Worn out other G card choices!! please help!

[delsaber]

I have looked through many graphics cards and websites with various information and im totally stuck!

I bought a 9500gt card 6 or so months ago and I have only recently found otu I should have done my research!

I mainly play wow (sometimes GRID or COD4) and so my requirements are not massivly high.

The questions I have are, is it much of an upgrade to a 9800 card?
If I upgrade, should it be to a 9800gt or 9800gtx?
I there an alternative card for aroudn the ame price that may be better?


thanks!

p.s system specs below so feel free to comment;

ram = corsair 4GBKIT (2X2GB) 800MHZ NON ECC
graphics cards = GF 9500GT 512MB PCIE DVI
PSU = 650W TITAN SILENT NEON PSU 12C
MOBO = Gigabyte motherboard EP35-DS3L, LGA775 P35 1333FSB DDR2 ATX
gpu = E5200 Pentium DC S775 2MB 2.5G
screen = crappy 19" but often use my 42" plasma anyway.
hard drive = 80gb (just a gaming rig for me and used for nothign else)

 

[dirtmountain]

There's several good options available that will give you a good graphic boost. Prices vary so from low to high the 9600GT, HD4830, 9800GT, 9800GTX, HD4850, 9800GTX+.

 

[delsaber]

thanks dirt. I dotn understand why radeon cards are 800 stream ports while nvidia are 120 or so? There so much information its quite confusing but it seems like my main choices would be 9800gtx or 4830 or 4850.

Just not sure if it would be enouhg of an upgrade in performance to justify the new card though

 

[mactronix]

The ATI SP's(stream processors) are differant to the Nvidia ones, but then thats probably obvious as they perform at a similar level with such differant counts.
this shows the relative performance of the cards you listed

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_4830/6.html

I include these links in case you fancy reading about the differances in the SP's
http://www.beyond3d.com/content/reviews/1/14
http://www.beyond3d.com/content/reviews/16
The chips used are not the latest ones and there are some differances in the latest cards but it will give you an idea of th edifferances

Mactronix

 

[delsaber]

thank you again for this info. all very useful!

I have been into my local computer shop and after a long discussion about the 4850 he revealed a hidden gem he forgot he had out the back!

A 8800GT alpha dog edition.

He will even give me £20 for my old card so it makes it half the price of the 4850 and still quite a bit less than any 9800 i have seen.

This seems like too good a bargain to miss as the scores on your link show it doign very well even against the newer , more pricey, cards.

Sound like a good idea?

 

[coozie7]

I do n`t think the 4850 is worth twice as much, the performance gap simply is n`t big enough.
Get the 8800!

 

[delsaber]

nice one. read some really good stuff on the 8800gt. Ill be getting that one!

thanks all

 

[mactronix]

Sounds like your lucky day That card will be a nice match for your system.

Mactronix