What to do.. what to do!!!

[D3ads]

OK, so this is perhaps a stupid question but bare with me..

As it's Christmas and my birthday in quick succession, it's time to think about what I want to do with the computer. I currently have a medium spec machine (3.2GHZ, 1GB RAM) but still a piddly GF4 Ti 4200. I'd love to get a shiney new 8800GTS but it only fits into a PCI-Express slot and I only have an AGP slot (I'm seriously wanting to kill the person who made my machine for not suggesting PCI-Express when he knew I wanted an up-to-date spec) so my choices are get a lower end card like a 6800 which wont be as good as the former but it'll be a massive upgrade from the Ti and will only cost around £30 whereas higher cards for the AGP port are still quite expensive. Otherwise I just go for a full upgrade...

Really, I don't want get a new machine just yet, I was going to wait till near the end of next year when (hopefully!) I am working and have plenty of money to do a proper upgrade. I like my computer as it is, I've got a shitload of non-game programs I use on a regular basis and reinstalling them all would take weeks (finding them on backups).

With computers going out of date in a matter of months these days, what sort of machine would I need to get upto standard? If I waited till next year would there be more powerful setups availiable?

Thanks!

[PogoP]

I'd recommend waiting. Next year, current graphics card will be cheaper too.

I know how you feel about the AGP slot thing... I had the same problem last year. I wouldn't bother buying another APP slot graphics card, just wait until you can upgrade your motherboard and your graphics card, you'll save money that way.

[Pericolos0]

what do you want to do with it?

[Hourences]

Wait, and then upgrade all. Tho, you might want to upgrade earlier than late 2008

There will always be more powerful setups the longer you wait, but if you were to update sometime in the next 4 months, I would prolly go for a Intel Quad 6600, GF8800, 2 Gb memory, 200 GB more space, as those should give you most stuff for your money. If you happen to win the lottery in the mean time though, theres obviously better stuff to buy (and dont forget to send me a 6 digit check while you're at it)

[dux]

Not upgrading to newer tech purely because you're too lazy to backup is hardly an excuse :wink: Get a new system with an 8800 GTX as they piss all over the GTS range. Think of it this way, the sooner you upgrade the sooner you can stop having a portfolio full of images from a game over 10 years old to show potential employers

My setup is an AMD x2 dual core 6000+ (Brilliantly cheap and far better than intels offering if you ask me) 8800 GTX 768 nforce mobo 2gb ram and 500gb hard drive. This will last me for ages. Plus the having a pci motherboard now I can upgrade bits on the go at last.

[Hourences]

I wouldnt get a GTX. A GT is also brand new, and a real good performer, but just half the price of the overpriced GTX. Besides, a GTX needs more power, so he might also need a new PSU for that. More cash needed.

There is a shortage of GT's at the moment, so wait for a while until production catches up. Will make it easier to get hold off one + the price will prolly drop.

A AMD 6000+ is half as expensive as the Quad6600, but as he seems to be like a guy who doesn't update often, Id go for a quad CPU, just to be safe the next 4 years or so. And from the quads currently available, the 6600 has the best price/perfomance ratio.

[JamesL]

Get a new system with an 8800 GTX as they piss all over the GTS range.

Sorry Dux but that's bollocks. Unless you are running a monitor over 24" 1920x1200 I wouldn't bother. GTS has excellent performance and overclockers.co.uk have em in stock as of this afternoon. Doubtful they'll stay in stock long though if the GT was anything to go by.

Couple of reviews for you.

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQzMSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/12/10/review_nvidia_8800_gts/

[KungFuSquirrel]

My wife's computer is in a similar predicament where she's currently using an AGP 6800 but when I upgrade my video card next I'll probably give her my 7800GTX. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a PCI-E slot on her motherboard, which was from my previous computer.

What I'm probably going to do is get a slightly newer version of the motherboard she already has (which is only about $40) that has a PCI-E slot, then she can take the old card for less than the cost of her 3-month WoW subscription

I'd say give this a shot, get a cheap update or comparable version of your current motherboard with PCI-E (the money you'd save on an 8800GT compared to a higher-cost 8800 should cover it). Then you can have new video card hotness and a BIG component of your next full upgrade that you can use right now. Your CPU is still decent, memory might hurt in some games but clearly your video card is the big bottleneck right now.

Just make sure your power supply is up to the increased drain from a new card, they tend to be beasts.

[Thrik]

There's definitely performance gains with a GTX once you're running resolutions like 1920x1200 (hence why I got one), but the new GT offers performance closer to the GTX than the GTS 640mb, which is a statement that should by itself indicate how powerful it is considering its price.

At resolutions like 1280x1024 the difference between the three card levels is negligible; it only starts to divide at high resolutions where that extra memory and brute force comes in useful.

There's also a new GTS coming out soon based on the new architecture that the GT has, which may provide even more excellent price/performance value.

The existing GTS range is basically obsolete (think of the GT as a new series in that respect) and I couldn't even think of recommending it to anyone.

[JamesL]

There's also a new GTS coming out soon based on the new architecture that the GT has, which may provide even more excellent price/performance value.

The existing GTS range is basically obsolete (think of the GT as a new series in that respect) and I couldn't even think of recommending it to anyone.

I think you may be a little out of date on this Thrik? The 65nm process, G92core 8800GTS came out today, check the reviews I posted above. It kicks ass.

[Thrik]

Out of date by like a day? I guess.

I ignored your links because you didn't mention the new version; I just assumed they were reviews of the older ones.

Good stuff, though. It looks like the old GTX and GTS cards have been rendered completely obsolete now. Performance-wise any owners of them have nothing to worry about as the new batch don't offer anything new there, but obviously nobody is going to shell out when the new GTS basically equals it at a much lesser price. GT too if you have a smaller resolution.

I just hope they get some GeForce 9 cards out in Spring/Summer as rumoured so I can crank up my Crysis.

[JamesL]

Yeah, I am a hardware whore.

"Mapcore - on the bleeding edge of technology"

[Sentura]

Yeah, I am a hardware whore.

"Mapcore - on the bleeding edge of technology"

join the club, baby

[Izuno]

this thread has been very helpful. I need to upgrade my core gaming rig as well. Please, if anyone has more recent upgrade experiences to share, please do!

[Chunks]

this thread has been very helpful. I need to upgrade my core gaming rig as well. Please, if anyone has more recent upgrade experiences to share, please do!

My advice is to wait for nvidia's next generation card, and get whatever else is new at that point.

I built a new rig this summer and I'm happy with it except for the fact that crysis totally reams it. If crysis is any indication of the future requirements of games to come in the next few years then I am screwed.

My rig: C2D e6600, 8800GTS 640mb, 2gb DDR 800

I plan on oc'ing everything soon, though.

edit: also when you build your computer, make sure you have room to expand. For example, I made sure I got a motherboard that supported 1333fsb and quad-core so in the future I can always upgrade, along with a sli supported mobo.

however instead of going sli, I will probably just buy a newer card.