upgrade advice for abit ip35 pro

[RJRD2]

current system
abit ip35pro
e8400 @ 3800+
4gb gskill
8800 gts
750 corsair psu
win7 pro 64

looking for the best solution for an upgrade. my board is not PCI-E X16 2.0 its just PCI-E X16

I really want nvidia gtx 580 but Im curious if having an older mb with out pcie 2.0 will slow down the video card slightly or what.

I will not buy an ati card. changing motherboards is not an option right now. I really want the best solution for what I have.

I want the fastest I can not get but not overkill for the bord I have.
any advice folks?

 

[toyota]

you left out one of the most important bits of info which is your resolution. and what 8800gts do you have now?

with a dual core cpu, a gtx580 would be the last card I would consider. I would get a gtx560 ti or gtx570 at the very most even if at 1920x1080/1200. even those cards will be really held back in some games.

 

[timma]

buy GTX 560 Ti/6870 above

 

[RJRD2]

resolution.

I have an lg l227wtg which does 1680 x 1250 max. a new monitor could be in my future too. a little headroom for higher res would be nice too.

so right now having the dual core is a bottleneck even when its close to 3900 mhz?

I see you both mentioned gtx 560. I will look into that one and the 570 as well. and thank you both for the responses so far.


edit
oops i forgot its an evga 8800gts 512 oc that I currently have.

 

[toyota]

its a bottleneck because it is simply not good enough to let you take full advantage of high end gpus in most games. my E8500 at 3.8 was pegged at close to 100% in many newer games even with just a gtx260 and running 1920x1080. in most cases at 1680x1050, you would never see the difference between a gtx580 and gtx570 with your cpu.

you would actually have a better overall gaming experience by getting a 2500k, 8gb ddr3, mobo and gtx570 than getting a gtx580. by the time you sold your old stuff the cost would be basically the same anyway.

if you are determined to stick with your cpu though then a gtx560 ti or plain gtx560 is the very highest I would go. there is nothing wrong with 1680x1050 and that is a good gaming monitor that you have. I would put money towards a cpu/ram/mobo upgrade before worrying about a bigger monitor.

 

[RJRD2]

ok thanks toyota. thats great information that will provide me what I need to make a good buying decision. I just wanted the video card to help my puter maybe last me another year or two and provide satisfactory gaming. after 2 years Ill be building a whole new machine. thanks again guys.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I wholeheartedly agree with Toyota here. A dual-core just won't cut it with a GTX580, sad to say.

 

[dpk33]

Get a cheap C2Q and then a GTX560ti

 

[Spikesoldier]

PCIe 2.0 doubles the bandwidth over PCIe 1.x. Therefore, you can say that a 16x PCIe has the same bandwidth as eight PCIe 2.0 lanes.

I doubt that a single 580 can saturate PCIe 2.0 8x. Now, if we think about the dual GPU frankensteins into thought, such as the 590 or 6990, then maybe we are closer to saturating 8 lanes. Those frankies very existence also support the fact that you can get away with half the bandwidth than specified.

GTX 580 is an unbalanced upgrade for your system. you would be better off upgrading the entire platform along with the GPU.

in the meantime if you are so adamant about keeping the mainboard and getting an nvidia GPU, to quote another poster, you are eliminating yourself from a lot of other options.

my recommendation knowing that line of mainboard is to do some real deep research before buying a 45nm Quad, and to get the latest beta BIOS. my E0 Q9550 did not like to play with this boards sibling, the IP35-e. That same CPU did very well on another P35 mainboard of mine. IIRC, you may have better luck with the Q9400/9300, or the Q8xxx series.

if you step up to a 45nm quad and OC it like your e8400 then i think a good NV card to match would be the 560 ti as dpk mentioned.

GL

 

[Arkaign]

(1)- Sell E8400 and Mobo, the combo brings $150 (completed listings on fleabay confirm this)
(2)- Sell 4GB DDR2, this won't bring much at all. Perhaps give to a friend or keep?
(3)- Sell 8800, this will bring ~$50 (completed listings as above)
--- this gives ~$200ish towards rebuild ---
(4)- Buy i5-2500k, ouch at $220, but worth it
(5)- Buy Biostar Z68 mobo, good deal at $110
(6)- Buy 4GB DDR3 memory (2x2GB), or 8GB if you can afford it
(7)- Buy either GTX560ti (for Nvidia) or HD6870 (for AMD). If you can afford it, step up to 2GB 6950.

Compare this to spending $$ on C2Q + GTX580, you'll get an overwhelmingly dramatic level of improvement system wide. Add to that the consideration that the old P35 mobo there has been running an overclock for an extended period of time and are known to begin to lose their stability after a lot of use, and it's a good time to make the move.

Also consider the possibility at least of AMD's upcoming BD. I'm not very confident at yet, but who knows really. Although if it's still MIA by Oct 1st, I'd give up on it and make a move.

 

[RJRD2]

i bought a evga 560ti oc... like I said I'm not changing or upgrading anything else atm cause like I said Ill be building an entire new rig soon enough.. thnx again to all.

 

[tabingam]

I have a very similar rig. What did you think of your 560ti oc upgrade?

current system
abit ip35pro
e8400 @ 3000
4gb OCZ @1066
8800 GTS 640
600W OCZ psu
win 8 pro 64

 

[fleshconsumed]

my recommendation knowing that line of mainboard is to do some real deep research before buying a 45nm Quad, and to get the latest beta BIOS. my E0 Q9550 did not like to play with this boards sibling, the IP35-e. That same CPU did very well on another P35 mainboard of mine. IIRC, you may have better luck with the Q9400/9300, or the Q8xxx series.

Just to clarify since I own both IP35-e and IP35-Pro (same as op). IP35-e does not work with 45nm quads, abit never released a bios to support them before they went under. IP35-Pro on the other hand works no problem with Q9450 and Q9550, might need to upgrade a BIOS, but I have been running them for 4 years now, no problems at all with quads.

I'm not recommending OP to just upgrade to Q9450 as opposed to upgrading entire rig, I'm just saying that if he chooses to get 45nm quad core, it will work in his motherboard.