Upgrade for x1900xtx

[PSUPef2k]

I am looking to upgrade my current machine instead of doing a new build. Easiest would be the video card and Ram to 4GB.

What would be a good card to replace an x1900xtx?

This is to hold me over for a year or so until I can justify building a new box with an i7 proc most likely.

Thoughts?

This is my current front runner: Sapphire 5770 Vapor-X

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102868

and this memory:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...in%20ddr%20500

 

[CurseTheSky]

The Vapor-X is nice, but pricey. This one should cool well enough, and comes with a better warranty: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-462-_-Product.

 

[PSUPef2k]

The Vapor-X is nice, but pricey. This one should cool well enough, and comes with a better warranty: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-462-_-Product.

I've never owned an XFX card before, and have had pretty good luck with sapphire over the years.

XFX I would assume is pretty decent and reliable in recent years?

 

[PSUPef2k]

any other thoughts, or is the XFX card the way to go?

 

[toyota]

any other thoughts, or is the XFX card the way to go?

XFX is a good company.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

I just upgraded to the 5770 linked in post 2 from an X1900XT last week and it's been rocking to say the least. That X1900 could only play FO3 on low to medium settings and minimal AA on my overclocked Opty 165 and my current X2 7750 even at only 1360x768. Everything's maxed out now with the 5770.

I'd say go for the 5770.

 

[EarthwormJim]

You'll be happy with a 5770. I used to have an x1900xt and I upgraded from that to an 8800gt. I was pretty blown away by that and a 5770 is even faster than my 8800gt!

 

[blanketyblank]

Skip the memory and wait a week to see if the 5830 fits into the new video card budget of $230. Otherwise get the 5770. Buying memory now is a total waste in my opinion and 2 gigs should be fine for a while. The better the video card you get the more likely it can migrate to the new build perhaps crossfired. DDR memory on the other hand would be worthless by then since i7 would need DDR3.

 

[toyota]

Skip the memory and wait a week to see if the 5830 fits into the new video card budget of $230. Otherwise get the 5770. Buying memory now is a total waste in my opinion and 2 gigs should be fine for a while. The better the video card you get the more likely it can migrate to the new build perhaps crossfired. DDR memory on the other hand would be worthless by then since i7 would need DDR3.

he has a 2.0 Opty so there is no reason at all for him to spend more money to get the 5830 over the 5770. he is already going to severely limit even the 5770. a 5750 would be a better choice but they are priced so close that he might as well get the 5770. and 2gb is not enough for all games as there are a few that will hitch at times with only that much. if he is still using XP then he should be fine with just 2gb though.

 

[nemesismk2]

Yeah XFX are a very good company

 

[Leyawiin]

he has a 2.0 Opty so there is no reason at all for him to spend more money to get the 5830 over the 5770. he is already going to severely limit even the 5770. a 5750 would be a better choice but they are priced so close that he might as well get the 5770. and 2gb is not enough for all games as there are a few that will hitch at times with only that much. if he is still using XP then he should be fine with just 2gb though.

Yeah, the HD 5770 is a waste on that CPU and something along the lines of an HD 4770 or HD 4850 makes a lot more sense, especially in light of him saying it would be a "tide him over" measure for a year prior to an i7 build. Might as well go for a $90 card, save the difference towards the new build and not worry about the nearly non-issue of DX11.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150369

 

[crisium]

When you say hold you over for a year, do you mean in 1 year you will dump this new card, or will it transfer to your new build?

If the latter, get a 5770. If the former, get a 4770 definitely (or 4850).

 

[toyota]

Yeah, the HD 5770 is a waste on that CPU and something along the lines of an HD 4770 or HD 4850 makes a lot more sense, especially in light of him saying it would be a "tide him over" measure for a year prior to an i7 build. Might as well go for a $90 card, save the difference towards the new build and not worry about the nearly non-issue of DX11.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150369

yeah thats a much better card choice for his situation. "a year or so" is a long time so he might as well save 60 bucks for now. in a year or so, when he gets a new pc, he could just sell the 4770 and get something better at the time.

 

[v8envy]

Not sure I buy into the "minimum possible" mindset. A 5830 would let him crank the eyecandy (including DX11) regardless of CPU limitation, whereas a 4770 will not. It would also retain some value whereas a bare minimum card today -- not so much. A second 5830 in a year would serve in a mid to high end machine. A second 4770 or 4850, once again, not really.

