Undecided on new GPU (4xxx or 5xxx) for old system

[Ulti]

@Ulti,
Thanks for sticking with me on this, truly appreciated

When you say are you referring to the 48xx range?
I can see where you are coming from too, I can imagine the spec you posted would keep me going for a while but I guess I'd rather go for an x58 based spec to take advantage of some of the coming releases (a bit more future-proofed?).

I can totally see where you are coming from with the bottlenecked scenario though, it's almost damned if I do and damned if I don't!

The advantage of going for the new spec would hopefully keep me going for another couple of years (maybe even 6!), it really is just a case of deciding when to pull the trigger, I can't say I'm in a good position now as I can only get to around £200 at a push... I've been an Intel chap for ages now and I really haven't a clue what is on the horizon for AMD... are they releasing new kit this year?

I must admit I am tempted by the 5770 but I just don't want to get one and then find it's obsolete before the end of the year

Look forward to your thoughts,

Cheers,
Harv

Well AM3 should be on for a while at least, the i5 and i7 systems are simply overkill and money wasted in my opinion, you could get a mid range AM3 system + a high-mid end graphics card for the price of an i5/i7 system without a graphics card easily. Also i5 and i7 systems are very picky about memory, not too familiar but they require low voltage stuff whereas AM3 can use both. i7 then also runs best when there's triple memory kits and those aren't exactly great in terms of pricing.

Also, I know the guys around here don't like the idea of eBay but for £50 or so nowadays you can grab a 8800GT variant, sometimes if you're lucky then you could perhaps even grab an 8800GTX 768mb for £50. However obviously the warranty purposes and shady dealers makes it a less attractive choice. 8800GT maybe be one of the oldest cards around but it's performance is still good enough for pretty much every game to be able to run on max settings provided your resolution isn't too massive.

4770s were only £55.35 and £58.00 at a point and IIRC 4850s weren't much more either. However, like I said before, unfortunately you don't have that chance anymore (and sadly me neither, would have loved a 4770 for crossfire though I do need to ask myself for what purpose as with a single 4770 I can run everything at max settings (apart from Crysis in terms of AA). )

I'm not saying the 4670 is bad but the next thing you'll want to upgrade would definitely be that so it seems a bit pointless to me to be honest. It's like when I thought back to myself, I got an 8600GT for £40 in 2008 cos it was within my budget but now I simply see it as £40 wasted.

But if you spend a life waiting for technology to get better and prices to drop then you never get anywhere haha.

Hope that gave you some ideas on what you personally want to do, everyone is entitled to their own opinions and actions.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Well AM3 should be on for a while at least, the i5 and i7 systems are simply overkill and money wasted in my opinion, you could get a mid range AM3 system + a high-mid end graphics card for the price of an i5/i7 system without a graphics card easily. Also i5 and i7 systems are very picky about memory, not too familiar but they require low voltage stuff whereas AM3 can use both. i7 then also runs best when there's triple memory kits and those aren't exactly great in terms of pricing.

Also, I know the guys around here don't like the idea of eBay but for £50 or so nowadays you can grab a 8800GT variant, sometimes if you're lucky then you could perhaps even grab an 8800GTX 768mb for £50. However obviously the warranty purposes and shady dealers makes it a less attractive choice. 8800GT maybe be one of the oldest cards around but it's performance is still good enough for pretty much every game to be able to run on max settings provided your resolution isn't too massive.

4770s were only £55.35 and £58.00 at a point and IIRC 4850s weren't much more either. However, like I said before, unfortunately you don't have that chance anymore (and sadly me neither, would have loved a 4770 for crossfire though I do need to ask myself for what purpose as with a single 4770 I can run everything at max settings (apart from Crysis in terms of AA). )

I'm not saying the 4670 is bad but the next thing you'll want to upgrade would definitely be that so it seems a bit pointless to me to be honest. It's like when I thought back to myself, I got an 8600GT for £40 in 2008 cos it was within my budget but now I simply see it as £40 wasted.

But if you spend a life waiting for technology to get better and prices to drop then you never get anywhere haha.

Hope that gave you some ideas on what you personally want to do, everyone is entitled to their own opinions and actions.

I use Ebay myself and got my HD4830 512MB from there for around £50 and it looked unused.

However,the 8800GT does need a decent PSU and I would be a bit worried stressing out a 5 year PSU with one. The HD4670 has lower performance but is more frugal with the power requirements.
TBH,I would think that the OP should look to do a total system upgrade as this will be the best value option in the long run. Upgrading old systems for gaming is not always the most cost effective option IMHO.

