I want to upgrade my Geforce 8800GTS but I've not kept up to date with the changing hardware over the past couple of years so I'm not sure what to get or what's best for my current setup.

My current system:

Windows XP SP3
E6600 Duo @ 2.40GHz
2 GB Memory
Geforce 8800GTS 320MB

Anyone know what card would be a good step up from what I have?

You should just put this in the Community Tech thread

Anyway what's your budget?

P.S: If you want to play modern titles maxed out wtih a decent ( +30fps ) frame rate you should think about upgrading all those components. But of course this may not be the ebst solution for a budget conscious buy...

I really just want an improvement that's noticeable. I don't need maxed graphics for latest titles, just better than what I currently have.

I'm just not sure what to buy really, I don't want to spend a few hundred and get a tiny improvement because I upgraded the wrong thing.

My budget is probably about ￡200.

You can get an http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-6950-GDDR5-Graphics-Card/dp/B004JU0A70/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304441922&sr=8-1 which is a great card in itself. If you feel up to it, you can do a BIOS flash on the card and http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=335318 it, so it performs just like the 6970.

I just upgraded to a GTX 580 from my old 8800 and wow! DX 11 is so worth it. :wub:

What's your price range?

NVidia's 570 GTX goes for slightly more than ￡200. I upgraded from an 8800 GTX and immediately noticed a nice boost on my old rig (Q6600 2.4 GHz) and with my new i7 motherboard and processor I'm able to play almost every current game at 60+ fps. Even Metro 2033, the most demanding game at the moment, runs at over 40 fps with max settings - it's a great card.

I was just looking at the 560, which is about ￡180 which is ok for my price range. I don't really wanna go above ￡200 and maybe try to get as low as ￡150.

I'm out of touch with the latest developments, but do these latest 5 series cards work ok with XP?

If I went for an upgrade to about a Geforce 560, what PSU power would I require?

EDIT: I'm currently running 750Watt.

I don't see why there would be any issue with using them in XP, except that you won't be able to run games in DirectX 10 or 11 mode. But so far I haven't seen much reason why you would need to anyway (apart from the few games which only come in DirectX 10, such as Just Cause 2.)

I'd probably pick the 6950 over the 560, though: just about the same price range, but the 6950 is considerably more powerful, and also has that possibility of being unlocked into a 6970 (which is even better than the 570.)

Your current 750W PSU should be more than enough for any of these cards.

At least 500w.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604&cm_re=gtx_560-_-14-130-604-_-Product.

The 560 is at a price point right between two cards, the 6950 and the 6870. The 6950 is about $20 more before rebates and performs better, plus has the potential to be unlocked into a full on 6970. The 6870 is cheaper than the 560 and performs around the same.

With 2GB of RAM and that processor, I'm not so sure a top of the line GPU is worth it.

Yeah I know, it all wants replacing really lol, but beggers can't be choosers.

I will probably get an extra gig of memory, maybe even go up to 4gb.

I doubt buying a new processor would improve my games though, I imagine a graphics card is the best option until I can afford a better CPU.

I'm not looking for top of the range, just better than my current 8800. And a reasonable card so that when I upgrade my CPU in a year or more, it will still work well.

I have a similar setup and have been able to play all the games I want relatively fine:
E6600 @ 2.4 ghz
9800 GT
2 GB RAM

If you can tough it out for a year or so, I'd say wait till you can upgrade more than just a GPU.

More RAM may help, as would a new graphics card. However I would be very wary of getting a very good graphics card, you don't want to be bottlenecked by your CPU. Though I'm not really sure at what point the CPU will be a bottleneck, so take that for what you will.

I'm not great with the technicals, but if I get a good graphics card and it's bottlenecked, then it wouldn't cause any problems right? I could just upgrade the CPU a little later on to get another boost in performance?

What card would run on an E6600 without overclocking and not get any real bottle neck?

I've never overclocked a CPU and I'd rather not try at the moment.

A 460 GTX will give you DX11 capability if you ever upgrade to Windows 7, and is certainly within your price range. A great card all-around and will last you for a good while.

with that setup just get a 285. im using that currently until i get a 580 this fall and i run all my games max although i have to turn down metro 2033 a bit if i want to get over 40fps. to be honest you really should increase your RAM since you only have 2GB.

At a minimum get the cheapest 1GB DX11 cards - either:
1GB NVIDIA GTX 460 (around $130 - 150) or better; or
1GB AMD 5770 (around $110 - 130) or better

With an old C2 Duo on XP I wouldn't go overboard. http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-N460GTX-Cyclone-1GD5-OC/dp/B003VTUHY6/ref=sr_1_5?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1304470755&sr=1-5 would be a good choice. With your CPU I really wouldn't go much more powerful than that. If you want to try AMD an http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-11180-00-40R-6850-GDDR5-Graphics/dp/B0047D5S26/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1304470600&sr=1-1 would be a good match.

If you game at 1680x1050 or below you might want to stick with an HD 5770 or GTS 450 (should be able to find either for less than ￡100). Any of those would be much stronger than your current card.

this. Save some money for complete overhaul