 

[toyota]

Not sure I buy into the "minimum possible" mindset. A 5830 would let him crank the eyecandy (including DX11) regardless of CPU limitation, whereas a 4770 will not. It would also retain some value whereas a bare minimum card today -- not so much. A second 5830 in a year would serve in a mid to high end machine. A second 4770 or 4850, once again, not really.

a 4770 would hardly be the "minimum possible" and even a 4670 would be noticeably limited in more cpu limited games. do you not realize just how slow an old 2.0 Opty is? getting a 5830 would be laughable with that cpu. in over 90% of cases his 2.0 Opty will be a limitation on smooth gameplay long before the 4770 will be. I can understand maybe getting a 5750 or 5770 even though they will be severely held back but suggesting a 5830 just doesnt makes any sense. I will never subscribe to the idea of buying a card that you cant come remotely close to actually utilizing just to use AA. 15-20fps is no better with AA than without it.

 

[v8envy]

The expected delta in price between a 5770 with upgraded cooling and a 5830 is well worth the benefit of having a much better video card. Once again, the 4770 is suitable for tossing in the trash once he gets his CPU upgraded (at which point he'd have to buy another video card). A 5830 be a useful an upper midrange gaming card, doubly so if crossfired.

He will have DX11 with a 5830. Not possible with a 4770 and unlikely with 5770.

I know exactly how slow a 2 ghz socket 939 opteron is. I had one up until 2 years ago. It will still run many, many relatively fresh games OK and do fine in more modern games if cranked to 2.6 ghz or so. But with a more capable video card it'll run them at high res with effects dialed to max at the same frame rate that the 4770 will run them with effects turned to medium or lower.

My recommendation is not to bother with the new RAM though, save the $ to get more modern CPU. Better yet, sell that opteron NOW while it still value (together with that socket 939 board and RAM) and upgrade to an i5 750 + 4G for less than the price of the DDR RAM.

 

[toyota]

The expected delta in price between a 5770 with upgraded cooling and a 5830 is well worth the benefit of having a much better video card. Once again, the 4770 is suitable for tossing in the trash once he gets his CPU upgraded (at which point he'd have to buy another video card). A 5830 be a useful an upper midrange gaming card, doubly so if crossfired.

He will have DX11 with a 5830. Not possible with a 4770 and unlikely with 5770.

I know exactly how slow a 2 ghz socket 939 opteron is. I had one up until 2 years ago. It will still run many, many relatively fresh games OK and do fine in more modern games if cranked to 2.6 ghz or so. But with a more capable video card it'll run them at high res with effects dialed to max at the same frame rate that the 4770 will run them with effects turned to medium or lower.

My recommendation is not to bother with the new RAM though, save the $ to get more modern CPU. Better yet, sell that opteron NOW while it still value (together with that socket 939 board and RAM) and upgrade to an i5 750 + 4G for less than the price of the DDR RAM.

the 5770 is already at the point of not being really sensible with that 2.0 Opty. a 5830 is simply more money down the drain while he waits a year or so to build a new pc. a 5830 will offer zero benefit in playability over the 5770 while using that cpu. a 5770 itself will be massively held back in more cpu intensive games. a 4770 makes much more sense for the OP since he will not be getting a new pc for a year or so.

 

[blanketyblank]

a 4770 would hardly be the "minimum possible" and even a 4670 would be noticeably limited in more cpu limited games. do you not realize just how slow an old 2.0 Opty is? getting a 5830 would be laughable with that cpu. in over 90% of cases his 2.0 Opty will be a limitation on smooth gameplay long before the 4770 will be. I can understand maybe getting a 5750 or 5770 even though they will be severely held back but suggesting a 5830 just doesnt makes any sense. I will never subscribe to the idea of buying a card that you cant come remotely close to actually utilizing just to use AA. 15-20fps is no better with AA than without it.

I think you are overestimating the changes in a year. Granted cash is always the best thing to have, but you also lose money if you need to sell or dump equipment later. That is why the RAM is a bad investment since there will be minimal improvement but it will definitely go in a year. A 4770 likewise will have no place in an i7 build so he'd have to sell the card for whatever he can by then. I doubt he'd get much by then since the 4770 is already at the border with current games (close to 30 and under it in games like far cry 2).

That is why I advocate he get the best bang for the buck with DX11 card even if he is CPU limited now. A card llike that will retain higher resale value should he want to change entirely in a year, but could also be saved for the i7 build and last for quite a while as well. Crossfire is also an option for high end performance for cheap if the cards do drop in price.
Even if new cards come out by that time they will likely be $300+. In the $150-230 range, I think we'd see at most a one model shift so 5850s may be around the high end here though hard to come by as these cards start getting EOLed.

