Help me upgrade from 7950GT

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lepard2k1

Gawd
Joined
Jul 28, 2004
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I currently have the system in my sig. I am wanting to upgrade my video card from the 7950GT to something newer. I don't game much, however, I do have Crysis, COD4, MVP Baseball 05 (with several mods), AoE III (and expansions), Gears of War, Madden 08, etc.

My monitor's native resolution is 1280x1024 and my budget is preferably $150 or less, but it can be flexible depending on the actual features of the card.

Open to both Ati and nVidia (preferable).

I will also be looking for a SFF system (like a Shuttle) so would the card fit as well?

Thank you.
 
8800GS/9600GSO, 9600GT, 8800GT should all be good enough and less than $150.
 
i moved from 7950GT KO SC 512 MB to 4870 and i am impressed.
in your budget i do believe that the 4850 is a very good option, even thought i am not that happy from ATI drivers.
good luck
 
maybe even an 8800GTS...? here's one that every once in a while this month has dropped down to around $125 shipped after MIR, the deal should be on again this weekend, being as the rebate is only good on cards purchased from July 1st - July 31st, 2008...

Zotac 512MB 8800GTS
 
Read up on the HD4850 and it seems that it offers a lot of bang for the buck. So I am stuck between it and the 8800GT/S. I guess which one would be most future proof? Keeping in mind that my current processor is the E6300... will possibly be going quad core in a year or so.

Extra info: 99% certain that I will be purchasing the SP35P2V2 especially with the 4GB of RAM special. Will either of these give me problems to fit in this case?

MADNOD: Why are you not happy with ATI drivers?

I haven't had a lot of experience with ATI cards lately, last card I had was a 9800Pro which I gave to the ex-girlfriend so she can play Sims 2.

I appreciate any input given.
 
I just went from a 7950GT to a 4850 ($145 AR), it was worth it. Its faster than the 8800GT/S, and not too much more, so I strongly recommend it. Unlike MADNOD, I'm happy with the ATI drivers, and the install went very smoothly (uninstalled nvidia drivers, swapped cards, installed ATI drivers - no problems at all)
 
Actually i had the screen synchronization issues on Vista 64 Bit, XP and XP64 Bit. i've tried the driver cleaning and it was like a trial and error process. this issue is solved now.
however with catalyst 8.7 on a new XP 32 bit installation the CCC is not working, once i run it i choose the advance mode and then nothing happens.
the card performance is great and the Core drivers are fine.
that's my feedback, does this mean i am not recommending ATI? no not at all ATI cards at the moment are great.
 
Definitely ATI HD4850 since your budget is $150. It's more future proof than a Geforce 8800GT/GTS with Direct X 10.1 support on the HD4850 as oppose to Direct X 10 on the Geforce cards. Though, an 8800GT, 8800GTS card will have no problems running most games at 1280 x 1024.
 
There's absolutely no question. The 4850 is by far the best card in that price range, and it also has a single-slot cooler unlike the 8800GTS and 9800GTX so you could fit it inside a small form factor case like a shuttle without any problems.
 
A little late on the update, but thanks everyone.

I bought a VisionTek Radeon HD4850, and I am very happy, except for the temperatures on it (approx. 80 C). Anyone with some ideas on that?

Next stop, CPU upgrade.
 
Zero82z said:
An E7200 would be a good match for your PC at around $120.
Click to expand...

How would this compare to a Quad Core, like the Q6600? I keep hearing so many good things about it.

Only thing is I don't necessarily overclock so would this also be an issue?
 
The Q6600 is better for multitasking and multithreaded programs mainly. It really depends on what you plan on doing with it. Also, the E7200 is faster if they're both at stock, excluding of course applications that use all four cores.
 
Zero82z said:
The Q6600 is better for multitasking and multithreaded programs mainly. It really depends on what you plan on doing with it. Also, the E7200 is faster if they're both at stock, excluding of course applications that use all four cores.
Click to expand...

I don't think I would be using anything that would use all four cores... hmmm decisions decisions. I usually just browse online and play a few games (as stated above).

Quad would definitely be future proofing though or is my mentally wrong there? Is there a reading or a recommendation of sort?
 
^Read up in the Intel CPU forum. Many,many people have posed that eternal question -which one is better, the e8400/e7200/randomdualcoreIntelcpu or the Q6600.
 
Dude, overclock that processor!!! No need to buy another one unless you want quad-core. I have an E4400 running at 3.00Ghz with a 4850 and that thing flies!!! Bump the FSB to at least 1333 and you'll be very pleased.
 
Lepard said:
A little late on the update, but thanks everyone.

I bought a VisionTek Radeon HD4850, and I am very happy, except for the temperatures on it (approx. 80 C). Anyone with some ideas on that?

Next stop, CPU upgrade.
Click to expand...

have you changed the fan speed on your video card??
 
Overclock your E6300, as at stock speed it will definitely hold you back. I gain quite a bit of smoothness even at 1680x1050 so the processor will play an even larger role at your resolution.
 
Rauelius said:
Dude, overclock that processor!!! No need to buy another one unless you want quad-core. I have an E4400 running at 3.00Ghz with a 4850 and that thing flies!!! Bump the FSB to at least 1333 and you'll be very pleased.
Click to expand...

skadebo said:
Overclock your E6300, as at stock speed it will definitely hold you back. I gain quite a bit of smoothness even at 1680x1050 so the processor will play an even larger role at your resolution.
Click to expand...

I may have to try overclocking and save some cash for the immediate future. I have a SP35P2V2 which offers some good overclocking options. My only concern is that I stopped overclocking a long time ago circa Celeron 300A.

How safe are the E6300 for overclocking? Don't want to burn this up... also what is a good temperature gadget for Vista?

AthlonXP said:
have you changed the fan speed on your video card??
Click to expand...

Have no idea how I would go about doing that. Would it be related to using Riva Tuner? Can I use the Catalyst Control Center to control fan speed?

Thanks!
 
Lepard said:
I may have to try overclocking and save some cash for the immediate future. I have a SP35P2V2 which offers some good overclocking options. My only concern is that I stopped overclocking a long time ago circa Celeron 300A.

How safe are the E6300 for overclocking? Don't want to burn this up... also what is a good temperature gadget for Vista?
Click to expand...

You can pretty much just up your FSB and drop the RAM speed and call it a day. You probably won't even need to up the voltage to get a good OC, which would eliminate any chance of burning it up :)

Have no idea how I would go about doing that. Would it be related to using Riva Tuner? Can I use the Catalyst Control Center to control fan speed?
Click to expand...

I believe 8.10s added the ability to control fan speed in the ATI CCC overdrive. That said, unless you plan on overclocking your video card there really isn't any reason to up the fan speed...
 
Lepard said:
How safe are the E6300 for overclocking? Don't want to burn this up... also what is a good temperature gadget for Vista?
Click to expand...
You should be good for at least 3GHz with that CPU. Unfortunately, there are no good temp monitoring gadgets for Vista, but Real Temp is the best application to give you good temp readings.
 
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