Best GPU for an Athlon x2 6000+

nOmArch

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Jun 29, 2010
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Hi Guys,

I'm looking to upgrade my GPU and I would like to know what's the best bang I can get for my buck without being bottlenecked by my CPU?

My current system is as follows.

ASUS M2N32-SLI Vista Premium Mobo
Athlon 64 x2 6000+ OC'ed and stable @ 3.42
4Gb OCZ Vista Premium Ram DDR2 800Mhz @2.1v
Samsung 750Gb HDD
700w Artic 700 PSU
8800GT SLI
Windows 7 x64 Ultimate

I mainly use this rig for Movies and Gaming but also a little video editing as well, The chipset is Nvidia so ATI is out of the question (I assume for SLI, not so sure about Non-SLI)

I have about £150 for my budget, if this is not enough then thats fine I'll stay with what I have for the moment until I can do a proper upgrade, of course I would be open to suggestions as to the best way to upgrade the whole rig but for the moment if its possible to squeeze a little more from the GPU I'll be happy.

Thanks

nOmArch

 
It would be hard to recommend a GPU that will actually give you performance per $ since you already have dual 8800GT's.

Personally I would opt for a CPU upgrade and leave the GPU for later. What resolution do you play at?
 

nOmArch

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1680x1050 mainly and 1920x1080 (When allowed) The annoying thing is CPU-wise is that the mobo only has an AM2 socket on it (i think it might take AM2+)
 

nOmArch

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Thanks for all the replies guys! I always thought that my 6000+ was a pretty good chip but if it'll bottleneck just one 8800 then I really need to upgrade.

the Phenom II X4 940 looks like the way to go as I already have a ZALMAN CNPS 9700 cooler.

thanks again for the help :)

nOmArch

nOmArch
 
I don't know, the 940 isn't specifically mentioned so you're taking a chance. It should work of course, unless ASUS took the time to artificially disallow it. Since BIOS releases for newer AM2+ chips are marked as "beta", I'm guessing there may be some issues and thus stability bugs may be the reason the board does not support AM3 CPUs. ASUS is usually pretty good at providing as much CPU support as they can for thier higher end boards such as that one. As far as CPU support goes though, I find ASRock to be the best.
 

nOmArch

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After mooching around on some Asus forums the general consensus is that the 940 is fine with the latest BIOS (1303 & Above) but the 940 is about as far as you can go, a 965 flat out will not work (allegedly).
 

nOmArch

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Just a quick follow up, My 940BE arrived today. Reset the BIOS back to factory default, installed the chip and booted up with no problems at all.

Anyway It is now running @ 3.8Ghz at 56C (full load) and I am a very happy bunny :)