I would like to know what video card I should upgrade to with my rig? I am looking to spend no more than $200 Thanks Again guys!!
Disregard the posters saying anything more than a specific card will be wasted. Obviously you need a faster multi core processor to take FULL advantage of new high end cards. However a gtx580 will out perform a gtx460 even on your celeron. My point being you should get the best card your budget will allow. You can always upgrade your cpu down the road. Getting a GTS250 or GTS440 wouldn't be much of an upgrade from your 8800. If your budget is 200$ I would look into something around the ATI5850 or the GTX460. Both would provide a great upgrade and then down the road when you can upgrade your cpu you can take full advantage of them. But getting a GTS250 or GTS440 I cant advise, you'd be better off waiting untill you can get a cpu\gpu together.
with that cpu....I wouldnt even bother. And you should not buy the best card money will allow you to buy unless you plan on upgrading your entire system shortly afterwards. Because supposing you dont upgrade the rest of your system until a year from now 28nm gpus will be out and 200 dollars a year from now will buy you a way faster video card then 200 dollars now will buy you. At best maybe look into buying a cheap used 9800 gtx+ or a gts 250 only if you can get it for under a 100 dollars. Other then that just keep saving. Your cpu is only 2.5ghz and only a dual core and a celeron with a measily 1mb cache to boot.
Or listen to the "Quality members" degrading your rig. You notice the only members talking down on your rig have i5's and i7's...... Well you just gotta understand that not everyone has the cash for the latest cpu and as such shouldn't be subject to misinformation and ignorant disrespectful asshats. The facts prove beyond a doubt that every card as you move up through the tiers will perform better regardless of so called cpu limitation. THE FACT BEING A gtx560 WOULD GIVE A BETTER GAMING EXPERIENCE THAN A 250GTS ON A 2.5ghz CELERON. This is an undeniable fact and if the less than an i5 degraders suggest otherwise ask them for proof because it doesn't exist.
so people that do not agree with you are not "quality members"? I am putting the burden of proof on you, prove to us the celeron will not utterly waste a 560, 560 ti.
I recently purchased a GTX 560 (before I had an 8800 gts 512) and unfortunately I don't see great increase in performance (about 20-30 fps in full HD) but now I can play DX11 games and Bluray 3D ... I thought I would earn much more, but maybe I'm a bit CPU limited (Q6600)...then a modern CPU makes a difference...
I didn't say a celeron would be able to take full advantage of a 560. But even on a celeron a 560 will out perform a 250. More over it's rude to insult the op's rig and insinuate that getting a good card would be a waste. To you it might be a waste but to someone less fortunate than you it's nice to have the best you can afford even if it's not the super smashing system you have. Obviously the op doesn't have your budget. That is no reason to degrade his rig and tell him it would be a waste. A quality member wouldn't degrade a less fortunate member.
I have not insulted the OP at all. again I lay the burdeon of proof on you to prove a 560 would not be wasted on that processor. links? a 250 would be my recommondation for the rig he has. anything higher would be wasted. Its my bet that a 250 and 560 would perform pretty similary in OP rig.
exactly, PurpleFish doesn't realise we are simply trying to get the OP to get the most value from his money, if you aren't gonna see a big difference now, keep saving and do an overhaul later. You might even be able to get better parts for the same money wen u finally do upgrade
If you look around you can probably grab a 5870 NEW for about $200. I got 3 of the damn things for £150 each (about the same price). A 6850/GTX 560 would probably do you well now pending future CPU upgrades. I did the same thing with my old C2Duo rig. Went from a 8800 GT to a 5970, HUGE improvement in ALL games, THEN upgraded my CPU to the i7, and not so much more improvement in gaming, but in general performance yes. Though IIRC those celerons OC quite well, so grab a cheapish aftermarket heatpipe cooler ($25 maybe) and OC the hell out of your CPU, will do a good deal more to improve your performance in games. Hope that helps. BLEH!
I never said it would perform at it's full potential. That you are fully correct about. However "waste" is a matter of opinion. If I was in the posters shoes I would upgrade my cpu now and wait on the gpu. But if the op is set on buying a card then the fastest card he can get for 200 makes sense because it will still outperform a lesser card on his current rig but it will give him more future when he does upgrade his cpu.
I don't see the point of recommending GTS250 because the difference between those two cards is minor... It depends what you want from your PC, if you stumbled on game that require more then your celeron (not sure if any, maybe Battlefield 2 or GTA 4, poorly programed games anyway...) then upgrade of GPU will be waste indeed. Say for example you get minimum FPS in that game 30 or less, even with much faster GPU you will still get the same exact number if is because of CPU, but on the parts of game where you are not so much limited you will get double framerate even with that CPU. And that said, you will still have the same problem you had before, and your overall gaming experience will not be much better. But, if that is not the problem, then go for fastest card you can get, btw Celeron E3300 is same as c2d, and it is good enough CPU for almost any game.
Prior to this system, I had a 400mhz Celeron, a 1.7ghz Celeron, a pair of 1.6ghz Semprons, as well as an Atom based netbook. Also, nobody has insulted nor disrespected the OP in any way. However, you have insulted pretty well everyone... Celeron processors were never, at any point, intended for gaming. They are entry-level processors designed around "grandma and grandpa" who just want to surf the web and check e-mail. In his case, his Celeron runs on an 800mhz FSB and has 1mb L2 cache, which limits the performance dramatically, even compared to a Conroe based Core 2 Duo E4500, which will hinder the performance of a GTX280. Instead of telling people "Oh yeah, you can run a GTX580....and later, if you manage to scrape together the cash, upgrade your processor too"....we prefer to inform people of what card will work best with their system. As for my system, it was a completely unintended upgrade due to problems beyond my control. I was perfectly happy with my Q9550. I spend 2-3 YEARS scraping money together for full system upgrades. In fact, the money used for my upgrade to this system, delayed other projects by several months. I'm finally getting started on those projects after a nearly 10 month delay. But, unlike you, I don't choose to insult those that can afford systems that I can't. Instead, I just keep stashing money away waiting for my next upgrade and give people reasonable recommendations based on a balanced configuration. Now, had the OP said he planned on upgrading his processor, ram and motherboard later, I'd have suggested a faster card. BUT, since he asked what card he should upgrade to with his current system, suggesting a GTX560 or higher would be a bit out of line since his processor simply can't perform nearly well enough to feed it the data it needs to perform properly. Now, if you're going to continue being an asshat, go find another forum...most of us are tired of the same old BS routine of being insulted by you for having the systems we have...
Degraders? It is a fact that his cpu is low end and slow...I am not dissing him I am just giving him good information. It's just a fact buying a fast video card right now with no plan to upgrade the rest of his system is a waste of money. And what do you think the only computer I have ever had was an overclocked i5? just the jump from my phenom II x4 to i5 760 brought a SUBSTANTIAL increase in FPS in many of the games I play. Such as: Starcraft 2, Black Ops, Bad Company 2,assassins creed...etc..etc..
His cpu most certainly is not compareable to a core2duo. The clock rate and amount of l2 cache is SEVERELY limited thus making it MUCH slower.
