Time to upgrade!

D

darkunitzero

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 26, 2007
Messages
264
Hey, I'm having a hard time deciding what I should do.

Option 1: Replace E6750 (3.6) with E8500 or Q9550
Option 2: Upgrade the 8800GTX to GTX280 (res: 1680x1050)
Option 3: wait it and get core i7

So which would guys recommend. I can only do one or the other at this point but can't decide. At this point, I'm leaning towards the GTX280 as the better path.
 
An upgrade to a gtx380 would mean a graphics card that would last for quite a while. The first option would be good for a while, but then once i7 prices drop, it won't have been worth it. You could just go with option 3, but the time it would take for prices to drop substantially would be better spent gaming on a gtx280 (for the time being).

Just my 2 cents.
 
What are you looking to improve with this upgrade?

If gaming, get a new vidcard. Though, I'm curious, what games are giving your 8800GTX trouble at 1680x1050?

If encoding, a Q9550 would do the trick. If you do a shitload of number cruching and multitasking, then save up for a high end nehalem build.
 
Yea, option 3 is probably out. I was doing some looking around and mainstream is out in Q2. quite awhile.

Some of the games I play are:
WoW (new updates with max settings make the 8800gtx crawl below 30fps)
Orange box and Left 4 Dead
World in Conflict
C&C3 Red Alert
COD 4
and of course Folding@Home

I also do a bit of encoding but mainly HD-DVD/Blu-ray/DVD to H.264.

If I go the 280 route, I just hope it'll give a good run like the 8800gtx did.
 
And you're saying the 88GTX can't handle those games on max at 1680? Um, ok...

If you are wanting to upgrade for upgrade's sake, decide for yourself what looks better in a sig. If you're upgrading for practicality's sake then you do nothing, unless you're an encoding junkie then you switch to a quad.
 
I didn't say the 8800gtx can't handle them. It's just with eye candy on max the fps drop quite abit. It's like you playing your games with one 4850. Will it work? Yea, but it just isn't quite the same will it.

Looking at my external, I do encode a lot of my movies. I'm starting to think about picking up the Q9550 and the 1TB WD at newegg. Decisions, Decisions.
 
I forgot the performance of a single 4850 but I know the inferior 9600GT can max those games at that res. Only thing it would choke a little on was COD4. 88GTX > 96GT by a large margin and 88GTX=4850, so I don't know what you're talking about regarding fps dropping at full settings for those games you mentioned. RA3 chokes when I've got a mass load of units on screen and orbital drops, etc happening in one place. WoW is like the worst game you can benchmark and grade a system on thx to its very aged and unoptimized engine. Techpowerup's boat load of graphs and charts only back up what I've said so far. You could save yourself 320-180 by getting a q66 and overclocking it, then using the remainder to get a new graphics card after you sell the 88GTX if you find the need to.
 
Sounds liek you want to 'upgrade' simply to say you did. I think ur comp is fine atm, i would wait till mainstream i7 stuff comes. 30fps in a game like EQ/WoW is fairly good.
 
I'd wait for mainstream i7 to come. Your current PC is fine. On my 4850 I rarely get any problems with RA3, COD4, anything, and I tend to max everything out @ 1440x900
 
Yah, I agree with hossdaddy, that'd be a nice little upgrade (sell your 88GTX and pickup a GTX260).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top