Upgrade Advice

[eQUIV]

So this is my current system:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
1.50gb RAM
ASUS A8N-SLI MOBO
ATI x1900xtx 512MB PCI-E Video Card
500W Power supply

I'm thinking about upgrading my videocard to a BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 ( http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2842055&CatId=2513 ). My question is do you think this will be enough for me to run Crysis at 1920x1200 all settings on high? Or would you suggest I upgrade my processor/ram as well? Any help or suggestions would be very appreciated. Thanks.

 

[The Brick]

I wouldn't recommend the GTX to anyone anymore, since the 8800gt performs only a few percent slower, and it costs about $270. This won't be able to run crysis at that detail settings. I have an 8800gtx and an e6300 (running at 3.3ghz) and I barely get 30fps in the crysis demo. 1680x1050 0xAA, everything HIGH (not ultra). If you do want to run crysis like that, wait some more untill there are better graphics cards available, and then upgrade both your GPU and CPU.

It looks to me like you can still run every game decently.

 

[eQUIV]

hmmm, yah maybe you're right. I can even run Unreal Tournament 3 demo at 1920x1200 with a good framerate. However do you think the 8800GT would give me any improvement with Crysis though? I'd atleast like to be able to run on high settings. Currently I can only seem to run Crysis at 1600x1200 at medium settings with a smooth framerate.

 

[Saturos]

So this is my current system:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
1.50gb RAM
ASUS A8N-SLI MOBO
ATI x1900xtx 512MB PCI-E Video Card
500W Power supply

I'm thinking about upgrading my videocard to a BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 ( http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2842055&CatId=2513 ). My question is do you think this will be enough for me to run Crysis at 1920x1200 all settings on high? Or would you suggest I upgrade my processor/ram as well? Any help or suggestions would be very appreciated. Thanks.

I like it, except you could save some money by not getting the OC'ed 8800 GTX. Just get the plain 8800 GT like Brick said and do the overclocking yourself.

 

[The Brick]

It would probably be a fair bit faster in any game, but personally I would certainly wait out the newer cards that will release soon (from both AMD and Nvidia).

 

[Asus]

Your system is pretty balanced right now. If you got a higher end card (8800) and plan to run at higher resolutions you would also want a faster CPU to help feed it.

Crysis demo on 8800GTX, 8800GT, 2900XT in DX9 The GTX ran with HIGH details and the other two had MEDIUM details on.
Source (has UT3 demo also)

Doesn't look very smooth with all those cards crashing through the 20 FPS range at just 1600x1200 and medium settings. And that is on a Core 2 Duo X8600 (2.93GHz) and 64bit windows.

If you upgrade, I'd stick with a 8800GT.

 

[eQUIV]

Hmmm, alright if I were to upgrade my cpu and mobo, which of these do you think is the better way to go:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe (SLI,4DDR2,2PCI-E,RAID,2GbLAN)

or

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad-Core 2.4GHz 8MB
ASUS P5K (CF,2PCI-E,4DDR2,1394,RAID,GbLAN)

I'm not really sure how huge of a jump it is from a dual to quad core?

Also, do you feel those Raptor 10000 RPM harddrives are worth the money, and do they offer much of an advantage for gamers?

 

[Uriel]

Kinda curious too. I'll be getting an q6600 and I've been eyeballing the 8800 gt, but you're saying that Nvidia will release another card soon? When?

So, overall.
Q6600
3 Gigs of Ram
8800 GT

running at 1680x1050 AAx2 on High, will it run smoothly?

 

[The Brick]

Hmmm, alright if I were to upgrade my cpu and mobo, which of these do you think is the better way to go:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe (SLI,4DDR2,2PCI-E,RAID,2GbLAN)

or

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad-Core 2.4GHz 8MB
ASUS P5K (CF,2PCI-E,4DDR2,1394,RAID,GbLAN)

I'm not really sure how huge of a jump it is from a dual to quad core?

Also, do you feel those Raptor 10000 RPM harddrives are worth the money, and do they offer much of an advantage for gamers?

The q6600 set by far.

And no, 10.000 rpm drives are a waste of money for regular users.

 

[Tyguy]

My specs are below in my sig. I can play Crysis at around 40 FPS max....If you want to run the game without pulling your hair out, I would suggest upgrading your CPU

 

[Uriel]

My specs are below in my sig. I can play Crysis at around 40 FPS max....If you want to run the game without pulling your hair out, I would suggest upgrading your CPU

You playing on high and at what resolution and settings?

 

[eQUIV]

So this is what I decided on, this should hold me for a while no?:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad-Core 2.4GHz 8MB (Overclocked 3.2GHz)
CPU Cooling ASUS V-60/CPU heat sink
OCZ Gold XTC 2GB Kit DDR2 800MHz (OCZ2G8002GK)
eVGA E-GEFORCE 8800GT 512M Superclocked DDR3 PCI-E
ASUS P5K (CF,2PCI-E,4DDR2,1394,RAID,GbLAN)
NZXT Hush Case (Black)
CoolerMaster eXtreme Power 650W (RP-650-PCAR)

 

[eQUIV]

I read someone else on another messageboard say this

You can't build a quad-core CPU and nVidia 8800 graphics on a P5K, it's just not up to the job.
Sorry, can't sugar-coat it for you.
You need big stout mobo with multi-phase power circuitry, heavy-duty y'know?
Here's an Asus P5N-E SLI, NVIDIA nForce 650i chipset for the same money, better choice probably (and you don't even really need the FSB1333 support anyway).

I just bought a quad core CPU and a 8800GT on a P5K... should I be worried? I hear alot of people are having problems with Crysis and other games crashing.