Upgrade GPU best fit for Intell Core 2 Q6800 Extreme

[billbuddy]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: ASAP March 2011
BUDGET RANGE: USD $001-399 After Rebates

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, 3d, directx11 TF2, WOW, Oblivion, Civ 5

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: 2x Nvidia 8800 GT 512mb in SLI; 750w PSU
OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: CPU Intel Core 2 Q6800 Extreme at 2.93; Mobo is some Nvidia SLI capable one from Dell XPS 720; 4gb ram

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: no prefereence

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: slight pref for nvidia, but ati works too.
OVERCLOCKING: Maybe
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes SLI/ No CF

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200, BENQ 2400WD

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: one 8800 GT has died (havent tried to figure out which yet) so rather than find a replacement 8800 GT, looking for PRIMARILY a single card PCI express replacement. Although if performance higher with price/noise/power lower on a particular dual card sli config, thats great too.

I was considering nvidia 460 1gb or ati 5850 hd, but not sure if they would be too advanced for my motherboard.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

you are currently running 2 8800gt's in sli, you wont see much performance upgrade with the cards you have picked. If you only want single card performance a 5850 is the way to go. If you want to add another card later the gtx460 is better and your motherboard supports sli. Either card would be fine for your motherboard.

 

[nforce4max]

It takes a gtx 460 to break even and see a few gains beyond that it will be upgrading. I went from two 9800gt 1gb to my current gtx 460 1gb. In games that used sli it wasn't that much faster while in games that only use one card it was fresh air.

GTX 460 on the low side while a GTX 570 on the high. Overclock that cpu more though.

 

[someguynamedmatt]

I'd say that a GeForce GTX 560 Ti would be a much better choice. A replacement 8800 will cost you way too much for all you'd get back out of it, to be honest.
A 560Ti will cost you around $230-$260.

Of course, that's $50 over both cards you were thinking about getting, so if that's out of your budget, I'd probably go with a Radeon HD 6870. It's around halfway between a 5850 and a 5870, and a cheap one will cost you around $210. $230-240 seems to be the average price for them right now, but there's nothing wrong with an HIS or XFX card.

I see absolutely no reason that either of those options would be limited by your motherboard. As long as it's a PCIe x16 slot, it can handle pretty much anything you put in it, given that your PSU can support it and has the proper power connectors. That brings up another point - if you're going to get a more powerful card, be sure that your PSU has everything you need in order to run it.

 

[nforce4max]

A typical 8800gt goes for $50 on the second hand market or less.

 

[someguynamedmatt]

Well, if you want to buy second hand off of eBay, then be my guest. I can't say that I've ever seen anything good come out of it, but then again, I'm always surprised at things like that.

 

[TheTech214]

I think a you should look into a Sapphire Radeon 6870. In particular the one with the really big fan on the top. It stays very cool and is DX11.

 

[billbuddy]

Best answer selected by billbuddy.

 

[billbuddy]

thanks for the discussion everyone. I am going to watch the GTX 560 and ATI 6870 for a bit, then grab one in a week or two. Mostly going to compare forum posts about issues , driver patches, and such. No rush to open the PC case right now, new dog in the house, new hairs to keep outside the machine .