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New CPU or Graphics card?

K

kidstechno

Gawd
Joined
Dec 14, 2005
Messages
580
So I find myself with about $200 to spend and was thinking of getting a new processor or new graphics card for my gaming habit. Details below:

Motherboard: Asus P5WDH (Socket 775, latest bios can support up to the newest batch of E8000s and Q8000 and Q9000)
Current CPU: E6400 2.13ghz @ 2.5ghz w/ Zalman CPS9500 (had it up to 3.2 but got lazy since one day it decided it didn't want to work so haven't really fooled with it) with 4GB G.Skill PC2-6400 dual channel running Windows 7 RC1

Current GPU: Geforce 8800GTS 640mb

Should I go with a Q6600 (I multitask a ton so quad would be niiice) or get maybe a GTX 260? What do you guys think?
 
Either one would be a significant upgrade. It all depends on what you do more. If you game a lot, then the GPU upgrade would be best. However, if you spend most of your time multitasking and running CPU-intensive tasks, you'd be better off with a new CPU.
 
You really can go either way it seems and see performance gains. I would do video card now and then do a complete overhaul down the road.
 
Why would you buy the 260 might I ask? Doesnt your board have an intel chipset (crossefire, not sli...well, without hacked drivers)

I would think you could sell your gpu and cpu, and have enough with the $200 to pick up probably a q6600 and at least a 4870 1gb (buy a new gpu for warranty, but used cpu for oc confirmation). That would improve mulitasking and gaming, especially if you pick up a G0 quad and shoot it up to around 3.2 (very possible with the zalman you have).
 
Mr34727 said:
Why would you buy the 260 might I ask? Doesnt your board have an intel chipset (crossefire, not sli...well, without hacked drivers)
Click to expand...
Just because he won't be able to run SLI on his current board doesn't mean he shouldn't buy a 260 to run as a single card. A single GTX260 is enough to run most games at full settings at resolutions up to 1920x1200.
 
Mr34727 said:
Why would you buy the 260 might I ask? Doesnt your board have an intel chipset (crossefire, not sli...well, without hacked drivers)
Click to expand...

Dude that's only relevant if he's actually considering a multi-GPU setup. For a single card it doesn't matter what chipset.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I decided to go with a HIS 4890 and see where that takes me. The reason I wanted to choose either is I'm not looking for a SLI/CF combo at the moment. I originally had an X800XT way back which died about 2 weeks before the Newegg 1yr Warranty was up and since they no longer carried it, I exchanged it for the 8800GTS (which was the same price of the X800XT that I got at that time, nice upgrade I'd say).

I do realize the P5WDH is a "Crossfire" board, but my monitor max is 1680x1050 and it's plenty big enough for me. I was checking out benchies and reviews and it seems like the newest edition of GPUs can handle 1680x1050 fine with a single card. But I'm wondering, do the 4890s still need the stupid dongle to enable Crossfire? Or did they finally get that going with drivers now? I remember CCC was pretty nice back then and their newest driver is half the size of the newest NV driver. Anyone had any problems with ATI cards and Windows 7?

I think later on I can nab a medium-grade i7 motherboard + Core i7 and then i'll be set, maybe add a new PSU. Replacing a GPU is a lot easier than replacing a CPU and with me being lazy, I think I made the right choice. :p
 
Be sure to clock your CPU as high as it will go (with stability) and you will be rewarded with much higher framerates.
A 2.5GHz C2D CPU is nowhere near enough to push a 4890 hard.
 
kidstechno said:
But I'm wondering, do the 4890s still need the stupid dongle to enable Crossfire? Or did they finally get that going with drivers now?
Click to expand...
They don't use those old dongles that connect to the back of the card. Now they just use flexible bridges similar to the ones used for SLI.
 
Nenu said:
Be sure to clock your CPU as high as it will go (with stability) and you will be rewarded with much higher framerates.
A 2.5GHz C2D CPU is nowhere near enough to push a 4890 hard.
Click to expand...

I doubt I could push it any further. My temps are high 50s, low 60c at load. Dunno what the deal is but may need to take off my HS one day and clean it off and reinstall it because that seems a bit on the high side.
 
with a little searching on ebay or someplace you should be able to get new CPU and video card. get an 8400 and 4870 1gb should cost little over $220 or so if you get the right deals
 
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