• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Completely out of the loop...recommendations?

Lonz

Lonz

Lonz

Associate
Joined
29 Jun 2005
Posts
1,013
Location
Newcastle
Haven't really paid much attention to hardware a long long time. I've just bought Bad Company 2 and Black Ops and my current spec just isn't up to the standard anymore for what I'm after.

I game at 1680x1050, and like my eye-candy without the FPS drops (don't like going below 60fps too often).

I bought my current rig about 3 years with the vision of making it last for two years! It's lasted three so I'm more than willing to upgrade my card at least.

- Q6600 @ 3.2Ghz
- IP35-Pro
- 8800GTX
- 4GB RAM
- Case: Lian-li PC7 (needs to fit in this case)

I don't mind spending the money because I don't want it to be a regular purchase.
 
Last edited:
at 1680res i'd pick up a 470 or 6870. both ~ £180-200

if your mobo is sli or crossfire only, then go for the one it supports

if £200 too much then move down to 460, 6850.

SLi/crossfire any of the above 4 is good perfornace/price
 
If budget isn't exactly a problem, you may as well get the GTX 580, or the coming HD6950/6970. These are the second gen DX11 cards and should have slight improvements over the previos ones.

I wouldn't really bother with the HD6800. Apart from the cheaper prices there isn't any other huge advantages over the HD5800.
 
Yeah 580 or wait for 6970, demanding games like crysis, justcause 2 and metro2033 with max IQ will kill your performance at 1680x, I know. ;)

nicnik said:
but he's at 1680x1050 :P buy a new monitor then
Click to expand...


And? as said demanding games will easily push that res, and why should he change monitors if he's happy with what he has. According to steam survey 1680x is the most popular gaming res
 
In my oppinion there is some pretty bad advice being given in this thread. Anybody suggesting pairing an upcoming 69 series or gtx580 with a q6600 on an ageing 775 platform must be having a laugh, regardless if there is no budget limitation... would you spend your own money this way?

From experience anything like a 460, 5850, 6870 will max out pretty much every title (appart from those mentioned by Raven) at full settings @1680x1050 while bearly breaking a sweat, not only that but they are more aligned with your current kit when it comes to performance.

Sticking with NV for the comparison lets just take two cards, the cheapest 460 1gb on OCUK is 140.99 and the cheapest 580 is at 409.99. At 1680 only a minute percentage of games will fill the frame buffer on the 580 and then consider that your q6600 will be holding back your fps a little more... taking these things into consideration the gulf between the prices is pretty large and imo the 580 starts becoming a bit of a pipe dream when the money seems better spent on an i7 / mobo combo.

I think Raven will agree from benchmarking we did in the (can a 5850 match a 480 thread) that you are going to be more likely to unlock the full potential in that 460 with your current CPU than you are going to even get close to releasing the potential in the beast that is the 580.

What I am trying to say is this, save yourself £260, and buy the 460 or 6870 as these will spank black ops silly (even with your current cpu). Pocket the 260 and you would be much better placed performance wise upgrading your motherboard and processor.
 
Last edited:
nWovance said:
i think the [email protected] is perfectly fine for any games, i used to have one at 3ghz, CPUs dont make that much of a difference mate. go buy a 6870 and enjoy a few more years of gaming on your rig.
Click to expand...

Im not denying that matey the q6600 at 3ghz+ is a fine cpu, I have a q6600 myself and can tell you now that CPU's (depending on game) make a huge difference, take the source engine games for example which are almost totally cpu bound.

What I am saying is that a £400 card like gtx580 and ATI 69xx will be wasted on the platform. Personally I think 6870 or gtx 460 are the right cards here.
 
Last edited:
nWovance said:
i think the [email protected] is perfectly fine for any games, i used to have one at 3ghz, CPUs dont make that much of a difference mate. go buy a 6870 and enjoy a few more years of gaming on your rig.
Click to expand...

Sorry but that is wrong, a highly overclocked cpu (circa 4ghz) can make a substantial difference to gaming.

My i3 system (4ghz), with similar specs to my brothers stock i7, received much higher fps in titles like cod.

A 3.2Ghz Q6600 would severely bottleneck a 580, the only point in buying one now would be if he intended on upgrading his cpu etc to match.
 
