Upgrading Geforce 5600 to 5900
 

OK, so I'm thinking of buying a 5900 video card to replace my 5600. My question is, seeing as they both use the same detonator drivers can I just shut down the computer, change the cards and reboot it or do I still need to go through the process of uninstalling the drivers, installing the card, reinstalling the drivers?

Similarly I'm going to use the 5600 to replace the Geforce 4 MX440 in my mom's computer, so same question here?

I don't know bout the driver thing but you may want to wate bout a month till nivida release the new 6000 sceries if your looking for more performace

You should be able to replace both of those cards in the way that you're suggesting, but I'll add that you may want to uninstall those drivers, roll back to the windows drivers, and then just reinstall them from nvidia.com.

I'll second roadkill's suggestion to just wait for the 6000 series if you want a serious performance boost. As in a 300% performance boost compared to the cards that are out right now.

I know the 6000 series is going to kick ass, but I won't be able to afford it, whereas I've found a Gainward Geforce FX5900xt for < £130. I've done some research, and this will offer a huge improvement over my 5600 (which can barely manage Far Cry) and isn't too expensive.

Ah, didn't know cost was an issue. Well, that 5900 should do the job quite well.

I have swapped nvidia cards out before. there is no problem with jsut swapping the cards(with the computer off of course). You might need to change some settings on programs and such, but nothing major.

Did you consider an Ati Radeon 9800 pro? It's supposed to cost pretty much the same as that 5900xt. As for the new cards: as soon as they're available, you can expect the rest of the cards to drop in price.

Yea, if you wait a month or two for Nvidia to get their cards out basically every video card should drop in price to try to compete, when ATI releases their new card then definately every price will be lower, so you could possibly pick up a Radeon 9800XT for that price.

Videocard prices aren't gonna fall as much as people are hoping. The *only* reason Radeon 9800 Pros are so cheap now is because there's a 128 MB version. There is NO 128 MB GeForce FX 5900 Ultra (only 256 MB). They simply won't fall to anywhere near as competitive as a 128 MB 9800 Pro. Prices will fall, but it's not gonna be anything major.

That said, I'd still do what the other guys mentioned and get a Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro for $200 instead. Way, way better than a 5900 XT. One point of interest: the 5900XT is worse than the 5900 non-ultra. It would be better than a 5600, but nothing compared to a 9800 Pro.

-Lasereth

Thanks for the advice guys, I ended up going for a ATI 9800 pro (for only £140), and I'm really pleased with it.