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looking to update graphics card

bazacop

bazacop

bazacop

Associate
Joined
24 Jun 2009
Posts
46
hello all
im looking to upgrade graphics card and looking for some help. at the moment I got two ATI Radeon HD 5750 crossfired together and want to upgrade to something better but don't wont to pay massive money. also guys would like to know if the new card any of u suguest would make a big difference :)

my pc spec is this
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.130828-1532)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: X58A-UD3R
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 930 @ 2.80GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 6144MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 6142MB RAM
Page File: 1632MB used, 10651MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 1
Card name: ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series

hopefully enough info there :) many thanks
 
It really isnt. All you need is some one experienced with overclocking to talk you through how to do it.

(enter wazza)
 
Overclocking in a small way should be nice and simple, you should be able to get up to about 3.4GHz with next to no effort. Getting the most out of your CPU could take much longer & require much more effort but just a small increase should be fast, easy and rewarding.

The i7 930 is a four core CPU, not 8 (it supports hyperthreading meaning it reports 8 virtual cores, but it only has four actual cores)

As for upgrading - a lot depends on how much of an improvement you're after. 5750's are pretty old and were not high-end when new - I replaced my old 5750 with a 7850 and got ~treble the performance so a R9 270 would be an improvement on dual 5750s. Anything above that would be more of an improvement.
For me I'd be looking to pick between a couple of price points:
Cheap upgrade: 270 (non-x), only smallish improvement but after selling the 5750s it'll be very cheap (I'd not pick this one personally)
Medium upgrade: 280 (non-x) will be a significant performance increase from where you are now, again with a minimal budget (My personal favourite)
High upgrade: 290 (non-x) is a good step up from the 280, brings new architecture, still good performance per pound (you'd see a big drop in this going to e.g. the 290X) but the cost is significantly higher, seeming especially bad as the sale of your existing cards will be a smaller proportion of the total cost making it seem even more of a price jump from the 280 (Nice to have but given what you're coming from you'd probably find a cheaper option good enough of a step so perhaps wasteful)

If you've not yet got an SSD I'd consider that as an alternate upgrade.
 
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I would totally agree with David Bisset's reccomendations - the AMD R9 270, 280 and 290 are each excellent upgrade options and well priced considering the performance they yield.

Of these I would say that the R9 280 is your best bet - as it gives you a beefy graphics card with a lot of raw pixel-pushing power and a lot of video memory (3GB). Of the ones available on OCUK I would pick this R9 280.

However, if this is too expensive then a nice R9 270 is still a great option and will give you a massive upgrade over your HD 5750. This is the R9 270 I would pick.

David's SSD suggestion is also spot on, you would be amazed how significant the difference upgrading your primary disk from a HDD to an SSD is - it's really like night and day. Not only does it make loading up windows faster and generally make using windows and applications smoother - it can have real performance benefits in games (particularly in games that have to load in a lot of data on-the-fly). This is the SSD I would pick, though the Crucial M500 is still decent if you need to spend less money.

As for overclocking, you have a motherboard and CPU that are excellent for overclocking. You just need to pick up a decent CPU cooler (like this one) and have a wee read up on overclocking procedure. To hit 3.6GHz you really don't have to do anything more advanced than increasing the BCLK to 180MHz, set the CPU multiplier to 20x, check the memory is going to be running within spec (may need to bump it down a multiplier) and set the Vcore to 1.3V (assuming its a D0 stepping CPU). Save it, and go into windows and run Intel Burn test (as well as CPU-Z to see what voltage your CPU is actually seeing). If its stable and cool for 20 runs then you have an overclock, if it crashes slightly increase the Vcore until it's stable. Once you find your feet with a basic overclock that excellent guide that flashheart linked to will make a lot more sense and will help you get to 4GHz (or beyond possibly).
 
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well I just found out my pc has already been overclocked i just went into the bios and the cpu frequency read 4.00GHz so im assuming it must have been over clocked when i brought from here cant remember asking for that tho lol unless im wrong
so looks like the card it is then :)

card is now ordered :) cant afford it but hey ho lol
 
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