Confused please help me out..

[erujj]

Hello,
I m new to the forum and looking forward to see your expert replies.

I have the following system configuration
Mobo= Xfx 630i
Processor= E7400 Core2Duo 3MB 1066Bus
Ram= Corsair XMS2 2GB 800Bus
Graphic card= Evga 9600GT 512 Mb OC @700 Mhz
Psu= Coolermaster 600 Watts.

I play games like crysis warhead, GTA 4, NFS shift etc. they lag a bit (esp GTA 4) on my pc.
I am planning to go for an upgrade. i am confused between graphic card or processor/mobo/ram upgrade. I have the following options in my mind

intel core i 3 540.
intel DH55C. OR EVGA GTS 250 1GB.
Kingston 2GB DDR3 1333 bus.

Should i upgrade my graphic card only to play these games fair or should go for the cpu upgrade please help me out. I have read that GTA4 needs cpu power
more than the GPU..

Thanx.
Erujj

 

[erujj]

Reply soon please..

 

[capt_taco]

Well, doing the video card alone would be your cheapest upgrade path, and you would see an improvement. It would be decent but not perfect.

If you upgraded the video card AND overclocked your CPU, now you're talking.

I wouldn't do the CPU/RAM/Mobo without also doing the video card -- video card would be holding you back there, and that's too much money to spend to have a bottlenecked system. So unless you do a brand-new system, I'd cross that option off.

I would not get an nvidia card right now if that's the upgrade you had in mind. To be worth the money, a video card upgrade would take you into the price range occupied by the ATI 5000 series. I would absolutely not spend that kind of money on a DX10 card at this point.

More than 2GB of RAM might also help; it's passable, but 4GB would give you alot more headroom.

 

[erujj]

thank you so much capt. do you have any other cards in mind and can i overclock my cpu with the mobo i have (xfx 630i)?

 

[capt_taco]

You should be able to overclock it regardless. Although exactly what you can expect out of that CPU overclocked, is probably a question for someone else with more experience in it.

The card I'd have in mind is the 5770, which is probably about the max that will be a good match for your CPU. It'll do very well at those games, but if you go to the full HD screen sizes (e.g. 1920x1080) it does get bogged down.

Is building a complete new system on the i5 level an option for you right now? That's what you'd really see the best results from. But unless you have a budget of at least $500-$600, you're probably better off either sitting tight, or overclocking and doing just the video card.

 

[erujj]

i have a little experience of overclocking not much ;-) and i m a lil tight on budget so won't go for the i5. i play games on 1600x900 resolution. will this card perform well?

 

[dndhatcher]

The 5770 performs pretty well at 1680x1050 so 1600x900 should be fine. It will probably play Crysis at a mix of medium and high settings at that resolution. You have to shell out $500+ for a graphics card that will play crysis smooth at its highest settings.

 

[erujj]

can u guys suggest any nvidia card with the decent price tag?

 

[dndhatcher]

Not right now. Nvidia is a generation behind. Their new 400 series is coming out in a couple months.

Is there a specific reason you need nvidia? What is a decent price tag to you?

 

[erujj]

i prefer nvidia because i have used nvidia cards before and never used ati. my budget in around 200$ for a graphic card

 

[jsc]

I tend to like nVidia also, but currently an AMD 5000 series card at almost any price point will give you a better video card.

And we just do not know how far into the future "currently" extends.

 

[dndhatcher]

At the $200 ish price point the ATI 5770 is the best card available, IMO. Its what I have and it will play most games at 1920x1080 at high-very high settings.

The nvidia card at that price range is the GTX260 (around $210), but its more expensive and does not have DX11. The 5770 is a better value at $160-$175.

 

[erujj]

Dear community after doing some research i decided to go for ati 4870 1Gb ddr5 and corsair xms2 6400 800 bus Ram. I am not going for 5770 because (1) it is more expensive (2) in the benchmarks i have seen 4870 outperforms it in direct x10.1 games.
The 5770 is a new card with direct x 11 but only a few games are out now that supports direct x 11 and in future there may be even better card when direct x 11 becomes common.

Any suggestions are welcomed

 

[dndhatcher]

If you can find a 4870 for less than a 5770 thats a good option. Availability has been almost nonexistent lately as they are not produced anymore.