Upgrading a failed 8800 GT

[orcinus177]

Hello,
My 8800GT recently failed after years of faithful service. It was starting to have trouble with some of the newer games so I'd like to find out what the best upgrade would be without having to do much to my current set up. Here are the specs:

CPU: AMD AM2 5200+ X2 Dual Core CPU
Motherboard: Asus M2N-E SLI
PSU: 650 watt Mushkin SLI capable
Memory: 2GB PC2-6400 Mushkin High Performance Memory
Hard Drive: 250GB SATA II
Resolution: 1650x1050
Pretty flexible on budget so long as its not buying a whole new system. Thanks for any advice/opinions you have.

 

[djangoringo]

The AMD 7850 2GB or NVIDIA 660 2GB (non-ti) will be your best choice.
See what's the cheaper and buy the one, unless you like nvidia cards only then buy the 660 gtx.

 

[swifty_morgan]

what does "flexible" mean ?

the processor is too slow for the 2 cards mentioned above. you don't have enough memory.

what opsys are you running ?

 

[orcinus177]

I'd probably prefer to get out under $400. It was built about 5 years ago so still running XP on it. It was custom built (not by me obviously or I wouldn't need to ask questions) so it has space for more memory.

 

[swifty_morgan]

you're pretty screwed and it's not worth upgrading. you can't really replace the processor with anything significant like a 955.

memory is expensive ( DDR2 )

my suggestion would be to keep saving the money. hard to take I know.

for a replacement card, maybe an inexpensive gts450 or 7750.

save-save-save.

 

[orcinus177]

Been spending alot more time on the 360 with boarderlands and assassins creed so probably not worth getting a whole new pc for the time being. I'll just patch this old girl up with one of those ones. Thanks alot for the advice.

 

[swifty_morgan]

prices dropped a little. you can try this if you want to splurge. more ram will help.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148160

 

[cuecuemore]

I'd grab something like a 7850 and then keep saving until you can upgrade your CPU, RAM and mobo to something better.

 

[orcinus177]

Best answer selected by orcinus177.