I don't know if 5830s will be in the 150-230 price range or if the performance is closer to the 5850 or to the 5770. Reviews and pricing aren't out yet, but if it performs like a 5850 but fits into this price segment I'd say it's the best value for the money. In a year from now it would have at least midrange or higher performance (I imagine 5770 will be low end by then) and you could get a second one to get high end performance (or sell it).
Of course best bang for the buck depends mainly on price so if you can pick up a 4770 for under $50 than by all means go for it. Otherwise I imagine you'd see about a $50 loss from selling either the 5770 or 5830 in a year (assuming once again the 5830 is in the low 200s).

 

[toyota]

you have to draw the line somewhere and even the 5770 is crossing it in my opinion when he can get the 4770 for only 60% of the cost and actually come close to utilizing most of it. a 5830 will likely be close to 250 bucks so it makes no sense to waste an additional 60-70 bucks over the 5770 which was already a hard card to really recommend with that cpu.

 

[v8envy]

Did a quick check on the egg, didn't see any 4770s under $100. They're still hovering in the $110 shipped range. At that point you're within spitting range of the still craptastic yet better 5750 at $134 no rebate, or even the currently in-stock at ZZF 4890 for $153.

$110 throwaway card just doesn't seem right. Maybe a $50 AR GT240 is a better way to fly when going down the "use a temp card and trash it away in a few months" road.

 

[blanketyblank]

Did a quick check on the egg, didn't see any 4770s under $100. They're still hovering in the $110 shipped range. At that point you're within spitting range of the still craptastic yet better 5750 at $134 no rebate, or even the currently in-stock at ZZF 4890 for $153.

$110 throwaway card just doesn't seem right. Maybe a $50 AR GT240 is a better way to fly when going down the "use a temp card and trash it away in a few months" road.

I agree wholeheartedly. Pricewise the lowest I've seen a 4770 go is $90 after rebate. I see resale value in a year at around $30.
It's performance is much lower than a 5750 at around 130. (I think 80-90 in a year) Unfortunately prices on the 5750 have risen by like 10-20 while the 5770 has not so you can find them pretty close in price now at about 150-170. (I see resale at about 100-110)
The 5830 isn't out yet so I'm not going to reccomend the card until we know price and performance, but I do think it's something worth looking at once it is. An extra $50 is well worth it for the performance(speculatively) and ability to crossfire within the 58xx line. At an extra $100 over a 5770 it is not since then the card will be too close the the price of the much better 5850. (Resale probably about 160-180 or so for 5830s in a year).

 

[bryanW1995]

I would get the best bang for buck low/mid card right now, then get a new card when you upgrade the system. I don't know what the current prices are like, but I got a 9600gso for $39 AR last year. that card is still a big improvement over an x1900xtx, but you wouldn't be pissed to get rid of it in 6 -12 mos. I've seen 4850's going for ~ $85 in the last few months, that would be a good choice in a slightly higher price bracket. lurk around in fs/ft for a few days/weeks, you'll see some good deals pop up there.

if you need video card comparisons, toms has a decent chart: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-graphics-card,2544-7.html

edit: btw, if you really have a $225 + budget then you're better off putting together a modern budget build. You can build something like this for example:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103706 $95 fs
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135250 $58 ar
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104150 $94 fs

that is ~$237. you can sell your mobo/ram/cpu for ~ $50 or so on fs/ft, maybe $40 if you want to be conservative, putting you around $197. you could then either go the cheapie video card route now or spend the $85 or so for the 4850 (which has equivalent performance to 5750 at about 60% of the price).


these deals are by no means well-researched, in fact you could certainly do much better by shopping fry's, microcenter, hot deals forum, etc.

 

[PSUPef2k]

Lot's of good stuff in here. Thanks guys. Now I am questioning the 5000 series card since if I am going to do a new build next year, why bother with a DX 11 card this year? Though on the flip side, I'm not sure the 4000 series cards are less $ to the point where it would be worth it performance wise to save a few bucks.

Tough call.

And the reason I wanted to do more RAM is because I am running Win7 x64, not XP.

 

[PSUPef2k]

and then there is always the possibility of just biting the bullet this year....

 

[blanketyblank]

Not bad. Do some shopping and you should be able to cut down the price by a lot.
I'd suggest getting most components at tigerdirect/circuit city just because they have large bing cash back (like 15&#37. The visiontek there would probably be good since the brand offers a lifetime warranty.
For the SSD consider a smaller drive for about $120 or so and a large storage drive.
If you're set on that model at 80 gigs though you can save at least $50 here
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1879566