Hi all I've got around £100 to spend on an upgrade to my system. Looking to boost graphics quality mainly as my system at present copes with 1920x1080 games but on mainly on average to slightly higher than average settings. (possibly keep the 260 from physx - i know over kill on most games but if it mean the difference between high quality or extra high why not) Been thinking about a GTX 460 or a GTX 550 and then overclocking the card would probably get another arctic cooler as it would allow for a higher overclock. (i'd swallow the cost of the cooler after my holiday) any ideas or recomendations or keep the money and get a 560ti but then i'm looking at 200ish instead of the 100-140 (including the cooler) Cheers in advance Ben
Your GTX 260 is still plenty powerful. I suggest to hold and increase your budget for the new Nvidia GPU's coming up end of the year or early next (supposedly based on their road map). Or wait for a nice SSD or something. Personally, I am planing to upgrade my system with an SSD first.. but I am waiting for an affordable SATA 3 card.
i personally would sell the 260 and use that cash to add to your 100 quid then buy a gtx 460 and a decent cooler for your q6600 and then overclock that bitch.
yeah performance is pretty good, and temps are no more than 55 degrees with fans set on low and arctic cooler running about 60%... think i could boost frame rate with an overclock of my CPU (got an almost stable 3.2Ghz clock) and pushing the gfx card a bit more (i haven't messed around with the voltage yet so could give it some mV's and see if i can push it over my previous stable max....) been looking at the ocz solid 3 120gb, aria.co.uk have it for £145, shame they don't do like an 80, 90 or 100 gb one as this would be bang on my price range and ideal for windows 7 install
i have an arctic cooler 7 on it at the mo no issue with temps... was looking at the antec water cooler, no sure about that and my case?
ah well then you should be to get that 6600 up pretty high then, the cooler your on about would easily go in your case id imagine but i wouldnt about that just yet, whatever change you got left from the 460 buy a game and a few beers, tell the world to f off for a few days lol oc your chip and see what temps your getting, if your not comfortable with the temps you get then go for a better cooler as-well
I would wait until nvidia 600 series arrives at end of year then grab a 570 as it should have dropped in price. Then you could sell your 260 or use for physx
570's would still be a lot more than a 560, by that knowledge youd be better off waiting and getting the 560ti as they would be closer to affordable than the 570, apart from that the next gen arent gonna be here till next year anyway.
all food for thought, hope the lotto is kind at the weekend then all my frame rate woes will vanish... any ideas how are i can push my bfg gtx260 in the mean time....