Full system or Graphics card upgrade?

T

TheReproducer

Weaksauce
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May 9, 2007
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I think I already known the answer but I thought I'd throw the question out there. Basically, my budget this year for upgrades is only about £350 (cost of i5 system that I've specced out).

My current specs are as follows;
Q6700 @ 3.2GHz
Abit AB9 Pro motherboard (yeah, I had to choose a manufacturer that went bust..)
2x2GB + 2x1GB PC6400 RAM
96GB Kingston V100 SSD + 2 other HDD
1GB Gigabyte 5850
Creative Xtreme Gamer Xi Fi
650W Antec Modular PSU

Ideally I'd like to spend less and hence I was leaning towards a 570 or 6970 for just over 250 quid.

I played a variety of games and to be honest, I've not had a lot of performance problems (running at 1080) but now that I have BF3 I'm beginning to "feel" the strain. I can sort of maintain playable framerates (mostly in the 40+fps) with high settings but as a shooter I feel like I need a bit more for smoothness (personal perspective).

So yeah, if I can only upgrade either system or GPU this year, which would it be?

EDIT: I realise my title is a bit misleading, I mean full system as in CPU, motherboard and Memory.
 
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Can you overclock any higher? In BF3 multiplayer the CPU has a pretty big impact on performance, and with the Q6700 being a couple generations behind you'd probably see a pretty good jump by going to a i5. Not sure how well the 5850 can power the graphics, but maybe do the CPU/motherboard/RAM upgrade and then try to sell your old stuff and the 5850 and pick up a used 6970?
 
I could see a RAM upgrade and then possibly a graphic card...not the rest...it is older, but still a great system.

Unless you were talking a few months down the road for IB.

Just my two cents.
 
I actually added the 2x1GB RAM just because BF3 was such a resource hog and I also liked to have a few web pages opened. 2x4GB DDR2 is too expensive these days so that is why I didn't do it. I know it'll limit overclocking with 4 sticks of RAM but it's stable at 3.2GHz and I've only got a Freezer Pro cooler for the CPU so I don't think I can push that much.

I'm most likely going to hold out till Ivybridge to see if prices go down a bit but I still wanted some opinions.
 
I vote for the CPU/RAM/MOBO upgrade. DDR3 is dirt cheap now, and the 5850 is still a good card. Tough it out with that 5850 until you can upgrade, and by then you'll be able to get a screaming deal on a 69xx card, or 570/580.
 
257Tony said:
I vote for the CPU/RAM/MOBO upgrade. DDR3 is dirt cheap now, and the 5850 is still a good card. Tough it out with that 5850 until you can upgrade, and by then you'll be able to get a screaming deal on a 69xx card, or 570/580.
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I agree with this, and as you say hold out until Ivy is released and then upgrade the cpu/mobo/ram. After the summer when all of the new generation gpu's are out there will be plenty of people trying to sell their 69xx/GTX570's to upgrade so you should have plenty of choice for decent prices....
 
I would also recommend to hold out, then try to snag i5-2500k, motherboard, ram when you find the right deal. for 1920x1080p gaming your 5850 shouldnt be to bad, they overclocked pretty well too.
 
257Tony said:
I vote for the CPU/RAM/MOBO upgrade. DDR3 is dirt cheap now, and the 5850 is still a good card. Tough it out with that 5850 until you can upgrade, and by then you'll be able to get a screaming deal on a 69xx card, or 570/580.
Click to expand...
i've got a 2500k/P67/8gbRAM combo with a Radeon 6850 and can run any game i've tried @ 1080p at max settings. your 5850 is basically the same card (slightly faster, actually), so upgrade your CPU/motherboard/RAM before worrying about your video card.
 
By far the biggest bottleneck for gaming in almost any quad-core (or more) system that is less than 4 years old is the graphics subsystem. So long as you have at least 4Gb of ram, you should put your money into a 7000-series Radeon first, and a CPU/Mobo/Ram upgrade after. If you think about it, there are only a few games that will yield more than a 30% speed improvement moving from an older quad core CPU to an i5, but almost all of them will give you about a 100-200% improvement by moving from a 5850 to a 7970 (or a 7950 when it comes out).

Do the graphics card first, and then see how your system runs.
 
Ivy Bridge + $200 next Gen GPU (AMD 7800 or GTX 660) when they come out. You were able to hold off upgrading for years so waiting for 3 more months should not be a big deal.
 
