Upgrade advice please

Guinny · 13 Sep 2011 at 08:18

Looking for some advice please on possible upgrades in the GFX card area and the CPU.

I used to be right on the ball a few years back but have lost the plot when it comes to new hardware and upgrades so some help would be much appreciated!

What CPU can I upgrade to and which GFX card would be a nice upgrade -Thanks
System specs are:
Gigabyte EX58-UD3R Motherboard
Intel Core i7 2.66
AT1 Radeon 5800 HD
6GB ram

R088ieS86 · 13 Sep 2011 at 08:24

No need to upgrade the CPU at all, the i7-920 is still a good chip.
Do you have a decent cooler? If so crank it up to 4Ghz right away! (not sure how the C0stepping clocks but the D0 were very good)
That leaves all your ££ for a graphics card! how much are you putting towards the upgrade?

VonScar · 13 Sep 2011 at 08:35

Hi,

Yeah, the I7 920 is a doddle to overclock.

I would consider the following graphics options, either a 560 Ti from Nvidia, or if you are an ATI fan the 6950. If you are on a budget, the 6870.

Cheers

Von

Guinny · 13 Sep 2011 at 09:00

Great - thanks for the input.

I am willing to spend up to £300 on a GFX card and would consider either Nvidia or ATI .....I asume driver cleaner will still assist if I change brands?

I guess a quite -ish card is also a must as I use the system for music production also!

mp260767 · 13 Sep 2011 at 09:20

have a look at the nvidia 570gtx or the HIS ATI Radeon HD 6970 IceQ Turbo.

if you need "quietish" think you might have issues with the high end cards, best checking in the gfx card section for recommendations.

R088ieS86 · 13 Sep 2011 at 09:24

Guinny said:
I asume driver cleaner will still assist if I change brands?

For ATI just run the setup again and you can uninstall the CCC & driver from there.

Gregry254 · 13 Sep 2011 at 09:39

mp260767 said:
If you need "quietish" think you might have issues with the high end cards

I have the 6950 FrozR III and unless I am in a game I don't hear it over the case fans. The main reason I chose it

fowler002 · 13 Sep 2011 at 09:39

5800? there's 3 option there 5830, 5850, 5870 which do you have? If it's the 5850 or 5870 then would be better off just overclocking the CPU and graphics card and holding off until the new amd7xxx and nvidia6xx series are released.

mp260767 · 13 Sep 2011 at 10:36

Gregry254 said:
I have the 6950 FrozR III and unless I am in a game I don't hear it over the case fans. The main reason I chose it

thats why i said "might" and to check the graphics card forum, some cards are "quietish" as a model, then some models tend to have some that are quietish and some that are noisy

.

Gregry254 · 13 Sep 2011 at 11:29

mp260767 said:
thats why i said "might" and to check the graphics card forum, some cards are "quietish" as a model, then some models tend to have some that are quietish and some that are noisy .

Wasn't trying to undermine you mate, just letting the OP know that there are some models that are still quiet

mp260767 · 13 Sep 2011 at 13:15

Gregry254 said:
Wasn't trying to undermine you mate, just letting the OP know that there are some models that are still quiet

not a problem matey, just putting forward my reason for saying it, in the past the noise quality of some cards has varied a lot

.