Upgrading on a budget from 2900XT 512MB, help.

[Iamzod]

Having recently changed from a 17" CRT to a 20" LCD display (1600x900) i'm looking for a card to replace my existing 2900XT.

I'm on a bit of a budget due to moving in with the girlfriend next mont so would ideally like to keep things under £140.

Rest of my system is an E5200 @ 3.6GHz with 4GB DDR2 running windows 7 if it makes any difference.

I've been thinking of an ATi5770, is this going to be a significant improvment for me? And is there anything else i should be considering?

 

[harryohh]

A 5770 would be a very big improvement over your 2900XT.

And at a resolution of 1600 x 900 it'll handle almost anything you'll throw at it.

I'm not too sure about bottlenecking with that CPU though.I'm sure a more experienced board member can advise you on that.

 

[Marine-RX179]

The HD5770 is actually quite the good match for that res, budget, and CPU. You will see significant improvement over your current HD2900XT.

Your CPU should be able to up another 200MHz to 3.8GHz for the overclock, but I guess it depends on your CPU's cooling and what temperature is acceptable to you..

 

[marc512]

5770

 

[James J]

Having recently changed from a 17" CRT to a 20" LCD display (1600x900) i'm looking for a card to replace my existing 2900XT.

I'm on a bit of a budget due to moving in with the girlfriend next mont so would ideally like to keep things under £140.

Rest of my system is an E5200 @ 3.6GHz with 4GB DDR2 running windows 7 if it makes any difference.

I've been thinking of an ATi5770, is this going to be a significant improvment for me? And is there anything else i should be considering?

Due to the mid range 400 series from nvidia not being out yet, nor having any sort of launch date associated with them, I think you answered your own question mate

5770 is a cracking card, especially at that res. a lot of people initially get put off by the 128bit bus compared to the 58xx series 256bit one but then you notice the GDDR5 (instead of GDDR3) and that ends up being pointless again lol.

Your cpu is fine as well, although it might be worth looking at going to a quad as your next upgrade after this as more games are starting to actually have proper support for them now, with noticable differences (BFBC2 as an example)

 

[Liampope]

Another vote for 5770 It's a big jump in price to the next level - a 5850, but an equally big jump in performance - both are sweet spots for price/performance. The supposed man in the middle - the 5830 is way too close to 5850 in price and way too close to 5770 in performance, so not really worth considering. 5770 is a great match for your budget and current system.