Graphics Card Upgrade Question

[TheShadowKnows]

Hello all. I've been running an X1300 for a while now (I know) and it's definitely time for an upgrade. I've been saving money for an 8800 GTS SC, what for the major kickassedness and all, but recently I've decided not to push my budget all that hard. (The overall upgrade included a new 24" monitor, which I am going to do without.)

The monitor I have now has a native res of 1024x768; this being the case, I don't think I'll be needing all the muscle of the 8800 series, simply because, well, the lower resolution doesn't seem like it would want or need the help. So, my question to you all is... what graphics cards would you recommend?

Rig is as follows:

Asus P5B mobo
C2D 2.13 OC to 2.33
X1300 Graphics
3 GB PNY RAM
Windows XP Prof SP2
580W PSU
80 GB HD/ 320 GB HD for storage

[jonny_uk]

yeah but with the 8800 you'll have DX10 capabilities, and a more future proof gpu, but then your running xp so you'd need to buy vista aswell and you might not want to do that, if thats the case id buy something like a geforce 7950GT 512MB, its the one ive been running for nearly a year, its silent and runs all my games on max settings, cant fault it, or if you'd prefer ATi the x1950 pro is a good buy, both cards will absolutly slaughter the x1300

[commandercup]

just get the 8800 anyways, it'll powerhouse the lower resos, so your guaranteed a pretty good card for a good couple of years considering

if you ever plan to move up to a higher reso, make sure you find a card with large ram, more ram = better for AA and reso

[Sora]

1024x768 is quite low...must be a 15 inch. I suggest at least a 17inch so you can get to the next resolution where things look better. If not then the 8800GTS 320 will DESTROY games on 1024x768...as it will just that as well on 1280x1024

[TheShadowKnows]

I suppose I'll go ahead and buy the 8800 320MB, then.

Any thoughts on particular brands?

[Invisible]

EVGA, XFX are both good brands
only get the superclock if it is cheaper, as they are the same card, the superclocked comes pre-overclocked, when you can just do it yourself, which is free and safe

[commandercup]

Originally Posted by Invisible

EVGA, XFX are both good brands
only get the superclock if it is cheaper, as they are the same card, the superclocked comes pre-overclocked, when you can just do it yourself, which is free and safe

QFT, the superclocked version has something like a 575 MHZ Core and a 850 MHZ Memory speed (EVGA) and you can easily do that with the normal version (exactly the same, just factory overclocked) technically your warranty will be voided so make sure the card works first, but the overclock is more then enough for the card to handle, you can even venture up to 600 core, 900+ mem

[TheShadowKnows]

Thanks for the info, guys. I appreciate it!

Peace.

[aspire.comptech]

Originally Posted by commandercup

just get the 8800 anyways, it'll powerhouse the lower resos, so your guaranteed a pretty good card for a good couple of years considering

if you ever plan to move up to a higher reso, make sure you find a card with large ram, more ram = better for AA and reso

More memory does not make a better card.

The whole 512mb 7300gs and cards like that is all a marketing gimmick, unless the card has the memory bandwidth to address that memory its just a waste.