i5 and ddr3 or gtx 580

spankingtexan · 19 Nov 2010 at 16:16

I currently have q6600 @ 3.00ghz, 4 gig ddr2, ati 5870 and windows 7.
I'm wanting to upgrade but can't afford new motherboard, ram, processor and a graphics card.
So it's either motherboard bundle with i5@ 4ghz and ddr3 ram or the gtx 580 but I don't know which to go for or which will give me the greater advantage.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Orcvader · 19 Nov 2010 at 16:23

I think the i5 will be the better move. 5870 -> 580 will have some gain but it's not really worth it. What resolution do you play on?

spankingtexan · 19 Nov 2010 at 16:29

24inch display 1920x1080

Ezyryder · 19 Nov 2010 at 16:30

For £400 you surely can get some i7 kit. You could also sell your Q6600, mobo and memory to make up for the rest

reflux · 19 Nov 2010 at 16:34

580 would be wasted a bit on the kit you have IMO. 5870 is still a great card; more than capable of playing every game on the market on max details apart from Crysis and Metro 2033.

ahenners · 19 Nov 2010 at 16:35

At 1920x1080 you probably don't need a 580. What about a 480 or 470 and just overclock the q6600 a bit more?

spankingtexan · 19 Nov 2010 at 16:35

will browse the internet for i7 deals. thanks for advise.

spankingtexan · 19 Nov 2010 at 16:37

I'm afraid i'm not very technical and any overclocking carried out by me would def result in explosion lol.

cmndr_andi · 19 Nov 2010 at 16:40

spankingtexan said:
24inch display 1920x1080

+1 (assuming you haven't already got a big screen)

Or keep the money and buy a new CPU+mobo+RAM in January. Now really isn't a good time to buy an i5 system, as new tech (called "Sandy Bridge") is less than two months away (arriving early January). Especially when your Q6600 @3GHz should be handling things pretty well.

As for the GTX 580, its a nice card - but not a quantum leap above the 5870 (which should be powering things along rather well). Again, new stuff is incoming - with the 6900 series by AMD coming in December. If you feel you need the extra power then I would wait till then to see how it compares to Nvidia's card.

spankingtexan · 19 Nov 2010 at 16:50

Thanks guys, it's clearer now that a motherboard bundle would be best but could I wait till January????? your advise has been very helpful. Thanks

spankingtexan · 19 Nov 2010 at 17:12

Thanks for link on (sandy bridge) with the gpu on the same chip, how powerfull are these gpu's compared to seperate cards and would it still be possible to use a dedicated gpu along side a cpu,gpu processor?

ahenners · 19 Nov 2010 at 17:14

spankingtexan said:
Thanks for link on (sandy bridge) with the gpu on the same chip, how powerfull are these gpu's compared to seperate cards and would it still be possible to use a dedicated gpu along side a cpu,gpu processor?

Not very powerful, they are only intended for basic stuff i.e. not gaming

You can use a dedicated gpu but not alongside the gpu that is in the cpu, the integrated one would be disabled when using a dedicated gpu

cmndr_andi · 19 Nov 2010 at 17:16

The GPUs integrated on the Sandy Bridge will be some of the most powerful integrated graphics cores ever made - however in discrete graphics card terms it will be on the same level as a HD 5450 graphics card (ie pretty poor compared to any modern, half-decent graphics card). You will be able to run a dedicated graphics card (like your 5870) with no problem on a Sandy Bridge board - the integrated GPU will simply be disabled.

Rest assured that as soon as the Sandy Bridge CPU boards and CPUs are released OCUK will be offering a range of overclocked bundles featuring them, they are always quick off the mark and get the kit ahead of time. The early word is that they overclock VERY well (intel did a demo with a sandy bridge chip running at 5GHz on air cooling).

spankingtexan · 19 Nov 2010 at 18:18

Thanks again. food for thought although i'm pretty sure that after all the advise the mobo bundle is the way forward for me. A very merry christmas to you all.