GPU Upgrade needed or More?

[Kyran]

Hello,

I'm was recently selected for the FFXIV Beta, and I'm looking to increase performance while playing. Here's my Current Setup that I built in late 2007, early 2008:

Windows XP 32 bit Edition

ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) (Win XP only recognizes 3.25 of the 4 gigs I'm using)

BFG Tech BFGR88768GTXOCE GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card (I only use 1 of these cards, never did the SLI enabling since my Graphics were fine for World of Warcraft)

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor BX80557E6850 (I have this overclocked to 3.485 Gigs.)

The PC has served me well over the last 3 years, but I'm wondering if it's worth it to upgrade the entire rig (Intel I7, Windows 7 64 bit edition, New Graphics card, Motherboard, etc) or if I'm going to get performance good enough to run FFXIV by just upgrading my GPU and buying 2 units to run everything in SLI.

I game in 1900X1200 resolution if that helps. Any feedback is appreciated!!!

 

[Kyran]

Anyone?

 

[coozie7]

Have a look at this chart (and article):

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/graphics-card-radeon,review-31911-7.html

For a half decent upgrade you'll need to be looking at the GTX470/HD5850 class of card, only problem is that even the overclocked C2D is not going to keep up with cards of this calibre.
Also bear in mind that DX10/11 will not run under XP, you'll need Vista or Win7 for that.
That said, you have a nicely balanced system so unless it's struggling with anything else at the moment, I'd advise you to hold off and see how the game performs before lashing out on any new hardware.
A cheaper alternative would be to hunt up another 8800 for SLI, but make sure the PSU is up to the job:

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

[Kyran]

Would it be worth it to just add another 8800 GTX via SLI?

I guess I'm wondering if I plan to upgrade the GPU would it be worth with 2 new cards or would I almost be required to upgrade the entire system? Just not sure if it's worth the cost.

I ran the FFXIV beta system test program and it benchmarked my PC in the 800's at full resolution. There are some other folks benchmarking in the 2000-3000 range with the max I've seen at 5K so it just makes me feel as if my system might be a little outdated

Thanks again -

 

[jyjjy]

Your system is still capable. A c2d at 3.5ghz is still decent but your card is rather weak for your resolution. You could SLI the 8800GTX but ebaying the one you have now and grabbing an HD5770 would be my recommendation. That will give you a card suited to your resolution(35-40% faster than your 8800GTX) with the latest features like DX11 compatibility while using much less power than SLIed 8800GTXs and costing less.
It sounds like you are gearing up to replace the system in the foreseeable future so when you do you can crossfire the HD5770 if you find it necessary. 2 HD5770s give performance similar to an HD5870.
Of course if you can afford it you could just outright grab an HD5850($300.) It is a good card for the money and overclocks an impressive amount. Your processor will limit the card some on the more CPU intensive games but that is nothing to worry about really.

 

[Kyran]

I have an 850W PSU, it's a Rosewill and it's never done me wrong, although all the wires inside the case aren't all that great looking. I'm almost wondering if it might be worth it just to upgrade the Mobo, CPU and Ram. The only thing that sucks is paying all that extra cash to upgrade to Windows 7 and all the MS office products that come with it

 

[jyjjy]

You can use the old Office versions with Win7, not that you need to even upgrade your OS to build a new system.

 

[Kyran]

Even MS Office 2000? I was told you had to have 2007 or newer when upgrading to Windows 7?

 

[jyjjy]

I'm not sure about Office 2000 but I know 2003 works fine on Win7 64.

 

[jyjjy]

I just looked it up. Office 2000 is no longer supported by Microsoft but it does install and run fine on Win7 apparently. Some people seem to have issues with Outlook but that's about it.