Video Card Upgrade?

Josh B

Josh B

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I am been thinking about upgrading from my GeForce 8600 GT to more power handle games running at 1680x1050, and maybe GTA4 and Crysis med to high at 1400x900. What video card you recommend? :hmm: Also I might upgrade my PSU. :hmm:


Here is my currently 2 years old custom PC spec:
Motherboard: ASUS A8R-MVP(ATi Crossfire Support
Power Supply: 350 watts
CPU: Athlon 64 X2 4800 @ 2.4 GHz
RAM: 3 GB DDR 400
Video card: EVGA GeForce 8600GT (256MB) (Forceware 182.05)
Monitor: Acer 22" wide screen
OS: Windows XP SP2
HD: Seagate 250GB (50GB free space)
 
I suggest GeForce 9800GTX+ or GeForce 200 series, they can handle running at 1680x1050. I am thinking about get a GeForce 9800GTX+ for 154.99 from newegg.com, I think I can buy two of GF 9800GTX+ SLI.
 
Yeah, you gonna need a new PSU for sure.

Look for the amperage by the rails, this is the most important part. Different 9800GTX+ production companies may have different minimum psu requirements, but I'm going to take a stab and say that it's probably 24A-30A minimum, again depending on brand and clock speeds.

Note that the wattage on a PSU doesn't really mean anything. It can be really high 500W but still only have like 22A on the rail.

I have an 8800GTS (the G92 512mb ver) , and mine is at 24A. The G92 8800GTS 512mb should be neck to neck with a 9800GTX+, marginal difference if compared by the human eye, we're talking like 1-5 fps difference per a game.

I haven't been playing games for awhile, but I have crysis installed. If you want me to do some FPS benchmarking for you I can do that, at what settings you would like.
I think I run at 1920x1200 at very high quality but no AF enabled. About 2x or 4x AA, I forgot which. The game is really smooth, don't remember any lag except if I am fighting like 30 soldiers at once :lol:


It is hard to recommend what card for you since I don't know your gaming style. But if you want to see general FPS charts, I use the ones at toms to get a general look at rankings:

Charts, benchmarks Gaming Graphics Charts Q3/2008, Sum of FPS Benchmarks Totals


Are you looking to buy right away or get a good deal? If you are looking to get a deal, a great 9800GTX deal just passed a few weeks ago.. it was for $98 shipped
EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 (2.0v) Video Card $95 after $30 MIR - SlickDeals.net Forums

I was thinking about getting it but I decided not to, since it would just be waste of money for me. But for you, from 8600 > 9800GTX+ you will notice a big boost and can set your resolution to 1680x1050 with decent settings fine. If you can wait, the market price for a 9800GTX+ is around ~$130 now, and sometimes deals come out for $100 or so after rebate.


Also about your case. Kind of hard to tell without actually seeing it in real life. I am guessing if that is the standard case size, it should fit inside fine. It doesn't have a front bay fan or speaker so you have a lot of legroom.


Personal advice, wait for the 200 series to fall in price. Right now the 9800's are falling, but the 200 is still kind of new so it is up there. The difference in price per performance ratio is very high.. you are paying like $100-200 more just for maybe 10%-15% improvement. That is like 10 fps - 15fps improvement. It is your own choice, but is 10fps worth $100+ to you?
 
Last edited:
My question, what's the current resolution and fps on the games you play on with your current video card? It shouldn't be a problem as long it's at least 1024x768 or higher which is good enough.
 
JoshB4802 said:
Will GeForce 9800GTX+ or GeForce 200 series tight fit in my case?
Look like this: Newegg.com - Foxconn TS001 BS NPS Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases
What's about Power Supply? I don't think my PSU handling those cards.
Click to expand...

Yup, you need new PSU to handle with 9800 GTX+ or 200 GTX series, they do have 2x 6 pin of plug and some are 1x 6 pin and 1x 8 pin plug, also your CPU could hinder some of powers from graphic card because of not enough speed to keep at full, I just learned from other forum about CPU hinders some power of graphic card, usually for under 3 GHz of C2D but you would be fine if it doesn't concern you about max performance.

I do have 9800 GTX+ and very good to handle with 1650 x 1050, some games like Crysis and GTA IV can't max it out.
 
sequoias said:
My question, what's the current resolution and fps on the games you play on with your current video card? It shouldn't be a problem as long it's at least 1024x768 or higher which is good enough.
Click to expand...

