Noticable difference between E6600 and...

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BradF1979

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 27, 2009
Messages
181
Hi, 2.5 years ago I built a fairly expensive system (at the time)...

E6600 w/GA-965P-DS3 and 4GB of DDR800 (since whittled down to 2GB due to bad memory I have yet to RMA). I also purchased with this the 8800 GTS 640MB card. All things said and done, this system cost around $1250 just for the core components (CPU/MOBO/RAM/VIDEO). It has lasted me until now, and could possible last longer, but I feel it's time for an upgrade...

Yesterday I purchased an Core i5 720 w/GA-P55-UD4P and 4GB of DDR3 1600 (CL7 7-8-7-24) and a 5770. I'm a little worried about noticing a performance difference, and feeling a bit of buyer's remorse at the same time. I'm worried that I skimped too much on the video card and that I'm simply not going to get that 'wow' factor like I did when I built my old system.

I know I could always add another 5770 especially when they drop in price (I got a 700w PS with yesterdays purchase with 72a on +12v) but then I start thinking about how 2 cards aren't always better than 1 and I could have gotten a 5850 and a lesser processor (my budget was $700 for this upgrade).

Anyway, my gaming resolution is only 1680x1050 so I had read I should probably get a faster processor than video card. As for games I play, it really depends... I play a bit of everything from RTS to FPS to RPG.

So, does anyone here want to calm my concerns about real world noticeable difference in what I have and what I'm getting? :)
 
5770 roughly approximates the 4870, which utterly destroys the 8800 GTS. Depending on your previous system (before the 8800 GTS one) you may not perceive as much of an improvement per se, but rest assured the 5770 will handle all games at your resolution with aplomb. Excellent components are much cheaper than they were in the past.
 
friend'scatdied said:
5770 roughly approximates the 4870, which utterly destroys the 8800 GTS. Depending on your previous system (before the 8800 GTS one) you may not perceive as much of an improvement per se, but rest assured the 5770 will handle all games at your resolution with aplomb. Excellent components are much cheaper than they were in the past.
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I bolded part of your post that I think is really concerning me. I spent $1250 before and had a system that lasted me 2.5 years and could have lasted longer, now I have ONLY spent $585 (core components) and am I to suspect it will last me 2.5 years (as my wife requested). I just don't know.

I mean, 2.5 years ago, I paid $400 for 4GB of DDR800. $390 for the 8800 GTS 640MB, and $460 for the E6600 and GA-965P-DS3. I'm paying a fraction of that (45%) today...
 
I have almost your exact older system. E6600, 965P mobo, 4GB RAM, 8800GTS 640... so I'm probably not going to be of much help. There's nothing this system really can't do yet... except maybe Crysis. The latest games still play well, Dragon's Age, Dead Space, Far Cry 2, Fallout3, Borderlands, basically any game in recent memory has played fine at 1920x1200 on med-high graphics. Not the ultra high, and no AA, but those aren't absolutely necessary. This system really isn't obsolete yet IMO.

I picked up a Q9550 from microcenter the other day for $160, thought it would be a nice little upgrade... but never installed it. Had early buyers remorse and returned it.

You'll be able to play with higher graphic settings now, turn on AA if you like, clearer image qualifty. It would help us tell you what will run better if you gave us some specifics. Is there a game your playing today that you can't, or can't at reasonable quality levels?
 
A 5770 at 1680 res will be great, anything faster is a waste tbh.
Sit back and smile.
 
BradF1979 said:
I bolded part of your post that I think is really concerning me. I spent $1250 before and had a system that lasted me 2.5 years and could have lasted longer, now I have ONLY spent $585 (core components) and am I to suspect it will last me 2.5 years (as my wife requested). I just don't know.

I mean, 2.5 years ago, I paid $400 for 4GB of DDR800. $390 for the 8800 GTS 640MB, and $460 for the E6600 and GA-965P-DS3. I'm paying a fraction of that (45%) today...
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It merely depends on how cutting-edge you want to be. The 5770, I think, represents an optimal value at 1680x1050, so much so that a higher-end GPU may provide negligible real-world perceived performance. I think your 5770 will last 2.5 years at the very least, and that better cards will be dirt-cheap by that time if recent price pressure trends continue. A 5850 is a good deal more $$$ and may not extend the performance life as long as you would expect.
 
Menelmarar said:
I have almost your exact older system. E6600, 965P mobo, 4GB RAM, 8800GTS 640... so I'm probably not going to be of much help. There's nothing this system really can't do yet... except maybe Crysis. The latest games still play well, Dragon's Age, Dead Space, Far Cry 2, Fallout3, Borderlands, basically any game in recent memory has played fine at 1920x1200 on med-high graphics. Not the ultra high, and no AA, but those aren't absolutely necessary. This system really isn't obsolete yet IMO.

