Your professional advise needed

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andrei3333

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Feb 1, 2008
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Hello,

Specs:
E8400 @ 3.6GHz OC
4GB Ram
BFG 8800 GTS 512MB OC to 725 Core/1798 Shader/1100 Memory
Gigabyte EP45-D3SR Mobo
Enermax Modu 82+ Supply 525W
AntecDesign Case (9" of Video card space is taken up now, if i loose a hard drive or two i might be able to fit a 10-11" card)
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit
22" Samsung 16x10 monitor in the office room + 46" Sony Bravia 1080P (19x10 I think) LCD in the living room

I never had the need to upgrade after i built this system a few years ago, i usually play all the latest shooters on the PC (crysis of course bogs down and i have not gotten metro yet) and everything else i play on the PS3, this PC may bounce around from living room to office until i decide to build another machine. currently the performance on the 22" samsung is outstanding, no lag in any of the games i own, except crysis

Problem: current video card has no HDMI that i would like to use on the 46" sony, also may not be able to power the games to my liking at that resolution

Options/Budget:
Around $250 Canadian give or take our 13% taxes here (newegg.ca or something like that is cool)
GTX 470 or ATI 6870 (best choice for the money and not overkill)

Longshot:
$300 ATI 6950 (i like the future proofness + 2GB memory)

Should i even bother upgrading the video card ?
will the CPU not do what i want it to do, should i upgrade to a Q8400 or something?
Is there another card thats better at my budget ?
Should i just keep playing on the 22" and get a GTX460 OC or something like that sub $200

i am trying to avoid building a new machine right now because a baby is on the way so i rather spend that money elsewhere.

All comments welcome ;-)
 
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neonzion

neonzion

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Well the e8400 is a very good cpu and at that speed its great... Will not bottlneck anything GTX 470 or below. A GTX 460 1GB will be able to play at 1920x1080 very high 30fps+...

If i wer you, i would wait for GTX 560... GTX 470 are fast though, but not worth the heat and etc. DONT GET 6xxx, not being a fanboy or anything... But, if you were buying used, then i would have bought a GTX 470... Since you are buying new, i would buy a GTX 460 1GB with a good stock cooler... =)
 
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andrei3333

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I will check locally whats available used, but in terms of computer parts i usually prefer new just because i know 100% its going to work fine and was not overclocked over the limits.

Good to know that the PC wount bottle neck with a 470 or something similar, i do prefer Nvidia though, not for any "fanboy" reason, but just because i have always had nvidia cards and never had an issue, drivers are always solid and i kinda trust the brand now.

Basically my choice is 470 or 460 1GB if i was to buy right now, the thing is those prices are just so good right now, its hard to wait for a 560, i waited for the 69XX cards to see where things go already...

Great, thanks for the responses, im still going to look around and read some more, but i have narrowed it down.

 
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andrei3333

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i found a used Zotac GTX 470 locally for about the same as a new gtx 460 1gb +tax and shipping would cost.

one problem, my PSU is rated at 525 w and the card req 550W as per the label on the box, can i still run the card ? (enermax modu 82+ 525W)
 
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neonzion

neonzion

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Your power supply can easily run a GTX 460... Unfortunately im not sure if it can run anything higher like a gtx 470. So like i said before, get a GTX 460 1GB =)
 
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andrei3333

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yeah i looked at some numbers, 460 1gb @load is 260W, 470 @ load is about 360W, my current 8800 GTS 512 is 250# @ load

so definitely 460 1GB will be fine, but the 470 seems like a strech. and i dont want to buy a new psu right now either... seems like it makes sense only to get s 460 1GB

Does anyone know the length of the 460 1GB ?
 
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neonzion

neonzion

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yeah u wont be disappointed. THEY ARE VERY FAST CARDS. Lengths can be found all over the web, but i can assure you THEY ARE SHORT/small cards... :D wont have any problems... Have fun :D
 
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nforce4max

nforce4max

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Those power figures are wrong unless that is total system load during normal or peak use. For the cards them selves there are limits to the amount of current and wattage that can be drawn through the slot and power connectors. The GTX460 at max load for just the card it's self is 160w depending on the clocks with 200w~ at 900mhz to 1ghz. The GTX470 is around 200-250w margin. Power consumption doesn't scale linearly as much as one would think compared to clocks as a reference and differences in sample can also have different load figures. As for length a standard GTX460 is actually smaller than your current card but performance is typically double of a standard G92 two way sli setup. As for psu your unit should be enough.


Edit: Your psu is more than enough for a single GTX460.
 
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