LCD looks horrible when not at native resolution for games or desktop, I had done with that and forgot it, I rather to play at native resolution, such as my monitor is 1650 x 1050 and set at 1650 x 1050.

Gaming console are different, they are plugged to HDTV and support native 720p, it looks very good.
 
naisho said:
Yeah, you gonna need a new PSU for sure.

Look for the amperage by the rails, this is the most important part. Different 9800GTX+ production companies may have different minimum psu requirements, but I'm going to take a stab and say that it's probably 24A-30A minimum, again depending on brand and clock speeds.

Note that the wattage on a PSU doesn't really mean anything. It can be really high 500W but still only have like 22A on the rail.

I have an 8800GTS (the G92 512mb ver) , and mine is at 24A. The G92 8800GTS 512mb should be neck to neck with a 9800GTX+, marginal difference if compared by the human eye, we're talking like 1-5 fps difference per a game.

I haven't been playing games for awhile, but I have crysis installed. If you want me to do some FPS benchmarking for you I can do that, at what settings you would like.
I think I run at 1920x1200 at very high quality but no AF enabled. About 2x or 4x AA, I forgot which. The game is really smooth, don't remember any lag except if I am fighting like 30 soldiers at once :lol:


It is hard to recommend what card for you since I don't know your gaming style. But if you want to see general FPS charts, I use the ones at toms to get a general look at rankings:

Charts, benchmarks Gaming Graphics Charts Q3/2008, Sum of FPS Benchmarks Totals


Are you looking to buy right away or get a good deal? If you are looking to get a deal, a great 9800GTX deal just passed a few weeks ago.. it was for $98 shipped
EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 (2.0v) Video Card $95 after $30 MIR - SlickDeals.net Forums

I was thinking about getting it but I decided not to, since it would just be waste of money for me. But for you, from 8600 > 9800GTX+ you will notice a big boost and can set your resolution to 1680x1050 with decent settings fine. If you can wait, the market price for a 9800GTX+ is around ~$130 now, and sometimes deals come out for $100 or so after rebate.


Also about your case. Kind of hard to tell without actually seeing it in real life. I am guessing if that is the standard case size, it should fit inside fine. It doesn't have a front bay fan or speaker so you have a lot of legroom.


Personal advice, wait for the 200 series to fall in price. Right now the 9800's are falling, but the 200 is still kind of new so it is up there. The difference in price per performance ratio is very high.. you are paying like $100-200 more just for maybe 10%-15% improvement. That is like 10 fps - 15fps improvement. It is your own choice, but is 10fps worth $100+ to you?
Click to expand...

Uhh, summary please? Nah, I understand what you saying... Basically, My racing games like Nascar Racing 2003 with heavily mods or other sim racing games running horrible and give me poor FPS at 1400x900 or higher(16:10 wide ratio}. I need a new video card to smooth my racing game at 1400x900 or higher.

Here's my case(nothing fancy :p) :

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/97/img002421ba0.jpg

Do you think GTX200 series can fit in my case?
 
JoshB4802 said:
Uhh, summary please? Nah, I understand what you saying... Basically, My racing games like Nascar Racing 2003 with heavily mods or other sim racing games running horrible and give me poor FPS at 1400x900 or higher(16:10 wide ratio}. I need a new video card to smooth my racing game at 1400x900 or higher.

Here's my case(nothing fancy :p) :

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/97/img002421ba0.jpg

Do you think GTX200 series can fit in my case?
Click to expand...

It should fit so fine, I do have ATX mid-tower and 9800 GTX+ fit so fine.
 
:lol:
Summary of my post:


  • Need new PSU that the single rail or dual rail is over 30A on both total hopefully.
  • 9800GTX+ price around ~$130-150+ but can drop to $100 during rebate/deal
  • 200 GTX series around $230+ - 300+ for ~10-20 FPS gain in a game like Crysis
  • 8600GT -> 9800GTX+ will have big boost, can run 1680x1050 fine, quality can go up too
  • 9800GTX+ = 8800GTS 512MB (G92), I have G92, I can do testing for you with my vid card if you are interested in performance on some game.
  • Use Charts, benchmarks Gaming Graphics Charts Q3/2008, Sum of FPS Benchmarks Totals to see ranking summary from tom's.
  • Foxrac's suggestion - CPU might bottleneck 9800GTX depending on what. (This is true to me IMO, I think you are around borderline but in OK shape, not 100% sure)


About your case, hmm, yeah I think it might fight fine, but I notice one thing might look weird. It's this:

35iq82a.jpg

I hope the top of the card won't hit the bottom of your HD bay. Is your PCIE slot horizontally under the HD bay? May be the angle of the pic taken.
 
JoshB4802 said:
Uhh, summary please? Nah, I understand what you saying... Basically, My racing games like Nascar Racing 2003 with heavily mods or other sim racing games running horrible and give me poor FPS at 1400x900 or higher(16:10 wide ratio}. I need a new video card to smooth my racing game at 1400x900 or higher.

Here's my case(nothing fancy :p) :

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/97/img002421ba0.jpg

Do you think GTX200 series can fit in my case?
Click to expand...

Most of video cards today are big but enough long as motherboard itself. My XFX GeForce 8800 is big as my XFX motherboard itself. Watch for some video cards came with bulky fan and heatsink that take two open slots instead of one.
So your computer case is fine for any video cards.

Naisho, motherboard support two video cards. Black and blue slots are PCI-E.
 
Deathpit said:
Naisho, motherboard support two video cards.
Click to expand...

oh, for a sec I didn't observe the photo clearly and didn't read that he had a x-fire motherboard in original post.
I thought he had a single PCIE slot, and that it was empty.

Ugh, guess I am getting old? :shrug:
 
Deathpit said:
Most of video cards today are big but enough long as motherboard itself. My XFX GeForce 8800 is big as my XFX motherboard itself. Watch for some video cards came with bulky fan and heatsink that take two open slots instead of one.
So your computer case is fine for any video cards.

Naisho, motherboard support two video cards. Black and blue slots are PCI-E.
Click to expand...

naisho said:
oh, for a sec I didn't observe the photo clearly and didn't read that he had a x-fire motherboard in original post.
I thought he had a single PCIE slot, and that it was empty.

Ugh, guess I am getting old? :shrug:
Click to expand...

Deathpit, you're right. I have 2 16x PCI-E slots, and X-Fire ready.I was put my video card to bottom due cool down.

Naisho, you are not that old, that just misread, you know? You help me alot .:ty:
 
naisho said:
:lol:
Summary of my post:


  • Need new PSU that the single rail or dual rail is over 30A on both total hopefully.
  • 9800GTX+ price around ~$130-150+ but can drop to $100 during rebate/deal
  • 200 GTX series around $230+ - 300+ for ~10-20 FPS gain in a game like Crysis
  • 8600GT -> 9800GTX+ will have big boost, can run 1680x1050 fine, quality can go up too
  • 9800GTX+ = 8800GTS 512MB (G92), I have G92, I can do testing for you with my vid card if you are interested in performance on some game.
  • Use Charts, benchmarks Gaming Graphics Charts Q3/2008, Sum of FPS Benchmarks Totals to see ranking summary from tom's.
  • Foxrac's suggestion - CPU might bottleneck 9800GTX depending on what. (This is true to me IMO, I think you are around borderline but in OK shape, not 100% sure)


About your case, hmm, yeah I think it might fight fine, but I notice one thing might look weird. It's this:

35iq82a.jpg

I hope the top of the card won't hit the bottom of your HD bay. Is your PCIE slot horizontally under the HD bay? May be the angle of the pic taken.
Click to expand...

Yup, that what I learned from other forum, some of them said CPU will bottleneck if graphic card is GTX 9800+, Radeon 4870 and 200 series when CPU is less than 3.0 GHz in dual core.

If don't satisfy with performance after video card then CPU upgrade is last resort and AMD is much cheaper than Intel, I believe that his motherboard can support up to 3.2 GHz AMD X2.

Edit, I'm not surprised that AMD SKU has getting less on newegg and there's no black edition anymore.
 
Foxrac said:
Yup, that what I learned from other forum, some of them said CPU will bottleneck if graphic card is GTX 9800+, Radeon 4870 and 200 series when CPU is less than 3.0 GHz in dual core.

If don't satisfy with performance after video card then CPU upgrade is last resort and AMD is much cheaper than Intel, I believe that his motherboard can support up to 3.2 GHz AMD X2.

Edit, I'm not surprised that AMD SKU has getting less on newegg and there's no black edition anymore.
Click to expand...

ROFLMAO my 2.26GhZ Intel Core2 Duo Penryn will take a 1 GB GeForce9800M GTS and not choke on any games I throw at it on max resolution.
 
Foxrac said:
Yup, that what I learned from other forum, some of them said CPU will bottleneck if graphic card is GTX 9800+, Radeon 4870 and 200 series when CPU is less than 3.0 GHz in dual core.

If don't satisfy with performance after video card then CPU upgrade is last resort and AMD is much cheaper than Intel, I believe that his motherboard can support up to 3.2 GHz AMD X2.

Edit, I'm not surprised that AMD SKU has getting less on newegg and there's no black edition anymore.
Click to expand...

Umm, my big problem is AMD Socket 939, maybe hard to find that FX-60 CPUs... :( There's no more AMD Socket 939 CPUs available at Newegg.
 
JoshB4802 said:
Umm, my big problem is AMD Socket 939, maybe hard to find that FX-60 CPUs... :( There's no more AMD Socket 939 CPUs available at Newegg.
Click to expand...

Look through Ebay!! They sell plenty of 939 pins AMD processors.

I recently bought EVGA GeForce 9400GT w/ 512mb DDR2 PCI-Express card last week at Microcenter for $62 (was $79 and all graphic cards on shelves are 20% off that day).

It ran wonderfully on my AMD64 system. It's a big improvement on performance cuz I have onboard ATI Xpress 200 chipset that I hate it's gut!!. I am able to install and run Ubuntu with Compiz full on with water effect!! (Check Nathan's thread "Reason Why Ubuntu is better") I left posting with eyecandy Pix.

On Windows XP, (I have two hdd, one for Doz' and other for Ubuntu). The video on website seem slick and smooth. I watch Hulu - Watch your favorites. Anytime. For free. and noticed the performace of video which is nice.

My power supply is 450W while GeForce 9400GT require 350W or higher. I'm satisfied with new card!

Catty
 
purplecatty said:
Look through Ebay!! They sell plenty of 939 pins AMD processors.

I recently bought EVGA GeForce 9400GT w/ 512mb DDR2 PCI-Express card last week at Microcenter for $62 (was $79 and all graphic cards on shelves are 20% off that day).

It ran wonderfully on my AMD64 system. It's a big improvement on performance cuz I have onboard ATI Xpress 200 chipset that I hate it's gut!!. I am able to install and run Ubuntu with Compiz full on with water effect!! (Check Nathan's thread "Reason Why Ubuntu is better") I left posting with eyecandy Pix.

On Windows XP, (I have two hdd, one for Doz' and other for Ubuntu). The video on website seem slick and smooth. I watch Hulu - Watch your favorites. Anytime. For free. and noticed the performace of video which is nice.

My power supply is 450W while GeForce 9400GT require 350W or higher. I'm satisfied with new card!

Catty
Click to expand...

Socket 939 is no good for future games, it means can't upgrade to max it out, unless need new motherboard with recent socket like AM2 and GTA IV require quad core to max all it out with no lags.
 
purplecatty said:
Look through Ebay!! They sell plenty of 939 pins AMD processors. Why don't you try AMD64 X2?

I recently bought EVGA GeForce 9400GT w/ 512mb DDR2 PCI-Express card last week at Microcenter for $62 (was $79 and all graphic cards on shelves are 20% off that day).

It ran wonderfully on my AMD64 system. It's a big improvement on performance cuz I have onboard ATI Xpress 200 chipset that I hate it's gut!!. I am able to install and run Ubuntu with Compiz full on with water effect!! (Check Nathan's thread "Reason Why Ubuntu is better") I left posting with eyecandy Pix.

On Windows XP, (I have two hdd, one for Doz' and other for Ubuntu). The video on website seem slick and smooth. I watch Hulu - Watch your favorites. Anytime. For free. and noticed the performace of video which is nice.

My power supply is 450W while GeForce 9400GT require 350W or higher. I'm satisfied with new card!

Catty
Click to expand...

I already have Athlon 64 X2 4800+ @ 2.4 GHz in my PC. I already check AMD Athlon™ FX-60 at EBay, whoa 200-500 bucks for that 2 years old CPU chip.
:shock: Aw shoot, I guess I need new AM2+ motherboard and AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION for new video cards.... :mad2:
 
Foxrac said:
Socket 939 is no good for future games, it means can't upgrade to max it out, unless need new motherboard with recent socket like AM2 and GTA IV require quad core to max all it out with no lags.
Click to expand...

You raed my mind. :D I guess I give up for new video card, :(
 
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