Split decisions

[ronski_ni]

Hi all,

Long time lurker, but I'm in need of help with my predicament as no relevant answers are coming from any current threads in the forums that match.

At the moment, one component from my 4 year old build, my 8800GTS 512 has gave up (Artifacts, garbled text and won't let Windows boot), test card confirms...

Now, I am running an Asus P5KC mother board, Corsair 620W PSU, 4GB Geil Black Dragon DDR2 PC26400 and an Intel E6750 cooled with a Scythe Infinity (Mugen).

So I will be looking to purchase a new card to replace the old death box, and the possibility of upgrading the CPU as well..

So this is where the decision lays. As I have other things planned, and with the recent destructive path my graphics card has decided to take, funds are limited to around £200 (+/- £20). So, I buy a Q8400 (And overclock) and a lesser expensive graphics card?

Keep the E6750, redo the overclock back up to 3.2GHZ (which is the max I have pushed) and buy a a 2GB 6950 of some sort (Or a Nvidia equivalent)?

It's the question (Which I'm unsure off), will the E6750 be a bottle neck for the 6950 if I went that route? If I got the Q8400, will the lesser spec graphics card be the bottleneck then?

Currently my system is used only for gaming, with bit of video and graphic work (Photoshop etc).

Gaming wise, I'm in a bit of a slow down, COD4:MW is mainly the game of choice, with the odd BFBC2, Dirt2 and GTA4. Will be wanting something to help with BF3 as it's the only game taking my fancy at the moment.

Currently only running a 19inch monitor (1280 x1024), but will be looking to upgrade to a 24inch in the next few months.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[olivier renault]

Depends on PSU as well. a 6950 will need a bare minimum of 350W on the 12V rail, the more the better (I would go past 400W, like the BeQuiet L7 @ 420W, or the XFX Pro 550W).

Realistically, you need £250 to upgrade to a 6950, unless you have a powerful PSU that can take the load.

With your current setup, I'd look at GTX 460 / HD5850, and a PSU.

Depends on PSU, but if you are planning an upgrade later, maybe worth saving the pennies and getting a full rig upgrade. CPU + Mobo + RAM + GPU + PSU. That'd be around £550 if you go for 2500K and a 6950.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 Twin FrozR II 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £197.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £149.99
1 x MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £89.98
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 650W V2 High Performance Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXV2UK) £74.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £39.98
Total : £564.92 (includes shipping : £10.00).



for £200, I'd target this


YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £119.99
1 x XFX 650W XXX Edition Modular Power Supply £76.99
Total : £208.38 (includes shipping : £9.50).



That gives you a good card and a good PSU for a future upgrade (2500K system).

and try to score a quad core Core 2 on the members market for an extra £50.

Tall order though. A low power consumption card like a HD5770 would probably need no upgrades, while giving you decent graphics power. Member market, not sure how much.

 

[Predicament]

Hi all, Long time lurker, but I'm in need of help... predicament

Here I am

At the moment, one component from my 4 year old build, my 8800GTS 512 has gave up (Artifacts, garbled text and won't let Windows boot), test card confirms...

If you GPU is broken, your first step would be to replace it. I would suggest a GTX 480 or ATI 6950 (unlockable revision)

Keep the E6750, redo the overclock back up to 3.2GHZ

Your CPU will bottleneck the graphics card somewhat, but I feel that you will only feel it in games which are poorly coded or CPU intensive[GTA IV etc.]. Also, until you get a decently sized monitor, a GTX 4xx series / ATI 6xxx series card is complete overkill.. MW2 @ 300 FPS !!!