E8400 videocard

[De Solar]

Hello, I want to upgrade my current video card (my beloved 8800GT).

My current specs are:
CPU: E8400 @ 3 GHz
Current GPU: 8800GT
Motherboard: Intel DP35DP (This is why my CPU can't be overclocked.)
Memory: 4 gig ddr2

Which card do you recommend? Should I buy a 6850 or is that to much for my CPU, I'm afraid to buy a card which overkill for my processor.

Thanks in advance for your reply's.

 

[whooleo]

your CPU is a pretty powerful dual-core so I think you should go with something like a GTX 460/470 or the like. It wouldn't bottleneck that easily.

 

[jyjjy]

What is the native resolution of your monitor?

 

[Deleted member 217926]

As said above the E8400 is still a decent processor. It would be better if you could overclock but I think an HD6850 or GTX460 would be fine at stock speed.

 

[De Solar]

I currently have a 19 inch 1280x1024. But I want to get a new 22 or 24 inch monitor so the resolution is going to be 1920x1080.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

At 1920 x 1080 I would get a GTX460 1GB or HD 6870 myself. If the stock 3 ghz bottlenecks it will be only a small amount although most games seem to do well on mine at 4 ghz.

 

[De Solar]

At 1920 x 1080 I would get a GTX460 1GB or HD 6870 myself. If the stock 3 ghz bottlenecks it will be only a small amount although most games seem to do well on mine at 4 ghz.

I see you got a E8400 as well. Do you recommend me getting a new motherboard so I can overclock it to 3.6 GHz or is the extra performance not worth a news motherboard?

 

[jyjjy]

If you are experienced with things like building computers/replacing motherboards then getting one that can OC is a worthwhile idea if you don't plan on upgrading for a significant amount of time but that processor at 3ghz is still passable. There will definitely be a CPU bottleneck until you upgrade the monitor though as lower resolutions won't push these cards at all really so the CPU will end up being the limiting factor. The frame rates should still be high though so it won't matter much.
In any case both the GTX 460 and the HD6850 are good cards for the money and will do well at 1080p and very well when overclocked.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

I would go ahead with the graphics card upgrade and not get a new motherboard. Save that money for a complete system upgrade to an i5/i7 or even Sandy Bridge. You can still use the same graphics card in the new computer.