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Help and advice on a possible GFX Upgrade

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10 Oct 2010
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20
I've just bought a new pre-built PC - an Acer Aspire M5811 - and its great so far, even for a pre-built PC. I upgraded the RAM to a maximum of 8GB recently, and I've been getting back into PC gaming ever since I bought the PC. It runs games fairly decently, especially Crysis and Crysis Warhead on max settings, which both run fairly decently - I would give a FPS count, but haven't got round to it yet.

Anyway, I have been looking to upgrade various bits and bobs in the PC, and the next possible upgrade for me to do, is the graphics card. Now, the main gfx card I have been looking at, is the Radeon HD 5970 a.k.a. The Beast. Mainly, I would like the graphics card to be future-proof, and can basically play anything I throw at it. But there are a lot factors for me to consider before investing in anything quite as expensive as the 5970.

First: will it make any difference if I were to get such a card, due to the processor I have currently, as I am aware that processor speed does impact GFX performance. I have an Intel Core i5 750 'Lynnfield' which supposedly has a speed of around 2.67gHz - this is the speed given on CPU-Z, the actual speed I am not sure of, but I could find out if anyone can give me some recommendations on what kind of program to use. So given that I have this processor, will it be worth getting the 5970?

Second: seeing how there are many gfx cards being released - specifically the 6000 range - should I wait it out for a year and see what other cards are going to be released.

Third: I have a Ati HD Radeon 5750 1024MB at the moment, and its pretty good, but you can always do better; so will it be a worthwhile upgrade if I bought the 5970? And if not, are there any other recommendations that anyone can give.

Fourth: will I have enough space in my case? This is probably a question that almost certainly always gets raised for anyone thinking of buying the 5970, but I have measured the inside of my case, and it looks like it will just fit, with around 8-9cm/3-4" for the air circulation holes at the end of the card. I've put some pics below so you can get an idea of where the GFX card will go:








These are my main concerns if I were to buy a new card, but any advice on getting a possible upgrade will be appreciated. I would like to have an informed decision before I rush into buying anything for my PC.
 
The card will work fine and it looks like it would fit fine as well.

But. What is the make and wattage of your power suppply? If its a cheapy non generic one than I would higly suggest that you buy a branded 650-700W if you are planning on getting a high end card.

Also wait until next month to see what ATI offers as there fastest single GPU card instead of getting the hot and soon to be replaced by a 6990, 5970.
 
First, CPU-Z is probably one of the most accurate program there is. Too bad you can't overclock on a prebuilt PC... Hence I would advise against a 5970, as the CPU could hold it back. What resolution do you play on?
It looks like you can take out the HDD cage out as well, so you can pretty fit in any card you want.
I would suggest looking at the 6870 with this PSU:http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-033-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084
Can't really tell but that PSU looks like a cheap brand. As someone said, what brand is it? Is it the stock Acer one?

EDIT: You have 8gb ram? :eek: What for? That's crazy :p
 
First, CPU-Z is probably one of the most accurate program there is. Too bad you can't overclock on a prebuilt PC... Hence I would advise against a 5970, as the CPU could hold it back. What resolution do you play on?
It looks like you can take out the HDD cage out as well, so you can pretty fit in any card you want.
I would suggest looking at the 6870 with this PSU:http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-033-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084
Can't really tell but that PSU looks like a cheap brand. As someone said, what brand is it? Is it the stock Acer one?

EDIT: You have 8gb ram? :eek: What for? That's crazy :p

yeah its probably the branded/basic one. I knew that I would have to replace the PSU, but as you've both given me recommendations, then at least I'll have some guidance on where to start.

well, I play on a resolution of 1280x1024 at the moment, but I'll be buying a new monitor soon with a max resolution of 1920x1080, linked via a HDMI cable hopefully.

and yeah, 8GB is kinda mad, but I felt like an upgrade and I thought 'why the hell not?' and so that was the first place I started :D.
 
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if you can play crysis on max, then i'd spend my money on a new motherboard so i could overclock, and not worry about the GPU just yet.

but thats just me.
 
if you can play crysis on max, then i'd spend my money on a new motherboard so i could overclock, and not worry about the GPU just yet.

but thats just me.

to be honest, I've never overclocked a day in my life, so I would not know where to start, or where to stop for that matter. I have definitely considered doing it, but I wont be doing it any time soon, not with this PC at least. perhaps if I built a PC later on, then I would with that, but that'll be a long way off
 
The issue with upgrading the motherboard with pre builts is the motherboard isnt a normal ATX motherboard so a new case is required. That costs more money. The license for Win 7 is OEM so its attatched to the motherboard so you ahve to buy a new license yet again more money.

Im in a similiar boat I have the older brother the Acer M7721 (i7 920, 6gb RAM) and I recently installed a 5770. Case is small wont fit a normal ATX X58 chipset motherboard and I would have to buy a new license and for overclocking I would need a new cooler so the money spent to be able to overclock seems a bit excessive.
 
well, I dont know if this helps, but I was just playing Crysis on Max settings, and I used the FPS command line to get a rough count. The highest I was getting on some levels, was 25-30, which only lasted for a little while on some of the less graphically demanding areas of some levels. and the lowest I was getting was around 15 FPS where levels got a little more graphically demanding, lets say the Ascension level where you have to ride the VTOL. but its still playable though.

and I did the same for Crysis Warhead now, and I got a little higher on the FPS count on the hovercraft level, around 20-25 FPS. but these are only rough estimates really so, they're probably not accurate.

I did have another solution on how I could increase my graphics capabilities. I was thinking of getting another 5750 gfx card, and I could run it in Xfire, but I found out the mobo wouldnt allow it, or it wouldnt make use of it, as the only other free slot available is a PCI-E 8x or 4x (I cant remember), and the one being used at the moment is a PCI-E 16x slot by my current GFX card.
 
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I would be looking at a 6870 which will be in the region of twice as fast as what you have. It does not sound like you are into overclocking and the fact you have quite a weak psu thats what i would go with.
 
I would be looking at a 6870 which will be in the region of twice as fast as what you have. It does not sound like you are into overclocking and the fact you have quite a weak psu thats what i would go with.

I am going to replace the PSU as well, as I would like the option of being able to power faster graphics cards in the future. and your right, overclocking is not something I'm into at the moment.
 
I would just settle for a 6870 right now. The overall spec of the PC just isn't going to match a 5970 or similar elite performance graphics card.
 
I guess I might go for the 6870 then. But first I need to get the PSU, then I'll buy the gfx card.

I would just settle for a 6870 right now. The overall spec of the PC just isn't going to match a 5970 or similar elite performance graphics card.

do you mean that my PC wouldnt really work well with the 5970? because that has been one of the deciding factors in buying that card.
 
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