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Most efficient upgrade for my rig?

D

Dark12

[H]ard|Gawd
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Dec 13, 2003
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Hey all. My current rig is in my sig.
I was just curious what upgrade is next for me to get closer to that next-gen performance. I generally like to stay one or two generations behind for cost reasons, so after running the Final Fantasy benchmark and scoring a 2600 I feel like its time to move up a little.
Usually, I like to upgrade just one part of my PC at a time, but I am open to all suggestions. For example if SandyBridge is recommended I would obviously be willing to buy a new mobo and ram.
I feel like I am being limited by my video card though. Even though it used to be a beast, I am afraid it is just getting too old to impress me anymore. I would be willing to wait for 6 series AMD if I can keep the cost below ~$250.
Anyway, I game at 1920x1080 with the highest quality I am able to use. Eyefinity/3D doesn't appeal to me. I only use my pc for gaming and browsing the interwebs. PSU is a decent 750w.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions or comments!
 
do you feel your games are lacking frames? from the look at your current rig its still a formidable system for 1080P resolution with extra details in games on am guessing. IMO the longer you wait the more performance increase you will get with next gen hardware upgrade if you even need the boost.

EDIT: what resolution do you play at?
 
My vote is to wait and see what the new AMD chips bring. If the Juniper replacement does perform near a 5850 while keeping cost sub $200, it'll be a nice upgrade over the 4890.
 
I play at 1080p.
So one vote for waiting.
What are the advantages of the 6 series cards over a 5850? Would it just be a money saving thing?
 
Dark12 said:
I play at 1080p.
So one vote for waiting.
What are the advantages of the 6 series cards over a 5850? Would it just be a money saving thing?
Click to expand...

if you play at 1080P definitely wait it out.

the 6 series has faster tessellations (dx 11) rendering, more power efficient and also runs cooler as well likely other optimizations like memory, gpu, SP's communication
 
Dark12 said:
I play at 1080p.
So one vote for waiting.
What are the advantages of the 6 series cards over a 5850? Would it just be a money saving thing?
Click to expand...

no, the rumors are that 6 series serious kick ass for being a half way there type of architecture change. of course no one knows. we will know in less then a month. and at 1200p your 4890 should carry you for a while. I would wait.

the other side is that you can get stuck waiting for life as there is always something better around the corner. and the difference between a 5850 and 4890 is considerable. for instance my score in that benchmark is around 3800. with a lower clocked CPU. (see my sig) so a 5850 would be a big step up.

still as its only a month or so I would try and sit it out.
 
Hang in there man. I wanted to upgrade too and I went as far as buying a new power supply and another 5850 for Crossfire. Came to my senses and sold the 5850 and I'm hanging on to the power supply so I can Crossfire whatever AMD comes out with in November. Even if you don't want the 6 series the 4xx/58xx boards will plummet in price once the 6 comes out. It should only be another 2 months max. :)
 
You have a mildly better version of my computer (see sig ) and honestly Im really happy with my FPS. I DO have that upgrade itch with the i7 and 5 series, but after I calm myself down, I realize that it wouldn't be a huge change anyways. Heres my upgrade plan if you are interested..


-Next up (if I cant hold back the upgrade itch) ---> Larger Monitor. 1680x1050 is nice but 1080 or bigger is better :)
-CPU ---> Waiting one more generation. The i7s are well in their life. It would be nice to get a cpu around release time for a change instead of buying one and having a new version come out months later.
-Video Card ---> I can't max out everything, but theres nothing out there I can't play on high with 2xAA. Im not going to buy a hot fermi chip, the gtx460 isn't a big enough of an upgrade and there isn't a 5 series card that really pushes me over the edge. The 5 series will be ending around the holidays anyways.
-Mobo/Ram ---> I will upgrade both when I upgrade my cpu. I will up my ram to 6/8gb depending on my budget.
-Case ---> I will own my antec 300 for a VERY long time. Best case I have ever owned.. and I have owned a lot of cases.
 
Whether you prefer ATI or Nvidia, nothing but good can come to your wallet (and your framerate) by putting off a video card for a month or two.
 
Yup wait for the 6 series. Prices will go down and performance will go up. You can make up your mind then.
 
I'd wait with the HD6 series so close to release and the positive rumors on price/performance ratio.

Plus, the HD4890 can still hold its own alright at 1920x1080. So waiting won't kill ya.
 
It seems video card prices drop everyday... buy it when you need it most and then no regret. The other day I scored a MSI GTX 465 GE for $210 and flashed it to GTX 470 running @ GTX 480 clock speed. It's one of the most efficient upgrade to me considering a GTX 480 would cost around $400.
 
OP's CPU doesn't need upgrading any time soon.

Just videocards, if he plays too many Nvidia-friendly games and/or BFBC2/Metro2033/Crysis
 
I will suggest to wait for the new cards or buy a good cheap card and unlock it to increase the clock speed just like OceanofWisdom did.
biggrin.gif
 
Another vote to wait, 2 weeks = no time at all, and with a 4890 you should have plenty of power to hold onto for the time being, any other action at this moment can end up with you kicking yourself for your lack of patience ;-).
 
or in the meantime you could upgrade the PSU, and resell the old one to cover a bit back...or even just Add Ram.... I'm on 8Gb of ram, no swap file, I never seen an issue with the exception of my roomates downloading a virus. Sure it won't do alot for you performance wise, but it'll cure the itch for a few weekends.
 
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