Looking to get a new GFX Card and possibly a CPU... What cooling would I need?

[EliteScouter]

Ok so I am really looking into getting the eVGA 9800GTX 512M TV-Out/2DVI . First I want to know couple things before I do get it.

Is it any good for gaming like lets say "World Of Warcraft" because right now I got the ATI Radeon x1600 and I'm ok when I play but sometimes my FPS drops down to 19 and I really don't like it. Any idea if the eVGA 9800GTX 512M TV-Out/2DVI would be able to keep me 60+ fps at all times?

Anyways now If I were to get the GFX card, will my CPU handle it?

I have a 3.2 Pentium D thats overclocked to 3.68. Its doing pretty good, doesen't slow down or anything when I play so I would say its an ok processor. So would that processor be able to handle the GFX card?

If not I was lookign at either:
Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz 4M 1333M 775 Retail
or
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 8M 1066M 775 Retail

Not sure which one would be better for me, that is if I decide to get a new processor.

How about cooling? Would I HAVE to switch to water cooling? Because I am really NOT for having water running inside my comp lolz.

Here is some info from Everest.

--------[ Overclock ]---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CPU Properties:
CPU Type DualCore Intel Pentium D 940
CPU Alias Presler
CPU Stepping B1
Engineering Sample No
CPUID CPU Name Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.20GHz
CPUID Revision 00000F62h

CPU Speed:
CPU Clock 3687.3 MHz (original: 3200 MHz, overclock: 15%)
CPU Multiplier 16.0x
CPU FSB 230.5 MHz (original: 200 MHz, overclock: 15%)
Memory Bus 172.8 MHz
DRAM:FSB Ratio 6:8

CPU Cache:
L1 Trace Cache 12K Instructions per core
L1 Data Cache 16 KB per core
L2 Cache 2 MB per core (On-Die, ECC, ATC, Full-Speed)

Motherboard Properties:
Motherboard ID 63-1702-000010-00101111-010907-945P$A0227000_BIOS DATE: 01/09/07 11:00:47 VER: 08.00.10
Motherboard Name Asus P5LD2 (3 PCI, 3 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN)

Chipset Properties:
Motherboard Chipset Intel Lakeport i945P
Memory Timings 5-6-6-2 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)

SPD Memory Modules:
DIMM1: Kingston 512 MB DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 @ 333 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)
DIMM2: Kingston 512 MB DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 @ 333 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)
DIMM3: Kingston 512 MB DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 @ 333 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)
DIMM4: Kingston 512 MB DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 @ 333 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)

BIOS Properties:
System BIOS Date 01/09/07
Video BIOS Date 12/10/05
DMI BIOS Version 1702

Graphics Processor Properties:
Video Adapter Sapphire Radeon X1600 Pro
GPU Code Name RV530 (PCI Express x16 1002 / 71C2, Rev 00)
GPU Clock 500 MHz (original: 500 MHz)
Memory Clock 405 MHz (original: 405 MHz)


SOME TEMPERATURES AND VOLTAGE

--------[ Sensor ]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sensor Properties:
Sensor Type Winbond W83627EHF/EHG (ISA 290h)
GPU Sensor Type National LM63 (ATI-I2C 4Ch)
Motherboard Name Asus P5LD2 / P5WD2 / P5WDG2 Series
Chassis Intrusion Detected No

Temperatures:
Motherboard 37 °C (99 °F)
CPU 55 °C (131 °F)
GPU 63 °C (145 °F)
GPU Ambient 47 °C (117 °F)
Seagate ST3250410AS 36 °C (97 °F)
Seagate ST3320620AS 38 °C (100 °F)
Maxtor 6L300R0 36 °C (97 °F)

Cooling Fans:
CPU 2482 RPM
Chassis 1395 RPM

Voltage Values:
CPU Core 1.29 V
+3.3 V 3.26 V
+5 V 4.94 V
+12 V 11.90 V
+5 V Standby 4.95 V
Debug Info F 79 88 FF FF FF
Debug Info T 37 55 36
Debug Info V A1 E9 CC CC CE C3 C3 (03)
Debug Info I A1 8863


Any suggestions????

Thanks

[StealthTools]

That graphics card will handle any game out there on super high settings.. I believe it will play Crysis on med/high.. My 7900GT GPU can play Crysis on Low/Med

I have never played WOW, but I believe you will get over 100FPS all the time.. I know even my 7900GT gets excellent FPS in most games. The 9800GTX is maybe too fast for just games like WOW.

I think you should get the Q6600 Quad Core... though your current CPU will handle it. The Q6600 is cheap and excellent... You can't slow it down and Veedubfreak here has his overclocked at 4GHz If you do decide to get the Quad.. your motherboard may need upgrading..

And as far as cooling goes.. for your CPU just get a TRUE it is the best there is and will keep your CPU running super cool.

TRUE: Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme Heatsink Review - FrostyTech.com

Hope that helps

[jfenwick]

If the most demanding game you play is WOW then I would say the 9800gtx would qualify as overkill.

I'd say spread that money around a bit, maybe upgrade the cpu, q6600, but definitely a new card like the 8800gt or 9600gt. Depending on your upgrade budget.

What's your mobo? might need to upgrade that as well if you go to a quad.

Put your current system specs in your sig so we can see what else you have that may cause an issue....

[EliteScouter]

ok updated sig with current comp.

[TheOtis]

For WoW a 9800GTX IS overkill. I have 2x9600gt's which barely hedges ahead of a 9800GTX and when I do play WoW, which isn't often, we're talking HELLA frames per second.

So a 9800GTX would definetly be overkill.

Go with a Q6600 and a good aftermarket cooler. If you're going to overclock your Q6600 then you'd want a Tuniq Tower, but if you're not, any good aftermarket air cooler would do just fine.

[EliteScouter]

Since right now I am looking to just get a GFX card, would a 9800GTX be ok on my current setup?

[Drizzt5]

It would be bottle necked so much you might as well just buy a cheaper card.

[EliteScouter]

Why would it be a bottleneck?

I really want to get the 9800GTX because I am tired of WoW having new updates and allways making me run low FPS. I want to have no issues what so ever with FPS. I want to allways run 60+ right now I am running 60 in most areas on my x1600 pro, but then a lot of times it drops to 19fps in areas with a lot of special effects.

[aspire.comptech]

An 8800gt/9600gt would all give you what your looking for for half the price.

In all reality a 9800gtx is simply an 800gt with faster memory...

[EliteScouter]

So your saying the
eVGA GeForce 9600GT Superclocked 512M TV-Out/2DVI

Would be just as good?

Because if I can get good FPS with that, ohh I am gonna pick it up tomorow 1st thing in the morning.