Graphics At what point do you Sacrifice?

I have an interesting dilemma.

I've been putting off an upgrade to my system 1)because I wanted to wait and see what Sandy Bridge would do, 2) my current system has been custom built to fit exactly in this case as I re-wired the PSU and shortened everything and 3) am a lazy basterd.

Now here comes my problem. Yesterday after much deliberation and guidance from my fellow Bit-techers, I gave in to my 3 year temptation and purchased a new 24" monitor (U2410). Now for some reason I'm worried that my current specs won't be able to handle the higher resolution of this monitor and I'll be forced to sacrifice resolution in order to play games at my settings.

Which leads me to, do I need to upgrade my GPU now as well? I have a feeling the stock answer is going to be 'yes' with a recommendation of the 5850 or higher, but if that's the case, will I be bottlenecked by my CPU? I really reaaallllyyy am trying to avoid the upgrade cycle now as I feel we're at the end of the current sockets (again) and would hate to purchase something now that will already have no upgrade path by Q1 2011. Perhaps I'm spoiled as I was able to upgrade my current socket 775 a few times as better and better chips came out.

Now I know my specs aren't high end anymore, in fact they weren't high end by the time I finished the build, but I'm sure that you all know about diminishing returns and early adapter pricing. Everything I purchased then was done within weeks of it coming out, which makes me depressed to think about what little value it has and what I could purchase for the same money now what I spent on this system then and be very happy with a semi-premium build.

Anyway, to get down to it - how much do I need to upgrade now to enjoy my new monitor? Do I need to upgrade at all, or can I wait another 6 months? At what level of GPU does it become to be held back by my current CPU? If at all?

Here's my specs:

e6850 @ 3,7ghz
IP35 Pro socket 775
Evga 9800GTX+ (super OC edition marketing BS)
Seasonic 650w
Vista Ultimate 64
All watercooled by a PA120.2 + PA 120.1 single loop all internal in a LL v1000. So it's very tight.

 

What's your monitor's native resolution? If its 1920X1200/1080 then you would need a 5850, and your CPU wouldnt be as much of a bottleneck as you are thinking.
Check this article out - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/balanced-gaming-pc-overclock,2625.html

This should give you a clearer idea.

 

To be honest, I'm still running an 8800GT on a 24" 1920x1200 Monitor, and it's still doing okay.
The only thing I had to dial the resolution down was on Crysis, and even then my little card managed medium settings at 1650x1050 fine.

I've noticed it's showing its age now though - I had to pull down settings on Batman Arkham asylum and Just Cause 2, but not by much, and the games still played well.

If you just want playable frame rates, then dialling down the settings shouldn't impact the look of games too much, but if you're a 60FPS+ whore, then you may be unsatisfied.

My advice - Plug the monitor in, play the games you play, and see what you have to do then. I suppose a lot of it also depends on what games you actually play.

 

Yep that's what I would do to. See how you current card performs before making any decisions.

 

Nah the 9800GT is still a decent card, it's the same thing as a GTS250, it shouldn't **** itself on 1920 resolution unless you're playing something stupidly demanding like Metro 2033.

But by all means plug it in and see for yourself.

 

Yeah that sounds fair enough - I wait and see what happens when the monitor comes this week. I play mostly CSS and L4D1-2, so I have a feeling it'll be OK as Valve games tend to do well.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed as I didn't want to start until 2011 really. I'll keep you all posted.

 

http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=755&page=8 - Compares 9800GTX+ to other cards.

 

If a game gives you problems at that res, try reducing AA levels first. It tends to have quite a performance impact.

 

To the OP: may I say that your build looks awesome!

 

Thanks, much appreciated! I worked hard on this and it was my first mod/wc build ever. I completed it soon after the birth of my first son (that's his birthday BTW on the nameplate)

You can look at the complete log here or skip to page 6-7 for final pics.

Again, thanks for the advice guys!

 

my rig was running 24" @ 1920*1200 untill I sold it a few days ago.

ran everything fine.