New Graphics card wanted

Dacelonid

Hi,
Was looking for some advice on upgrading my PC last year, but due to the wife losing her job, that went on the back burner. She is still out of work, but I think it is time to upgrade regardless.

This was my spec last year

Item|Current Config
CPU|Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
Cooler|Artic Freezer pro 7 (I think)
Ram|4 x Crucial DDR2 BallistiX PC6400 1024MB
PSU|Corsair Powersupply 520W Black, ATX/EPS
Monitor|Dell 19" 1280x1024
Gfx|XFX GeForce 8800GT 600M 512MB GDDR3,
MB|Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3, P965, Socket-775
HDD|Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA2
Case|Turbine V54 Gaming case


The only changes to the spec was the adddition of an LG 23" monitor and a Antec 900 case.
The gist of the advice I got last year was that the GPU should be replaced, so that is what I am looking for, and despite my previous assertion that I would rather stick with nVidia, I will have to acknowledge that based on price/performance ati seems the way to go.

Would be thinking of getting a 5750 or a 5770, as they would be around my price range ( ~€150) but my only concern would be that the PSU would need upgrading. Is the Corsair 520 that I have powerful enough to run a 5750 or 5770 or do I need to upgrade, and also are they good enough cards to worth upgrading to, or should I be looking at something else.

Thanks
Dace

somanynames90

I Have a GTS 250 if your interested ?

Cheers

Jon

Dacelonid

somanynames90 wrote: »

I Have a GTS 250 if your interested ?

Cheers

Jon

Not really interested, if I was going to go for any of the GTX2xx it would be the GTX260 model that I would go for, but thanks anyway.

Jonny7

The 5750 and 5770 probably draw about the same or less than your 8800, so power is fine.

Check techpowerup.com for a good comparison chart (the 8800GT is included in there)

If you are budget minded, then the 4870 offers about the same FPS as the 5770 but can be picked up for 80 euros or less second hand on ebay.

If you want to go a little over budget (closer to 200) then the new 460 from Nvidia is actually a good card, the only good card, low power draw AND good performance, the good thing is you wouldn't have that annoying change of drivers from nv to ati.

Worth a mentioned is the 5830, not a good card compared to the recent gems from ATI but its price has dropped dramatically (down to 166 I believe)

Dacelonid

Thanks for the reply Jonny7,
Was actually considering the GTX460 first off, but thought the price was a bit high. Might be worth considering again. €50 isn't stretching the budget that much.

Spear

Dacelonid wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Jonny7,
Was actually considering the GTX460 first off, but thought the price was a bit high. Might be worth considering again. €50 isn't stretching the budget that much.

The 460 seems to be the new sweet spot. Some review links here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055967553

Dacelonid

Mybe a stupid question, but my motherboard is quite old, is there anyway of knowing that it (a PCI-E 2.0 card) will work or will I have to update the BIOS or is it even supported

Dacelonid

OK it was a stupid question, the 8800GT that is in the computer at the moment is a PCI Express 2.0, so I suppose I am ok.
My financial controller (wife) has ok'd it, so I am getting a new GTX 460, whohooo.

Solitaire

Note that you may need to OC that Q6600 eventually to hold off upgrading it anytime soon. The issue is that you really would need a bigger PSU to run that and a GTX460, as the latter is a very thirsty card to run Its the only reason why the slightly cheaper, weaker, less OCable HD5830 is still in contention; it may be the worst of a good bunch but AMDs 40nm cards barely sip at power (the HD5770 actually needs less juice than your 8800GT!)

Dacelonid

So do or don't go for a GTX 460?
I get what you are saying about the 5770, but I won't be OCing the CPU anytime soon, so if the PSU can handle the 460 and the cpu running at stock speeds I would be happy.

This is part of a long term progression towards an i7 rig (or whatever is the reccomended rig at the time). Next is a PSU upgrade, followed then by the mobo, cpu and memory. If I can get away with having the 460 now, it will save me having to upgrade the gpu again shortly, whereas if I have to go with the 5700 it will need an upgrade sooner.

Solitaire

Go for it.

Looking up more reviews and it looks like there's a lot of variation in results; mostly as almost all the cards have different PCBs with different VRMs. On average the power consumption of the 768MB version is lower than the early samples and is actually lower than the HD5830 at load.

On a more personal note a basic system with a Q6600 plus a GTX460 is not likely to break far past the 50% load point on the HX520 while gaming, if at all. If anything it lies on the loading sweet-spot for that particular PSU

Dacelonid

Perfect thanks Solitaire.
The prices of the 5770's are tempting, but the longevity of the GTX 460 is a big draw. Appreciate all the input. Now to find the best place to purchase
/Dace

Dacelonid

Thanks for all your advice people. Have a new GTX 460 winging its way to me as I type this. Is it normal for a 30ish man to feel like a kid at christmas when ordering new PC parts

Solitaire

Dacelonid wrote: »

Is it normal for a 30ish man to feel like a kid at christmas when ordering new PC parts

Yes :pac:

Chaos Marine

Solitaire wrote: »

Yes :pac:

If you're changing your GPU, I'd change the PSU while you're at it. I have a, or rather, used to use, a Tagon Toughpower 650W PSU for initially a 8800GTX (which crapped out on me, the connectors for the monitors died on me) but now I have a 260GTX. My system is; Q6600, 260GTX, Creative Titanium Pro Fatal1ty, 1 250GB HDD, 1 750 GB HDD, 2 1TB HDD, 1 IDE DVD/CD Burner, 2 SATA DVD/CD Readers, half a dozen assorted fans.

The 650W worked them all splendidly so while I generally er on the side of having as large a PSU as possible, you can usually achieve a lot with a decent PSU.

Recently I replaced the 650W for a 950W Corsair and I'm just waiting till I have the money set aside to buy a pair of 470s.

marco_polo

Chaos Marine wrote: »

If you're changing your GPU, I'd change the PSU while you're at it. I have a, or rather, used to use, a Tagon Toughpower 650W PSU for initially a 8800GTX (which crapped out on me, the connectors for the monitors died on me) but now I have a 260GTX. My system is; Q6600, 260GTX, Creative Titanium Pro Fatal1ty, 1 250GB HDD, 1 750 GB HDD, 2 1TB HDD, 1 IDE DVD/CD Burner, 2 SATA DVD/CD Readers, half a dozen assorted fans.

The 650W worked them all splendidly so while I generally er on the side of having as large a PSU as possible, you can usually achieve a lot with a decent PSU.

Recently I replaced the 650W for a 950W Corsair and I'm just waiting till I have the money set aside to buy a pair of 470s.

Seriously?

Why on earth would he need to change a quality modular PSU like the Corsair 520W to run a single GT460.

Unless the laws of physics have changed recently, even erring on the side of caution it is comfortably more than adequate for the job in hand. The only thing that would be achieved by upgrading the PSU is an unnesscessary extra dent in the OPs finances.