Upgrade..

Nickson · 17 May 2010 at 10:14

Hey guys,

This is probably the dumbest question you are likely to hear all year, but here goes..
I am currently the owner of an i7 920 D0, R2E x58, 6GB Corsair Dominator, and a 9800GTX..
Im obviously looking to upgrade the 9800GTX as shes a bit outdated now, and isnt upto speed with the latest games.
I was wondering if any of you could recommend a good GFX card setup to go with my build? and that would be suitable for current and upcoming titles to be played at max settings. Crysis + Crysis 2 etc.
Whether it be SLi, Crossfire or single card..
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

Nickson · 17 May 2010 at 14:39

Jezcentral · 17 May 2010 at 14:41

What budget? I'd recommend a 5870 at least to go with your set-up.

MiNxYyY · 17 May 2010 at 14:42

Do you mind what brand card you have?

If your budget can stretch then get a 5970 or a GTX470/480

If you havent got a high budget, you could try Crossfiring 5770's

Admiral Huddy · 17 May 2010 at 14:43

Which games can't your 9800GTX play?

phatboy · 17 May 2010 at 15:45

as MiNxYyY said, 5770's in Xfire being so you have an X58 board could be the way forward as they will plough through anything at speeds that can shadow a 5870. so for multi card i reckon that could be the way to go and cost circa £250

5850's are fantastic single card options that remove the niggles that crossfire could give you, although the drivers are getting better. overclocked the 5850 is nearly up there with a 5870 performance wise and wont disapoint, even at stock clocks.

Money no object......well its a 5970 as said

....or wait for the refresh later this year and hold on to the 9800GTX for a bit longer

Nickson · 17 May 2010 at 21:16

Jezcentral said:
What budget? I'd recommend a 5870 at least to go with your set-up.

Thats what I was looking at, but I also saw that 5850's can almost match performance with a little overclock?

MiNxYyY said:
Do you mind what brand card you have?

If your budget can stretch then get a 5970 or a GTX470/480

If you havent got a high budget, you could try Crossfiring 5770's

Nah, im not a fanboy, I will be happy with either..
Although my last ATI was an X800GTO and that died within a month..

I was looking at 5770's, but I could get a 5850 for the price of them, overclock it and have near 5870 performance?
As for the 5970, bit out of the budget atm unfortunately, as much as I would love one.. Same goes for the GTX480.

phatboy said:
as MiNxYyY said, 5770's in Xfire being so you have an X58 board could be the way forward as they will plough through anything at speeds that can shadow a 5870. so for multi card i reckon that could be the way to go and cost circa £250

5850's are fantastic single card options that remove the niggles that crossfire could give you, although the drivers are getting better. overclocked the 5850 is nearly up there with a 5870 performance wise and wont disapoint, even at stock clocks.

Money no object......well its a 5970 as said ....or wait for the refresh later this year and hold on to the 9800GTX for a bit longer

Do you have any idea what will be coming on during the next refresh?
Would be very interesting to know, so that I could possibly plan ahead

Cheers for all of the replies guys!

Nickson · 17 May 2010 at 21:19

Admiral Huddy said:
Which games can't your 9800GTX play?

With max settings its struggling as of recent..
Crysis + Crysis Warhead
Battlefield 2: Bad Company
COD: Modern Warfare + World at War
Even L4D2, gets to certain parts of the game and just slows down to 15-25 fps

.
She's been a loyal card, never had any issues, just doesnt quite stand upto spec with the rest of the build

phatboy · 18 May 2010 at 08:04

anyone can feel free to correct me if i am wrong, but i dont think that ATi has mentioned a lot about whats coming yet with regards to the refresh.

straxusii · 18 May 2010 at 08:38

A single 5870 won't max out crysis @1920x1200

I would go 5870cf, 5970, gtx 470 sli, gtx480 sli under water or 5970cf

Marine-RX179 · 18 May 2010 at 08:41

The most graphic demanding game to date is probably still Crysis. I recall from review that at 1920x1200, high setting, 16xAF, 4xAA, a 5870 only managed minimum 22fps, average 40fps.

So if you really want a smooth game play for Crysis, you should probably consider at least crossfire 5850 or a 5970.

straxusii · 18 May 2010 at 08:47

I think metro 2033 has taken it's crown now

Nickson · 18 May 2010 at 11:23

phatboy said:
anyone can feel free to correct me if i am wrong, but i dont think that ATi has mentioned a lot about whats coming yet with regards to the refresh.

