Looking to upgrade to a 7850 - should I though

[RaMDOM]

Okay guys, I used to keep up with hardware quite a lot however I have not upgraded for, well about 3 years now, and need some advice.

My system specs are:

MOBO: GigaByte P35C-DS3R
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 @ 2.66GHz
Video Card: XFX AMD(ATI) 4890 (1Gig)
RAM: 4 Gig RAM (4 x 1GB Corsair CM2X1024 DDR2)

I game on a 20in monitor and 1680 x 1050 and am not really interested in getting a new monitor right now but may do next year.

Modern games run fine enough (Guild Wars 2, XCOM, Skyrim etc) however I have noticed that I am having to turn some settings down and playing dishonoured last night there was some stuttering when turning around, though it went away within a few seconds.

So the 4890 is doing me fine however I was thinking about buying a new card and was thinking about a 7850, either:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-052-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-295-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-157-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411

So my question is; gaming at 1680 x 1050 and not changing anything else in my system, would changing from the 4890 1gig to a 7850 2gig make much of a difference right now?

 

[opethdisciple]

Okay guys, I used to keep up with hardware quite a lot however I have not upgraded for, well about 3 years now, and need some advice.

My system specs are:

MOBO: GigaByte P35C-DS3R
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 @ 2.66GHz
Video Card: XFX AMD(ATI) 4890 (1Gig)
RAM: 4 Gig RAM (4 x 1GB Corsair CM2X1024 DDR2)

I game on a 20in monitor and 1680 x 1050 and am not really interested in getting a new monitor right now but may do next year.

Modern games run fine enough (Guild Wars 2, XCOM, Skyrim etc) however I have noticed that I am having to turn some settings down and playing dishonoured last night there was some stuttering when turning around, though it went away within a few seconds.

So the 4890 is doing me fine however I was thinking about buying a new card and was thinking about a 7850, either:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-052-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-295-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-157-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411

So my question is; gaming at 1680 x 1050 and not changing anything else in my system, would changing from the 4890 1gig to a 7850 2gig make much of a difference right now?

Yes and no.

Its a bit of a mixed bag really. Your cpu is quiet a bottle neck, yet the 7850 is quiet a leap from a 4890.

Also your res is not exactly large, so GPU wise, I think a 7850 is perfect.

You need to overclock your cpu to get the most out of the 7850. Ideally, you would overclock your cpu to around 3.6Ghz, but obviously only go as high as temps or volts stay safe.

 

[wazza300]

if power saving and lower gpu temps is important to you i think its a worthwhile upgrade over your current card,plus it will add dx10 and dx11 features if your running win7 plus better driver support

 

[Litmoose]

Yes and no.

Its a bit of a mixed bag really. Your cpu is quiet a bottle neck, yet the 7850 is quiet a leap from a 4890.

Also your res is not exactly large, so GPU wise, I think a 7850 is perfect.

You need to overclock your cpu to get the most out of the 7850. Ideally, you would overclock your cpu to around 3.6Ghz, but obviously only go as high as temps or volts stay safe.

What this guy says, i had pretty much the same setup as of 2 weeks ago. Then upgraded to msi 7850 twin frozr.

The fps was better in games of course, but gpu usage never got above 50% because of the cpu bottle neck.


Now i got a i7 it hits 100% usage.

 

[RaMDOM]

Cheers for the feedback guys. I do think I may hold off getting a 7850 then if I am not going to see much from it now. I may be able to do a complete system upgrade around this time next year so may well hold off until then.

 

[Darujhistan]

Cheers for the feedback guys. I do think I may hold off getting a 7850 then if I am not going to see much from it now. I may be able to do a complete system upgrade around this time next year so may well hold off until then.

I think this is your best bet, sometimes you just reach a point where a new build is the answer. Your CPU is killing you and it's only going to get worse on that front.

I hung in there and waited 9 months to get what I wanted and it was worth the wait.

 

[RaMDOM]

Update on this; my friend has recently bought a 7970 and so has given me an option on his old Sapphire HD5970 for £80. I reckon I can sell my HD4890 for around £50 looking at ebay, so this will be a nice tidy mini upgrade in the mean time for 30-40 quid.

Picked it up today and it is a monster card and is an inch too long for my case. I am now going to try and mod my case so it will fit so wish me luck. Will post before and after pics if it is a success.

 

[Cleeecooo]

Good luck!

£80 is an excellent deal for a 5970!

 

[JonoB]

Makes sense for that money

 

[RaMDOM]

Right all done. Only took most of this evening, a hack saw and a lot of swearing. Who would have thought?

Old 4890HD:

Newly installed 5970HD:

Not the most graceful of mods, but it worked.

 

[Uncle Petey]

Well done and what a bargain!

 

[RaMDOM]

Cheers. I was quite impressed with myself in how quickly I emptied the system performed the necessary surgery and put everything back in and had the room tidied and vacuumed. I haven't done anything like that in around 2.5 years; so it was good to get my hands dirty again!

 

[SirCanealot]

Dear god man, get some sort of OC on that Q6700! :O

At least put it at 3.2ghz or something!