Quick CPU/Vid card upgrade question

Just a quick question. Would it be a worthwhile upgrade to go from a 5200+ X2 and 8800GTX, to a Phenom 9950 and GTX 280? I game at 1680x1050.

Thanks

Probably not.

What if I was to keep my 5200+ for the time being, OC it to 3Ghz, and get a 260 GTX. Would that be better than my 8800GTX? Would it at least raise my minimum FPS?

what current games do you play right now.. and on the demanding games you do play whats your avg frame rate..
because at 1680x1050.. your better off with the 8800GTX.. unless you want to run insane AA and 16X AF.. then it would be worth maybe going to the 4850.. but the gtx 260/280 would be a waste of money running at that resolutions..

though i agree with the oc on the processor.. it wouldnt hurt if your able to do it..

A 5200+/8800GTX would run pretty much any game out there today at good framerates, except for the most demanding ones. Unless you're an extreme Clear Sky or Crysis fan, the upgrade is not "worthwhile".

On the other hand, if you do play any game that does not run satisfactory on your current setup, the logical solution is to upgrade..and of course getting a Phenom is easier and cheaper than switching to an Intel platform.

You could try overclocking your old X2 to around 3 GHz and see if that improves performance enough. I got another 6 months out of my X2 by overclocking it from 2.5 GHz to 2.9 GHz.

A Phenom at 2.6+ GHz would outperform a 3 GHz X2 by far however. In my experience, a Phenom at 2.3 GHz is about as fast as a 2.7 GHz X2 in worst-case, single-threaded scenarios, and up to 60% faster than a 2.9 GHz X2 (or about as fast as a 4.6 GHz X2) in best-case scenarios like games that are truly multithreaded (UT3 and any game using that engine, for example).

For the videocard, I'd go with a GTX260 or 4870. GTX280 is overkill at that res and with those CPUs. Go with the 4870 if you have a Crossfire-capable mobo and you can always get a second card later.

I would agree with JimmiG.

I looked at a bunch of gaming benchmarks and saw compared the X2 5400+, the C2D 6600, Q6600 and Phenom 9950. The difference was about 20%. In some games, it didn't matter much. I mean the Phenom 9950 or Q6600 would be ahead by about 20% over the 5400+. The small performance difference doesn't seem to justify the large price differences.

I read they want to come out with 2.8 and 3.0 GHz Phenoms by the end of the year. Who knows, those might really be your best bet. I read the HD 3xxx and HD 4xxx series do better with 1080p so I would choose an ATI.

Bladestorm said:

Just a quick question. Would it be a worthwhile upgrade to go from a 5200+ X2 and 8800GTX, to a Phenom 9950 and GTX 280? I game at 1680x1050.

Thanks

Click to expand...

not unless your gaming with the newest games. At that res your current card should be good, The GTX280 really shines at the higher resolutions. you didn't mention what type of motherboard you had, PSU and all that. I was pretty happy going to my GTX280 from my 8800GTX but I am gaming at 1920 by 1200. If your looking for a increase in game play your going to get more band for the buck selling your 8800GTX and getting a GTX260 (there are selling the "old" models at around 225, you can get a 125 for your 8800GTX so it works out to a 100 dollar upgrade) I also expect the 4870 price to be dropping soon.

now if your going to upgrade your monitor I would make a different suggestion.

I'd keep that CPU for a while. As for the GPU, I'd go for a HD4870 or GTX 260.