Oh, mercy me

[Shooty*]

Gents, and ladies,

Does anyone else have that thing when you keep thinking about buying something new, and thinking about it, and thinking about it, and...

Of course you do. It's the nature of a tech board. Heh.

Anyway... At present, my main gaming rig is a Q8200 running on an IP35 pro, OC'd to 2.8ghz, with a 74 gig raptor as the system drive, running Vista, with an 8800 gts. And 2gb ram.

I've got a couple of hundred quid going spare, and am seriously looking at getting a 260GTX (Custom PC mag recommendation for mid range gaming machine card). The most demanding games I have at the moment at UT3, Batman arkham and Crysis/ warhead. Tempted to get bioshock 2.

So... what to get to get the most benefit? Part of me is thinking "save up, splurge on a new system". Another part is thinking (and I think Lee Scan will understand) "Pffft, you've got kids, when do you expect to use this new machine?" and the third part is, of course, thinking "Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it".

So... tell me... Do you reckon upgrade my graphics card? Or wait a wee while and do the whole lot?

How "behind the curve" is the Q8200 nowadays anyway?

(the other option was an SSD and a copy of Windows 7...)

Edit: Yes, I'm having an Alkaline Trio listening spree

[kalniel]

Q8200 is not limiting at all, a 8800 gts is..

Bioshock 2 and UT3 won't see much improvement, they're already low-demand games. Crysis/warhead will greatly benefit from a GTX260 (or more from the equivalently priced ATI card, but you want nVidia aided features I guess from the games list).

An SSD and windows 7 will also give you the feel of an upgrade.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The OP has an 8800GT listed in their signature. TBH,I would wait until the midrange Fermi derivatives are launched in the summer.

I would probably add another 2GB of RAM to their computer or add a pair of 2GB DIMMs as this may mean that they could overclock their CPU a bit more. Of course if the OP could reinstalled their OS again it would help make their computer feel faster.

[Shooty*]

Ah, Cat, where would I be without you?

It's shocking, but I can't recall if it's GT or GTS... it's the single slot one. I'll have to check. Does it make much difference, really, to the useful advice Kalniel gave?

I seem to recall from when I got the mobo that I have problems with two of the memory slots... but that would only be a problem if I went dual channel... I could just replace my 2x1gb sticks (dominators) with 2x2gb sticks, I suppose...

Yeah, I might do that. I think that would be a good idea.

I assumed bioshock 2 would be high demand. Wow.

Edit: What's the "The OP said" crap? It's me, man. You ALWAYS comment on my threads Stop talking as if I'm not in the room.

[Pob255]

If you monitor is a 1440x900 or 1280x1024 19" I'd look at upgradeing that first.
If it is ether a 1440x900 or 1280x1024 then I'd not bother upgrading the graphics card untill you upgrade the monitor.

I'd not buy a new gtx260 unless you find one on offer, a 2nd hand one my be worth it (if you also upgrade your monitor)
An ati 4890 would probably be a better bet atm, you can pick them up for around £130 new or £100 2nd hand.

Getting another 2x1gb to up the system memory to 4gb would also be a good step and shouldn't cost that much.

I think what I'm getting at here is go on spend it

EDIT: if it was the single slot cooler then it was the 8800gt
the older 8800gt 320mb would be rather weak these days and the 8800gt 512mb was slightly faster than the 8800gts 640mb (if I remember correctly)
Depends on the cost of 2x2gb, try moving your ram around and testing all the slots first.

[Rob_B]

Have you got a console? If not then a few hundred will get you a decent setup, good justification is to use it for streaming programs for the kids too

[Ulti]

I would definitely see if I could wait for the Fermi releases as the Nvidia enthusiasts will be flogging their Nvidia cards for the Fermi releases.

Any reasons not to go for ATi though?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Ah, Cat, where would I be without you?

It's shocking, but I can't recall if it's GT or GTS... it's the single slot one. I'll have to check. Does it make much difference, really, to the useful advice Kalniel gave?

If it is single slot then it is a 8800GT. The 8800GT is considerably faster than the 8800GTS 640MB for example. I don't see the point in getting the GTX260 now as they are EOL and when you can actually get one from a retailer are very expensive. You might as well see how the midrange Fermi cards stack up TBH and you will get better GPGPU features and DX11 too.

Edit: What's the "The OP said" crap? It's me, man. You ALWAYS comment on my threads Stop talking as if I'm not in the room.

The Moose is slightly confused.

[Shooty*]

OK, thanks all, I'm going to go and google "fermi" now, as my immediate thought on reading that is "paradox".


Edit: Right, took a plunge: 4gb of ram, and a copy of Windows 7 (OEM) 64 bit, not upgrade.

Yes, I have a 19 inch screen, so will hold upgrading on the "big guns" (mobo, GPU, etc) until later.

Thanks, all.