upgrade question

Marshall2000

Marshall2000

Marshall2000

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Joined
3 Aug 2009
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Location
Wolverhampton
Ive just rebuilt my pc with new mobo etc to the below spec

ga-ep45-ds3p
e6300 @ 3Ghz
Tuniq Tower 120
8Gb kingston HyperX 8500
2x 500Gb SATAII Htachi HD's
sata DVDRW
Sapphire Ultimate X1950 Pro
Corsair HX520W

all is running well etc, but ive just seen this Asus ATI Radeon HD 3850 X2 1024MB and i think it would make a nice upgrade for my old X1950.

my question is, will my Corsair HX520W be enough??

and if not, how much power do i need?

Cheers

Marshall
 
depending on what resolution you game on i'd maybe go for a 4850 or gts250.

but if your set on that the psu will be fine.
 
im presentley only running a 19" Hanns G so gaming at 1440x900 (i think) mainly playing Half Life 2 and counter stike etc, but want to get Crysis, plus a monitor upgrade isnt out of the question (expecially if i dont have to buy anothee PSU!!)

will the HD 3850 X2 be better at a higher resolution than a 4850??

Cheers
 
Not sure which would be better, but I have a 4850 (512mb) and I game at 1920x1200. I've never tried Crysis with it though. If you're gonna go for the same resolution as me I'd probably buy a better card than I have since I need to turn down the settings on quite a few games to get them to run smoothly
 
But why get a 4850 1024MB? As far as my knowledge goes, the extra memory boost only makes a difference with 4870 and above, because of its umph. Might as well save the cash to get a 4870 1024mb. You'd see a larger increase increase in fps, esp if you went for the 4870 1024MB, which I'd recommend.
 
Last edited:
As OP said, quote ..."a monitor upgrade isnt out of the question" .....

a 1024mb card is a wise move.
 
If you're looking for a stop gap card then i suggest looking at a 4670 or a 4770. If you're planning on updating it soon anyway it doesn't seem to be a very good idea to get one from the top of the range series.

512MB is enough for pretty much anything, especially on that sized monitor. I have one myself, and a card with half that memory and that works perfectly well (or at least, any problems i have aren't graphics RAM related). Also there's going to be some shared memory between your computer and the graphics card, which helps as well. Mine actually registers as a 1GB card because of this.
 
This is true, but i'm just saying it's not really needed. Although having a look at the prices that's probably your best bet. I had no idea that the 4770s and to an extent the 4670s were so similarly priced to the 4850/4830. I don't see why... they should drop the prices :p
 
Yeah, moving up from the 4670 to the 4850 costs you £20 (or 25% more), but you get 50% - 100% more performance, so it's definitely worth it IMO. By buying a 4850 you'll be able to hold off upgrading for a lot longer, and you can probably get adequate performance even at 1920x1200, allowing you to buy a new monitor first, and benefit from the increased resolution, without having to worry about buying a new card as well.
 
Marshall2000 said:
Ive just rebuilt my pc with new mobo etc to the below spec

ga-ep45-ds3p
e6300 @ 3Ghz
Tuniq Tower 120
8Gb kingston HyperX 8500
2x 500Gb SATAII Htachi HD's
sata DVDRW
Sapphire Ultimate X1950 Pro
Corsair HX520W

all is running well etc, but ive just seen this Asus ATI Radeon HD 3850 X2 1024MB and i think it would make a nice upgrade for my old X1950.

my question is, will my Corsair HX520W be enough??

and if not, how much power do i need?

Cheers

Marshall
Click to expand...

try and go for a 4850 or something and that psu is absolutely fine, no need to worry about that ;)
 
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