ATI 5850 and CPU

fabpab

fabpab

fabpab

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2 Jun 2010
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15
Hey Everyone,

This maybe a bizarre question, but I have recently bought a ATI 5850 and I am really loving it!!.. however I am not using it on the most lightning fast machine..
although it punches well..

How much benefit do you think i will get from upgrading the rest of my machine?

here are my current specs..


24" LG screen

Win 7

AMD6400+ 3.2 gig Dual core

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit

Asus M3A78-EMH HDMI AMD 780G Micro-ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

2 SATA drives.

Any advice will be apreciated..

I dont have a lot of cash.. but could probably put in another £2-300 upgrading...

What would you do?

Thanks!
 
You cpu is holding back the 5850 I would say.

It mostly depends on what you use it for.

If it's gaming, consider a quad core and overclock it.

Also 2 more gigs of ram won't hurt either.
 
I think it wont give you a huge inprovement, tho u may like another 2gb ram to help speed up your pc a bit.

better cpu overclocked may get you something like 5 - 10fps more or something like that (i think) but to future proof a bit you may want to grab a quad core and the exture 2gb ram as games like battlefield run better on a quad.
 
I advise you get a new motherboard and new CPU. I don't know how much of a bottleneck your CPU is, but I'm pretty sure it is bottlenecking teh 5850.

I reccomend:
Phenom II 965
ASUS M4A7 Evo ATX Mobo

You could get the 955 for 10 pounds less as the 965 is basically the same chip overclocked slightly.

EDIT: The reason I say motherboard i because quad cores are AM3 and your board is AM2.
 
IKMS said:
I advise you get a new motherboard and new CPU. I don't know how much of a bottleneck your CPU is, but I'm pretty sure it is bottlenecking teh 5850.

I reccomend:
Phenom II 965
ASUS M4A7 Evo ATX Mobo

You could get the 955 for 10 pounds less as the 965 is basically the same chip overclocked slightly.

EDIT: The reason I say motherboard i because quad cores are AM3 and your board is AM2.
Click to expand...

Dont he have a AMD2+ mobo? dont the amd2+ allow amd3 cpus to be used? tho some mobos need a bios update to allow it.
 
unfortunately, this board doesnt support a lot. the best quad core it will do is a 65nm phenom 9350 @ 2ghz. That aint gonna do much for you.

im guessing this board will only do a max of 95w tdp cpus - it looks like it it was made for a HTPC

so, for £223.97 +P&P, you could get:
Phenom II X2 555 black edition (£84.99)
Msi 770-C45 (£49.98)
Patriot G Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel (£88.99)

that phenom has the potential to unlock into a quad core (i have one here that did), but for a guaranteed quad core, you could spend £50 extra on a phenom II X4 955 black edition. Even if you dont, the X2 will perform significanty faster, and clock significantly higher than the 6400 you're using

I trust your power supply is upto spec

plus, selling your old parts could net you a few extra £££s as well ;)
 
Wow..
What a forum! Thanks for all your options..
Thats what i wanted to hear.. My next step is to upgrade the CPU and mobo.. and of corse memory!
i have a 500W OCZ powersupply if i remeber correctly..

Im tempted to go Quad and be done with it..

yes.. the mobo was bought as my old ASUS blew up a day before a LAN party!!! So i just needed somthing to get me on the road.. had to buy it from PCworld.. (SHUDDERS)
 
that psu should be alright, but borderline. OCZ is a decent quality (again, packing one here), It should handle an overclocked quad and a 5850, but dont expect much more from it (eg, forget about crossfire)
 
atmax1 said:
Arh the horror of pc world!!! lol
Click to expand...

:p I was looking in the PC World store not so long ago just to laugh at the specs of the stupidly highly priced PCs in there.

I'm sure you will be fine with just a Mobo and CPU upgrade, and if you have to get 4GB RAM.
 
Yea.. i have always bought online.. i just feal i can customise more that way..
not slagging pcworld off though.. they got mo out of a few hitches upto now!! just have to pay a little more.
 
IKMS said:
:p I was looking in the PC World store not so long ago just to laugh at the specs of the stupidly highly priced PCs in there.

I'm sure you will be fine with just a Mobo and CPU upgrade, and if you have to get 4GB RAM.
Click to expand...

LoL i do that, they always seem to forget to mention that most of there graphics in there pre built pc's are onboard.

They love to boast about QUAD CORE or I7! but its usually the crappest of the group haha and then its got a stonking price of like £1000 on it.

then i go to there hardware section and see a gefore 9800 priced at 200+
its laughable
 
IKMS said:
:p I was looking in the PC World store not so long ago just to laugh at the specs of the stupidly highly priced PCs in there.

I'm sure you will be fine with just a Mobo and CPU upgrade, and if you have to get 4GB RAM.
Click to expand...


lol same, there "gaming pcs" are so stupidly crap and over priced lol the gfx cards is so bad in them.. it's a shame lol... I wish there was a local shop with overclockers stock and prices.
 
Well, just an update realy..
I forgot that i also have a machine that i run for music creation..
this is as follows...

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.33GHz 4MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - Retail
Asus P5QL Pro Intel P43 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Black Dragon EVO ONE DDR2 Dual Channel Kit

How much better than my AMD system.. do you rekon it will be... looking at some bench markings i think it will be a lot better! hahaha
 
I also have 5850 but with intel E6600 running at stock 2.4GHz. I was playing crysis warhead at 1024X768 resolutions with fraps. When the character looks at mountains in the background I get round 31FPS. I overclocked 5850 to 900/1200 MHz and this time I still only get about 36-37 FPS :(. Is this how much I should be getting or do I need to overclock E6600 for 5850 to properly utilize 900/1200 MHz settings and give me higher FPS?
 
At a low resolution like 1024x768 the game is bottlenecked by the CPU. I would recommend an upgrade to a core i3 processor or equivalent.
 
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