new monitor..do I need a new card?

[ronopp007]

I just bought a 24 in widescreen that will run at 1920/1080 do I need a newer card for it also? I play some crysis/ cod 4 and race sims mainly.
system is in sig

Thanks in advance for input and suggestions


ronopp

[OS-Wiz]

I'd say you have a fairly well balanced system the way it is. If you're bottlenecked anywhere, it's probably the CPU.

[ronopp007]

I am happy with what I have also, but seeing the dx 11 graphics coming out I am wondering if Maybe, I should get cpu? Of course I would need a bios update with that I am sure. and what cpu can my mobo handle?

[OS-Wiz]

Well, what I was trying to say without saying it is that it will take a cpu, mobo, and memory upgrade to get the most out of your current vidcard.

[PriMaTe]

Until you see things are slowing down too much for your liking you don't need new components. So try things out and see how it goes. Also, you don't always have to run native res, sometimes it's not even noticeable if you res is lower than the monitor's

[ronopp007]

Well, what I was trying to say without saying it is that it will take a cpu, mobo, and memory upgrade to get the most out of your current vidcard.

What cpu/ mobo do you suggest to max performance of the card? ...I just tried my racing sim at full res...Looks great but fram rates are totaly unacceptable(teens) lowered the res and frames are at 70's ... there goes all my football money....LOL

[mikeysg]

You have an AM2 X2 6000+, right? Well, it's gonna be a bottleneck for most newer games and more powerful card would be needed (reason why I stress 'more powerful' is becuz you'd wanna run games at the native res of the monitor which is 1080P). Honestly speaking, I'd rather live with a CPU bottleneck (as long as the CPU's good enough to keep FR playable) rather than a GPU bottleneck.....that's what I'm living with right now. My cards are being bottlenecked by my CPU, but since my CPU's fast enough to keep FR at more than playable, I ain't too concerned. The GTX260, while being a pretty good card, may struggle with games @1080P, so might I suggest the HD5850? It's about as powerful as a GTX285 but with DX11 support...

[kent1146]

I just bought a 24 in widescreen that will run at 1920/1080 do I need a newer card for it also? I play some crysis/ cod 4 and race sims mainly.
system is in sig

Thanks in advance for input and suggestions

ronopp

Your system should be fine. I have a GTX260 in a similiar system, running at 1920x1080, and run almost every game at max settings just fine. Don't bother upgrading yet.

And don't bother upgrading to support DirectX11, especially since DirectX10 isn't even in heavy use yet. Everybody who ran out to buy new hardware a few years ago specifically because of DirectX10 got burned pretty hard, because DirectX10 never picked up a lot of momentum. Only now (3 years later) is it starting to become more prevalent.

I say, don't spend a dime. Your system will run fine for quite some time. When it starts showing its age, do a complete overhaul (CPU, mobo, RAM, video card**). Whatever system you buy will happen to support DirectX11. But I do not recommend that you go out and buy new hardware just for DirectX11.


** - BTW, you can keep your current GTX260 and use it as a PhysX / CUDA co-processor in your next system, so hang on to that card even after you upgrade.

[ronopp007]

I lowered my res in the games I play to 1600/1024...looks good to me!! Good suggestion kent I think I will just hang on for a while longer a till things settle down a bit

[anubis44]

If you're thinking of going AMD for your next system upgrade, you can buy a Phenom II X3 or X4 CPU for cheap right now, throw it in your existing rig (since they will support DDR2 as well as DDR3) and get a nice bump in CPU-dependent performance (you'll probably get more FPS in many games, and definitely better performance for things like transcoding video, etc.) Then, when you want to upgrade your mobo and graphics, you'll still be able to keep and use that CPU. I'd go with any Phenom II X4 you can afford. If you're really on a budget, the Phenom II X2 550BE will give you two cores at 3.1GHz without overclocking, which will VERY noticeably boost your gaming frame rates right away, and it's only $115. When you are going to upgrade the mobo, try to find one that will allow you to unlock the other two cores on the X2 chip, and you'll have what I've got in my sig - a 4 core Phenom II, with plenty of overclocking room for almost half the price of the comparable X4 CPU.

[kpxgq]

i can play most games maxed at 1920x1200 with my gtx, so you should be fine for awhile... i would wait until something at the radeon 5850 level or better is down to reasonable prices