upgrade to GTX 260

[aksphinx]

Hi,

I currently have the following setup:

AMD64 3200+ (2.0 GHz)
Gainward 6600GT
2 GB DDR 400MHz Dual-channel
Tagan 780W PSU
2x WD 320 GB SATA2
K8N NEO4 Mobo
Cool Master ALU Cavalier III case (1 "in" and 1 "out" fan, so cooling is quite good in my opinion)

I will be upgrading to a x2 or x4 AMD CPU and obviously the mobo and RAM to go with it in the near future (already put in a more powerfull PSU for this reason). But for now I just want to replace the old 6600GT. My question:

By upgrading the 6600GT to a GTX 260 will I be able to run newer titles like: Far Cry 2, NFS Undercover, Crysis on higher detail levels and get a descent FPS rate? Resolution would be 1280x800, antialiasing isn't that necessary so no high demands here.

I realize some might laugh about me wanting to put in such a GPU into an older system, but it's a temporary solution and I just want to know the level of performance increase. I'm also open to any other suggestions. Many thanks.

[KarmaKiller]

You'd see a slight increase in games, but your CPU is really gonna bottleneck the GPU. So really it will be an upgrade, but probably not as much as one as your thinking till your replace your CPU>

[thephilosophizer]

I think you would be better off putting a little more money aside, and getting a new motherboard/cpu/ram and graphics card. I would try to get $300-$400 together and you could end up with a much faster setup.
If you don't think you can get the money together, one thing you could do would be to find an older series graphics card like an 8800 or something. It would be more in line with what you have, and would make a difference.

[pullmyfoot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thephilosophizer

I think you would be better off putting a little more money aside, and getting a new motherboard/cpu/ram and graphics card. I would try to get $300-$400 together and you could end up with a much faster setup.
If you don't think you can get the money together, one thing you could do would be to find an older series graphics card like an 8800 or something. It would be more in line with what you have, and would make a difference.

+1

Here is what I suggest.
Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards
Newegg.com - HIS H477F512P Radeon HD 4770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Desktop Memory

The video card is quite a bit slower than the GTX260, but in any case my guess is that it is 3 or 4 maybe 5 times as fast as your old 6600GT (thats a lot ).

You would probably be getting <20-30% of what the GTX260 is capable of doing with your current CPU. Thats how slow it is

[aksphinx]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the feedback. I wouldn't really want to go any lower / older than the GTX 260 and not higher either. I prefer doing an upgrade more frequently rather than buying a top video card model just to realize after 6 months that it's 30% cheaper and a newer one's out. Even if I get a GTX 285 they'll think of some new video features that only a more recent model will fully support. It's just easier to upgrade knowing that you didn't spend a fortune on something not that long ago haha.

On the other hand I would want to get something more solid this time compared to what I did previously with the 6600GT which was lower range really compared to what was also available back then.

Btw, which brand you recommend? I've been running Gainward cards (starting GF 440 MX) and was generally happy with them but it seems all the GTX have a twin-fan solution and I said no way. I want to have a quite PC not a hoover. I was thinking about Gigabyte - any suggestions here?

I will upgrade the rest (this autumn latest), I just don't have enough money to get it all at once with the video card (mobo, RAM, CPU). So I was wondering how much improvement will I get with just replacing the video card for now (thanks to Pullmyfoot for shading some light on this).

As for the CPU what you all recommend? I mean so that the CPU is not a bottleneck to the GPU as well as not the other way around (not really planning to go SLI). I was thinking about AMD Athlon 64 x2 7850 / 2.8 Ghz / AM2+ or shall I aim at something better for the GTX 260?

I also don't use antialiasing. Might occur weird to some of you but it's like with noise reduction in high ISO photos. Some use it - I don't. I prefer preserving sharpness details to less noise and a smoothed out image (post process after). Same here: I'd rather have a bit higher resolution and sharpness and the jagged edges aren't as much annoying to me as a smoothed out image. And from my experience antialiasing sucks a lot of juice out of the video card so I would rather save it for something else - better light/shadow detail perhaps.

Thanks again.

[Atomic Rooster]

Yea, dropping a GTX 260 into that system does seem a bit silly, but it will run much better than the old 6600GT.

I would recommend going with something like this:

AMD Phenom II X3 720

GIGABYTE GA-MA790XT-UD4P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790X

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

The X3 720 is a great CPU, it's easily overclocked and performs really well.

Most all the video card brands out there are very reliable. I've had good luck with EVGA, BFG, MSI and even Asus video cards. One of the better deals right now is the MSI N260GTX-T2D896-OCv4 GeForce GTX 260 896MB. It's factory overclocked and can run on par with the GTX 280 series cards at a great price.

[pullmyfoot]

Yeah. If you really must get a GTX260 then I would be silly to not spend at least $400 - $500 on the rest of your system.