Thinking of upgrading.

[Micron]

Hello guys,

I've been running a system for quite some years now, I love gaming and it's the only reason of thinking to upgrade.

So here's my system specs.

Motherboard: ASUS P5N-D
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200
GPU: NVidia GeForce 9500 GT
Memory: Some Kingston 4 GB DDR2 (Staying to DDR2 due to the motherboard, it's not combatible with DDR3)
PSU: I think it's something like 400-450W not really sure tho, I need to check and I can't open the case atm.
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2243NW, 22 inch 1680x1050 display.

So as you can see it's pretty much outdated. The only thing I want to upgrade right now is the GPU since I don't have a lot of money to spend and this has to be pretty much something cost efficient. I've been a fan of NVidia but I'm also considering about an ATi-AMD card at the moment, specifically the XFX 7770 Double-D, it seems like a really good card, power needs and temperatures are pretty small as far as I know.

What do you think about that card, and also what would you suggest to me? I'm all ears :)

P.S: What about the 7770 Ghz edition, it just came by my eyes, what's the differences with the normal?

[genericllama]

i have a very similar rig to you - E8400 core2duo / asus p5q-vanilla / 9800gt/ 4gig redlines, and i also enjoy to game however money is short for me usually so upgrading/buying a new rig is not even considerable. if i were you, i would look at what limit does your processor start to bottleneck any current gpus and pick one in and around that area.

( i enjoy having great looking games and great sound gear but not being an audio/video-phile and having a heavy budget, i cant really complain at all. the only game i couldnt play [with my specs] was l.a noire, there would be a low fps threshold that made it "skip" constantly)

[PhilT]

I'm more of the opinion where you buy the best you can afford that way next time you can upgrade the CPU without worrying about the graphics card being the bottle neck.
You may find this helpful:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ew,3107-7.html

Hope that doesnt get me in trouble posting that link but I couldnt see anything similar on HWC