775 system so would be better to just redo mobo/cpu/ram but that woudl leave almost nothign for a gfx card

 

[blade061188]

Both a 6790 or a 6850 will give very good framerates for 1280x1024. The rig might be CPU limited but you will still see a sizable performance increase over the 8800. for under $200, you couldn't do a platform upgrade, so a GPU is your best bet.

Later, if he has more money, he can update his MoBo/CPU

 

[monsta]

For the resolution the monitor is at , a 6850 would do the trick, you could also find a faster second hand cpu from ebay, maybe a E8500 and overclock it to get more juice out of it.
For 200-300 you will not be able to afford all the components for a complete upgrade

 

[crauko]

newegg has a 4890 for 100 atm would that push the res on the monitor or shoudl he just bump up to the 6850 for $60ish more?

 

[monsta]

I would go for the 6850, the 4000 series cards are getting old now.

 

[crauko]

Best answer selected by crauko.

 

[blade061188]

I would go for the 6850, the 4000 series cards are getting old now.

Yep, and the 6850 will support DX11 where as the 4000 series will not.

Also, Take the 6850 over the 6790. Here is a good article that has both benchmarked

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6790-review/1