What would be a good interim graphics card for me

[cheddar]

I have a somewhat old system I built a few years ago. It is a Intel Core 2 Q6600, 4GB of ram and running windows 7.

I built this myself and it has served me well, I upgraded the graphics card to a ATI HD4850 18months ago, and had to upgrade my PSU to a Antec Gamer 80 Plus Bronze 520 when my old when died a few months ago.

I want to build a new PC but don't quite have the cash at the moment with Christmas coming up. I have decided to start buying components such as a case that I know I can buy now and use later without fear of a decrease in performance.

My problem though is I want to play Battlefield 3 and Skyrim at a decent graphic level when they are released.

So what would be a good graphics card to get that is better than my ATI HD4850 and could possibly be used in a potential new build early next year.

Is it even worth upgrading a card on my system as my CPU is so old?

I am living in the USA at moment if it makes a difference. Thanks.

 

[Pete.Dakota]

Welcome to my world! I have the exact same issue as you, the only difference I'm on a Q8300.

I'm considering getting a 570 now to tide me over until next year when the full generation upgrade can be afforded. And then look to either SLI the 570 or buy a 28nm card when they are released next year. Or do the exact same as above, but with a 6950.

The 570 outperforms the 6950, but is about 40/50 more expensive. A 6950 Crossfire set up will still be pretty immense (outperforming a single 580 by miles). So if you think a single 6950 will suit your requirements for now, take the cheaper option and then double it up when you can afford it.

With regards to your CPU, yeah, I reckon it's going to be a bottleneck; I'm expecting my Q8300 at 3.4ghz to bottleneck anything above a 570/6950. You'll still see improvement, but any new GPU won't be fully utlised until you upgrade the CPU/mobo etc.

 

[Rroff]

As above 6950 sounds like a good bet for you with the future option of going 6950 CF for a nice (and probably fairly cheap) boost in the future. Aslong as you have the Q6600 running atleast 3gig it won't be a huge bottleneck to the 6950.

 

[cheddar]

As above 6950 sounds like a good bet for you with the future option of going 6950 CF for a nice (and probably fairly cheap) boost in the future. Aslong as you have the Q6600 running atleast 3gig it won't be a huge bottleneck to the 6950.

I am running my Q6600 at stock, I just checked CPU-Z and it is listed as Revision: G0 and Stepping B.

I have never messed around with overclocking before, I read about software program such as SetFSB that allow you to overclock within Windows, does anyone use those or can you recommend a piece of software?

At the moment my temps on all four cores are sitting at 35.c with no load.

The 6950 sounds ideal for the time being, would I have any issues power wise? As I stated above I am running a Antec 80 Plus Bronze 520 PSU.