Should i upgrade from a 9600gt to an 8800gt?

Q: Hi. I recently bought a "BFG 9600GT 512MB PCI-E Card" from futureshop for 129.99 plus tax. I am now thinking of exchanging it for an "8800 GT 512MB PCIe Card" made by either BFG or EVGA, which would cost ~20$ more, at 149.99 plus tax. Is this a worthwhile upgrade? should i do it for the extra bit of performance and is it worth it for the price and trouble of going back and doing an exchange? I know the 8800 is slightly better according to the benchmarks i've seen. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. My specs: intel core2duo e4400 at 2.0ghz 4gb ram computer model: hp a6120n links: my current card: http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10099587&catid= thinking of upgrading to either: http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10096083&catid= or http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10095590&catid=

A: Upgrading to faster cards would have diminishing returns because they would just get more bottlenecked by your low clocked processor. Even your 9600GT would give you better framerates if your E4400 runs at 2.6gHz or higher. Unfortunately, most Hp mobos have no overclocking options in BIOS. Possible options: 1. Newbie= try overclocking software like Clockgen; but it only works if clock generator chip on mobo is supported. 2. Enthusiast= upgrade motherboard to one that has plenty of tweaking options. E4400 can easily do 3.0gHz on good motherboards. 3. Experts= if mobo can support 1066mHz FSB, do a BSEL pad mod on the processor so that processor's default FSB is transformed from 800mHz to 1066mHz. Processor speed instantly becomes 2.66mHz. With a faster clocked Core2 Duo, I would prefer the ATI 4850 over 8800GT. Performance difference is significant but prices are pretty close.

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