• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

PC upgrade - video card advise

D

Decado

Member
I'm thinking about swapping out my Sapphire Radeon X1950 XT 625MHZ PCI-E 256MB for a SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850 512MB.

A good upgrade or is there a better video card around the same price? Also, given my configuration (below), is it even worth doing? Thanks!

Core2 Duo E6300 Dual Core Processor LGA775 Conroe 1.86GHZ 1066FSB 2MB Retail (OCed to something like 2.6 ghz)
Sapphire Radeon X1950 XT 625MHZ PCI-E 256MB GDDR3 Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out VIVO OEM Video Card
Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 ATX LGA775 Conroe P965 DDR2 PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 GBLAN Audio Motherboard
OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL5-5-5-12 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit
Coolermaster CAC-T05 Centurion 5 Aluminum ATX Tower Case 5X5.25 1X3.5 4X3.5INT SILVER-BLACK No PS
OCZ GameXStream 700W ATX12V 24PIN SLI Ready Active PFC ATX Power Supply 120MM Fan Black
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 3GB/S 7200RPM 16MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive
Pioneer DVR-111D Black DVD-RW 16X6X16 DVD+RW 16X8X16 DL 8X IDE OEM DVD Burner
Sony Black 1.44MB 3.5IN Floppy Drive
Logitec X-530 speakers
 
Wag

Wag

Member
4870 is better for a little more (if you can swing it). Can be found for ~$220 now.
 
Wag

Wag

Member
Decado said:
I live in Canada. Not nearly that cheap at newegg.ca.

Anyway, do you guys think it is a reasonable upgrade with my current system or will things be too unbalanced?
Click to expand...
It's fine, but you'll probably want to upgrade your CPU soon (I have a E6600 OC'ed to 3.2GHz). As far as videocard goes, you really should go for the 260 or 4870. I think you'll be much happier in the long run, especially if you plan to upgrade your CPU soon.
 
G

ghst

thanks for the laugh
Wag said:
It's fine, but you'll probably want to upgrade your CPU soon (I have a E6600 OC'ed to 3.2GHz). As far as videocard goes, you really should go for the 260 or 4870. I think you'll be much happier in the long run, especially if you plan to upgrade your CPU soon.
Click to expand...

yeah, it's that simple. a 4850 if you're happy with the rest of your rig, a 260/4870 if you're planning on upgrading at some time in the near(ish) future.

crysis is practically the only game where even the 4850 isn't overkill right now though.
 
A

_Angelus_

Banned
I've been thinking about upgrading my PC's card and power supply also.

Dunno if I should go for the Radeon 3870x2 or the more expensive 4870..is the jump huge? I just want a card to play games for the next few years without any problems is all. Something like a frame rate that would hold decently,30 frames is fine,don't have to have frame rates from hell or max settings with effects,just something nice is all I need.

Here are my pc specs

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ / 2.2 GHz
Three PCI
PCI Expressx16
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
DDR SDRAM/Memory speed 400 MHz/Memory specification compliance PC3200
Already have 2 GB / 4 GB (max)

* Motherboard manufacturer's name: MSI MS-7184
* HP/Compaq name: AmethystM-GL6E

I've seen numerous videos on how to install the card,ram,and power supply,doesn't seem that hard so I plan to go ahead and purchase everything online and install it myself.

What do you guys think,am I gonna be ok with the 3870x2 or should I go with the more powerful 4870,does it really supply more bang for your bucks. Again I don't have to have a montsre card but one tha does hold its own for atleast a few years,that all I want really. I am looking for spend around $400.00 max here..card,ram,power supply. I really don't have to have the card new,Ebay is ok for used cards so I'll go that route. And more importantly,based on the specs I gave above,is my PC bottlenecked to where the more expensive card won't help me much?
 
A

_Angelus_

Banned
***BUMP***

Can some of you PC veterans look my specs over and give me an idea of which I'd be better off with overall,taking into consideration that I am not looking to break the bank for upgrading here.
***********



Dunno if I should go for the Radeon 3870x2 or the more expensive 4870..is the jump huge? I just want a card to play games for the next few years without any problems is all. Something like a frame rate that would hold decently,30 frames is fine,don't have to have frame rates from hell or max settings with effects,just something nice is all I need.

Here are my pc specs

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ / 2.2 GHz
Three PCI
PCI Expressx16
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
DDR SDRAM/Memory speed 400 MHz/Memory specification compliance PC3200
Already have 2 GB / 4 GB (max)

* Motherboard manufacturer's name: MSI MS-7184
* HP/Compaq name: AmethystM-GL6E

I've seen numerous videos on how to install the card,ram,and power supply,doesn't seem that hard so I plan to go ahead and purchase everything online and install it myself.

What do you guys think,am I gonna be ok with the 3870x2 or should I go with the more powerful 4870,does it really supply more bang for your bucks. Again I don't have to have a montster card but one that does hold its own for atleast a few years,that all I want really. I am looking for spend around $400.00 max here..card,ram,power supply. I really don't have to have the card new,Ebay is ok for used cards so I'll go that route. And more importantly,based on the specs I gave above,is my PC bottlenecked to where the more expensive card won't help me much?
 
S

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
The x2 is hit or miss, sometimes giving no boost over a 3870 (or sometimes performing worse). I would suggest getting a 4850 (which can be found for less than $150) and spending the difference on a processor upgrade. You might also get more replies in the GAF "Bless my build" thread.
 
A

_Angelus_

Banned
Yeah I'm going to move my post to that thread instead. Thanks for putting your two cents in,every little bit helps here. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Looking to build my first gaming PC within the next 2 months, need some help
43
5K
RealityCheque replied
Help. PC overheating and shutting down
36
2K
isamu replied
Computer Geeks, new rig in the making here.. help?
2
757
purg3 replied
PC Gaming?
29
1K
Spark replied
  • Locked
PC-Building age: Is this a good deal?
6
733
koam replied
Top Bottom