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NKDietrich

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jul 25, 2004
Messages
5,442
Alright so I've currently got a 9800 GTX. It's always been a bit flaky and unstable, and I meant to do an EVGA step-up to something better but I procrastinated and it expired long ago.

It works fine if I crank the fan up to 90% and turn my A/C on. For some reason it just freaks out if it hits 70C. Hard lockup.

I'd like to rid myself of the annoyance, but I want to avoid upgrades that aren't worth my time. It's been a bit difficult to get a real objective view of how big an upgrade I'd be getting, because no one wastes time putting a 9800 GTX side by side with a modern card. I'd have to leapfrog 2 or 3 comparisons.

Anyhow, I game primarily at 1920x1200 with AA on. What would be a good upgrade for me, and how big of an improvement would I really see? I'm currently eyeballing a 5770 or a GTX 260.

Thanks.
 
IMO I'd go HD58XX if cash wasn't a big issue or save some money and go with a HD4890.
 
Well, seeing as you dont upgrade often I would suggest a bigger upgrade so your video card has a longer life. The 5850 would be a good match especially if you overclock that e8400.
 
5850 or 5870 would allow you to max settings at 1920x1200 resolution. The 5770 is about equivalent to a 4870 which is equivalent to a GTX 260 in performance.
The 5800 series is a step above though and would give you DX11 as well as Eyefinity.
 
The 5850 would probably be your best bet for longevity. You can easily OC them to 5870 stock speeds and the only difference is a few more shaders on the 5870, but not worth the price. (Coming from a guy who has 2x 5870s, lol). That way you have all your bases covered - DX11, raw GPU power, etc...


Might I ask, what are you going to do with your 9800 ?
 
go with at least a 5850

but maybe try remounting the HSF on your current card with good thermal compound (unless you have done that already) first
 
I have always been disappointed when I went with "small upgrades" that add a few FPS that are hardly noticeable. I went from a good 8800GTS to a GTX260 216 and noticed a small increase. The 8800 was overclocked decently and the 260 was a Superclocked so there was not much room to take it much farther.

With that said, I can't see myself upgrading to a higher end card with Fermi around the corner. I can see the price on a lot of (currently) high end cards taking a serious dive when the next generation hits the streets here soon.
 
Save up and get a 5850 or 5870, you will not regret it! I had a MSI 8800ultra which was flaky as hell and that thing originally cost me $600 so I had to use it and get my moneys worth, but it was nothing but overheating and crashes for the two years that I used it! The 5870 & 5850s are amazing cards and will serve you very, very well! Plus you have the benefit/option of eyefinity down the road if you wanna try for more immersive gaming!
 
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