Time for an upgrade...
 

Okay, here's the deal.

I currently have
7800GT 256MB (PCIe)
Athlon 64bit 3400 (2.41 Ghz)
Jetway C51MCP51 (motherboard)
1Gb RAM (DDR 400)

I am looking at getting an upgrade sometime soon, and was wondering if you guys could help me out.

I want to replace the 7800 with this (see bottom of page), and I was wondering if this would make any sort of noticeable difference over my 7800.
I also want to replace my motherboard with this and my processor with this
This would also mean that I would upgrade my RAM with this

It would set me back just over £400 ($750). Could someone advise me as to whether or not this upgrade would be worthwhile. Or if I should get something else.

Ideally, I just want to get a graphics card at the moment, and get the rest of the stuff later on, but seeing as I'm enquiring about the graphics card I thought that I would ask about the other stuff too.

At least in my opinion, this shouldn't be a worthwhile investment. Even though there might be a little performance boost and although DDR2 + AM2 would be more future-oriented, I'd still wait for 2007. I mean, with an antiquated PC, I'd probably say that this is an useful purchase, but under those circumstances and in respect of DirectX10/Windows Vista, the strained situation between AMD and Intel ( upcoming QuadCore CPUs, Core2Duo/X2 CPUs ) and the expensive RAM right now, I can only advise you against wasting precious money.

I generally agree with SCHWARZE-4. The system you are looking to *upgrade* to is really not that big of a step for the money. With the system you already have, you should be able to play any game (other than oblivion) at 1280x1024 with all the eye candy on high. Upgrading to AM2 and an X2 processor is actually going to get you about equal performance to your current setup. X2's have nice mutlithreading abilities, but you will only notice that with running multiple apps at once, and not any receiving any measureable benefit in gaming.

Waiting for the Vista transition is not a bad idea, but if you do want to upgrade now, do yourself a favor and go Core2Duo. Buy the cheapest processor, a Gigabyte DS board, and overclock to ~2.7Ghz on the stock cooling. You won't be disappointed and your performance should increase 30% or more.

Upgrading your graphics card right now is not a horrible idea. With a 7800GT, you shouldn't need much more horsepower. However, if you do (for Obilivion?), don't sell yourself short. Truly upgrade and pick up a 7950 or a 1950XT. They are great cards and only these will show significant improvement over your current card. I'm afraid the card you linked would only get you about a 5-10% improvement, which to me doesn't seem worth the $$$$s.

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'll put this on hold for now, maybe wait for the prices to drop, and upgrade then. I'll have a look at those graphics cards that you suggested though Dayvon.

I can wait until 2007 and see what that has in store for PC hardware and see how Vista fits into all of this.

I had actually forgotten about Vista :doh:

Also bear in mind that in less than a month the GeForce 8 series of graphics cards will become available, leading to the lowering of prices on older stock. You could pick up a bargain at this time.

I've been out of the loop for a while as far as computer games go (I assume that is a gaming rig for the videocard) but I can't imagine ANYTHING coming out soon that will require you upgrading your 7800...espcially for something marginally better for $750. Spending that for an extra 10 FPS on Oblivion is almost as bad as mailing me that money.

The only thing you can upgrade right now and notice any conceivable improvement with games like Battlefield 2 and Oblivion is grabbing another gig of RAM.

That sounds good. I think I'll wait untill then until I get my graphics card. (Just out of interest, you any idea how much the 8800GTX is gonna cost? I've had a look round, but can't find any sort of price for it anywhere.) I had no idea that all the major companies were about to relase new components into the mix.
I'll probably grab some extra memory as well sometime soon, and wait until early next year before I have a major upgrade. Or I might make do for now, and then upgrade the lot early next year.
I'm also going to see how Vista fits into all of this as well before I make any decisions.

It's hard to say. The GeForce 8 series GPU will be the most complex and probably hottest GPU ever made that sucks up a ton of power. Nothing is definite yet though, so to speculate on a price now would be pretty inaccurate. Also you have to consider that your PSU will probably be too weak to power it (if the rumours are true) and you'll have to shop around for other components to support it. I mentioned it because existing GeForce 7 parts (which are pretty efficient) will drop in price and you could get one of those. Initial GeForce 8 prices will no doubt be too high until the manufacturing process kinks are all worked out.

Thanks for that. I've read a lot about them needing a lot of power, and producing a lot of heat. I was just interested in how much they may start off at when they are released. I think that series 7 is the way forward, well for now at least.

