Should I bother upgrading a 512 MB 8800 GTS with my budget?

Ebua

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Hello everyone,

I don't game a lot on my PC, but I would like to play Diablo 3 and have it look as nice as it can on my system.

Currently, my PC meets all of the Recommended Settings for the game, except for the video card (meets minimum only).
System requirements:
http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/diablo-iii-system-requirements
Video card support list for the game:
http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/video-card-support-for-diablo-iii#comments

As stated in the title, I have a 512MB 8800 GTS. My budget is $100-150 and I'm wondering if it would be worth it for me to upgrade to a newer card? I have had someone tell me that with a budget in that range, the card I would end up getting would run about the same as my 8800 GTS would and it's not worth it for me to do it. What do all of you think?

As a reference, according to the March list, the Radeon HD 5770/6770 fits into this budget.

My resolution runs at 1680x1050.

Edit:

As per request, I'm adding more specs. Please let me know if I need to give you anything else spec wise.

My CPU (Intel Core2Duo 3.0 Ghz): http://ark.intel.com/products/33910/Intel-Core2-Duo-Processor-E8400-%286M-Cache-3_00-GHz-1333-MHz-FSB%29
My motherboard (Asus P5k): http://ca.asus.com/en/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5K/#specifications
My Powersupply (TruePower Trio 650W): http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?Type=Mg==&id=NjI=
 

willard

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I have had someone tell me that with a budget in that range, the card I would end up getting would run about the same as my 8800 GTS would and it's not worth it for me to do it.
Whoever told you that knows a lot less than they think they do, and I wouldn't trust any computer advice from them.

The 8800 GTS was about a $200 card when it came out, so why would it be on par with a $150 card five years later? It just makes no sense. Any card in the $100-$150 price range should totally demolish the 8800 GTS in any way you care to compare them.

Edit: Here's an on-paper comparison of the 8800 GTS and the GTX 460.
 

bucknutty

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8800gts was a nice card but for around 150 you can score a AMD HD6850 which would be a huge upgrade, and if you hunt you can find a 6870 on sale that will really bring your old computer to life.

The best part is the 6850 and 6870 will use slightly less electricity than the 8800gts.
 

Ebua

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Thanks everyone for the help so far!

Now that I seem to have found out that the computer guy I went to might not really know what he's talking about, I should go in to a little more detail about my system I guess. I'm not entirely sure if it would be able to handle some of these cards you are recommending!

My motherboard is: http://ca.asus.com/en/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5K/#specifications

My Powersupply is (650W): http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?Type=Mg==&id=NjI=
 



Actually, we don't have enough information to determine that. We need to know what your processor is before we can determine if a video card upgrade is worthwhile.
 

thlillyr

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I had that card and i bought a radeon 5870 on ebay for 160$ 2 years ago. It was a HUGE upgrade. I would suggest you try to snag yourself one on ebay. many people use them and then sell them when the next version comes out. Like mac fanboys they ditch an very powerfull and not at all outdated device to get something whose model name is higher but performance increase is negligable. I would not go less than flasgship model for your upgrade. You still have a graphics card that very playable with todays game becuse you got the flagship. Had you gotten the 8600 you would have upgrade much much sooner. So forget the 460 or 6750 or any other middle of the line cards and stick with flaships. My suggestions is the radeon HD 5870/6870 as the nvidia equivilants are too hot and to power hungrey for 200 - 400 series
 

hella-d

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The Best Bang For Your Buck That Would Walk All Over A 9800 Or 56/6670 Would Be The GTX460-SE Can Be Had For As Little As $120.00 Without Rebates (I Dont Trust/Do Rebates), The 460-SE Has The Same Memory Bus And RAM As The 256-Bit 1GB DDR5 Version Of The Full 460, More RAM And Bandwidth Than The 768MB Version Of The Full 460. And More Balls Than The 550Ti That Costs More.

Benchmarks Show It Nips At The Heals And Nearly Equals The Preformance Of A Full 460/560 (Non-Ti) At Stock Clocks For Quite A Bit Less $$. It Can Run DX11 Games Great At 1920x1200, I Have One OCed @ 800MHz (Core)/1.7GHz (Shader)/2000 (GDDR5) And Am Pushing 40+ FPS On High-Detail With 2xAA And 16xAF @ 1920x1200 In BF3. Check My Specs.. Google It.
 

Ebua

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It seems like everyone likes the 460. Provided my system can handle it, I guess that's the choice?

Also, as per request, I've updated my original post to include some more specs. Please let me know if there is more info needed.
 

auntarie

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Mobo is compatible, although I don't think you'll be able to do SLI in the future, as it says it only supports CrossFireX.
PSU looks sufficient.
Not so sure about CPU though, you might need to do some overclocking or upgrade.
 

hella-d

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Unless Your Running Insane Resolutions And Play Multi-Card Compatible Games Only, Multicard Setups Arent Really Worth It, There Hot, Space Constaraning And Many Suffer From Microstuttering Or Just Plain Inefficiantcy. You Will Be Just Fine With A Single Decently Powered Card. Save Your $$ A Single 460 Is Plenty.

My Board Is Crossfire Only As Well, But Im Running A Single Nvidia-Card, Plan On Using My Second PCE-E x16 For A SCSI Raid Card In The Future.

And Your CPU Is Fine, But Id Overclock The *Beeeeep* Out Of It Just Because.
 

daysyang

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Yes your system can handle it single card no problem... It would run just fine stock at that resolution but I would go with Hella-D on the overclocking as well. Pump out some more fps and reduce bottleneck just my opinion.
 

auntarie

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I meant that he won't be able to do SLI, not that he should.
 
Your processor may bottleneck a 460. Some overclocking would definitely be in order with that card. If you'd rather not, there's some galaxy gts 250's new on amazon for $65 right now. that card is roughly equivalent to a 450. (or a 6750 if you prefer amd)

As you can tell, I prefer the 6770. it's the best deal in cards right now, imo. The 460 is a very nice card, and SLI's very well but at $130 vs. the 6770's $100, it's only 10% more performance for 30% more cost.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html