sisters PC nees an upgrade...

A

AmongTheChosenX

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Shes running the following:

DFI Lanparty UT Nforce 4 Ultra-D
Opteron 146 OC'd to 2.9ghz
512MB's RAM (value RAM, and yes I'm upgrading this for her to 1GB)
Radeon X850 Pro
Audigy 2 ZS Value
80GB IDE Hard Drive (upgrading this to SATA soon)

she only plays call of Duty 4, at 1024 x 768 (15 inch LCD monitor limits her). i think she'll play FEAR as well sometimes, and i like to play around with quake 4 on it when my computer is down (seems to eb happening often, lolol).

anyways, aside from the RAM slowing the performance down, the graphics card can't do too much. Almost all settings in COD4 are low or off, and theres no anti aliasing. 800 x 600 looks disgusting, and she cant go over 1024 x 768.
I figure I can sell her current card for like $35, and then get her a card for around $50.

but, i dont know WHAT to get her!!!

I've been looking at the following:

7800GT
7800GTX
7800GTX 512 (can barely find one of these)
7900GT
7900GTO (found one of these for sale for $55 in the FS section)
X1900GT (cant seem to find one of these)
X1800XT/XL

But i do not know WHICH CARD to get her!
firs toff i'm stuck figuring out if she can jsut get by with a 256MB card, or if she actually needs a 512 card. again, I found that 7900GTO 512 for $55, so 512 i an option in the budget, but i just need to know for my brains sake.
again, I'd like her to be able to max out all settings, keep the minumum frames around 40 FPS, and have full blast AA and AF settings.

What would be the best option for the budget i'm working with?
also, i prefer an nvidia card because shes got an SLI motherboard (well, at least an ultra D that can be modded to SLi, so we will stick to that method)

other plans for the pc are:
buy her another stick of 512MB, so its a dual channeled 1 Gig "kit" per sey. i'll throw money in for this.
then buy a SATA hard drive, and re install windows on that and sell her IDE drive. close to zero cost upgrade for me.
 
If you have more money to put upfront, you can get current cards at good prices. Today I ordered an EVGA 9600GT SSC for $120 but it comes with a $60 rebate. Its listed as sold out right now but it said that earlier then it changed to "available for preorder". This is the one:

http://shop2.frys.com/product/5706532

I see 9800GTs as low as $80 (or maybe they were gso or something like that). I would try to get more ram. It uses DDR so that costs more than DDR2 but Fry's was having some deals on them recently with 2GB as low as $30 after rebate. I think that would make a much bigger difference than switching to a SATA hard drive. But if you can upgrade to a SATA (especially a larger one) for zero, do it. Basically, keep on eye on the hot deals forum here or at places like fatwallet.

and it seems like she will never use SLI so be open to ATI deals also
 
just did a search on fatwallet and found 1GB for $11 and 2GB for $25 (both after rebate) in this thread:

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/858573/

that deal is over now but its just another example of the bargains available. There is a category selector on the left and you can choose computers/components/memory to list just memory or whatever category you want. Best way to go if you have the money to put upfront. I have never been denied a rebate.
 
Why go with an old generation of DX9 cards when current mid-range and low end DX10 cards are so affordable? Granted, with a single-core AMD she'll be CPU bound but a DX10 card still makes sense. If the board only has AGP, go with the Radeon HD 3850 AGP. If it has got PCI-E, there are many options like the 9600GT, 3850 PCI-E etc.

Also go with 2GB of RAM total - the benefits are huge over having only 1GB.
 
The memory alone will help with her games. I agree the 9600gt would be a nice upgrade.
 
JimmiG said:
Why go with an old generation of DX9 cards when current mid-range and low end DX10 cards are so affordable? Granted, with a single-core AMD she'll be CPU bound but a DX10 card still makes sense. If the board only has AGP, go with the Radeon HD 3850 AGP. If it has got PCI-E, there are many options like the 9600GT, 3850 PCI-E etc.

Also go with 2GB of RAM total - the benefits are huge over having only 1GB.
Click to expand...

That board has PCI-E, but I agree with something along the lines of an HD 3850 or 8600 GT. Even as modest as these are they would wipe the floor with the options he listed and not bottleneck too much with the OC'd Opty and not be too far above budget.
 
HD 3850 definitely, for <$60 it owns everything else in the price range. Also, that's awesome that your sister plays FPS's XD.
 
yeah i suppose. shes not like "into" them. she just plays call of duty 4 for laughs and such. thing is when i play on it i'm like wanting to kill myself because the performance sucks compared to whatever is in my rig (always high end hardware)

3850 or 9600GT is what i'm seeing then. although i cant find a 9600GT for less than $80, even used, so i think thats out of the options.

an 8600GT would be do able though.

only thing i'm concerned about is that an 8600GT is slower than a 7800GTX/7900GTX from what i have read. is this true?
 
get the 9600gt.. very nice upgrade a way more future proof.. the 7900gtx beats the 8600gt @ 1280x1200 by around 20 fps in Prey.. thats the only info I have found through a quick google
 
Actually, is your sister's X850 Pro a VIVO model? You could always hang a better cooler on it and flash the BIOS to an X850 XT. That's what I did with mine in my old Athlon64 3700+ AGP rig and it can run LotRO on medium/high settings. Ah, scratch that - probably too much bother for too little gain for most folks. ;)
 
it is a vivo, but its PCI express, which doesnt accept BIOS flashes to unlock the pipes to an XT model. :( i believe they laser cut everything.\


well here is what i've found:

an X1950 pro 512 for $40 (FS section)
a used 8600GTS (not GT) for $30 (FS section)

i found this review:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Twintech/GeForce_8600_GTS/6.html

the X1950 pro is faster indeed at resolutions of 1280 x 1024 or higher or it runs at around the same level (say quake 4 or FEAR)

however the 8600 may be the better option because:
she'll never be running higher than 1024 x 768 cause of her monitor, unless she upgrades, which she will not because she really doesnt care.
its $10 less out of my wallet (remember i'm buying all this for her, including her future RAM upgrade, if i save $10 per upgrade, thats $30 bucks saved)
i also have the option to SLi this card if she does upgrade the monitor or needs more power.
 
How about giving her your 2900Pro and you getting an upgrade? I went into Fry's today and they had a returned evga 9600GT for $114. $122 something out the door minus $60 rebate comes out to a $63 dollar or so 9600GT.

Thats why I keep recommending you check the hot deals section instead of used cards :D

I say concentrate on finding a good deal on 2GB of DDR ram first
 
my 2900 Pro is DEAD, i cannot do anything with it!

i bought an 8800GTX to replace it.

i really dont wanna drop $60 on a card. i'm only going to be able to clear $30 on he X850, thats if Iget lucky.
 
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