Best GPU with no bottleneck?

[jagui]

Hello eveyone. I wrote here about a year ago about my broken ATI GPU (which was the result of several metal contacts melting because of overheating, with an aftermarket cooler). Because I cant afford to buy a new system, I want to replace the card only. So what is the best card I can put in my system without causing a bottleneck? the sytem is pretty old (built on dec 2007)
My specs:
-AMD athlon X2 @2.5 Ghz (socket AM2)
-4GB DDR2 (not sure of speed)
-550W PSU
-Windows 7 x64

[upcoast604]

TBH, the old athlon x2 gets left behind by the newer x3. Just a thought what if you put a x3 450 $74 + HD6850 in your comp if your mobo supports the x3 450?

A 6850 will be bottlenecked by you current cpu but 6850 $120ish after MIR is a good bang for the buck card, gtx 550ti and HD6770 are some other $100 and under cards to look into.

Screen res and type of games helps determine what card too.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforc...i-sli-review/5

Your 4850 falls in a bit below the GTS 250, just so you can see what's what ^^.

[upcoast604]

CPU scaling thought it might interest you.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon...mance-review/8

[Feanor]

It would really be important to know at what resolution you plan to game, as it will pretty much tell you want you need. That and your budget!

[jagui]

I dont mind playing at 1280x720 resolution. My friend offered me his nvidia 9600. Is the card good enough or should I get another card (I have to play mass effect 3 and Starcraft 2 decently!!).
EDIT:
top price for the card would be 120-170 $.