Need to upgrade vid card

[NikonGuy]

Hi guys

I am currently running an GeForce 9600 .. (old card these days).  I want to upgrade but have no idea what to get.  I only play AH and don't want to get a top of the line card that will never see its full potential.

My system is an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7400 @2.8GHz
4GB Ram
32Bit Vista (crap)

I am thinking something around the $300 mark will do just nicely ..

Thoughts ?

 

[Bizman]

Any card in that price category will run AH perfectly.

A good example in that price category is in this thread as commented by Noir.

[titanic3]

I almost have the same setup as you. Core2Duo E7500 with 2.93Ghz, 4 GB and Windows 7 32 bit.

Get a Radeon 5570 or 6570 (almost the same performance), AH is maxed out except for 8192 shadows. You can do 4096 with self-shadowing, but then it gets laggy during big fights. 2048 shadows are fine except in really big furballs, and 1024 shadows runs completely smooth 60 FPS in 99.9% of the situations. I turn self-shadowing off so I never go below 55 FPS.

Best part: It's dirt cheap ($50), uses only 40W peak, low profile, plug and play.

[Krusty]

2 vital questions:

1) AGP? PCIe x16? What interface?

2) What PSU do you currently have, and what is the power output rating on it?

[NikonGuy]

2 vital questions:

1) AGP? PCIe x16? What interface?

2) What PSU do you currently have, and what is the power output rating on it?

Hi Krusty

1) My MB is PCIe x16
2) I have a new Gigbyte PSU rated at 585W

I am thinking something like the nVidia GTX560ti from the finance side of things ..
but not completely sure whether this is a 10% or 1000% better than I currently have .. know what I mean
or whether its overkill as I only play AH

Just need to know what I need to happily run max graphics at no less than 60fps

NG

[Debrody]

560Ti, HD-6870/6950 all good choices.
Note that since your CPU isnt the newest one, it might be the bottleneck for a powerful card like the 560ti.

[NikonGuy]

560Ti, HD-6870/6950 all good choices.
Note that since your CPU isnt the newest one, it might be the bottleneck for a powerful card like the 560ti.

Thanks Debrody

I ended up getting a GTX550Ti which I can run almost flat out

[ozrocker]

Same thing I did. I had 2 9600GT's in SLI. Couple of weeks ago,
got my tax refund, bought a GTX 550 ti 
It's a big card, takes up a lot of space (only negative thing so far)
Seems to handle things well.

                                                                                                                                                          Oz

[Mano]

Another good card that you can purchase from Amazon or Egghead for less than $300 is the
ATI HD 6950. It is not as long as it's brother the HD 6970, and should fit into any medium size
case. Make sure your power supply is 500 Watts or greater. Should work fine with your rig.
You can set all AH eye candy settings on maximum and get a steady 59-60 fps, even at really busy fields.

As mentioned, the nVidia GTX 550 is a good card as well.

<S>
Mano

[Mano]

Another good card that you can purchase from Amazon or Egghead for less than $300 is the
ATI HD 6950. It is not as long as it's brother the HD 6970, and should fit into any medium size
case. Make sure your power supply is 500 Watts or greater. Should work fine with your rig.
You can set all AH eye candy settings on maximum and get a steady 59-60 fps, even at really busy fields.

As mentioned, the nVidia GTX 550 is a good card as well.

<S>
Mano

[Mano]

Another good card that you can purchase from Amazon or Egghead for less than $300 is the
ATI HD 6950. It is not as long as it's brother the HD 6970, and should fit into any medium size
case. Make sure your power supply is 500 Watts or greater. Should work fine with your rig.
You can set all AH eye candy settings on maximum and get a steady 59-60 fps, even at really busy fields.

As mentioned, the nVidia GTX 550 is a good card as well.

<S>
Mano