Recomendation for Old Guy with Older System

iolair

iolair

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 27, 2001
Messages
141
Hi all,

I have a Gigabyte X58-UD7 MB with a i7 processor running at 4.16Ghz.

Current video card is a ATI Radeon HD5900 and have 2 x PCI Express x16 slots 2.0.

Don't have the funds to upgrade MB and processor right now, but would like the best video card for my present PCI Express 2.0 situation?

Thanks!

John
 
Quad or Hex i7? You could run anything you want with that setup, sure you might be a little behind an equally clocked 4770k but it won't be much of an issue.

What is your upgrade budget?
 
PCI Express 3.0 is backwards compatible. So you can get any card your budget allows.
 
Folks who know more than I do about these things seem to think that PCIe 3.0 cards will operate at full functionality in a PCIe 2.0 slot. Not only is it backwards compatible, but the 2.0 bandwidth is plenty for any card, even 3.0 cards.

Get any card that fits your budget. You're good to go.
 
It's a quad and OK, that is good news about full functionality in a 2.0 slot......I'll just cut back on the Budweiser for a week and that should do it.

Thanks so much, you have all been very kind!

John
 
If you give us a guess at your budget we can point you at the best bang for your buck.
 
Without knowing your exact budget limits, though, the near-default answer at this point is probably the Radeon 7950 (pretty consistently right around $200 at this point, though it's being phased out in favor of the R9s). Unless you're rocking a 2560x1600 display for games, that is, and even then you might still be able to get away with it.
 
^^ 7950 is a KILLER deal right now... You maybe able to find people trying to off-load them for about $170~180 now. Check For Sale forums.
 
iolair said:
Hi all,

I have a Gigabyte X58-UD7 MB with a i7 processor running at 4.16Ghz.

Current video card is a ATI Radeon HD5900 and have 2 x PCI Express x16 slots 2.0.

Don't have the funds to upgrade MB and processor right now, but would like the best video card for my present PCI Express 2.0 situation?

Thanks!

John
Click to expand...
Be happy...we got a lucky gen CPUs that still somehow are good today :D
http://www.techspot.com/review/615-far-cry-3-performance/page6.html

Look at those tests and that was only at 2.66 :D

I went tri sli 660ti on mine on the used market so a TON of performance for little $$
 
Wow, OP might have a record? 12 years, 87 posts!

Anyways yeah, what screen resolution and what PSU and what budget??
 
Buy the best single GPU you can afford and be happy. The R9's out later this month should be a serious contender for an upgrade, they are due to appear in literally days.

Even if you're not interested in them, their appearance will also drive down the pricing of Nvidia and older AMD hardware, getting you even more performance for your dollars.
 
Jeeze.....it's been so long, I forgot which model I had. It's a 5990. The 7950 sounds good price wise, or I could go with the 7970 as I like the test results that Shaolin posted. I assume the newer single GPU card would have much better performance compared to the ancient dual GPU 5990 correct? I would be playing Battlefield4 at 1920x1200 resolution! Oh, I have a 1200 PSU.

Thanks again all!

John
 
iolair said:
Jeeze.....it's been so long, I forgot which model I had. It's a 5990. The 7950 sounds good price wise, or I could go with the 7970 as I like the test results that Shaolin posted. I assume the newer single GPU card would have much better performance compared to the ancient dual GPU 5990 correct? I would be playing Battlefield4 at 1920x1200 resolution! Oh, I have a 1200 PSU.

Thanks again all!

John
Click to expand...

as of right now, their is no telling what will run bf4.
people with great system are having issues running the beta, where some people with mid range system are running it great.

a 7970 should be more then enough for bf4.
i would suggest the 7950 since it is $100 cheaper then the 7970 and not far behind in performance.
in most reviews the 7970 got 5 more fps then the 7950.
but you could also add a second 7950 down the road, not to mention overclock.

you will definitely see a huge gain over your current 5990.
do you what exact processor you have?
 
If your going buy an HD 7970 .. get the R9 280x for $299 as it's the HD7970Ghz with a new name and $200 dollar cheaper price.
 
X58 is the dope

people who bought Nehalem at launch got one of the most future proof deals in computing history
 
I don't know that upgrading to a 7970 you would notice that much difference (maybe if you overclock it) and a 7950 is more of a sidegrade than an upgrade. The 5990 is basically a buffed 5970 and the 5970 is almost on par with default 7970. You would have a more power efficient graphics card and some of the newer features available. Raw performance I doubt you will see a big difference. When you bought that 5990 you were probably paying top dollar (i.e. current GTX Titan, 690 and 7990).

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html
 
I think the 5990 was a 5970 with 4GB, and the clock raised from 725 to 850, and it wasn't an official Radeon product. By getting semi-creative with cards from the following two charts, and estimating that the 5990 is 5970+10%:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6850/28.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_660/27.html

From the first chart, you might conclude that 5990 = 6870 * 151%

From the second chart working from the 6870 (72 * 151%), you might conclude that you need 109% to equal 5990, or about a 7870/580 and up.

So a 7970GE might be roughly 36% faster, and a regular 7970 about 25% faster.

And a stock Titan might be 74% faster: 136% * 96(Titan) / 75(7970GE)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_Titan_Amp_Edition/26.html
And a stock 780 might be 64% faster ... okay I'll stop there hehheh.
 
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still a pretty decent GPU really

OP, dude, systems not that old
 
Thank you all for your responses....I sincerely appreciate the help.

Taking all of your inputs into consideration......I think I will simply hold off for now and see how the release version of Battlefield 4 plays with my current system.

Also, going this route, there will be no Budweiser supply issues until the time comes to upgrade if necessary......I am on a fixed income this days.......getting old sucks, but I wasn't always this old! :)

152821478.jpg


Thanks so much again!

John
 
happy to help

hit us up when you decide it is GPU time and we can point you at the best bang for your buck, also don't forget you also have the Bloomfield hex option as an upgrade path on your current platform

don't be a stranger
 
jojo69 said:
happy to help

hit us up when you decide it is GPU time and we can point you at the best bang for your buck, also don't forget you also have the Bloomfield hex option as an upgrade path on your current platform

don't be a stranger
Click to expand...

Thanks man!

John
 
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