I had posted on another board however this place seems a bit more suitable for my question. I have been playing quite a bit of company of heroes, fallout 3, GTA4, and also Peggle (probably the most CPU intensive game of them all) lately and it has been bothering me for quite some time that I am never able to get much past medium settings and turn on shadows. I would like something that could handle high graphics settings with AAx2 running at 1680x1050. I have a core2duo conroe @ 2.66GH and was wondering how high I could OC it to still be stable. Like an idiot I forgot to use artic gel when putting in the CPU so all it has is it's stock fan for cooling. I am using an antec 900 case though which has PLENTY of fans. Of course only if OC'ing it is even necessary. Suggestions ?
While I am not familiar with your processor as I am an Amd lover, I am also a fan of Nvidia. There are some new graphhics cards out that look very promising and as for the processor it looks good to me. Take a look at these cards http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&Order=PRICED user reviews can be very helpful in deciding what direction to go in and amd/ati have some hot new cards getting rave reviews.
At that res, an HD4870 or GTX275 would do you fine. If you want futureproof, buy the 4870X2. Don't bother with the 295 or 285, they're hideously overpriced for what they are.
Thank you both I will look into each of those. Oh and samm you were the one who helped me build my PC in the first place >_< glad to see you are still here
Hehe, I stick around. Don't always get the time to go posting in every isolated thread these days, but I do what I can
So what exactly is the difference between an 8800 and a 9800? This one looks decent for the price: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130325 And I am assuming this one would blow it away: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130475 Is that extra +$150 worth it though? I should probably mention (if I didn't already) I only have a 550w PSU.
The 8800GTS was a good card in its day, but it's old now, this is faster and uses much less power: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103077 The GTX275 will indeed smash both the 8800GTS and HD4770 to pieces, but is noticeably more expensive. A better middle ground is this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127413 It is MUCH faster than the 8800GTS (and the 8800 Ultra and 9800GTX+), but sits maybe 20% behind the GTX275. However, as you see, it costa a hell of a lot less.