[Advice] Thinking about upgrading

[Cheese!]

So yeah, I'm thinking about upgrading to a better GFX card soon, but I'm not quite sure what to get.

I've looked at the 260 Superclocked (link) already. Looks pretty good. I'm also wondering about ATI. I've never really used ATI, but I'm not a die-hard Nvidia fan. Do you guys think my system could handle a 4890? And yes, I am planning to run a res of 1920x1080, so would having two help at all?

My budget is about 250 maybe $300.

Current specs:
AMD Athlon 64 x2 5200+ Dual Core 2.71Ghz
2GB DDR Ram
Nvidia Geforce 8800 GT
500W PSU
750GB HDD

Any help is appriciated.

[kow_ciller]

$205 for a 260 is a complete ripoff. I wouldn't pay more than $140 for one. And a 4890 would be fine in your system. I would think that you might want to get a mid-ranged card for now and go for a CPU upgrade as well.

[Mr. Pedantic]

I see no point in you getting either a 260 superclocked (don't know why you would want to given you could get a GTX275, but hey) or a 4890 with such a weak processor. With all the cards you are intent on getting, the processor would severely bottleneck the system.

If you have $400 to spend on 2 4890s, I would suggest you upgrade to a much more powerful processor, maybe even change mobos to a Phenom II, and keep the 8800GT. Then, when you have more money, you could upgrade that (or sell off all the parts that you need, and chip in a bit more to get a better GPU).

[Adrian Ţepeş]

Originally Posted by kow_ciller

$205 for a 260 is a complete ripoff. I wouldn't pay more than $140 for one. And a 4890 would be fine in your system. I would think that you might want to get a mid-ranged card for now and go for a CPU upgrade as well.

I paid less than $205 for my 4890 My advice: get exactly what I've got (see specs in my sig).

[Cheese!]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pedantic

I see no point in you getting either a 260 superclocked (don't know why you would want to given you could get a GTX275, but hey) or a 4890 with such a weak processor. With all the cards you are intent on getting, the processor would severely bottleneck the system.

If you have $400 to spend on 2 4890s, I would suggest you upgrade to a much more powerful processor, maybe even change mobos to a Phenom II, and keep the 8800GT. Then, when you have more money, you could upgrade that (or sell off all the parts that you need, and chip in a bit more to get a better GPU).

I see. Hmm. Well that answers the question about if my processor can handle it lol.

[Mr. Pedantic]

I paid less than $205 for my 4890 My advice: get exactly what I've got (see specs in my sig).

That would probably be my recommendation as well.

[*The.Doctor]

I see no point in you getting either a 260 superclocked (don't know why you would want to given you could get a GTX275, but hey) or a 4890 with such a weak processor. With all the cards you are intent on getting, the processor would severely bottleneck the system.

It would still be a decent boost, but yeah that X2 is going to bottleneck the system a good bit. My advice would be go with a Phenom II and wait for the Radeon HD 5000 series before you upgrade your 8800.

maybe even change mobos to a Phenom II, and keep the 8800GT.

Depending on his mobo, it may already support a Phenom II with a BIOS update. Many of the better AM2+ boards have gotten BIOS updates to support most of the Phenom II lineup by now.