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Need some help regarding the 5850.

Ultrimo said:
You are a saint. This is exactly what I needed, thank you so much.

How is it you know which processors I can install without needing to alter my ram?
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I'll answer for him since he's not online. As you stated your motherboard in your opening post, anyone willing to help (thanks to kristmace for this) can check up the motherboard manual as well as check anything relating to that board to see what it can or cannot accept.

Good luck with your new CPU when you get it and the release of the FPS that your current CPU is holding back :).
 
So, what do you guys think? Should I buy a processor for £100 or so while keeping everything else the same (maybe upgrading the PSU if it can't keep up) or is it worth the extra £200 to upgrade the ram and motherboard as well? I'm just worried about the DDR2 ram slowing me down.
 
If you want to spend as little as possible then I'd suggest the new CPU only with the possibility of a new PSU if your current one isn't up to it when you get your new CPU.

I wouldn't worry about the RAM slowing you down as you've got enough. I've heard a lot of people mention that even with the computer doing a lot of multitasking that they've seen about 3.5Gb being in use. So I think you'll be fine :).

If you upgrade the whole system then I'd probably move over to Intel because if you bought the Phenom II x4 955 then I don't think it would benefit you a lot more than having 4GB of DDR2 and the Phenom II x4 955 in your current motherboard.
 
With the original Assassin's Creed, I found the game was CPU limited on an Athlon X2 5000+ BE (not my current 45nmone) until I hit about 3GHz with the overclock, where it became acceptably smooth.

The HD5850 is more than adequate for Assassin's Creed II. I'm running it fine with an HD4850 at 1920x1200, max details and some AA.
 
Ultrimo said:
Alright then. Thanks a lot guys. I'm most likely going to buy a CPU on the compatibility list. Loving this community!
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One more thing you should know is that while updating the BIOS should allows it to work with the listed supported CPU, there's no 100% guarantee...take my previous MSI P6N SLI V2 for example...MSI has listed E5300 and other 45nm CPUs as supported CPU with newest BIOS, yet I updated the BIOS, the board was having problem working with the E5300 CPU.

Now I'm not saying just because I had bad luck it would happen to you too, but IF you got the CPU and it refuses to work with your board even with the BIOS update, you could consider the following board as a back-up plan:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-028-AK&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=1483
While it's not the greatest of boards and may or may not be a great overclocker (won't matter to you if you are not overclocking the CPU), but for its low price, 4 ram slots that support both DDR2/DDR3 and all AM3 CPUs, it make it one of the most decent budget board around.
 
Thank you. Hopefully, it won't come to that but if so I'd most likely buy it. I've done a PSU calculation using newegg and it seems that my 510w usage is going to jump to ~555w. I've only got a 550w so I highly doubt it's going to support it so now I'll also be looking for a PSU to buy. If anyone also knows any bargains that would be great. I'd probably be going for a 600-700w to make sure I'm always able to supply.

Also, I'm wondering if I'd need to change my cooling. It's rather lacking. Here are some images: http://imgur.com/a/Mrx5V/0UUM9

I know I'm being a nuisance but I don't want unexpected problems to arise.
 
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Uh oh! Looks like the board has a BIOS size limitation. That's what finally drove me away from my trusty ASROCK 939Dual-SATA with the AM2CPU board. Shame really.
 
If you are prepared to pay out £100 for a chip and the phenom's won't work in your board then, I would be thinking more along the lines of getting some 2nd hand kit and clocking the hell out of it.

You can pick up Core2Duo's (C2D) very very cheaply for the lower range stuff, but they clock like hell usually.

I would personally suggest something like:

Motherboard: Either a cheap P35 or P45 chipset board.
CPU: something like e4300 / e5300 and clock the hell out of it.
Cooler: Cheap aftermarket cooler to support the overclocking safely. (Freezer 7 Pro for example)
Memory: Cheap 4gb's of DDR 6400 or above.

That could all be picked up if lucky for around £100 and be a MASSIVE leap in performance if overclocked to at least 3Ghz (which 'should' be very easy and pretty much guaranteed).

EDIT: However if you wish to keep it simple, then a phenom II chip would still be a massive improvement for you, but I would still definately overclock it to try and squeeze as much performance out of the system as possible, so also consider and aftermarket cooler, ESPECIALLY as your case is not exactly well ventilated.

EDIT 2: Just to back up myself here, in the members market (available once you get 250 posts.. but look at the forum rules for details.. you won't get access just yet).

Pentium e2180 (basically a slightly cut down C2D, but just fine).. is £20, and it runs at 3Ghz stably. That would leave you £80 for a motherboard and ram and a cooler.

EDIT 3: Not forgetting the 2nd hand phenom's can be picked up for well under £100 as well :-)
 
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Glad to be of help earlier :D (thought it may not work out!)

555w power draw seems quite a lot for that system, even with a 5850. Try using this power calculator:

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

If you do need a new 600w psu, here's a decent one:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-046-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=


Well spotted with the motherboard support list. That was my mistake for not quite searching for the right board. M2N-E SLI is different by the looks of it. Gonna be a new motherboard and ram I think then. At least DDR3 is stupidly cheap at the moment.
 
Disagree with you needing a new Power Supply. As long as it can supply enough amps, I don't see the problem. What cables are you using to power the 5850?

EDIT: Also noticed you already have 4gb DDR2, so it could be a very cheap upgrade :-) ALSO.. can you install 'MSI Afterburner' and check what frequency your core clock and memory clocks are running at whilst in the game please? (Just to rule out that the card isn't running right).
 
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Use GPU-Z to see if it downclock when it's idle.

Also just to be clear, the ASRock N68C-S UCC GeForce 7025 board I mentioned while it has 4 ram slots, 2 slots are for DDR2, and 2 slots are for DDR3...so if you have more than two sticks of DDR2 ram you wouldn't be able to use them all.
 
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