2900XT upgrade path

[pingjockey]

I am currently running a 2900xt with 4GB of ram with a E6600 (O/C'ed to 3Ghz) running on a Abit A9WD motherboard.

I would like to upgrade to a video card thats not quite as hot running and little more forgiving power wise. My thought was to get a 9600GT and wait about 9 months more to migrate to a new motherboard.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this video card selection?

Thanks

Pingjockey

 

[Silus]

I am currently running a 2900xt with 4GB of ram with a E6600 (O/C'ed to 3Ghz) running on a Abit A9WD motherboard.

I would like to upgrade to a video card thats not quite as hot running and little more forgiving power wise. My thought was to get a 9600GT and wait about 9 months more to migrate to a new motherboard.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this video card selection?

Thanks

Pingjockey

The 9600 GT is very similar to the HD 2900 XT and HD 3870, in terms of performance. Though you'll see improvements in both power consumption and heat generation, performance will probably be the same, even if the 9600 GT performs better with AA on.

I you want a significant boost in performance, while saving in power and heat generation, you should be looking at a 8800 GT 512, 8800 GTS 512 or a 8800 GTX. All of these provide a significant performance increase over your HD 2900 XT, while being more power efficient.

 

[pillagenburn]

NVIDIA is putting massive pricing pressure on AMD; the 9600GT is an example of this pricing pressure. An easy path would be to purchase a second 3850 512mb (inexpensive) when they drop down in price again. Crossfire these together and you have a great setup. The only other option, IMO, is to sell the 2900xt and buy an 8800GT or 9600GT.

 

[pingjockey]

So, a good upgrade path would be to sell the 2900xt and grab either a 8800gt or 9600gt? Is there that large of performance delta between the two?