I picked up a Q9550 from microcenter the other day for $160, thought it would be a nice little upgrade... but never installed it. Had early buyers remorse and returned it.

You'll be able to play with higher graphic settings now, turn on AA if you like, clearer image qualifty. It would help us tell you what will run better if you gave us some specifics. Is there a game your playing today that you can't, or can't at reasonable quality levels?
Click to expand...

Completely agree with your take on our current systems. It plays almost everything fine. You may have to lower some graphical detail, but I've yet to play something where I had to have everything on low (granted, I never played Crysis). You certainly didn't help my feelings of buyers remorse, I just wonder if I should have only upgraded my video card, and RMA'd my bad memory so I could be back up to 4GB.

That said, there's bound to be games starting to come out that will be beginning to hurt our systems more so than what has been released recently and so an upgrade is inevitable. It's just a matter of price / performance ratio and I feel I did well on that except for the 5770 which has a pretty low price / performance ratio...
 
i went from a 3.6 E7200 to an i7 860 and even at stock the i7 felt faster with it at 3.6 its insane
your i5 should be much faster then that E6600
try some video encoding
 
I too went from an E6600 to an i5 720. It's a nice kick in the pants. Make sure you do a clean OS install.
 
IMHO, if you want your system to last, a 5850 would be a better video option.

Think about what you bought before....the 8800GTS 640. It wasn't the highest end 8800GTX, but it was the next best thing.

The 5870 would be the highest end (at least, single GPU), so I think the 5850 would be the 8800GTS of today.

Also, I would have upgraded to the i7. Hyperthreading gives a nice boost in everyday performance.

Alternatively, if you want a nice general performance increase, get a decent SSD for your OS disk.
 
PrkChpXprss said:
I too went from an E6600 to an i5 720. It's a nice kick in the pants. Make sure you do a clean OS install.
Click to expand...

Always.

jebo_4jc said:
IMHO, if you want your system to last, a 5850 would be a better video option.

Think about what you bought before....the 8800GTS 640. It wasn't the highest end 8800GTX, but it was the next best thing.

The 5870 would be the highest end (at least, single GPU), so I think the 5850 would be the 8800GTS of today.

Also, I would have upgraded to the i7. Hyperthreading gives a nice boost in everyday performance.

Alternatively, if you want a nice general performance increase, get a decent SSD for your OS disk.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I pretty much agree with you, but with a 5850 the best processor I could get would have been a AMD 955 BE considering my budget. That same budget is also what put the i7 out of reach considering the other components I needed. I agree with you however on the logic... That is why I'm hoping I can get away with adding another 5770 at a later date at a cost that won't make my wife ask why I'm upgrading my PC... ;)
 
bro. I totally get the delicate dance between your PC hobby and your wife. If you figure it out, let me know.

There is some truth to the fact that spending a dollar on a PC upgrade today gets you more than it did 3 years ago. That being said, I'm not sure it's reasonable to expect $700 upgrade to last as long as a $1200 upgrade did.
 
Trust me. I went from a system similar to yours to the system I have in my sig minus the video card which used to be a 4870 512MB and it was a nice improvement. Once I upgraded to a 5870 the difference was staggering. I think you will be very happy with your upgrade.
 
the most noticeable upgrade you can do is going from a slow HDD to an SSD. if I were going budget I'd just plug a new SSD in there and maybe upgrade to a 5850 instead of an entirely new build. The e6600 is still a good cpu.
 
A faster CPU generally provides marginal performance increases for games that are more GPU dependent.

I upgrade CPUs about every 2 or 3 years 'cause I encode my own DVDs (have yet switch to BR). Therefore, to me the decreased encoding times are far more important than marginal gains I get for gaming. I must admit that I like playing strategy games so I do see more performance increase compared to first person games.
 
You did the right thing. Gaming at 1680x1050 doesn't need anything better than what you got in the GPU department, and trust me, you will see a MAJOR difference in performance between an old e6600 and an i5, especially if you are smart and overclock that i5 some. I went from an e6600 w/ 8800GTX to a q6600/8800GTX, and found a good boost in many games including tf2 and l4d, then went from that [email protected] to an i7 @ 4.1ghz, and swapped my 8800gtx for a GTX260 (roughly same performance as that 5770) and the difference was extremely noticeable. Going from your e6600/8800gts up to gtx260 performance levels with a 5770 will be a major improvement. Minimum framerates are probably going to double in some games. My minimum FPS went up by almost ~60% in tf2 when i upgraded.
 
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