Upgrading from 8800GTS

[P-Stew]

Long story short, I am upgrading the CPU, mobo, RAM, and GPU in my PC and I want to get the most upgrade for my money. I also want to know if I can keep my current PSU with the new build, which I will get to in a minute.

What I have now:

C2D 1.86Ghz
8800GTS 320MB
2 GB RAM
Gigabyte S3 mobo

What I was thinking of going to:

C2D 8400
4 GB RAM
GPU - not sure
Mobo - unsure but I liked the Gigabyte so probably another P45 based Gigabyte

I have been doing a bit of research and have seen the Nvidia GeForce 260 Core 216 mentioned fairly often. People say it's big but I have an Antec 900, so I am not overly concerned, plus the 8800GTS isn't a tiny card to begin with. What I am wondering is am I making too big a leap to that card? Is there a better bang-for-the-buck card between that and what I have now?

With regards to the PSU, I have a Corsair 520w modular. It has 3x 12v rails with plenty of juice. Is this something I can transplant into the new build? Or am I going to need to step up to another?

Thanks in advance for any and all info.

 

[dirtmountain]

Your power supply would be just fine to run a GTX285/280/260/9800GTX+ or 4870/4850. You might have to get a new one if you go crossfire with 4850s (550w recommended) or use the 4850x2. You'd have to go bigger if you crossfired 4870s or went with a 4870x2. If crossfire isn't an option or the X2s then your Corsair 520w should be fine. 4 cards that would be a good upgrade for you depending on budget and resolution would be a 9800GTX+ @ $125 after rebate, HD4870 512 @ $145 after rebate, 4870 1GB $180 after rebate or a GTX260 216 @ $200 after rebate. Prices will probably change Mar. 1st.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150314
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161268
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161269
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434

 

[theAnimal]

What resolution?

 

[P-Stew]

Resolution is 1280x1024. Monitor is a 19" Viewsonic.

Do you mean that prices will be going up on March 1st? Or just those current deals will end?

 

[dirtmountain]

Usually the current deals on Newegg stop at the end of the month.

 

[theAnimal]

Resolution is 1280x1024. Monitor is a 19" Viewsonic.

Do you mean that prices will be going up on March 1st? Or just those current deals will end?

HD4830 is perfect for that resolution and less than $100. And your PSU is fine for any single video card.

 

[erdinger]

If I were you I would wait with buying a new graphic card (maybe even wait for direct x11). You could buy 4 gigs of ddr2-800ram for really little money and overclock your Core 2 duo E6300.

I have a 9800gt which isn't much better then your card and the E6300 at 2.6ghz with 4 gigs ram and every game runs well enough at 1680x1050.... (also crysis).

 

[Helloworld_98]

If your buying a new mobo then you might aswell dump LGA775 all together since it's dead and 720 BE + am2+ mobo gives better value/money.