Can my cpu handle a graphics card upgrade? And what tops 2x4670 cards?

[CowboyTony]

Hi,

I'm thinking of upgrading my Graphics card from a 4670 (or putting in a second 4670?) but am not sure what card I can put in without bottlenecking on the cpu. I've got an Athlon x2 5600 with a modest overclock of 3GHz. My mobo is AM2 only and my OS is OEM so it'll be fairly costly to upgrade the cpu as well as the graphics card.

Another question I have is what single card is equivalent to 2 4670s in crossfire?

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

Yes, your CPU can handle the upgrade, although you will be told at least once that it's too underpowered and rubbish. (It's not that extreme but people love drama )

A 4850 would probably be around the same performance level, although I think the 4670's really shine in some games.

What sort of budget are you looking at? 1gb 4870 for £150, that'd be a nice move.

 

[CowboyTony]

Thanks Emlyn, I've ony got about £100 so my options are: a 4770, a 4850, a second 4670 or wait a few months until prices drop and I have more cash. Good to know that 2 x 4670s equate to a 4850. I think I might as well get a second one to put me on to the end of the year...

 

[Alexrose1uk]

Id say swap to a cheap 4770. They're virtually 4850 level so you'll get a moderate boost, not to mention they'll consume less power than a 4850, probably less than 2 4670s and you won't have any crossfire issues to boot, if you want to crossfire later on you can throw in another 4770
When you can find them for about 75, they're not that much more expensive than another 4670 either.

 

[siumatfung]

well i would say save up a bit more and get a 4870 1Gb or GTX 260 both bang for buck!!!

 

[CowboyTony]

Will I definitely get more performance from a single 4770 (512MB RAM) than I would from 2 4670s (512MB each) in crossfire? I'm assuming power consumption won't be massively different as the 4670s don't need the extra power cables that many other cards do...

 

[Duke]

4770 + OC it.

 

[Alexrose1uk]

Will I definitely get more performance from a single 4770 (512MB RAM) than I would from 2 4670s (512MB each) in crossfire? I'm assuming power consumption won't be massively different as the 4670s don't need the extra power cables that many other cards do...

Well, whilst this isn't everything, a single 4770 scores a little over double that of a 4670 in 3DMark Vantage, crossfire doesn't give 100% extra performance in most situations so I'd imagine this would even out with realworld scenarios to similar performance between the two setups. You're right the power usage won't be massively different, however I believe the 4770 uses about 20w more under load than a 4670, so I believe there will be a benefit when it comes to power consumption, as I'm sure the 4670 uses close to 75W under load. The 4770 only uses a little more than the 75W supplied by the PCI-E slot, so the lack of cabling or not isn't much of a teller here.

I personally believe the 4770 would be the better choice for you; you can sell the 4670, the setup will use less power under load than crossfire 4670 and will give more consistant performance (crossfire varies, much like SLI), not to mention you won't have any issues with motherboard support etc, or that's my beliefs

 

[CowboyTony]

Thanks Alex, that's a really good answer. A 4770 it is then!

 

[Alexrose1uk]

No worries, hell like it enough and you can crossfire then, you'd virtually have a 4850X2 for about 2/3 the cost