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Upgrade to gtx 260/280 worth it with socket 939?

duffbeer666

duffbeer666

duffbeer666

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Joined
27 Aug 2008
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58
Hi guys,

I have been reading these forums for a few years now and it is excellent, I usually find all the answers I need without having to start my on thread - but not this time!

Currently my spec is: Asus A8N SLI premium mobo, AMD 4800x2, 2gb Corsair 3500ll RAM, 8800 GTS 640mb, Seasonic S12 650w PSU.

Most things run pretty good but I have been noticing my system struggle slightly when there is a lot going on in a game.

So here is my question, is it worth upgrading my graphics card to a 260/280 or will the rest of my system not do it justice. My thinking is that games are more and more GPU dependent and surely I must get a performance boost from this upgrade but I'm not 100% sure.
Before I get loads of people posting suggestions about upgrading everything I should tell you that I cannot afford that for a few months so Ijust want to consider the GPU.

So what do you reckon?
 
not really worth it unless your going to be upgrading mobo,cpu and ram (namely going the intel route) but for now just not worth it. you may see a improvement but it wont be as large as it could be if you had a faster cpu/ram
 
What res do you run at?, i would go for a 260 with that system as i am not really sure how much your system would bottleneck a 280 and i would think even a 260 might be bottlenecked but not so much as a 280.
 
Running games at 1680x1050 on a 22" monitor.

Probably would not go for a 280 - more likely a BFG 260 OC.
I don't really understand this bottlenecking stuff. My CPU is dual core 2.4ghz - surely that is still good enough these days isn't it?
 
I would buy the new gpu if you feel you need more power for your games. Sure it will bottleneck a bit but you are still getting a very big improvement over your 8800gts. I am pretty sure also you can overclock your 4800x2 up to 2700mhz or more easily.
 
If I were in your shoes getting a decent C2D or C2Q will be a better upgrade then getting the 260 or even the 280 :)

Especially since you're coming from a 4800x2 running at stock :)
 
At that res and with an AMD X2 I suggest a 4850. Anymore would be wasted unless you intend to upgrade soon.

Perhaps a 4850 (£110) + EVGA 650i Ultra (£35) + E2180 (£45) + 4GB Ram (£50) instead of the GTX280. This would give you MUCH better performance if you overclock the CPU a little. You could also sell you old mobo/cpu/ram and get some money back - perhaps it would be eneough for an E8400 or Q6600 and then you would have a seriousely big upgrade.
 
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I'm still running an opty 170, and have recently bought a 4870 as my 1900xt broke, 22" monitor at 1680x1050 res

There's no doubt about it, the rest of the system is a major bottleneck. My 3dmark06 scores are ~10k with the 4870, slightly higher than with my 8800GTX, and significantly higher than the 1900xt.

I'm looking at the possibility of upgrading the rest of the system, but I just don't know what to buy at the moment. Think I'll wait until I know what's happening with the next gen cpu's
 
CBP said:
I'm still running an opty 170, and have recently bought a 4870 as my 1900xt broke, 22" monitor at 1680x1050 res

There's no doubt about it, the rest of the system is a major bottleneck. My 3dmark06 scores are ~10k with the 4870, slightly higher than with my 8800GTX, and significantly higher than the 1900xt.

I'm looking at the possibility of upgrading the rest of the system, but I just don't know what to buy at the moment. Think I'll wait until I know what's happening with the next gen cpu's
Click to expand...

£175 could get you an E2180, 4GB RAM and a P45. It's going to be ages till Nehalem will be affordable.
 
duffbeer666 said:
Running games at 1680x1050 on a 22" monitor.

Probably would not go for a 280 - more likely a BFG 260 OC.
I don't really understand this bottlenecking stuff. ?
Click to expand...

a Bottleneck is when you have one or more components which hold back the overal speed of your pc. its like having the fastest car in the world, but the roads you drive on only allow 100M/h. even if you buy an even faster car, you can still only drive 100. ( Cant think of a better analogy atm)

your 4800 is the bottleneck here.
 
My dads got a similar system to you, but he had a 7800 gts or something like that, ive just upgraded it to the 4870 and its made a huge difference in smooth gameplay.
 
I'm on sk.939 - see sig.

Going from a 1800xt > 4870 was a massive boost. I don't really see a bottleneck as I game at 1280 due to my monitor but with all settings on max. If I were to increase res then I would likely be held back by my system. However, for me, its more then enough and going the intel route would offer me no benifits for what I use my rig for.

Sk.939 forever :p
 
well ive recently gone from an AMD x2 [email protected] to an intel q6600 while keeping my NV 8800gts 320mb and the cpu was holding back the true potential of the 8800gts astounded me, now i expected to see a bit of an increase in games but in some my frames rates doubled.

i theorise that people today dont really realise just how powerfull the previous and even more so the currant crop of graphics cards really are, cpu's can get a lot faster before we become gpu limited again.

i would sugest for you that you try a nice mild overclock on your cpu and look at the difference in game frame rates, then tray with the cpu back at stock a nice mild overclock on your currant gpu and look at *** frame rate increases......if im right this should show you that a cpu upgrade will benifit you more than a faster gpu.

of course i might be talking complete nonsense :) but this is what i have found myself.
 
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