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Upgrade Ideas?

U

UMtech84

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 3, 2008
Messages
105
My system:

i5 750 @3.6 Ghz with Corsair H50
Asrock P55 Extreme
8GB DDR3
Intel G2 80GB SSD
HD5870 1GB vram
1TB WD Black HDD
Thermaltake Toughpower 750W PSU


The situation:

I use dual monitors, one is a 27inch running at 1920x1080 and the second one is a 24 inch running at 1920x1200. My g/f and I don't live together so we like to have video chat running on Skype while gaming. I usually have Firefox open with about 30 tabs, skype video chat, and whatever game we're playing at the time. I usually have my game open on the 24inch monitor running at 1920x1200 and firefox and skype on the 27inch monitor. I usually run my games at max resolution on ultra settings (with like 4xAA).

Ever since WoW Cataclysm came out I would get slight drops in fps during 25 man raids when there was a lot of aoe going on. It was not game breaking for me, i'd go from like 45 fps to 25 fps. The game was still playable at a decent level with that fps so i didn't really pay much attention. Fast forward to today and we've also started to play Rift together and running the game at 1920x1200 on Ultra settings is starting to make my system cry. I end up having to close Firefox completely so that I can maintain semi playable fps at around 22-25 fps. If I then close the video call and quit skype and only run Rift, i can pull about 30 fps. I am planning on playing BF3 and SWTOR and I'd like to at least be able to play those games on high settings while having Firefox and skype video call running. I remember when I played the BF3 alpha and beta that if I closed firefox after entering the map I'd get around 40 fps on high settings.

After doing some researching, I've found out that neither WoW/Rift/and possibly SWTOR support crossfire/sli properly. For Rift and WoW I keep seeing numerous reports from people saying that neither of those games shows any improvement to warrant going with crossfire/sli. I have not been able to find any official info on whether SWTOR will fully support/take advantage of crossfire/sli. The only game out of the 4 that I would be playing that supports it would be BF3.

With that in mind, I am thinking that my problem is that I do not have enough video ram? I am looking for an affordable ($200-$300 range) single card solution that would be a good upgrade over my hd5870. What would you guys recommend?

So far I had considered either a used gtx480 or perhaps a hd 6970. With Black Friday fast approaching I think there will be a decent deal or two on the hd 6970. From what I've read a 6950 doesn't seem like much of an upgrade, neither does a gtx 570 since if i recall correctly a gtx 480 can outperform it? Would adding another hd5870 help any with the 3 mmos? Any and all insights are appreciated, thanks for your time!
 
Unless you are running out of video memory (doubtful at 1080p) none of those cards are a reasonable upgrade. Really, if the games you play don't support crossfire/SLI you should wait until the next generation of cards is released in a few months' time.
 
Yea, but Rift is making my system cry and it's running at 1920x1200 on Ultra with max AA and AF settings. These games are all running at 1920x1200, not 1080p. I'd imagine that might make a slight difference. Waiting a few months for the new generation of cards to come out is not a good alternative since I can't do wargames/battlefronts on Rift without my fps dropping below 20. I have msi afterburner installed, but for some reason I don't see how much vram is being used on my video card. I think it might be because the version of afterburner i'm using is about a year and half old and i have not updated. I'm on vacation atm so I won't get a chance to update it until later this week, but are there any other free utilities that show vram consumption in case that msi afterburner doesn't show it even after updating it?
 
Honestly, I'd say move to 1155. My brother has almost the same machine as you, and I have an 1155 machine with 16GB RAM and a 5870 as well, and can run RIFT at max everything 1080p at 60 fps consistently.
 
Not in all areas of the game, I doubt. In the worst sections at 1080p an HD5870 is going to drop down to the low 20s on occasions and even average less than 30.
 
Fair assumption, I only payed to mid 20's, but up until then, I think the lowest I saw was mid 20's with an average of around 50 fps in crowded areas.
 
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