should I get the 4870, with my wimpy cpu?

[freestonew]

Hi all.

Should I buy the Visiontek hd4870 videocard, with my slow processor?!
My new hp w2338h 23" monitor could use a larger res!



Here I have my oblivion nearly ready to play, got about 240 mods
including FCOM and graphic mods like Quarl's Redimized, installed;
with my nvidia 8800gt, at the beginning cell, in the worst spot for
fps, I have about 35 fps.

I checked into the visiontek hd4850 card, it advertises itself as a
very good card, now that I have my wonderful looking hp 23" monitor,
time for some good graphics! But then I found, by reading, that the
4850 card is nearly the same as my 8800gt!
[the rumor is that ati cards have better quality graphics than the
nvidia cards, but I have also read that the difference now is small.]

my specs.
I have a emachine with....
amd 3800 processor [2.4 gigbyte speed]
geforce board, 6150
3 gigs ram.
antec earthwatts 500 watts.
nvidia 8800gt.


probably my little cpu is going to bottleneck my "maybe" upgrade level
card, the visiontek 4870, that bestbuy has on sale for about $240.
[the 4850 requred only a 450 watt, the 4870 needs a 500 watt]

Then there is the issue of ATI cards themselves, whether I should just
stick with nvidia cards. "some game need reinstalling" i have read,
when installing!

so, would it be worth it to try the 4870 card?

thanks. freestone

 

[rms]

Should I buy the Visiontek hd4870 videocard, with my slow processor?!

I say no for now, as you have a 8800gt, which looks perfectly suited to
the cpu, and is a decent card. Wait for a few months, or look for a
complete package deal.

rms

 

[Benjamin Gawert]

* freestonew:

Hi all.

Should I buy the Visiontek hd4870 videocard, with my slow processor?!

I wouldn't go for a 4870 with that setup. But you could go for a 4850
instead and also upgrade your CPU.

Benjamin