Thats annoying.. When is the next refresh?

straxusii said:
A single 5870 won't max out crysis @1920x1200

I would go 5870cf, 5970, gtx 470 sli, gtx480 sli under water or 5970cf

Expensive shizz!! Especially the 5970 CF woah haha, £1k+ on graphics cards? lol. Unfortunately most of what you have listed is way above what im willing to spend on a graphics card(s). They will be out of date soon enough and it will be a waste!

Marine-RX179 said:
The most graphic demanding game to date is probably still Crysis. I recall from review that at 1920x1200, high setting, 16xAF, 4xAA, a 5870 only managed minimum 22fps, average 40fps.

So if you really want a smooth game play for Crysis, you should probably consider at least crossfire 5850 or a 5970.

I was looking at either a 5850 or 5770 crossfire setup.
Currently using a 22" Samsung monitor, res 1650x1050.
But I am looking up upgrade to a 24, so either 1920x1080 or 1920x1200? (if im correct).
Why oh why does this all cost so much?! Haha

Nickson · 18 May 2010 at 11:24

straxusii said:
I think metro 2033 has taken it's crown now

A little off topic.
But any idea when this is coming out on Steam?
They have videos, but no game to buy!!

Admiral Huddy · 18 May 2010 at 15:00

Nickson said:
With max settings its struggling as of recent..
Crysis + Crysis Warhead
Battlefield 2: Bad Company
COD: Modern Warfare + World at War
Even L4D2, gets to certain parts of the game and just slows down to 15-25 fps .
She's been a loyal card, never had any issues, just doesnt quite stand upto spec with the rest of the build

Ok that is strange .. I'm still using an 8800GTX and don't have any problems running MW, MW2, L4D2 @ 1920x1200 with some AF/AA no problems. Crysis is a different barrell though.. What is your 920 clocked at?

jigger · 18 May 2010 at 15:10

phatboy said:
anyone can feel free to correct me if i am wrong, but i dont think that ATi has mentioned a lot about whats coming yet with regards to the refresh.

New cards have been mentioned for Q3 and ATI are supposedly ahead of schedule. The refresh seems to have been canned in favour of a major 40nm overhaul and the rumours are the core tapped out last month.

Nickson · 18 May 2010 at 15:57

Admiral Huddy said:
Ok that is strange .. I'm still using an 8800GTX and don't have any problems running MW, MW2, L4D2 @ 1920x1200 with some AF/AA no problems. Crysis is a different barrell though.. What is your 920 clocked at?

im confused then!
Currently only running them on 1650x1050 and I get fps lag issues

.
i7 currently clocked at 3.6Ghz.
But in all fairness a 920 at stock would easily be sufficient? (not for Crysis)
Its not all the time, just at certain areas such as heavy smoke, or a lot going on on screen etc.

Nickson · 18 May 2010 at 16:19

Bit of an idea..
I know they are old and everything..
But what about 2x9800GX2's?
What kind of performance would that put out compared to the 5770 CF and the 5850 CF?

Geekazoid · 18 May 2010 at 16:58

If you want to futureproof urself your better getting a DX11 card... 9800GX2 are good cards but not as fast as the 5770 5850 CF....

the best Advice i can give you is CF 5850 they ok on price and when overclocked hot on performance too. but if ur gonna go down that route u might as well get the Sapphire 5970 for 500 as the costs are about the same... 5770 CF with overclock on both cards should be able to run crysis 1920x1080 ok 30fps there abouts as long as you dont put on a stupid amount of AA on but remember crysis is a bad optimised game hence poor performance...

[EDIT] take that i7 920 to 4ghz....

Nickson · 18 May 2010 at 21:02

I would take it to 4GHz, but not at the moment!
Ive had 4.2 out of it, but I shutdown and put back to standard 5 mins later

haha.
Problem being, for some reason I keep getting errors in Prime95.
I have literally fitted my 3rd different memory kit in it today and im still getting errors where one or maybe more of the workers stops because of a hardware malfunction.
I honestly have no idea whats going on!
3rd different memory kit now..
So it cant be mem can it?
Mobo or CPU?