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Which card would you recommend for....

thedoc46

thedoc46

thedoc46

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A spare PC that i've got. Its CPU is a Core 2 Duo E6600 just running at stock @2.4ghz (quieter that way)

It currently has an nVidia 7800GT, which seems to probably too weak.

Don't want to go crazy. But if the price is right, wouldn't mind getting the best card before the CPU becomes the bottle neck. Or maybe the 7800GT is already that?

What do you guys recommend?
 
I run a 4890 with my E6600 but I am a Clocker mate as in Overclockers. :D


Also not clocking an E6600 makes Baby Jesus cry. :(
 
malc30 said:
I run a 4890 with my E6600 but I am a Clocker mate as in Overclockers. :D


Also not clocking an E6600 makes Baby Jesus cry. :(
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Not sure i can OC, cos this E6600 is in a hand me down Dell machine from work. I had a 7800GT knocking around so i swapped out whatever was in it, for the 7800GT, but playing COD4 on it as a test I was expecting slightly better.

As I said, it's really only a spare machine in the back room, but if i can make it better for not too much, then it's worth my while. Though for gaming I'll always use my main machine.

Now thinking maybe this is an opportunity to upgrade my main gaming rig's 4850 for a 5770 and slap the 4850 into the E6600.
 
thedoc46 said:
Don't want to go crazy. But if the price is right, wouldn't mind getting the best card before the CPU becomes the bottle neck. Or maybe the 7800GT is already that?
Click to expand...
I would say you could probably get a ATI 4770 pretty cheap now (Around £50-£60). These are almost as good as the 4850, but are 40nm based.

They outperform the new ATI5670, and I believe outperform the Nvidia 9800GT (which is hot running power drawing 65nm anyway)

If its only for a spare PC this is what I would go for without question as a cheap value upgrade.

Or if you want power, I believe you can pick up a 4870 for around £100 now.
 
rolypolyman said:
4850.
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Hey rolypoly seriously thinking about going with the same VGA as you for my main rig. then using my 4850 on my spare.

How happy are you with the Vapor-X ? what did you have before and how much happier are you with it?

Been looking at the benchmarks on guru and there doesn't seem that much in it between the 4850 and 5770, so i am a little hesitant to pull the trigger right away.

Main game i play is COD4 MW
 
The 5770 won't give any huge performance boosts over a 4850, it just under performs against a 4870, so you can see how it plays out.

If you want to beef up your main rig and putting the 4850 into the old one, a 4890 might be a good choice, or a 5850, but I imagine this is starting to get pretty silly for what you wish to be a small upgrade.

Your other best bet is to put in a 4770, something like that into your old rig, give it a new lease of life.
 
A soon to be released 5830 may be a good compromise when it's released, ie a pretty good boost over your 4850 and hopefully shouldn't break the bank too much.
 
thedoc46 said:
Hey rolypoly seriously thinking about going with the same VGA as you for my main rig. then using my 4850 on my spare.

How happy are you with the Vapor-X ? what did you have before and how much happier are you with it?

Been looking at the benchmarks on guru and there doesn't seem that much in it between the 4850 and 5770, so i am a little hesitant to pull the trigger right away.

Main game i play is COD4 MW
Click to expand...

I changed from a single 4890(excellent card) to 2 X 5770 Vapor-X and the difference is noticable, not mind blowingly, but I knew I wouldn't see a huge difference as the 4890 is still a very capable card. It was more for future proofing. My current setup performs pretty much up to 5870 levels, though the 5870 owners dont like this but its true. There are a couple of posts on another thread from people who have gone from 4850 to 5770 and they thought it was a big leap. I would thoroughly recommend the vapor-x and at the current Ocuk price they are a steal. Check out this review.:D
 
Good review above, clearly shows the 5770 is around 4870 to 4890 most of the time but really excels in crossfire. Spanked the 5850 and even beat the 5870 sometimes. What these reviews do for me is dispel the myth that the 5770CF falls at higher resolutions with AA when clearly it does not.:D
 
Rroff said:
If its a dell make sure the PSU is upto the job of a faster card
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As the guy said, check the 12v rail, a 4850 can draw ~50w more than a 7800gt.

With 'mild' overclocking a E6600 (333x9) doesn't really bottleneck until a 5850. Depending on the game, people may argue that 3.0Ghz may not be sufficient for a 4890... but as you mentioned this isn't your main gaming machine, for budget vs performance - it will not matter.

When you mentioned a quieter machine, that is significantly dependant on your cpu heatsink/fan. I hope you moved on from the stock intel (dell) one, they are not quiet even at stock.
 
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