Graphics Card Upgrade

[smithmr8]

Hi,
Currently have a 256MB 8600GT, which has done me proud for 3 years. Able to play every game I've thrown at it, Crysis included.

Looking to upgrade as a christmas present to myself.

Want it to be able to play Crysis 2 (Once released) at High/Top settings, preferably.

After a decent card, that'll do me for a good few years. But not too expensive.

£100~. Cheaper if possible. Thought I'd come to the best place I know for this type of advice.

Cheers.

[smithmr8]

Maybe even spend a bit more. Aslong as the card is worth it. Sure I can scrape a bit more cash together. .

Something like this perhaps ?

[kalniel]

Do you have a copy of Crysis 2 so that we can see what type of card it requires?

If not, you're better off waiting till it's released like the rest of us, then the recommendation will become clearer

[scaryjim]

Assuming you're not planning to upgrade your monitor, my guess would be that the GTX460 768MB would be your best bet. At 1280x1024 it'll monster most current games. It might be worth investing in a decent CPU cooler and trying to overclock your Q6600 a bit though: it's a good CPU at stock speeds, but it sounds like you're disinclined to upgrade unless you absolutely need to and overclocking the Q6600 should give you another couple of years out of it

[smithmr8]

Currently have a HP2310i. (1920x1080, 2.5ms, 23"). What type of card would be more suited to that resolution ?

I've not got any plans to upgrade the bulk of my system at the moment, as I'd want to go for a decent i7 setup... which I cannot afford at the moment.

Have a decent heat sink, so might have a crack at over clocking to see what else I can get out of it. How far would you think it could go without impeding the lifespan of the chip.

[scaryjim]

Currently have a HP2310i. (1920x1080, 2.5ms, 23"). What type of card would be more suited to that resolution ?

Ah, ninja system edit At that res you'll realistically want a GTX460 1GB minimum, which is even further out of your budget, and will complain a bit if you try to play lots of new games at 1920x1080 with hi image quality settings: for consistent framerates in a variety of games for the next couple of years, you'll want to be investing around £200 in a 6870, 6950, 5870, GTX470, or waiting for the GTX560 (due to be released early next year).

Have a decent heat sink, so might have a crack at over clocking to see what else I can get out of it. How far would you think it could go without impeding the lifespan of the chip.

The key is going to be keeping an eye on temperatures. Ideally you want the chip to stay south of 50C, but as long as you can keep it below 70 at all times (the temperature the stock HSF keeps a Q6600 with minimal airflow ) you're pretty safe. However, with your nv680i SLI based motherboard (the same one I have, as it happens) you may find you're limited on the extent of your overclock anyway - I've heard a few people say that the chipset struggles when overclocking quads. That said, struggle is a relative term and from what I've heard / read most people can get their Q6600s to 3GHz on pretty much any chipset, which would still give you a nice performance boost and should see you right for a good couple of years

[smithmr8]

Hehe. Yeah, forgot to edit it. Haven't been on here in a little while. .

Right. I might have to wait a few months for that. Would want to make it a worthwhile upgrade. Depends on christmas costs, and such. If the GTX560 is going to be around that sort of price, might wait until that is out. Otherwise might look for a cheap used card to tide me over. So one of these would be suitable ? (6870, 6950, 5870, GTX470)

So bumping it up to 3GHz, if possible, would be stable enough to run for a couple more years still ? Don't know anything about OC'ing. Are there any decent guides for doing it with this CPU ?

Would be nice, if I could get it to something like that sort of speed as it has been slightly lagging recently.

[shaithis]

Expect the 560 to be around £150, maybe more at launch.

If Crysis was anything to go by, asking for a "£100 gfx card to play Crysis 2 at max detail", means you will probably need to hold off on your purchase for a year or 2

[scaryjim]

Are there any decent guides for doing it with this CPU ?

There's is a sticky in the hardware forum with a guide to overclocking Core 2 CPUs, written by a member here (who now has his own forum) called Clunk. It's targeted at Core 2 Duos, but the principle for overclocking Core 2 Quads is identical, and it's a very well written guide: just pretend all the "Duo"s say "Quad"

[smithmr8]

If Crysis was anything to go by, asking for a "£100 gfx card to play Crysis 2 at max detail", means you will probably need to hold off on your purchase for a year or 2

To be honest, it was a pretty big ask. Don't mind spending more. Obviously not a huge amount as I'm predominantly a console gamer. But Crysis 2 is just too good to pass up. So don't mind spending the money if it'll last a few years. Would you recommend waiting for the GTX560 ? I'm not in a huge rush to get the card. Aslong as its by the launch of Crysis.

There's is a sticky in the hardware forum with a guide to overclocking Core 2 CPUs, written by a member here (who now has his own forum) called Clunk. It's targeted at Core 2 Duos, but the principle for overclocking Core 2 Quads is identical, and it's a very well written guide: just pretend all the "Duo"s say "Quad"

Thanks. I'll have a play with it this weekend. See what I can coax out of it. It is starting to lag slightly, so a boost would be nicely welcomed .

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The GTX560 is most likely to be around the same speed as GTX470. It will basically be a GF104 GPU with all 384 shaders enabled and probably better load power consumption. If it is any faster then it will start eating into sales of the GTX570. This would not be good for Nvidia as it would mean more unsold GF110 GPUs as most cards with the GF110 GPU are GTX570 cards.

A lot of people have also all of a sudden forgotten that the HD6870 is already around the same speed as a GTX470!

Anyway,I would wait until Crysis 2 comes along before upgrading as it will give you a better view of which graphics card would be the best choice.

[shaithis]

To be honest, it was a pretty big ask. Don't mind spending more. Obviously not a huge amount as I'm predominantly a console gamer. But Crysis 2 is just too good to pass up. So don't mind spending the money if it'll last a few years. Would you recommend waiting for the GTX560 ? I'm not in a huge rush to get the card. Aslong as its by the launch of Crysis.

As others have said: Wait for Crysis 2 tests to appear. I find HardOCP normally have some great tests when big titles are released.

By then, the entire gfx market will have moved on and you will get even more for your money, as well as having more choices available.

[smithmr8]

Alright. Cheers all of you for the advice. Much appreciated .

[tjpartridge]

I recommend the MSI 5850 Twin Frozr, its only £125 and you'll be able to overclock that to 5870 with the kind of cooler it has.

[Cryptik]

i would agree and say keep saving your pennies till its released not only will u have more of an idea what is needed to run it but current cards will be even cheaper.