Upgrade recommendations for completely beginner

Discussion in 'Videocards - NVIDIA GeForce' started by skalgrim, Sep 18, 2008.

  1. skalgrim

    skalgrim New Member

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    Hi all, I come seeking advice.

    I've had my PC for about 6 months and it came with a GF8600GT. I don't do much in the way of gaming - Warcraft, now Warhammer and a bit of EVE (you can see the thread here) and everything runs just fine, but I know my card is a little out of date, so I'd like to upgrade it.

    But I don't really know what to. I don't know if my PSU is big enough to power a huge card, but I don't want to spend hundreds of pounds either anyway.

    So I'm wondering what would be a good upgrade and why, and not too expensive?

    Oh, and I would like to stay with Nvidia.

    Thanks
     
  2. jcpenny

    jcpenny New Member

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    Hmm are you going to go further in gaming than MMO's? if the answer is no then I think I would stay at the 8600gt you should get no FPS issues on the games.
     
  3. skalgrim

    skalgrim New Member

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    Its not really an issue of getting the games to run "better". Sure, WAR could run a little better.

    Its just a thing I'd like to upgrade, really. A holdover from the 90s when I enjoyed building pcs :)
     
  4. scipio

    scipio Guest

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    What's your psu and what's your budget?
     

  5. skalgrim

    skalgrim New Member

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    No idea what my PSU is. Its a standard issue in a big HP desktop. Had a look at the back, cant see a rating. Budget is theroetically limitless but I have no need to go for the latest greatest card. I'm just looking for a "decent" upgrade.
     
  6. DSK

    DSK Banned

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    Well i think a 9600GT would be good
     
  7. Exige245

    Exige245 Master Guru

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    agreed 9600gt should do fine for your needs :)
     
  8. kRze

    kRze Master Guru

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    I think you would be good with a 9600GT if you wanted an upgrade.. 8600GT is about 25W to 52W power consumption from idle to load. And a 9600GT isnt that much more, its about 25W to 60W from idle to load.

    And the 9600GT is around the $120 US range, so its around your price range. If you want anything better it get more expensive and you'll probably need to check your PSU for anything higher.
     
  9. AnthraxPants

    AnthraxPants Banned

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    What CPU and memory do you have? You may get more performance with some extra memory and higher CPU speeds. Have you tried overclocking your 8600GT yet?
     
  10. Cybermancer

    Cybermancer Don Quixote

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    I second that.
     

  11. AnthraxPants

    AnthraxPants Banned

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    "Sure you don't want to overclock that card hey? A little bit of overclocky? Wind up the speeds a little....on your graphics card...maybe? Maybe OC the CPU? Wind up the FSB? Oh you might as well just get a 9600GT then."

    /said in a Stewy voice. ;)
     
  12. fearsjohn

    fearsjohn Guest

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    you could also go for the new 4670
     
  13. AnthraxPants

    AnthraxPants Banned

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    Or even a 4870 as they are very good value for money and kick the pants off the competition.

    I forgot you don't have a powerful PSU. I'd get a 4870 but you'd need to upgrade your PSU. The 8600GT is not a bad card though. Is your 8600GT a 512MB card? Make sure to get a 9600GT 512MB card as they are much better than 256MB version with higher resolutions, AA and high quality shadows.
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2008
  14. Aura89

    Aura89 Ancient Guru

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    8600 GT not a bad card? o_O since when? since the beginning this card has been a very bad card

    however, i say go for the 9600 GT, it's a very, very nice card
     
  15. unbreakable

    unbreakable Member

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    you can find out your system specs through dxdiag (type it in the run command) and windows' built-in system info to find out your proc and your ram and your motherboard
     

  16. AnthraxPants

    AnthraxPants Banned

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    8600GT 512MB were very cheap and can play recent games on decent settings even with old processors. They even run GRID on Ultra High settings with 16xCSAA, which I think is rather good for a card that was reasonably cheap. Not a card for hardcore gamers, but still good value for the average user compared to previous generations at that price point.
     
  17. Aura89

    Aura89 Ancient Guru

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    well it was a massive disappointment when it came out, nothing like the 7600 GT vs the 6600 or the 9600 GT to the 7600 GT/8600 GT/S, it just doesn't compare..
     
  18. unbreakable

    unbreakable Member

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    ^ agreed. and the 8600GT 512 only has a 1fps advantage over the 256 version (DDR3 both) in the highest resolutions. no use wasting cash on the 512 unless your goal is to have a bigger e-peen hehe
     
  19. unbreakable

    unbreakable Member

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    On a sidenote, the 8600GT broke the trend of nvidia's midrange cards.

    The 6600GT was faster than the 5950ultra
    the 7600GT was faster than the 6800 ultra (even 6800GT SLI)
    however the 8600GT was not much faster than the 7600GT except in shader-heavy operations, while the 8600GTS was no better than the 7900GS, wherein if you would follow the trend, it should have beaten the 7900GTX

    It's a good thing that the 9600GT brought that back by getting a huge performance upgrade although controversially it wasn't enough as it should have beaten the 8800GTX while the 9800GTX should have been the new performance kiing. Thanks to nvidia's ridiculous naming scheme, this wasn't the case
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2008
  20. AnthraxPants

    AnthraxPants Banned

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    8600GT's were low to mid range, 8800GTS 's were mid range. 6600GT and 7600GT were mid range, but Nvidia changed the numbering again to confuse people, again. Just because it has a 6 in the model number doesn't indicate how well it will perform. Nvidia have been playing these number games for years. A 9600GT should not beat a 8800GTX as it is not a high end card, it is a mid range card. It comes back to the Nvidia number games again, the product specifications denote performance, models numbers are just names that are often used to confuse unsavy buyers.

    That is because it was a new generation of card, almost budget pricing and you get what you pay for. Anything below a mid range product should not be expected to play games at high end settings. It takes time to develope new technology and usually every second generation from Nvidia doesn't have the same improvement in performance as the card before. Then the next generation improves from everything that has been learnt with the previous generation.

    It has been like this for years and that is why it pays to do some research before you buy. I was in a hard spot with the 320MB 8800GTS, I knew something better would be released but I needed new gear and that is what I could afford. If you expect too much you will always be let down so making sure you understand the capabilities of a product before purchase are essential. There a plethora of reviews out there and benchmarks to show what the product can do. You get way more value for money with gear these days. For the same kind of performance a few years back you would be looking at spending a lot more money.
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2008

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