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Worth upgrading my graphics card?

zAndy1

zAndy1

zAndy1

Associate
Joined
1 Jan 2004
Posts
412
Hi,
I have a 3 yr old system with an Athlon X2 3800+ CPU running at 2.4Ghz as opposed to the stock 2Ghz. I only have 1GB of DDR PC3200 Ram at the moment but could easily upgrade that to 2GB. The main question I have is, is there any point upgrading my current graphics card (X800GT) which is crap to something like a HD 4850 or HD4870 based on the rest of my system? Will I be able to play the latest games at a decent framerate (res of 1280x1024) or is my CPU going to make upgrading the graphics card pointless. I'm trying to avoid upgrading my whole system if possible but if I can get an extra 1GB of Ram and maybe a HD4850/4870 and then be able to play games at high or max settings then I'll probably go down that route for now.

Cheers
Andy
 
if your looking at a cheap tempary upgrade then you may want to look at the 4670 and more RAM. the 4850/4870 will be a good choice if you want the GPU to last for some time
 
Yeah you will be able to play a lot of new games, as in most games, the CPU matters very little. But I reckon you will need 2GB of ram.

I wouldn't buy a 4870 though, as I doubt you'd notice much difference over a £99 4850.
 
Thanks for the advice, had my eye on the XFX 4850 for £99 for a few days so looks like a good option. Of course the other question then is will my undoubtedly generic low wattage PSU in my evesham system be up to the job (and have the required connectors). I'll have a look at it later and see what it's rated at...
 
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