CPU or Video Card

[Peeta]

So I got $270 and want to upgrade something on my PC. Unfortunatley I can't get both a CPU and a video card as that costs $340. So here's my current specs:

AMD Athlon X2 6400+
nVidia 9600 GT OC+ (Relatively new card)

And here's my two choices of what I want

Newegg.com - POWERCOLOR AX5770 1GBD5-DH Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 140W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

[FuzzySquirrel]

You could

1) Buy a processor and continue to use that older 9600GT
2) Save $30 and get an ATi 5850 > 5770
3) Dont worry about a DX11 Card and get say a GTX 280 for ~$250

I assume you we're going to go ATi for DX 11?

[Peeta]

Well that's what my dad said, but FSX custom planes had issues with DX10 so i would just rather stick with DX9.

[Peeta]

Fuzzy says to get a 940 and a 4850, comments?

[Xitude]

Go with Fuzzys first.

[Peeta]

Well I had a talk with my dad and I think we decided on an ATI Radeon 5770

[Peeta]

I'm chasing my tail back and forth here.

Newegg.com - XFX HD-489X-ZSFC Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts EA750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V version 2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply - Power Supplies

[[EC]DR.NOobFragger]

I say go with the 4850, I have a 5770 and my friend has a 4850, he actually gets better fps than I do on some games but its only dx10.1 and it uses more power and generates more heat but not much more.


Newegg.com - POWERCOLOR AX4850 1GBD3-PH Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops


That imo, would be your best choice.

I have that same processor and I have bf2 @ 1680x1050 all high 8x AA and Iam not sure what the fps is since I don't watch it all the time but it seems to never drop below 60 and I never seem to lag.

All my source games are all maxed out also with max AA and I never lag on that either except in gmod but that's to be expected.

GtaIV is the only game I have that I can't max out but I have it at 1680x1050, all high, 70 detail distance, and 32 view distance. avg 50fps This is one of the games that really benifit from having a quad core and lots of vram which should be good because that card has 1gb of it.


Also, what I will do when I thinking of getting a new card or processor is I will look up benchmarks of that card or processor and see how they compare and base my judgment off that, if you will look at some benchmarks you will see the 4850 is better than the 5770 most of the time. Also that 965 is the same thing as the one I have listed but 400mhz faster and the fps you will gain from that 400mhz will be so menial I doubt you will notice it.