Worth upgrading GPU?

Hey guys I've been eying a new graphics card for awhile. The smart money seems to be on the ATI 5850 card. Currently I have an 8800GT that's served me incredibly well.
 
My system is as follows:
 
CPU: Q6600 at 2.8ghz
RAM: 3 gigs of DDR2
GPU: 8800GT 512
1.5 TB of HDD space
 
I have Windows 7 which I will be installing shortly. My question is will the 5850 be worth the $270 upgrade over the 8800GT?
 
Also I was contemplating upping my ram to 6GB. Would that be worth it either?

What kind of games are you playing?  Are you unsatisfied with your current framerates?
 
Personally I think paying over $250 for a videocard alone these days isn't really worth it, but I have a better GPU than a 8800GT so I'm one to talk...

I play a bit of everything. Crysis, STALKER, Witcher, Dragon Age. I play everything with high settings and get solid framerates. Crysis runs at about 27 - 32 fps and is the only game I wish ran smoother.
 
Thats another thing. I seem to hear a lot about DX11 but nothing that revolutionary came of DX10, also I haven't really seen any compelling games taking advantage of DX11.

I'm buying an ATI Radeon 5770 1 gb for my new rig. The card is a little dated, but it's only $170 and runs much smoother than the GeForce 8800. From what I've heard, there isn't much difference between the $170 Radeon 5770 and the $270 GeForce 275 GTX, and the Radeon 5770 runs a lot cooler and quieter than the latter card, plus it's directx 11 compatible. 
 
As for Radeon 5770 versus 5850, I can't really say. The 5770 probably has a better price-to-performance ratio, though.

"I play a bit of everything. Crysis, STALKER, Witcher, Dragon Age. I play everything with high settings and get solid framerates. Crysis runs at about 27 - 32 fps and is the only game I wish ran smoother.  Thats another thing. I seem to hear a lot about DX11 but nothing that revolutionary came of DX10, also I haven't really seen any compelling games taking advantage of DX11. "

Apparently DX10 is real bloatware, like Windows Vista, whereas DX11 is the "what directx10 should have been" sort of deal, like Windows 7. I'm sure games will start utilizing DX11 soon, it's got a much longer feature list than the aging DX9. "

Is your Processor 64-Bit (I can't imagine any reason why it isn't) and are you going to be installing Windows 7 64-bit?  If not, then there's no reason to have more than 3GB because Windows won't recognize anything more than 3. Having more RAM likely won't bring too huge of a noticeable in gaming, though general computer usage will likely show some large improvements (specifically in the time from power-on to usable PC). 
 
In terms of Graphics Card, I'd say if the ATI card has at least 1 GB of RAM (preferably more), then I'd say the jump is likely worth it.  ATI has done a great job of bang for the buck when it comes to their cards.  I use the nVidia 280 GTX but the 5000 series cards from ATI are crazy fast.

Getting a radeon 5750 might be worthwhile if your looking to upgrade without spending a buttload of money,  it's the low budget version of the new generation of cards but performance wise you'll get a bit more performance than the 8800gt while having dx11 support.  i think it's aroudn 130$

" Getting a radeon 5750 might be worthwhile if your looking to upgrade without spending a buttload of money,  it's the low budget version of the new generation of cards but performance wise you'll get a bit more performance than the 8800gt while having dx11 support.  i think it's aroudn 130$ "

" @septim:   I see, well i found an article with some pretty good fps charts with 8800gt in it for comparison to the new generation cards, it includes the 5850 somewhere in them.   http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3658&p=5 "

I would totally upgrade. I got a GeForce GTS 250 a couple weeks ago, up from an 8600 GTS, and it is delightful. I would say yes.

I like to use this site for benchmarking cards:  
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php  
 
A little ways down the left side of the page is a search box.  Hope this helps. 

I don't think it's necessary. The 8800 is an awesome card and should still be able to crank out solid framerates in newer games and I'd squeeze the last out of it if I were you. You should totally upgrade your RAM, though, that's never a bad idea. 

I actually just made the jump from the 8800GT to the 5850 and I would say that the differences are tangible.  I went from being able to run Borderlands at 1650 x 1050 with mostly high settings and 2x AA to literally everything cranked up with no hiccups after the change.  The main thing I noticed from one card to the next is that I can pretty reliably flip stuff like dynamic shadows, bloom lighting, and the like on with no worry of drop in framerate whereas with the 8800GT I might have to mess around and ultimately leave a couple of those things off.

" I actually just made the jump from the 8800GT to the 5850 and I would say that the differences are tangible.  I went from being able to run Borderlands at 1650 x 1050 with mostly high settings and 2x AA to literally everything cranked up with no hiccups after the change.  The main thing I noticed from one card to the next is that I can pretty reliably flip stuff like dynamic shadows, bloom lighting, and the like on with no worry of drop in framerate whereas with the 8800GT I might have to mess around and ultimately leave a couple of those things off. "

Wait and see what nVIdia brings out shortly. I know everybody is saying there will be a premium price to pay with the 300 series, but why not wait and see just how much?

Every six months they bring out new cards. I suggest you keep your 8800gt for a few more months to see what nvidia has in stock and it might drive the prices down for their existing cards. Definetly upgrade later on, not right now, you will notice a difference with newer cards, just look at benchmark sites to see the difference for a variety of cards. Your videocard will have a lot of slow downs with newer games. Even if you get that DX11 ati card, yes it would be worth it and it will be very noticable.  
 
Edit: You even could probally wait until all these new cards drive down the price of these existing cards and even a gtx285 for cheaper later on will be noticable for framerates, with your quad core overclocked.

"

Every six months they bring out new cards. I suggest you keep your 8800gt for a few more months to see what nvidia has in stock and it might drive the prices down for their existing cards.

"

The problem is that once Nvidia has a dx11 card out Ati is almost finished with a new set of cards, thus lowering their prices even further. Expect around 200€ 5870 in Q1-2 2010.

 Why should Nvidia fall so far behind? "

I've got an 8800 right now, and I see absolutely no reason to upgrade. If I were you, I'd go for a new CPU instead.

When the nVidia 300 series comes out, and current Dx11 cards drop in price, THAT is the time to upgrade from your 8800 GT. 

Short Answer: Wait 2 months for Nvidia.  
Long Answer: With an all-new Fermi architecture on the way with some estimates pointing at 100% performance gains over the previous generation, buying an ATi card is quite foolhardy when something much better and at the same price may come just a couple months later. Also an 8800 is alright for games until at least the next generation of consoles if you're on medium-high settings. 

"@Marz said:

" Getting a radeon 5750 might be worthwhile if your looking to upgrade without spending a buttload of money,  it's the low budget version of the new generation of cards but performance wise you'll get a bit more performance than the 8800gt while having dx11 support.  i think it's aroudn 130$ "

The money isn't really the main issue. If I'm going through the trouble of buying and installing a new card I want a tangible leap in performance and not just an incremental increase.  I think I may have talked myself out of getting a new card. The 2010 PC slate is pretty depressing and it looks like no matter what any single GPU is not gonna push 40 FPS in Crysis anyways. "