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#1
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Which upgrade route?
Hi - I'd really welcome some upgrade advice from people who know.
Current system is a dual core E6750 with 2gb RAM and an nVidia 8800GT (320mb version.) I'm looking at upgrading on a relatively modest budget but am not sure whether to update the video card or the processor. The machine is mostly used for gaming, especially rFactor and other racing sims. I've looked at the GTX260 card and figured I could just about stretch to one, but don't know if it'll be beyond the requirements of the rest of the machine. I've also seen a lot of 9800GTX+ cards around for about half the money. Top budget is around £200. I'm running a 1680x1050 Samsung monitor, and would really like to be able to crank everything up to full, if that's a realistic expectation. Would appreciate any advice - and thanks for reading this far! Cheers, Rick. |
#2
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Which upgrade route?
"Rick Catton" wrote in message ... Hi - I'd really welcome some upgrade advice from people who know. Current system is a dual core E6750 with 2gb RAM and an nVidia 8800GT (320mb version.) I'm looking at upgrading on a relatively modest budget but am not sure whether to update the video card or the processor. The machine is mostly used for gaming, especially rFactor and other racing sims. I've looked at the GTX260 card and figured I could just about stretch to one, but don't know if it'll be beyond the requirements of the rest of the machine. I've also seen a lot of 9800GTX+ cards around for about half the money. Top budget is around £200. I'm running a 1680x1050 Samsung monitor, and would really like to be able to crank everything up to full, if that's a realistic expectation. Would appreciate any advice - and thanks for reading this far! I just upgraded my E8400 system from an overclocked G92 8800GT 512Mb to an eVGA GTX 260 SSC 896Mb card. Synthetic benchmarks up by 35-45%. Actual gaming framerates up by 40-70% depending upon the game. Card is vastly quieter and cooler. A huge difference in DX10 on newer titles like Fallout 3 and Far Cry2. My only criticism ( and it's not a fault, really) is that the card is massive and a lot longer in comparison to an 8800GT. My Antec 180 case required surgery. I had to move the SATA drive bay back by over one inch to get it to fit. No big deal if you're the least bit handy.. If you only had two drives in the case (I have 4) you could have simply removed the SATA drive bay slideout and run the drives in the lower bay. My opinion....go with the GTX 260....it's a big jump from the old style 8800GT 320Mb. |
#3
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Which upgrade route?
"Augustus" wrote in message
news:vUnnl.12645$Db2.6738@edtnps83 [...] I just upgraded my E8400 system from an overclocked G92 8800GT 512Mb to an eVGA GTX 260 SSC 896Mb card. Synthetic benchmarks up by 35-45%. Actual gaming framerates up by 40-70% depending upon the game. Card is vastly quieter and cooler. A huge difference in DX10 on newer titles like Fallout 3 and Far Cry2. My only criticism ( and it's not a fault, really) is that the card is massive and a lot longer in comparison to an 8800GT. My Antec 180 case required surgery. It is a fault, really. It's really bad design. The Antec 180 case isn't exactly small (my partner has the 182SE case and the 8800GTX fits in with a bit to spare). Building cards bigger than that is just moronic. |
#4
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Which upgrade route?
It is a fault, really. It's really bad design. The Antec 180 case isn't exactly small (my partner has the 182SE case and the 8800GTX fits in with a bit to spare). Building cards bigger than that is just moronic. I was surprised by the sheer size and length of the card. As you say, the Antec 180 series case is pretty big as it is. It didn't occur to me to measure due to this. At least they put the twin PCIe power plugs on the side of the brute and not on the back. |
#5
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Which upgrade route?
Thanks to all for replies. Will look into each of these this weekend.
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#6
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Which upgrade route?
"DRS" wrote in message ... "Augustus" wrote in message news:vUnnl.12645$Db2.6738@edtnps83 [...] I just upgraded my E8400 system from an overclocked G92 8800GT 512Mb to an eVGA GTX 260 SSC 896Mb card. Synthetic benchmarks up by 35-45%. Actual gaming framerates up by 40-70% depending upon the game. Card is vastly quieter and cooler. A huge difference in DX10 on newer titles like Fallout 3 and Far Cry2. My only criticism ( and it's not a fault, really) is that the card is massive and a lot longer in comparison to an 8800GT. My Antec 180 case required surgery. It is a fault, really. It's really bad design. The Antec 180 case isn't exactly small (my partner has the 182SE case and the 8800GTX fits in with a bit to spare). Building cards bigger than that is just moronic. I too have that eVGA card in a P182 case. The real pain is that the SATA connectors on an ASUS P6T Dlx MB are stacked sideways, at the edge of the board, and underneath the GTX260 which has to be removed for access to the SATA connectors. |
#7
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Which upgrade route?
opinion....go with the GTX 260....it's a big jump from the old style 8800GT
320Mb.- Hide quoted text - Is the 260 really cool and quiet ? My eVGA 8800 was noisy and hot as fire .. impossible to play games and not hear the fan screaming .. temps going over 100 C. I did a lot of research, and finally found a way to install a Zalman cooler with a quiet fan, and actually got the transistor heat sinks to stick. No way will I go through a noisy hot card like that again. I wonder if a google search on "noisy nVidia 260" will go like it always does ? Hot noisy cards and everybody disappointed and mad ? johns |
#8
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Which upgrade route?
disappointed and mad ? Yep. Tom's hardware. The 260 is stupidly noisy and annoying. Don't buy this POS. You'll hate it after a gaming session, and the vendor will just laugh at you. It'll cost you another $150 to quieten this piece of crap, and you'll probably find you don't have room for the Zalman in most cases. Want to have some fun? Call up a vendor and ask them how to quieten and cool your new 260. Get the old, "We've not had any complaints about that." http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...0,1953-26.html |
#9
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Which upgrade route?
Want to have some fun? Call up a vendor and ask them
how to quieten and cool your new 260. Get the old, "We've not had any complaints about that." I called EVGA customer service, and just like I said, first thing out of his mouth, "We've had no complaints about that." Sure EVGA ! I really appreciate your new fantastic Customer Service lying to me. So, what ever video card you buy in the nVidia line, be sure to add in the cost of the Zalman cooler. And I recommend an external speed controller to knob it down to about 800 rpm. Plus, the only way to clean off the transistor goop is to use fingernail polish remover. If you don't do that, the transistor heat sinks included with the Zalman kit will fall off. johns |
#10
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Which upgrade route?
"johns" wrote in message ...
Want to have some fun? Call up a vendor and ask them how to quieten and cool your new 260. Get the old, "We've not had any complaints about that." I called EVGA customer service, and just like I said, first thing out of his mouth, "We've had no complaints about that." Sure EVGA ! I really appreciate your new fantastic Customer Service lying to me. That line is part of everyone's support scripts these days. But it's relative. I mean compared to ATI-based cards the 2x0s are fairly quiet and cool. High-end Radeons run hot as hell and sound like freaking vacuum cleaners. |
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