New graphic card in an old PC

[canewo]

Hi guys,

I am very new to this bottlenecking term, infact this is the only time i used the word.

My question:

My pc (old i know)

Motherboard : Asus P5L-MX
CPU: intel core 2 duo 1.86
RAM: 2gb kingston 667mhz DDR2

I want to but a HD6850 for now, and when i upgrade my total system i could i use this card in the future.

So will my cpu bottleneck my graphic card?
If so which card should i buy?

 

[Tmagic650]

I wouldn't spend too much money on the system, but as long as the motherboard supports a PCIe X16 video card, the HD6850 will work

 

[freythman]

IMHO, I would upgrade to at least a 6870 (if you are thinking of upgrading the entire system in the future). That would give you some more horsepower now, and then much more after you upgraded your mobo/cpu/memory.

 

[nissanman]

The 6850 will work fine. There will be some bottlenecking, but if you are using the motherboards integrated graphics, the 6850 will provide a massive boost in performance. Just make sure your power supply is up to the job. A quality 500watt will be good.

 

[Leeky]

As per the last post above.

Do not go higher than a HD6850 as its very unlikely you'll see further benefit from it as you will be pushing the upper limits of the rest of the hardware as it is.

Personally, I would spend the money on a new motherboard, RAM and CPU instead - Then get another dedicated GPU later on - Even on-board GPU chips will be better than you have now in comparison.