Upgrade dilemma

q974739

q974739

q974739

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Joined
4 Feb 2009
Posts
1,396
So I've got an upgrade dilemma. My current gaming machine is an AMD phenom 2, 955 or so, paired with a 5770 graphics card. It's about 2 years old... exact specs:

Goods Shipped:
£102.11 x 1 - Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
£65.52 x 1 - Patriot Sector 5 Viper II 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-12800 1600MHz Dual Channel + 3D Mark Vantage (PVV34G1600LLKB)
£65.52 x 1 - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599)
£74.99 x 1 - AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.40GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail with FREE Deus Ex PC Game << bought earlier this year
£34.03 x 1 - Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK)
£30.63 x 1 - Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ)
£23.82 x 1 - Coolermaster Elite 334 Midi Case - Black
£14.46 x 1 - LG GH22NS50 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM
£59.57 x 1 - Asus M4A77TD Pro AMD 770 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard



I'm debating upgrading because - frankly - I'm expecting someone to buy me skyrim for Christmas and there's not a hope that the current machine will run it.

Now, the mother board is a 700-series chipset so I can't drop in bulldozer/piledriver or a more modern chip.

I think I can just drop in a replacement graphics card, but the board is a 770 - and as such limited to a pci 2.0, but that's still a x16 slot even if it's not a version 3 slot. But the power supply is limited to a single 6pin connector.

So, what do I do? Replace the card, rebuild the entire thing from the ground up, give up on gaming and take up knitting?

Budget is "not enough to make the wife feel I'm wasting money... and she got a new laptop costing 600 this year".
 
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

You should be able to fit a 7850 without much of an issue, personaly i would take the 2Gb card but thats your call and if you not gaming at at least 1080p theres not much point i guess.

PCI-e 2 and the CPU may give a slight bottleneck and OC'ing would be a bad idea without a higher Watt PSU but i would expect a big difference in game play actually a massive boost.

If you have the money then get a 500W or higher PSU and then bump the ram to 8Gb and OC the nuts off your current chip. should come to around £200, handle skyrim with HD texture pack and give you a year or so before you need a new mobo and chip. sell the old bits on the bay for a few quid to keep the wife happy.

YOUR BASKET
1 x msi hd 7850 twin frozr iii oc 2048mb gddr5 pci-express graphics cards w/ farcry3 & sleeping dogs pc games £149.99
1 x ocz corextreme 500w '80 plus' power supply £32.99
1 x teamgroup elite 8gb (2x4gb) ddr3 pc3-12800c11 1600mhz dual channel kit (ted38gm1600hc11dc01) £29.99
total : £224.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).



http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120-2.html
Cpu benchmarks for skyrim and other games, its using a 7970 rather than a 7850 but i would expect similar results as the cpu will be the bottleneck
 
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If your not happy with the performance from that try to hold out for Haswel in March/April for a bit more bang for buck, the RAM should still be ok so just a mobo and CPU that time out which will put you around £250 ish for the I5 at a guess
 
Drat - weekly offers end on Wednesday.

So, given that the MSI card is now ~£20 more, what would you suggest?

Also, I do like the idea of replacing graphics card now, with an eye to replacing the CPU/motherboard and (perhaps) power supply in a year or two. Possibly overclock the current CPU in a year or so, when it's starting to get long in the tooth.

Wait for it to die then replace - "But dear, the computer just died" :)
 
Ah - what I liked about the card was that it was cool'n'quiet - I don't like having a hurricane at my feet!

Hmmm, need a plan B...
 
Just to note, your 5770 would be fine on Skyrim. It's hardly a demanding game GPU wise. (Unless using a ENB)
 
Thanks guys.

Have now ordered and am eagerly awaiting my new toy...

Although - I'm aware that the 5770 would run skyrim... I want it to be pretty. I've never had a machine that's cutting edge - or even powerful at the time. And just this once, I want to be able to throw anything at it and see it work

So, thanks guys :)
 
BuToNz said:
Just to note, your 5770 would be fine on Skyrim. It's hardly a demanding game GPU wise. (Unless using a ENB)
Click to expand...

I agree and was surprised how undemanding it actually is- I play it on high settings with an HD4830 with around 20 mods loaded too.
 
I also had a HD4830 and it can handle the game at 30-40FPS at high settings
So if you plan to upgrade get a Motherboard and a decent PSU
And overclock the CPU and the GPU for better performance
Your CPU will not limit a HD7850 so no point upgrading but overclock your CPU to 3.6Ghz at least
 
I've considered overclocking the CPU. There didn't seem any point while the graphics card was a poor 5770 - but come the upgrade...

But you say 3.6ghz - will an extra 0.2ghz make that much difference?
 
With a good motherboard you can get higher clocks for the same voltage or 4Ghz on 1.45V
And games love higher frequency in CPU
If you plan to get a HD7850 keep the CPU the system will be balanced for gaming
Better CPU will just get you 90FPS in some games comeared to 60-70FPS on your CPU
Do you need over 60FPS the answer is no
 
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*nod*

The plan is for the next upgrade to build a new machine around the graphics card in about 2 years... then replace the graphics card 2 years after that.

At which point I'll be in the same position I am now :)
 
No real gain from 965 Black Edition at 3.8Ghz in games compared to I7 on a HD 7850
Unless you go for a HD7950 that CPU will do just OK for 2+ years
Besides a HD7850 might just not work on your old motherboard
 
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