Video card recommendations

I know this has probably been asked before, so forgive me. My PC is a little over 3 years old with the following specs

Core 2 Duo @ 2.13 ghz
2 Gigs of RAM
nVidia 256mb 7900 GS

I've been doing more PC gaming as of late and I'd like to upgrade my video card. I've been looking at these but have been trouble deciding on which one to go with. Here they are:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102873
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102859
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...4130339&cm_re=9800gtx+-_-14-130-339-_-Product

I'm looking to spend between $100 and $150, although I may be able to go a little higher. I know I'll also have to upgrade my PSU, as my current one says it can do 375W max.

So, what do you all recommend? Is one of those three a good option? Are there others I'm missing?

Any help is appreciated.

Any of those would be leaps and bounds over what you've got now.

If it were me, I'd probably go with the 5770.

Edit: Another budget card you might look at is the GTS 250.

The 5770 is your best option under $150.

I just bought a new PC with the 5570...it was part of the package...do I see a big gain in upgrading the video card at this point, or should i wait a year or so to make a more significant jump. My other specs are I7 Intel 2.8ghz, and 8 gigs RAM.

Thanks for the replies. With my computer being 3+ years old, is it worth it to upgrade any other components?

I have 32-bit Windows Vista which I've read doesn't really use more than 3 gigs of RAM even if you have more (although I read that a while ago and I may be misremembering). I do have room for more RAM so I could add another gig.

Really, all I'm looking for now is to be able to run SC2, Diablo 3 (whenever it comes out) and Dragon Age 2 on higher if not highest settings. Will I be able to do that with the card upgrade alone?

[quote name='jfunkdpg']Thanks for the replies. With my computer being 3+ years old, is it worth it to upgrade any other components?

I have 32-bit Windows Vista which I've read doesn't really use more than 3 gigs of RAM even if you have more (although I read that a while ago and I may be misremembering). I do have room for more RAM so I could add another gig.

Really, all I'm looking for now is to be able to run SC2, Diablo 3 (whenever it comes out) and Dragon Age 2 on higher if not highest settings. Will I be able to do that with the card upgrade alone?[/QUOTE]
You may not be able to do it with the card upgrade alone. SC2 is very CPU dependent, although Blizzard is good about making their games available to lower-end systems. SC2 runs pretty well on my 2.33 GHz C2D with 2 gigs of RAM and an 8800 GT. Diablo's a way down the road but I'd think you'd be ok with those two games.

I'd be willing to bet that DA2 will not run at real high settings on your machine, but you'd probably get decent medium settings out of it.

With your older CPU, if you upgrade, you're going to be looking at a new CPU, motherboard, and likely RAM. It'll get costly pretty quickly.

[quote name='nightowl2006']I just bought a new PC with the 5570...it was part of the package...do I see a big gain in upgrading the video card at this point, or should i wait a year or so to make a more significant jump. My other specs are I7 Intel 2.8ghz, and 8 gigs RAM.[/QUOTE]
The 5570 is pretty low-end. You'd likely see huge performance jumps in gaming with a card upgrade.

As the costs get higher, would it be a good idea to just consider building a new PC from scratch? Can I build a gaming quality PC for less than $600-700?

[quote name='jfunkdpg']As the costs get higher, would it be a good idea to just consider building a new PC from scratch? Can I build a gaming quality PC for less than $600-700?[/QUOTE]
Honestly if you buy a new CPU, motherboard and RAM, and use the drives (HDD and optical) out of your old machine, you've basically built a new one.

$600 should be more than enough to get a budget rig together that will run circles around your old one. Check the sticky PC building thread at the top for advice for parts.

I found this combo while browsing newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.445430

For those who don't want to check the link it includes the following:

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX

ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard

SAPPHIRE 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

The combo price comes to $410.97 and $375.97 after MIRs.

Does that seem like a pretty good deal? I had the intention of going with an Intel processor, not for any reason in particular other than that's what I've been used to.

With RAM and a new PSU it would put me close to $600, which is what I'm trying to keep it under.

[quote name='jfunkdpg']I found this combo while browsing newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.445430

For those who don't want to check the link it includes the following:

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX

ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard

SAPPHIRE 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

The combo price comes to $410.97 and $375.97 after MIRs.

Does that seem like a pretty good deal? I had the intention of going with an Intel processor, not for any reason in particular other than that's what I've been used to.

With RAM and a new PSU it would put me close to $600, which is what I'm trying to keep it under.[/QUOTE]

Yes, don't forget hard drive, case, and maybe an optical drive.

[quote name='kilm']Yes, don't forget hard drive, case, and maybe an optical drive.[/QUOTE]

I'm planning on just using my current hard drive. The only other things I'll need are a new PSU, RAM, and a case.

With the addition of a Centurion 5 cooler master case, 4GB G.Skill Ripjaw series DDR3 RAM, and a 650w Corsair PSU it comes to $613.86 after shipping and MIRs.

How I managed to talk myself into getting a whole new computer instead of just a video card I don't know, but I did.

[quote name='jfunkdpg']I'm planning on just using my current hard drive. The only other things I'll need are a new PSU, RAM, and a case.

With the addition of a Centurion 5 cooler master case, 4GB G.Skill Ripjaw series DDR3 RAM, and a 650w Corsair PSU it comes to $613.86 after shipping and MIRs.

How I managed to talk myself into getting a whole new computer instead of just a video card I don't know, but I did.[/QUOTE]

Congrats on your new computer ! I'm also getting the urge of getting a new one, but I can wait.