I think that I will take your advise, I will look some more into the 7 series. I've got my eye on a 7950 GX2. Now I've to wait for the 8 series to be released, and I may have some chance of being able to afford one of these.

The 7900GX2 has a similar performance as the 7900 GT ..maybe there arent games to exploit the card ..but if i were you i would wait until vista is out and also the Geforce 8 series and then get ready for one final upgrade(even if its gonna be expensive) which is going to hold you for atleast 2 more years.

Also dont forget about the Quad Core processors due out in november i.e Core 2 Duo Extreme.

This isnt quite accurate. First it's the 7950GX2 and yes, at times it is only as powerful as a 7900GT because it isn't able to use both GPUs in some games. This is an Nvidia driver issue if I remember correctly, and thus it will probably be fixed on most huge games in the near future.

Sorry to spoil the Nvidia party boys, but I do have to say that ATI's cards have seemed very superior to the green team's lately. The HighQ AF is very sweet, and the Performance ADAA gives great anti-aliasing with less hit on frame rate. They've got a great line up now as well that seems to beat Nvidia equivalents at almost every level. The X1650 Pro at $99, the X1950 Pro at $199, the X1900XT 256MB at $249, and the X1950XTX $ $449. It seems to me its a good fit at any price.

Just wanted to throw out the Red side a bit in this very green thread. If you have issues with ATI stuff and don't like 'em fine. Many people don't have these issues however and these cards do come pretty highly recommended.

I don't have any issues with ATI, my first card was a 9200. I'm going to have a look at all the graphics cards that have been suggested. The X1950XTX that you suggested also looks very tempting, this would work in my current motherboard wouldn't it? It's just that I have been reading about it, and all the mention of Crossfire is getting me a little confused.:ashamed:

Crossfire is basically ATI's SLI. Here's the quick skinny.

The X1950XTX is a single-GPU card, and actually the fastest single-GPU available for gaming. The Geforce7950GX2 is a dual-GPU card that only uses one PCI-E slot. These two cards are really neck-to-neck performance wise. They are the fastest single slot (PCI-E) cards available.

Nvidia and ATI both offer solutions for dual-GPU on 2 PCI-E slots for even higher possible performance. These are called SLI and Crossfire respectively. SLI and Crossfire are basically two PCI-E cards running simultaneously that output to the same screen.

Generally speaking, SLI/Crossfire are only good in 2 scenarios. Either you have no budgeting issues and want the best so you run two uber-fast cards, or you want to be able to buy one card, and then add another card later to "upgrade" as you need instead of "replacing" old cards. Personally, I think that SLI/Crossfires are kind of a waste for the budget minded gamer. Because if you buy a X1950XTX now, two years from now when you need better performance, you are going to want the new technology card not to buy another X1950XTX. On top of that, buying one lower level card (such as a X1950 Pro) and adding one later will barely equal the performance of one X1950XTX. And with how fast new cards are coming out these days, it doesn't seem like replacing cards is such a bad idea.

Back to your choices: You need to know how much performance you want. If you want great performance at 1600x1200 (or 1680x1050) and lower resolutions, a single card such as the X1950XTX is probably all you would need. If you want to run higher resolutions such as 1920x1200, a SLI or Crossfire setup with 2 cards such as two 7900GTX's might be better for you. Buying two lower grade cards such as two 7900GTs and running them in SLI is generally not going to be much better than one 7900GTX. Especially considering the performance/dollar.

SLI and Crossfire also require specialized motherboards to run them. So either you would need a ATI Xpress Crossfire chipset or an Nvidia NForce SLI chipset on your mobo to run a dual-slot SLI/Crossfire setup. This is another hassle with SLI/Crossfire not to mention having a PSU big enough to run 2 power-sucking cards.

I hope this info gives you a little insight (opinionated insight :)) into Crossfire/SLI.

With all of the possible upcoming changes, I also agree with SCHWARZE-4 and think it's best to wait until sometime around spring of 2007, maybe even summer.

As it seems now we'll be expecting quad-core CPU's, new major series of graphics cards, new Windows OS, a likely release of DirectX 10 which newer cards will take advantage of. Then there are additional possibilities like interesting productions as a result of AMD's acquisition of ATi. Oh, and it's totally badass that the Core 2 Duo prices are pretty reasonable.

2007 is going to be an awesome year to upgrade.