I hope I don't hijack this topic. But I have the same question as the OP. Only my current build is a bit different.

AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE
4 GB Ram (cheaply upgradable)
1 TB HDD
HD4890 1 GB

I soon want to buy a Dell 27 inch screen which demands a more powerful GPU. I am doubting about a full upgrade at once. Maybe in steps. So if I would buy the upcoming 7870 or 7890. Would the total system be powerful enough to play games like BF3 and Skyrim on 2560x1440 on high?
 
I'm in the waiting for IB boat myself.
Though I am trying hard not to buy a 7970 and putting in my current rig until I build the system, them swap it over.
 
I can run BF3 OK on high settings mostly but Gulf of Oman can be quite a struggle, when on the ground and fighting it will often grind below 30fps. Not happy... I dread to think what a 64 man fight will be like!
 
OK, I'm really beginning to think I should upgrade as I play BF3 primarily and the game just seems to struggle when there's a lot of action.
My question would be, how much would the i5 2500k and Z68 mobos drop in price once IvyBridge is released? I mean, it's still a good 3 months or so till full launch so even a 10% price drop isn't too big a lose in my view.
 
Hey, so to revisit on my upgrade; was worth it and as predicted the release of Ivybridge didn't send the SBs plummeting in price.

I've still got a slightly inch regarding my graphics card but I only want to spend 200 pounds which in the UK would only get me a 7850 or a GTX570. Not really worthwhile is it (I'm still using a 5850)?
 
TheReproducer said:
Hey, so to revisit on my upgrade; was worth it and as predicted the release of Ivybridge didn't send the SBs plummeting in price.

I've still got a slightly inch regarding my graphics card but I only want to spend 200 pounds which in the UK would only get me a 7850 or a GTX570. Not really worthwhile is it (I'm still using a 5850)?
Click to expand...

Well, I went from a pair of 5850s in Crossfire X to a Single GTX670 and didn't expect a huge difference. WOW, sooo much smoother I could max everything in everything. I'd imagine going from a Single 5850 --->7850 would be similar. Wouldn't do the GTX570, if I needed an inexpensive nVidia, I'd wait for the GTX660. The other option is to pick up another 5850 for CFX, but I noticed more micro-stutter on my 5850 in CFX than I did with my GTX560's in SLI.
 
Yeah, I was pretty close to buying a used 5850 for Crossfire but then I read how much issues there were. I am inclined to hold out for the 660 too, if only for the price war it'll create but also because I want to return to Nvidia after two cards worth of ATi/AMD. August can't come soon enough!
 
I vote CPU/MB/Ram upgrade. Don't sink money into an expensive gpu and have it bottlenecked by CPU.
 
You're not going to get bottlenecked by your CPU even though the Q6700 is a bit old...to bottleneck it while gaming is just not going to happen.
 
Upgrade with gpu first. You most likely get bottom necked at GPU with the current set up.
 
Holy fail, let's read the thread. He bought the CPU/Mobo upgrade.

I would save up a little bit more, I went from a GTX 460(I believe it is on par or slightly worse with the HD 5850) to a GTX 570 and I found it worthwhile, but I wouldn't recommend it :D (I got a GTX 570 Classified, which performs very closely to a 580, for really cheap)
 
Haiku214 said:
Ivy Bridge + $200 next Gen GPU (AMD 7800 or GTX 660) when they come out. You were able to hold off upgrading for years so waiting for 3 more months should not be a big deal.
Click to expand...

That would be a Motherbaord upgrade as well of course, ddr3 ram has been hanging at about $5/GB retail for a while now
 
TheReproducer said:
Hey, so to revisit on my upgrade; was worth it and as predicted the release of Ivybridge didn't send the SBs plummeting in price.

I've still got a slightly inch regarding my graphics card but I only want to spend 200 pounds which in the UK would only get me a 7850 or a GTX570. Not really worthwhile is it (I'm still using a 5850)?
Click to expand...

HD 7850 can overclock very well and at 1.2 Ghz is close to GTX 580 performance. I think thats a significant upgrade from HD 5850.
 
That's true but on the other hand, and this is a very silly thing; I fancy going Nvidia so I can turn on Physx in a few games (like Mirror's edge, Batman:AA and Metro 2033 (?)). I know it's stupid but in some cases, like Batman, it makes a big difference to the atmosphere.

I think I'll wait for the 660 launch and hopefully the 7800 series will drop in price.
 
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