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Dell 3008wfp Ordered and now Gpu needed!?!?

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Joined
26 Dec 2008
Posts
657
Location
west sussex
Just bitten the bullet and eventually brought a Dell 3008wfp, and now need to think which graphics card I will need to power it on games like Bc2, Dirt 2 etc on max or almost max settings. I currently only have 2x 4850 in crossfire and know they won't have no where near enough power to handle a 30" monitor, So was thinking maybe getting a single Ati 5870 now then another later on???
 
I would expect you will need more like a 5970. My 5870 clocked to the hills has a few sub 20fps dips at times at 1920x1200. At the res of your screen i think that would happen a lot.
 
I'm currently running a 24" screen at 1900x1200 res and my crossfire 4850s seem to handle most games like Bc2/Dirt 3 very well with a lot of settings on high and acceptable fps. So to hear your struggling with a 5870 really surprises me...
 
A 5870 should be good for that res really, I've seen a lot of benchmarks that show it doing well.

Also, it's bought not brought. Just sayin' :D :p
 
I'd look at investing in a better power supply as Dell only supply the bare minimum needed to run a system and have plenty of experience with peoples PSUs going bang
 
I'd look at investing in a better power supply as Dell only supply the bare minimum needed to run a system and have plenty of experience with peoples PSUs going bang

I'm not sure they mentioned they had a dell PC?

I think 1uke should let us know what hardware he has though.
 
Sorry didn't know if it was important or not. I'm in the process of building another pc for the missus which im taking the opportunity to upgrade a few things ;).

Current spec is:

Motherboard = Asus p5q pro
Cpu = Q9550 oc 3.9ghz
Psu = Ocz 1000w psu
Ram = 4gb Ocz reaper 1066mhz
Gpu = 2x Ati 4850 in crossfire
Case = Antec 900

Future/Purchased upgrades to go in:

Gpu = Ati 5870 then another down the line?
Motherboard = Asus p5q express
Psu = Coolmaster modular 850w?
Case = Haf 932
 
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Decent spec even if its not the I7 everyone loves right now. The main limitation at 2560x will be VRAM (especially when plenty of AA/AF comes into play). 5870 should offer you a nice little boost, and then see how you feel later on. ATIs new cards might arrive before you feel you really need another card. Thats without even considering overclocking.

Take a look at this review as its got 2560x results.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_480_Fermi/

I know its a GTX480 review, but the reason I recommend it as it's got results using the 10.3 catalysts, which gave some reasonable improvements, and some of the recent betas are only getting better. (note though those results use 4xAA/16xAF, so if run AA off, you should see higher framerates)

On the plus side, with its VERY low idle power usage, the 5870 will save you a few pennies compared to the 4850s...now its not that many pennies but its a good excuse!
 
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So your concerned the 1gb GDDR5 that comes with the 5870 might not be enough to run settings like AA/AF? So I'm assuming your saying maybe 2x 5850 1gb GDDR5 in crossfire would be more suited to a 30" monitor gaming at res 2560x1600??
 
Sorry didn't know if it was important or not. I'm in the process of building another pc for the missus which im taking the opportunity to upgrade a few things ;).

Current spec is:

Motherboard = Asus p5q pro
Cpu = Q9550 oc 3.9ghz
Psu = Ocz 1000w psu
Ram = 4gb Ocz reaper 1066mhz
Gpu = 2x Ati 4850 in crossfire
Case = Antec 900
you get that from dell !!!! how many arms and legs did they want???
 
Hi i own a 3008wfp aswell with just one GTX280 and most of the games i own run fine @2560x1600 like WoW,Dragon Age,MW2,ETW, and the few that dont like Crysis i just run @1900x1200 instead theres hardly any loss in image quality either at that res compared to the native res i think your x2 4850's would do ok in most games tbh
 
I think he's just getting a Dell monitor lol, Dell don't give the option of Asus mobos on their system configurator :P

Second person to think this now, I started getting confused thinking they had said they had a dell computer and I'd just missed it. :p
 
Its certainly not a Dell pc im afraid!

Thanks Bodom etc for your replys, I will be using my 2 4850's for a couple of weeks until I make up my mind on what gpu to get next. I would like to play at almost max settings but dont want to spend £400 plus on a graphics card. I'm slightly worried now if the 1gb onboard memory that comes with a 5870 will be enough, but 2x 5850 is more than I really want to spend... Hmmmmn
 
So your concerned the 1gb GDDR5 that comes with the 5870 might not be enough to run settings like AA/AF? So I'm assuming your saying maybe 2x 5850 1gb GDDR5 in crossfire would be more suited to a 30" monitor gaming at res 2560x1600??

No it wont make a difference, as both cards in crossfire act as duplicates so it really is 2 x1GB rather than 2GB collective. You will be able to use AA/AF, but dependant on how sensitive you are to framerate you may find your mileage varies. :)
Now 2x 5850s would be FASTER in crossfire supported titles full stop, but then you've got dual card considerations :)
 
my pc has the same performance on a 42" tv as it does on a 22" monitor.. its the resolution not the screen size

Relevance?

@OP

5870 should see you through, perhaps a 2GB version (if/when the price stops being stupid) might be worth it at that res, have a look at some benchies :)
 
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