Which upgrade should i get?

[mazungu]

i have an:

asus p5w dh deluxe
Intel Pentium D 805 Smithfield 2.66GHz
geforce 7600gt
2 gig dual channel


What is the best graphics card my processor can keep up with? For newer games is it more critical to upgrade my cpu to a newer c2d or can i just get a new graphics card?

Im thinking of either getting one of the two:
XFX Radeon HD 4890 HD-489A-ZDFC Video Card - Retail
or
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

which one would be the best first choice? i will get them both in due time... but it might be awhile.
Im a gamer... and sick of getting crap fps in high end games.

Thanks for your help!!

 

[coozie7]

Get the card first, but do not expect stellar framerates in CPU intensive games!
Also, remember, the HD4890 requires a fair bit of juice and 1x6 and 1x8-pin PCI-E connectors from the PSU, if your unit lacks either of the connectors, I would advise getting that upgraded first, rather than using molex-to-PCI-E converters.
One final point:What is the resolution of your monitor? If it is 16x10 or less the 1Gb HD4870 or GTX260 would be a better choice.

 

[mazungu]

my psu should be fine.. its a:
CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2
with both a 1x6 and 1x8 pin connectors.

my monitor resolution is 1280x1024
but i want a card that has lots of expansion possibility aka.. a new big monitor down the road.

 

[redwine01]

go for this gfx: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129113 u will never go wrong with this card and it is a big leap from a 7600gt u will be happy for sure. runs games in 1920 resolution just fine.

save the rest of the money and buy a e8400 next time.

 

[FallenSniper]

+1 for redwine. The 4870 performs very close to the 4890 in most cases and is much cheaper, making it more cost efficient.

 

[mazungu]

ok im sold on the 4870 now!

Should i get the
$140 512mb version
or the
$150 1gig version?

here are the 2 i am debating

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129113
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102825

thanks for all your help!

 

[belial2k]

I think the answer really depends on your resolution...the lower the resolution the more cpu dependent you are...as resolutions increase you become more gpu dependent. If you are running 12x10 I would lean toward cpu. A 4870 or even a 4850 will be bottlenecked somewhat by the processor. Also keep in mind that graphics card prices fall faster than cpu prices, so the longer you wait to buy the graphics the more bang you can get for your buck.

 

[belial2k]

If you are going video card go with the cheapest you can get...no need for 1gb or a brand that charges more for its name since there is really no difference in performance on any of them with the reference design...I would go with this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131140

 

[redwine01]

i dont know how powercooler gfx does. but seems like good gpu. but i will still recommand the visiontek one because i know visiontek gfx is great from my personal experience my cousin use visiontek 3870x2 performing very good. and moreover i just saw the powercooler one. the memory clock is rated at 900mhz comparing with the visiontek's 1800mhz. it seems really pretty far away. Anyways the price difference is only $13 so i dont think that will be much of a problem to go with visiontek one.

 

[mazungu]

ok thanks for your help im gana go with the visiontek!

 

[megamanx00]

Since you're gonna go with the GPU upgrade you should overclock the crap out of your CPU as that will become the main bottleneck. Of course, even an overclocked Pentium D will not be enough for a GPU like the 4870, but at least overclocking it will keep from holding back the 4870 too much.

 

[FallenSniper]

The visiontek is a great card for sure. If you haven't bought it yet you might want to look at the Asus Dark Knight version. Last time I checked there was a nice mail in rebate that pretty much made it the same price. It has a little bit better cooling system, other than that, performance is the same.

 

[mazungu]

thanks!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121291&Tpk=Asus%20Dark%20Knight
has free shipping and a nice mail in rebate!

ill get that one instead.