Worth the upgrade (just video)?

[Captain Kirk]

Hello all,

Specs are in my signature. I'm wondering if it's worth the money to plunk down and get a GTX 680 or a 7970. I'm trying to breathe some life into my (rapidly) aging rig. I don't play at super high resolutions, but I can't stand massive amounts of frame drop/skip. I'm wondering if I do take that upgrade path, will my CPU be the next bottleneck - given that I'm still on LGA775. As I said before, I'm not so much interested in picture quality over raw speed. I don't know why, but performance drops always catch my eye quickly and annoyingly .

Penny for your thoughts?

 

[Quagmire LXIX]

Hmm, tuff call. What do you clock that 9650 at?

If you're into the 3+ GHz on it, I feel these will be some true statements:

1) It will work.
2) Games will run better than current setup.
3) You will not be anywhere close to untapping the potential of your 680/7970.
4) You will have a good vga for when you upgrade your platform.

 

[Captain Kirk]

Hmm, tuff call. What do you clock that 9650 at?

Just stock 3 GHz right now. Might OC it at some point; all it has right now is the stock HSF, so I don't think I can get much out of it.

3) You will not be anywhere close to untapping the potential of your 680/7970.

Right. I just want something to tide me over right now and ease the frame drop(s) until I can get a beefier rig going. It'll definitely be one part down when it comes time to upgrade, too, as you say.