[DanceswithUnix]

I have a few vouchers that I could use to get a Sapphire 5770 for around £100, would it be worth it at that price? I don't fancy buying the thing for the price to drop by £40 in Q1 2010

It is always going to happen at some point, though it looks like RAM prices are expected to creep slowly up for a while and I think that is one of the big factors in the violent swings you sometimes get in graphics card prices. If RAM isn't going to force the price down, it is left to Nvidia to come out with something special and their next release is probably going to be an expensive top end card.

As I said before, if you are upgrading late next year you can be certain that everything will have dropped in price, so you might as well buy cheap now and re-evaluate later.

[scaryjim]

Of course, one option no-one's mentioned is to keep checking ebay for a cheap temporary upgrade. I picked up a 7900GT for < £20 a couple of weeks ago, and that would be a significant upgrade from an X700. There's usually a few 7800 / 7900s, and some X1800 / X1900s listed - that would be as good a stopgap solution as a 4650 / 4670 with the CPU bottlenecking you're likely to see...

[DanceswithUnix]

Of course, one option no-one's mentioned is to keep checking ebay for a cheap temporary upgrade. I picked up a 7900GT for < £20 a couple of weeks ago, and that would be a significant upgrade from an X700. There's usually a few 7800 / 7900s, and some X1800 / X1900s listed - that would be as good a stopgap solution as a 4650 / 4670 with the CPU bottlenecking you're likely to see...

I think we have been tip-toeing around the ageing PSU in case such an old power hungry card made it go pop

Looking back at Cat's list of components in post #2 of the thread, if you spend 35 quid on a new PSU then you might as well buy a brand new graphics card as well and get the free shipping.

I also think you are being overly harsh on the P4 (can't believe I am saying this, I generally always hated the chip) and sadly I can't find the benchmarks to back it up, but a P4 aught to be able to drive a 4670 (just).

[Ulti]

8800GTS 640mb for £35 delivered.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Point-of-View-...item20ae935cb6

[tocbg]

Hi folks,

Thanks again for the continued support and advice, it truly is appreciated

I apologise if I don't get to all of the points raised... today has been a little hectic to say the least!

With regards the GPU / GPU+PSU options... Now after a good nights sleep (and crappy day doing coursework!) I feel that I'm being drawn more towards the 4670 / other cheaper alternative card. I was really thinking of going for the 5xxx card but I really just don't see the point. As DanceswithUnix mentioned, I'm going to get some depreciation whatever it is that I end up going for. Might as well save a few pennies this end and go for a more powerful card with a full overhaul. I have planned it in my mind to gradually upgrade though. I was hoping to get the PSU early next year (maybe end of Q1 / Q2) and then add perhaps the CPU/Mobo/RAM in one go once things have settled within the year / 18 months.

I have got £20 worth of Amazon vouchers so I was thinking of going for the Sapphire 4670 Passive, I haven't had much of a look around on there for other cards as I suppose I have not really wanted to leave my comfort zone of being an ATi card owner. I am happy to look at other alternatives though so by all means please suggest them as quite a few of you have done so far.

I missed out on the GTS, to be honest I was a little unsure on the 8800, I know that I could use a spare Molex to power the card but I just don't know if I am totally confident in my current PSU. In a way that was going to be the advantage of the GPU+PSU bundle... no probs power wise, just a CPU bottleneck.

Has there been any more info on the replacement 4xxx ATi Cards? I think it would settle my mind a little if I knew whether they needed a separate power cable.

You know, I used to have an AMD Athlon before my P4... was a good CPU, kept me going in Win '98 and got me through Tiberian Sun without any aggro... if memory serves it was a Medion PC that was bought for me from Tescos of all places!

If I went for the 4670 on Ama, it would only cost me aroun £35 or so... I reckon that's a pretty good deal.

I was hoping to get the card before Crimbo as a pressie for myself but I am tempted to wait until the sales start.. maybe they'll knock a few more quid off of it, it is due to be replaced so fingers crossed!

The weirdest thing is, I bought an X1900XT back in '06... I sold it on before giving it much of a go, was a nice HIS model too

I'll reply again / edit this post when I have a few more minutes to respond to individual suggestions.

Cheers,
Harv

[pardal51]

8800GTS 640mb for £35 delivered.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Point-of-View-...item20ae935cb6

I would have snapped this one, as I am after a replacement GPU for my system. Still undecided what to get

[DanceswithUnix]

A quick look on Amazon didn't find anything competitive. From other retailers the equivalent Nvidia parts are the 9600GT or now for about the same price the GT240 (faster but sucks more power). The GT220 is slower, but would be much kinder on your PSU. They all seemed to be silly prices on Amazon though.

If you have the case airflow to use a passive card (the few I have used get crazy hot, even an old 6200!) the 4670 is a fine chip and I'm sure you would be delighted with it.

Some power benchies to peruse here.