Upgrading Video Card Question

[spooky9917]

I've been searching for weeks now, but don't really have an answer. I'm thinking of upgrading my video card, but not really sure what to go for. I guess I don't really care if it's NVIDIA or ATI, the main thing is performance/price. Here's my setup...

AMD 6000X2 (At 3.3 ghz)
2GB DDR 800
8800GTS 640 (g80)
m2n-sli deluxe (570i chipset)
1440x900 monitor
600W PSU (Dual 12V @ 19 amps)

I think that's everything. I do have the 8800 overclocked quite a bit, as well. In terms of performance/price I'm looking at the 9800GTX+ / 4850 versus the GTX 260/ATI 4870. I'm probably not going to upgrade to a completely new system for another year or 2 (maybe until windows 7?), so I'm thinking the GTX 260/4870 might be overkill. Any thoughts? Thanks for any help!

 

[1337_JohnN]

The card you have now is pretty good, but if you really have to choose, pick the 4850, since you're using a 1440x900 moniter.

 

[NosBoost300]

he's got an sli board.. i see no reason to go ati... 9800gtx+

 

[spooky9917]

Thanks...I'd probably just go with Nvidia, *seems* as if people have less problems with drivers. I'm just really trying to raise my minimum fps. I know crysis kills anything, so even 5-10 extra would be great. Another problem I have is the chugging and choppiness when it goes from 35, flip on the scope and drops to 20. I realize that might not be a video card issue, but anything that helps is nice, as I can't really do much about the processor on my board. That, and it crashes all the time, but that's another story.

 

[philbar71]

i average around 30fps, with my 9800gtx, on high settings at 1680x1050, but some parts can be choppy. but i blame that on my crappy pentium D. go for a 9800gtx+ or a gtx 260 core 216.

 

[spooky9917]

Yeah, I'm only on medium and it does that, even when I bump it down from 1440x900 to 1024x768, get's frustrating. I probably won't get a 260 unless it's within a really amazing price range with the 9800+. Right now on Newegg I think the cheapest gtx260 with 216 its around $270, whereas the 9800+ I can get for as low as $150-170. Although there is one gtx 260 (192) is at $200. It might be a couple weeks, so they might have some ridiculous promotion going on.

 

[philbar71]

i have a xfx and i love it no regrets. overclocked it to core: 860 shader: 2300 mem: 1200. the only thing i dont like is it takes 2 pci-x connectors.

 

[spooky9917]

Yeah I'm seeing some of the 9800+ have 1 PCI-e connector, some others have 2. My PSU has two, though, so not too worried...

 

[veg1992]

A 19'' Widescreen monitor doesn't need a 9800GTX+ / GTX 260... at the most he'd need a 9800GT because 1440x900 is a pretty low Res

 

[philbar71]

Yeah I'm seeing some of the 9800+ have 1 PCI-e connector, some others have 2. My PSU has two, though, so not too worried...

i have not seen any 9800gtx+'s with one power connector. but vern is right you could get away with just a 9800gt at that res.