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Will a 7950 be a waste?

apeksdiver

apeksdiver

apeksdiver

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Joined
20 Sep 2012
Posts
1,141
Location
Romsey, Hampshire
I have a Q6600 on a P35DQ6 which has a HD3870 at the mo. I am tempted to get a HD7950 to improve the graphics and plan to upgrade motherboard and CPU later in the year when I see what Haswell has to offer.
I know the graphics card will be held back by my processor, but will I see substantial improvement? Or is it better to wait until I can afford a full new build?
I am using Photoshop CS6 as well as some light gaming (until elite dangerous comes out).

Thanks
 
The gpu will most likely be bottlenecked but attempt to push your CPU clocks high as possible. You should still see huge gains moving cards so I would go with it.
 
I'm in a similar position with a Q6600 on an Asus P5Q Deluxe board. I'm sat on the fence wondering which way to go regards an upgrade. Semi tempted to get a 7950 and live with that for now ... but will I see much improvement? BUT how far is Haswell off and will if be a massive leap forward? Gaming wise a good i5-3570K will take all that can be thrown at it so do I need more horse power in reserve waiting for Haswell?

I've a populated shopping list on the right hand side of the OC website to do a full upgrade including a i5-3570K and an Asus P8Z77-V. All I need do is one mouse click and upgrade is on the DHD van making it's way to me - subject to snow :eek: Can't make my mind up as to just get a new graphics alone? My choice of card is on offer this week - Asus HD 7950 DirectCU II TOP V2 as is the Asus mobo and Corsair memory. Those rascals at OC's have spotted me looking and now trying to tempt me :D

My q6600 is overclocked to 3.2 GHz but is reluctant to go much further as becomes a little unstable past this point.
 
apeksdiver said:
I have a Q6600 on a P35DQ6 which has a HD3870 at the mo. I am tempted to get a HD7950 to improve the graphics and plan to upgrade motherboard and CPU later in the year when I see what Haswell has to offer.
I know the graphics card will be held back by my processor, but will I see substantial improvement? Or is it better to wait until I can afford a full new build?
I am using Photoshop CS6 as well as some light gaming (until elite dangerous comes out).

Thanks
Click to expand...

upgrade eveything at once, no point getting a gpu now if you're waiting for haswell as it's likely a new and beter gpu will come out at the same time.

what gou have you got at the moment?
 
Are you currently using 100% GPU usage with <100% CPU usage?

Are you currently getting <100% GPU usage, and 100% CPU usage?


If yes to the first, then you may find gains with a better graphics card.

I found big gains when changing my 8800GT to a HD6850 when I had my Q6600 at 3.0GHz, and I then found more bigger gains when I upgraded to an i5-2500k. This is because I was originally GPU limited, then I improved the GPU, and became CPU limited, so I improved the CPU, then I became GPU limited again.
 
apeksdiver said:
I have a Q6600 on a P35DQ6 which has a HD3870 at the mo. I am tempted to get a HD7950 to improve the graphics and plan to upgrade motherboard and CPU later in the year when I see what Haswell has to offer.
I know the graphics card will be held back by my processor, but will I see substantial improvement? Or is it better to wait until I can afford a full new build?
I am using Photoshop CS6 as well as some light gaming (until elite dangerous comes out).
Click to expand...
I think for your situation, you'd better of getting something like a 2nd hand 6850/5850/GTX460 1GB for now, and when you upgrade your CPU and platform in the future, sell the card and you may be worst case scenerio lose £20 comparing to what you paid for, but you would be able to upgrade to the next gen card instead of the current range of cards that are going to be EOL soon (which the value will drop far sharper).

My old Q6600 overclocked to 3.6GHz was bottlenecking even my 5850...so I see little point for your to spend so much money on the high-end card right now, only to have it devalued by 50% before you even get the chance to get the full potential out of it.
 
Marine-RX179 said:
I think for your situation, you'd better of getting something like a 2nd hand 6850/5850/GTX460 1GB for now, and when you upgrade your CPU and platform in the future, sell the card and you may be worst case scenerio lose £20 comparing to what you paid for, but you would be able to upgrade to the next gen card instead of the current range of cards that are going to be EOL soon (which the value will drop far sharper).

My old Q6600 overclocked to 3.6GHz was bottlenecking even my 5850...so I see little point for your to spend so much money on the high-end card right now, only to have it devalued by 50% before you even get the chance to get the full potential out of it.
Click to expand...

Fair point well made, shame I can't get onto the MM yet.
 
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