VinceB1 said:
In my oppinion there is some pretty bad advice being given in this thread. Anybody suggesting pairing an upcoming 69 series or gtx580 with a q6600 on an ageing 775 platform must be having a laugh, regardless if there is no budget limitation... would you spend your own money this way?

From experience anything like a 460, 5850, 6870 will max out pretty much every title (appart from those mentioned by Raven) at full settings @1680x1050 while bearly breaking a sweat, not only that but they are more aligned with your current kit when it comes to performance.

Sticking with NV for the comparison lets just take two cards, the cheapest 460 1gb on OCUK is 140.99 and the cheapest 580 is at 409.99. At 1680 only a minute percentage of games will fill the frame buffer on the 580 and then consider that your q6600 will be holding back your fps a little more... taking these things into consideration the gulf between the prices is pretty large and imo the 580 starts becoming a bit of a pipe dream when the money seems better spent on an i7 / mobo combo.

I think Raven will agree from benchmarking we did in the (can a 5850 match a 480 thread) that you are going to be more likely to unlock the full potential in that 460 with your current CPU than you are going to even get close to releasing the potential in the beast that is the 580.

What I am trying to say is this, save yourself £260, and buy the 460 or 6870 as these will spank black ops silly (even with your current cpu). Pocket the 260 and you would be much better placed performance wise upgrading your motherboard and processor.
Click to expand...
While your post holds certain truth about bottlenecking issues, I wouldn't call suggesting someone to buy a future-proof card as "having a laugh". Just that the 6900 or 580 will be pulled down by the Q66 right now, it doesn't mean the OP can't pair them up with an upgraded system later, which can as easily be a 6-core platform for all we know.
Since we're all here simply to state our opinions, let the OP decide how his money should be spent shall we?
 
cursedpanther said:
While your post holds certain truth about bottlenecking issues, I wouldn't call suggesting someone to buy a future-proof card as "having a laugh". Just that the 6900 or 580 will be pulled down by the Q66 right now, it doesn't mean the OP can't pair them up with an upgraded system later, which can as easily be a 6-core platform for all we know.
Since we're all here simply to state our opinions, let the OP decide how his money should be spent shall we?
Click to expand...

Hey buddy, please re-read... this is pretty much exactly what I said. Seeing as you know his spec and resolution, as to be fair the op gives his system spec and does not mention upgrading these components. I think it is pretty safe to say that we have enough info to give sensible suggestions... even after this my post still stands. 580 and 69xx (on that system) is "having a laugh" as I put it.

The simple fact is that when people mention no budget around here some others jump all over the £400 to £450 cards like pigs jump into ****, possibly without consideration as to wether this is the right thing for the op. Which in this case its clearly not. Here you are likely to see better gains going 460 & i5 (or somthing similar) than spending on the 580 with what he already has.

Finally, yes, it is the ops decision and I gave an opinion based on my own experience and reasoned thought. If the op was thinking of an I5 or even a hex core AMD I believe it would have been somthing that he would have asked us to take into consideration when specing a card. :)
 
straxusii said:
I'd go 6870 or 470
Click to expand...

This is exactly the region where my money would be on that system... £150 - £200 price bracket... :)

I have a q6600 with my 5850 and at 3ghz+ its fine, there is no doubt its still a capable chip but for a £400 card when its reaching the end of its life just doesn't seem the right move.
 
Last edited:
Sindri said:
Sorry but that is wrong, a highly overclocked cpu (circa 4ghz) can make a substantial difference to gaming.

My i3 system (4ghz), with similar specs to my brothers stock i7, received much higher fps in titles like cod.

A 3.2Ghz Q6600 would severely bottleneck a 580, the only point in buying one now would be if he intended on upgrading his cpu etc to match.
Click to expand...

that fact that your i3(2 core) owns a i7(4 core 8 threads *stock*) states how pointless an upgrade for a cpu can be, what i was stating is that his 3.2ghz
q6600 will be more then good enough. Since i have a highly overclocked i5, had q6600 at 3gz, i know the difference. I bought an i5 (over an i7) it wasn't
because i coulden't afford an i7, it was because it was rendered pointless, as the performance in games wasn't apparent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom