Which CPU and GFX card for upgrade?

weeble

weeble

weeble

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Am toying with an upgrade, especially as I got given GTA4 for crimbo - probably just GFX card and CPU. I'll then donate them to my partner's son, as I bought him a mobo for xmas.

Just wondering which quad chip to go for, that my mobo will like. And which are better atm - Nvidia or ATi? Toying with either GTX 280 or HD 4870.

Current System specs:
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3P (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.13GHz (1066FSB)
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit
Geforce 8800 GTS 320MB
550W PSU

Cheers
 
Any thoughts on these:?

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.83GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor

OcUK Extreme GeForce GTX 280 1024MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) (when it comes...)
or
Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express)
 
GTX 280s are really good deals at the moment (when in stock) so yeah go with that. From what I can see that motherboard of yours is based on the Intel 945 chipset, which may well have trouble with modern 45nm cpus. You may be better off going for a Q6600, unless you change your motherboard as well, then the Q9550 will be a nice cpu to go for, although the E8400 is also an awesome cpu and may well save you some money if you have to get a new motherboard. If that's the case then go P45...
 
It's the 965P chipset. It is a good board but 45nm support is patchy. If you have a rev 1.0/2.0 then forget it. If it's a rev 3.3 board then it supports the 45nm quads with a non official bios. I think you would be better off with a new board to be honest. Something like a Asus P45 P5Q pro would be good.

The cheap GTX 280's are back in stock tommorrow by the look of it. It's a better buy then the 1GB 4870's unless you can find one of the really cheap ones somewhere.

Have you overclocked your current cpu? That 6420 should hit at least 3.2Ghz on your current board. Sticking with the one you have for the time makes more sense than buying a quad that won't be used in most games. At least you could stretch out your current rig until the time that you really need to upgrade. You could switch to Core i7 then. It does'nt matter what cpu you buy, GTA4 will still run badly as it's so poorly coded.
 
Cheers for that lads - think I'll hold out for the GTX 280, and stick with the current CPU, which is clocked at 3.0Ghz atm. Will probably chuck in another 1Gb of RAM - tis cheap enough.

Don't really want to replace the mobo yet as I tend end up replacing everything when I do!
 
Last edited:
weeble said:
Cheers for that lads - think I'll hold out for the GTX 280, and stick with the current CPU, which is clocked at 3.0Ghz atm. Will probably chuck in another 1Gb of RAM - tis cheap enough.

Don't really want to replace the mobo yet as I tend end up replacing everything when I do!
Click to expand...

Get in there quick for the 280 as they are likely to go quick at that price.
 
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