Q9550 with GTX275, any alternitives to these two?

[Fireball]

Hey Guys!

I'm looking to buy myself a new graphics card and CPU.

See my signature for my current specs.

I've been nosing around, and the Intel Q9550 and Nvidia GTX275 look like good options to suit both my gaming needs, and my bank balance.
I'm trying to stay below R2800 for the graphics card and below R2800 for the CPU, since I'm also going to need a new power supply.

At first I thought of getting a HD4870, or HD4890, but it seems they can't hold a candle to the GTX275. Keep in mind, I want to play games like Bioshock, The Witcher, Crysis, Prototype, Mirror's Edge, etc. at the highest settings on a 22" LCD monitor at 1650x1050. It will be DirectX9 though. Will the GTX275 be able to handle this?
What other (sub-R2800) alternatives are there?

Now, for the CPU. I'm looking at the Q9950, or the E8500. I know the Q9950 has twice the amount of cores the E8500 has, but it is also pretty old (came out in January 2008). And the difference is a pretty steep R700. Which one would you recommend?

Also, my 400W power supply will not get me far. Will 600W be enough, or should I go for 700W so I don't need to upgrade it again? (I mean, R700 now, and then another R1000 in 3 years, vs. R1000 now???)

Any input greatly appreciated guys!
Thanks in advance!

Fireball, out -

[KALSTER]

Try and sell what you can and aim for a socket 1156 system (i5 or i7) with ATI HD 5850. Both will outperform your choices. i5 750 is around R1800 and Ati HD 5850 is around R3000. ASUS P7P55D mobo around R1500, RAM around R1200. Thats R7000. Someone might buy your system for the difference.

Edit: Oh you need a PSU as well.

[Fireball]

Try and sell what you can and aim for a socket 1156 system (i5 or i7) with ATI HD 5850. Both will outperform your choices. i5 750 is around R1800 and Ati HD 5850 is around R3000. ASUS P7P55D mobo around R1500, RAM around R1200. Thats R7000. Someone might buy your system for the difference.

Edit: Oh you need a PSU as well.

I'm not really looking to sell my system. Besides, If I buy everything new, I'm probably going to have to buy DDR3 RAM, which is a bit too expensive.

[Sojourn]

Keeping an eye on this thread as my system is almost the same and I am also looking at upgrading.

[hamin_aus]

I've got a Q9550 with a P45 board and a GTX280.

The Q9550 is not a bad chip, it's quad core wth 12MB (2 x 6MB) of cache ram which will help when it comes to gaming or resource intensive apps.

The i5 and i7 crunch numbers quicker but sharing 6MB of cache between 4 or 8 CPU's means it whips butt in benchies, but it's not as much faster than the old Q9550 than you would think in real world apps.

[KALSTER]

I'm not really looking to sell my system. Besides, If I buy everything new, I'm probably going to have to buy DDR3 RAM, which is a bit too expensive.

Its an option to help you finance a better system (its what I will be doing early next year). If you decide to sell your system, I'd suggest doing so online, like prophecy forums (sorry PcFormat, but he won't be able to sell here for a while ). You can stipulate that you need to get your new system before you'll let the old one go. People do it all the time like that.

DDR3 ram isn't as expensive as it used to be. You can get 4GB good quality ram for less than R1200.

Just a suggestion though, but if you decide to still keep your current mobo, ram and such, then your choices are probably the best ones. If you can get the Q9550, go for it. It has been on sale for a while, but it is still a pretty powerful processor. Games and apps are getting more and more multi-threaded and you can't beat a quad for multitasking. I still stick to the ATI HD 5850 for about R3000 though. It eats a GTX285 for breakfast and is DX11 compatible.

[StarBound]

For the budget you have I cant see anything wrong with your choices. However if you can give in your old hardware and get a decent price on it then try to go for an i5 750. The i5 is R2000, the 1156 socket mobo is less than R2000 if your going for the board I have and then you have your graphics card.

[Fireball]

Keeping an eye on this thread as my system is almost the same and I am also looking at upgrading.

What exactly are your specs Sojourn?

[Sojourn]

Keeping an eye on this thread as my system is almost the same and I am also looking at upgrading.

What exactly are your specs Sojourn?

Core2 6300 @ 1.86 gHz
8800gts
2g ram
Samsung 2494HS 1:50000 5ms 1,920 x 1,080 full HD (but this I wont replace)

[GDI_Lord]

Get a 5850, not a GTX275.

[Sojourn]

Get a 5850, not a GTX275.

+1
All my mates I've spoken to said the same.

[ADV4NCED]

I just bought a 5850 yesterday from Andy at landmark, he said there were only 3 or 5 around at the time so stock looks pretty limited...

[justinufo]

You should get 4850 before the price increase if it has not happened already and the performance difference for that R200 is worth it.

[Sojourn]

http://www.prophecy.co.za/sapphire-hd58 ... 58279.html
What do you guys think of this card? Why is it so cheap?
Looks fishy.

[Sojourn]

I just bought a 5850 yesterday from Andy at landmark, he said there were only 3 or 5 around at the time so stock looks pretty limited...

What did you pay and what make ?

[Fireball]

http://www.ikonicit.co.za/index.php?tar ... ct_id=4676

Sapphire HD5850 1Gig Game Edition = R2,991.00

[Jaywalker86]

Hows about the ATi HD5770 (Prophecy Shop)?
There are shortages on nearly every HD5xxx series card, but i think you'll have less trouble getting one of these, than a 5850. Plus it's a cheaper option, without having to 'skimp' much on performance (the HD5770 is more powerful than the HD4870. Tom's Hardware Far Cry 2[1680x1050, 4AA, 8AF, Very High Quality] look in the middle of the chart)

And, it'll run on your current PSU if im not mistaken.

And about the CPU, i can't give advice, cause im not clued up on the Intel side of things. That E8500 is an awesome chip though, even if it is dual core.

[justinufo]

http://www.prophecy.co.za/sapphire-hd58 ... 58279.html
What do you guys think of this card? Why is it so cheap?
Looks fishy.

Is it just me or did the pice go up?

[SykomantiS]

http://www.prophecy.co.za/sapphire-hd58 ... 58279.html
What do you guys think of this card? Why is it so cheap?
Looks fishy.

Looks like a normal price for that card... Actually R200 more than most other I've seen.

[ADV4NCED]

This is the card I bought and I paid R3446.22

My 8800gtx died a few days ago and I actually wanted the Club 3D 5870 but since stocks were so low of all 58** cards, I decided to go with the Asus 5850