Bottleneck question

[sean.c]

Hi guys,

Let me preface this with saying I've been a lurker for many years it's a great forum and I've always been able to find all the info I've needed until today (and due to being a lurker by nature and knowing that other people can advise people a lot better than me, i havn't had to register for that reason either ).

My current setup is:

Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H
I3 530 @ 2.93GHz 4.20GHz
8gig Corsair DDR-3 PC12800
600w OCZ modstream psu
9800GT (I gave my sapphire 6850 to my brother, since I didnt need the use of my computer for a while)

So now I'm looking at a new GFX card and have my gazes set on the MSI HD 7850 Power Edition (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-157-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411)

So I was basically wondering what peoples opinion was on this upgrade, is it worth it or will it just be one big bottleneck and I should get a 6870 or something instead to save wasteing money on power I can't use?

Any help and comments appreciated

Thanks a lot
Sean.c

 

[Philip Perfect]

I think it will depend on what games you want to play. If they are predominantly single-threaded, then you i3 should manage quite nicely. If the game is highly multi-threaded then a CPU with more cores would probably help to get the best out of the GPU.

 

[sean.c]

It's mainly going to be for Diablo 3 really.
I've searched online looking to see if its single or a multi threaded game like you said?
But I cant seem to find much info/any at all on it.
I guess I should just save myself the moneys and get a 6870, since as far as i can tell from my search is that a 6870 should be able to run D3 pretty top notch?

 

[sean.c]

I went ahead and ordered the sapphire 6950 just now since I dont want to risk wasteing money on power that isn't utilised.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-299-SP
seems ocuk saw this thread and put it on this week only deal to help sort my conundrum

 

[mojojojo1972]

http://www.insidehw.com/reviews/cpu/6544-cpu-vs-gpu-from-a-gamers-point-of-view

 

[sean.c]

Thanks for the link ive had a read and im happy with my decision.
It came today and phwoar what a beast big sexy card (i managed not to let any drool get on it).
All fitted and latest drivers installed. Its idleing at 36c with the auto fan speed at 24% which is inaudible over the antec 300 case fans which is great.
Im just downloading portal 2 (made a steam account since i heard it was onsale for £5.09!) now since i wanna use this beast but Diablo 3 aint coming till tues!!
A big thank you to ocuk excellentservice, yummy bag of haribo too props!!