Necessary for an Upgrade?

T

tenub

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
355
I've been looking to purchase a new monitor so I can finally get out of my 1280x1024 resolution that I've been running for a while. I just really cannot stand game interfaces being so gigantic in comparison to the game world anymore. Even in Photoshop or Word having more screen real estate to manage things would be amazing.

I posted a thread some days ago here:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1536535

and have come to the conclusion that the Acer G245H may be the monitor I end up purchasing so that I can finally run things at 1920x1080.

This brings me to some uncertainties. My current set up is as follows:

DFI LANPARTY DK P35-T2RS
E8400 @ 3.2 Ghz
ZALMAN CNPS9500
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000)
MSI GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB
Rosewill RP500-2 500W

For the past 2.5 years it seems to have been good to me running WoW, TF2, CS, Crysis, etc. My major concern is that if I do end up running things at 1920x1080, will my current setup be able to handle it? As it stands now I can run TF2 with all settings maxed and the fps is very fluid. Back when I first built the machine I played Crysis at high/very high settings just to test it out and things were acceptable. My major concern now is that it seems WoW keeps getting worse and worse. I remember being able to run everything maxed out, but now I'm forced to keep everything at the lowest possible settings and I still dip into the 10-20 fps range during combat and even as low as 5-9 fps when everything is happening on screen (are the latest official drivers not good or something?). If I move up to 1920x1080 I fear that it would most certainly be completely unplayable.

I've been thinking that the next upgrade to do would be my video card as it seems the E8400 is still a solid processor and I have been looking at the GTX 200 and 400 series as potential upgrades. However, seeing as how my 500W power supply is probably the bare minimum requirement for my current setup I would probably have to also invest in a new one, am I right?

I would like to keep things as inexpensive as possible, so any help would be much appreciated.
 
Newegg has refurbished HP LP2465w monitors that use a far superior S-PVA panel (which have the deepest blacks that you can get on any LCD) for about $260. It's also 16:10, which seems to be a major plus to most here. I would go with that over any TN monitor.

Also, as long as you aren't looking to max Crysis either a Radeon HD 4890 if you can find a deal on one (or a 5770 if DX11 is a must [with the glut of console ports it isn't] which is slower at 1920x1200 with AA&AF turned up), or a GTX 460 1GB.

Should serve your needs well on the cheap.

And seriously, I'd throw that POS power supply in the trash before you upgrade. Unless you like the smell of magic smoke and dead components.
 
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What's a solid PSU to run those components with comfortably? Do other people agree with his suggestions?
 
I bought an ACER 23 inch off craigs a few months ago for only $100.. its max reso is 1920x1080. Very nice, too bad the refresh is 60hz though.
 
The 8800 GTS 512 should be more than enough for what you are playing, though I would personally upgrade to the GTX 460 or 470 if you have the cash to spend.
 
tenub said:
What's a solid PSU to run those components with comfortably? Do other people agree with his suggestions?
Click to expand...

I recommend this PSU:
$80 - Seasonic S121II 620 620W PSU

Yes I do agree that the PSU has to be replaced if you do a GPU upgrade.

For 1920x1080, a good starting point would be the GTX 460.
 
Kainzo said:
The 8800 GTS 512 should be more than enough for what you are playing, though I would personally upgrade to the GTX 460 or 470 if you have the cash to spend.
Click to expand...

I thought so too, but then why all of a sudden is my fps dipping so low at my current resolution? I'm in the process of finding a good older video driver, trying 186.18 now. Was using the most recent version, maybe that has something to do with it. I seriously doubt that my video card would begin losing performance after only 2.5 years. I even cleaned all the dust out of my computer and the processor temperature dropped a good 8-10°C.
 
Mr. Bluntman said:
Newegg has refurbished HP LP2465w monitors that use a far superior S-PVA panel (which have the deepest blacks that you can get on any LCD) for about $260. It's also 16:10, which seems to be a major plus to most here. I would go with that over any TN monitor.

Also, as long as you aren't looking to max Crysis either a Radeon HD 4890 if you can find a deal on one (or a 5770 if DX11 is a must [with the glut of console ports it isn't] which is slower at 1920x1200 with AA&AF turned up), or a GTX 460 1GB.

Should serve your needs well on the cheap.

And seriously, I'd throw that POS power supply in the trash before you upgrade. Unless you like the smell of magic smoke and dead components.
Click to expand...

This, his suggestions are spot on man.
 
+1 for GTX 460 and +1 to Corsair/Antec/Seasonic/XFX power supplies, 550w minimum to run what you've got + 460. 600w+ to be on the safe side and be ready for a future upgrade. A power supply by those mfg should last for 3-5 years, minimum, which is why they're warrantied that long. The Antec Neo Eco series are made by Seasonic so they're great choices, the 520 was on sale this week for 30 AR but that's a little too low for your needs. It would work, but you'd have very little headroom for the future. Rosewill's 500w is not the same as, say, Seasonic's 500w. The Rosewill probably only puts out 400 or 450 at best, while the Seasonic is often capable of more than its listed rating (often 100w more).

I've got a friend running a GTX 260, quad core 3.2, and 4 hard drives + other stuff on a 500w Rosewill, but it was by necessity, not be design. In his case, it does work, he's been doing it without incident for almost a year now, so it's not impossible. The GTX 260 takes more power than the 460, for reference.

Edit: However to address your original question you are on the right track. Your cpu is fine, keep it. New PSU and video card will set you back on the road to high fps gaming.
 
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