8800GT replacement questions

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MonkeySnax

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Jun 2, 2009
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Howdy All! I currently have a Shuttle SP35P2V2 system (Intel P35 chipset) with an Intel Q6600 processor and a 8800GT video card. I've been very pleased with the system however I've been thinking about upgrading the video card. I'm not too picky about brands (Asus versus MSI or even AMD versus Nvidia) however I'm wondering what the logical progression would be for this card?

I've been looking at the 4850 (512 and 1 gig) and the GTX 260 as upgrades however I'm curious about the 4770 too. There are some restrictions with video cards in this system, basically it will hold a 10 inch card however the P4 power lead from the power supply will bump into the cooling housing of most of these cards if they follow reference spec's and possibly prohibit the install.

I have seen some mods to make the P4 connector a little more flexible however I've also seen some video cards with non-reference cooling solutions that look like they would work. I'd rather chose a card that works than mod the power connector :D With that said I guess the meat of my question is what's a good upgrade for my 8800GT? AMD 4850,4770, or Nvidia GTX 260?

Some of the cards I'm looking at are:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127430

and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161245

Any thoughts?
 
Are you open to ideas of switching case's?


I know 4850s are ten inchs so that will fit but the best upgrade is the gtx 260
 
GTX260 would be good. If you can scrounge up a little extra dough though, the GTX275 is really not far off in price and a bit better.
 
MonkeySnax said:
With that said I guess the meat of my question is what's a good upgrade for my 8800GT? AMD 4850,4770, or Nvidia GTX 260?
Click to expand...

While the GTS 250, HD4850 and HD4770 are faster than the 8800GT, the performance increase over the 8800GT isn't high enough to justify the purchase of those cards. The GTX 260 would provide a more noticeable performance increase that can justify the costs. However it is a larger card and may not fit inside the case.
 
Think of the increase of going from 8800gt > 4850 as similar to 8800gt > 8800gtx, sure there is improvement but the gtx260 would be much faster.

Now if the gtx260 fits it should have the power plugs on the top of it, at least my gtx 280 does. Actually that gtx260 doesnt look like a reference design, you may want to check that.
 
Thanks guys, I was leaning to the GTX 260 anyways :) I think as long as I get a card that isn't using the reference design for the cooling solution I'll be ok. The MSI card I linked "looks" like it will work. If it doesn't then I'll just mod the power connector :D If anybody's interested here a link I found that shows the mod:

http://www.sudhian.com/index.php?/forums/viewthread/103642/

Also, in regards to the power supply it's a 400 watt PS however it's supposed to be very adequate (think the old sparkle's) for powering newer video cards.
 
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