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Graphics card upgrade or not

vanquish999

vanquish999

vanquish999

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Joined
27 Mar 2012
Posts
15
My first post to the forums so sorry If I mess this up, I will type out my spec and what Im wanting to upgrade and tell me if its worth it, I though I would put it in this part of hardware as I think my graphics will need updated the most.

My System specs

fx bulldozer 6100 3.3ghz got it running around 3.9/4.0ghz
8gigs corsair vengeance ram 1600mhz

my motherboard is = http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/M5A97
/
Monitor is = http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-005-AO so its capable of running on crossfire :)

and my current gpu is = https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-131-MS&tool=3

Before you's lot say anything I was using it with my previous cpu q6600, it finally gone out of the window hence the upgrade to the bulldozer.


So I want to know my options on which gpu to go for, I mainly play battlefield 3 as everyone else now a days, But i want to play with higher graphics instead of low, and still get over 60fps but id rather not spend over £250, If i can how ever get 2 lower cards for the same price that gives better performance let me know. preferable something newer than =

XFX ATI Radeon HD 6870 Black Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card


Sorry in advance I may not have got my point across thanks in advance
 
For BF3 specifically - the Nvidia cards tend to be faster, though they generally come with less VRAM.

The GTX 570 cards are really good value now, so with this budget they are well worth considering.

As are the HD 7850s suggested by Stulid, these are not as fast as a GTX 570 but they are pretty good value (£190), low power, low noise and come with 2GB VRAM.

As stulid points out, with your motherboard the second main PCIE slot only runs at x4 speed - so it you are best sticking with a single card over two cards in crossfire.

May I ask what make and model number PSU you are using?
 
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OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply is my power supply, I dont mind upgrading the cpu and mobo to something else as ive allready got the ram etc if it would make a big difference
 
That ocz is a decent psu- certainly sufficient for any of the graphics cards mentioned so far.

As for the CPU, it isn't the best gaming CPU (that would be an i5 2500K) but it should be more than sufficient for playing modern games with a sub-£250 graphics card. Doing a worthwhile upgrade from it (to an i5 2500K +Z68 board) would cost another ~£250 in new parts (minus what you get back for selling the current CPU/board).

As for the graphics card, you may also want to consider a new or used GTX 580. These are still very fast cards and quite a few are available for good deals now due to the recent release of the GTX 680.
 
so if i get a new cpu and mobo, it would be a faster upgrade that just getting the graphics card?

edit = which mobo would be the best keep in mind i would prefer a cheaper one, but good enough to get a stable overclock
 
To the OP get a new graphics card first. See how the system performs,with the new card and if the CPU seems to be limiting playable performance,then consider getting a new CPU.
 
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Yup, that is a good board. It does sli and cf, overclocks well, running together the main pcie slots run at x8/x8 speed and it supports pcie gen3 - when used with an ivy bridge CPU.

If you are happy to spend the extra £300 now then the CPU/mobo upgrade will stand you in good stead, but to be clear the gpu is the much more important upgrade for gaming performance, so make sure that is the priority.

As for comparing graphics cards, I would recommend you look at that anandtech link I posted above for the HD 7850/7870 review (first paragraph of my first post), as that is one of the most up-to-date reviews showing the performance of graphics cards in your price range (there are some slightly newer ones for the gtx 680 cards). That anandtech review not only analyses bf3, but a large range of games and shows how the cards do for noise output and power usage. If your budget is slightly flexible then the HD 7870 shown in that review (~£270) is a good option in many games, though with current pricing a gtx 580 or gtx 570 may be better.
 
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vanquish999 said:
What card would you recomend?
Click to expand...

These are the sorts of cards you can get for your budget:
1.)HD7870 2GB(can be had for nearly £250 if you shop around)
2.)GTX480 1.5GB(around £170 to £180)
3.)GTX570 1.28GB(around £210)
4.)GTX560TI 448 1.28GB(around £180 to £200)
5.)HD7850 2GB(around £190)
6.)HD6950 2GB(around £180)
7.)GTX560TI 1GB(around £150 to £160)
8.)GTX560 1GB and HD6870 1GB(around £120 to £125)

The cards are in order of performance.

The AMD HD7000 series cards do have more VRAM which might be useful as time progresses.

The GTX480 is the fastest card after the HD7870 but does consume a decent amount of power and needs a case with decent airflow. The HD7850 2GB has very good performance considering its power consumption.

However,in terms of price/performance and even acceptable power consumption, the GTX560TI 448 and the GTX560 and HD6870 cards are probably the best IMHO.
 
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