Upgrade my HIS x1950 Pro 512m Turbo??

[fpantovich]

Well, I've been thinking about it for a bit, but I was wondering if it'd even be worth it. Looking at MAYBE upgrading my graphics card and wanted to see if ya'll thought it'd even be worth the upgrade aside from DX10 capabilities, which I'm not even worried about.

Here's current GPU and MB:

MSI 975x Platinum PowerUp Edition v2
PCI-E HIS x1950 Pro 512 MB Turbo Edition (Pre-OCed with an upgraded HSF)

I'm looking at probably $150 or less, maybe even less than that, but I'm not certain yet. Also, even though I CAN go with nVidia, I'd like to stay with ATI just in-case I decide to go dual-cards in the future, since my board is Crossfire friendly and supposedly not the other way around. Also, I'd like to get a card with a minimum of 512MB of RAM just like my current, so that may sway my decision as well if I can't find a great performer in my price range with atleast 512mb. Let me know what ya'll think and if it's even worth it compared to what I currently have. Thanks.

[KarmaKiller]

Well, if your looking at ATI only, then the 3850 is really the only card in your price range that's worthy of an upgrade.
It would perform almost 2x faster then your current card, but not quite a full 2x.
If your a gamer, and are having problems running games at your current res. (what is it Btw?) then I'd say go for it.
But if your only running like 1290x1024, then IMO it really wouldn't be worth it IMO.
If your willing to go the green side, the 9600GT is by far the best bang for the buck you can get.


EDIT:
If you can squeeze out a couple more bucks off the start, then you can get this card, which is a good performer for the price. (not as good as the 9600 though)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102719

[fpantovich]

Yeah, I was thinking about the 9600GT, which I could get for around $150, but I really wanna stick with ATI just in-case I decide to go dual-cards in the near future. As for the 3870, I actually just saw that sapphire card on newegg a couple days ago and kinda like it. Are the new gen DX10 cards really that much better overall than the top DX9 cards?

As for the reason why, not really any reason, honestly, I have more than enough RAM in my system, more than enough hard drive space, plenty CPU, and just looking for the next worthy upgrade, which would be the graphics card. I play my games at 1440x900 resolution with most if not all settings typically maxed out just fine and get pretty good FPS. I don't play anything TOO serious, mostly WoW, NFS, and a couple various sports games (Madden, etc).

Thanks for the suggestion I guess what I'm really wanting to do is upgrade SOMETHING on my computer as I normally do every 6-12 months, and I just can't think of anything at all that I can upgrade for the amount of money I have to spend. I guess I'll just sit on it until I have enough money for a 30" LCD Thanks.

[KarmaKiller]

When you get the 30" LCD, your really gonna be needing a new GPU.
I don't think your current card will be able to handle it all that good.

Are the new gen DX10 cards really that much better overall than the top DX9 cards?

To give you a rough idea, in numbers. With my older 7800GT, and my old setup, I would score 4,780 in 3D Mark 06. With the same system, just my new 9600GT, it scored 12,204.
That's a big difference!

[RamonGTP]

I'd go with the 9600GT

[fpantovich]

Thanks all. I guess I'll pick up a 9600GT during the Memorial Day Weekend sales. Hopefully there will be some really good deals then I guess if the 9600GT is as good as ya'll say it is, then I really won't be needing dual video cards (crossfire), so it doesn't matter if I get ATI or nVidia...

EDIT: One more quick question...I haven't been keeping up with the latest and greatest, so I'm not certain about this. My motherboard (MSI 975X Platinum Power-up Edition) is regular PCI-E, but these 9600GT's are all PCI-E 2.0. Is this going to affect me negatively in any way?

[KarmaKiller]

No, it will not affect you at all. PCI 2.0 cards work fine in PCI-E16x slots. There is no issue what so ever.

[fpantovich]

Originally Posted by KarmaKiller

No, it will not affect you at all. PCI 2.0 cards work fine in PCI-E16x slots. There is no issue what so ever.

kk, thanks...I'll prolly pick up a 9600GT next weekend then

[KarmaKiller]

Nice!
They're a sweet card for the price! You won't regret it.

[fpantovich]

well, I decided to wait a bit, I remembered Father's Day is on the 15th, so I'm going to wait until either this weekend or next weekend to buy the new card. I've been looking around and I see a lot of 8800GT's going for under $200 now...would those be a better buy over a 9600GT or should I just stick with the 9600GT's?? Also, I noticed the 3870's are selling for almost the exact same as well...what do ya'll think?? Which would be the bigger upgrade from my current??

Here's a few of each that I'm considering...all are Newegg links as I haven't started doing my shop around, yet...

8800GT's

Newegg.com - MSI NX8800GT 512M OC GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Newegg.com - XFX PVT88PYDF4 GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards


HD3870's

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100225L Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Newegg.com - HIS Hightech H387QS512NP Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported IceQ3 Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards


9600GT's

Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N862-AR GeForce 9600GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Newegg.com - MSI N9600GT 512M OC GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards



Last question I have is concerning the Palit 8800GT...I see they have a 1GB model for fairly inexpensive...What do ya'll think??

Newegg.com - PALiT NE/880TSXT302 GeForce 8800GT SONIC 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards



Yes, I know...I'm asking a bunch of questions like a n00b, but I've been outta the market for a while, so want to make sure I spend my money wisely and, IMO, free games are always a plus, so those cards if the same price as another make would be purchased prolly