upgrade from 4870,

[edscdk]

my lad has a ati 4870 gfx card and a e6600 cpu, he plays various games some new some older mostly at 1400x900(ish) resolution..

anyone have an idea which (if any) gfx card will give him a noticable boost in performance?

I dont want to spend too much, I just want a noticable boost (if possible) for a reasonable price.

 

[arc@css]

Well, this is on special offer at the mo. I would say it would be an upgrade but not massively so.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-168-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1711

Or perhaps better (at his res) a 768 mb 460 would be a better option.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-093-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1830

Another this caught my eye, costs more but comes with more memory:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-140-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1830

 

[Duke]

What sort of budget are we looking at here?

 

[Marine-RX179]

I think the E6600 and 4870 is perfectly fine for all games, may be except Crysis and Metro 2033 at 1400x900. If the E6600 is at stock speed 2.4GHz and not overclocked, it will bottleneck the 4870. Also, unless the E6600 can be overclocked to 3.6GHz or more, it's not worth going above 4870 as the chances are the 5830 and GTX460 will not be used fully due to CPU limitation.

So simply put, try to see if the E6600 can overclock to around 3.6GHz first, if it can, then decide of getting the 5830 or GTX460.

 

[edscdk]

What sort of budget are we looking at here?

not got a budget in mind, I just want to get him something better than he has..

and from what arc@css says a 5830 would only jsut be an upgrade.. (so there would be little point)

I want somethign thats he will notice a speed boot with, but without spending more than i need to. (

so I think im looking at a 5850 (as in a noticable upgrade from a 4870)?

 

[edscdk]

I think the E6600 and 4870 is perfectly fine for all games, may be except Crysis and Metro 2033 at 1400x900. If the E6600 is at stock speed 2.4GHz and not overclocked, it will bottleneck the 4870. Also, unless the E6600 can be overclocked to 3.6GHz or more, it's not worth going above 4870 as the chances are the 5830 and GTX460 will not be used fully due to CPU limitation.

So simply put, try to see if the E6600 can overclock to around 3.6GHz first, if it can, then decide of getting the 5830 or GTX460.

got a lapped one from MM that was running at 3.4 so it should be clockable...

good advice... I'll make sure his mobo will overclock it before I upgrade the gfx..

 

[neo-omega]

Does his motherboard support crossfire? If so then it might be worthwhile getting a second 4870.

As an aside, to be honest at that resolution with that card I don't see much benefit from an upgrade. I, for example, recently got a trial of starcraft 2 and was able to play it with all settings on ultra, high AA and AF at 1920x1200 with very good framerates. How much RAM does he have in the system? Maybe that's what's holding his PC back. Also maybe a CPU upgrade might yield an overall increase in performance?

 

[1kiwi]

As above there is no point in upgrading the graphics card at that res. If you really want to get a speed boost, buy an SSD Drive, something like this, or a new monitor like this.

 

[Freddie1980]

As above there is no point in upgrading the graphics card at that res. If you really want to get a speed boost, buy an SSD Drive, something like this, or a new monitor like this.

+1

If you really want to give your sons PC a boost an SSD is a nice little upgrade.

You should also try your hand at overclocking so a new HSF might be in order, no need to be to fancy a £20-£25 heatsink will do the job and quietly as well.

 

[neo-omega]

In my honest opinion, it might be better saving up and getting a whole new rig when the next generation of computing tech is released (bulldozer/sandybrige, ATi 6000 series etc). Also it's a very good bribe for good behaviour

 

[Duke]

not got a budget in mind, I just want to get him something better than he has..

and from what arc@css says a 5830 would only jsut be an upgrade.. (so there would be little point)

I want somethign thats he will notice a speed boot with, but without spending more than i need to. (

so I think im looking at a 5850 (as in a noticable upgrade from a 4870)?

I went from a 4870 to 5850 and it was a good boost. What is the rest of the system spec? As mentioned above, there could be some other (cheaper) options