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Video card upgrade for a dated system.

R

rodneycubed

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 30, 2007
Messages
184
Right now, I'm running a Q6600, 4GB RAM, 8800GTS 320MB system. With FFXIV right around the corner, I'm looking for something that can handle the game fairly well.

I'm leaning towards getting a 5850 or 5870. More so the 5850 because I think the latter might be bottlenecked my my processor. Any suggestions on what would be the best route to take? I haven't been following Nvidia too much recently. Do they have a better bang for your buck GPU?
 
The 1GB GTX 460 is coming out very shortly and should be Nvidia's best bang for your buck card.
 
What PSU do you have?
What resolution are you playing at?
Is that Q6600 at stock speeds?
 
You've not mentioned the resolution you're running, or if that Q6600 is at stock or OC'd. My advise: clock your CPU to 3+Ghz and grab a 5850 (OC that too). I'm guessing that you PSU is fairly old too, so the 5850 shouldn't stress that.
 
A Q6600 @ over 3.2GHz will not bottleneck a 5870 but a stock one will. If you are not willing to or are not able to overlock your CPU past the the stock 2.4GHz, then I would recommend a 5770 actually over a 5850. 800MHz makes a world of difference on this processor and I've found 3.2GHz to be the sweet spot to climb out of bottleneck territory and 5870s with a Q6600.

There are some games that simply require a more beefy CPU though but the only one that comes to mind is GTA IV which is poorly optimized for PC and is heavily CPU dependant anyway.
 
Rodney, you have 4 posts asking about your oc and you have avoided the question for some reason I can't fathom. People are trying to help you.
 
Spare-Flair said:
Rodney, you have 4 posts asking about your oc and you have avoided the question for some reason I can't fathom. People are trying to help you.
Click to expand...

My apologies. At a LAN party out of state and got a little distracted. Right now I have been running my Q6600 stock since my overclocks fail after a short amount of time. I am in the process of getting a new motherboard to hopefully remedy that.
 
rodneycubed said:
My apologies. At a LAN party out of state and got a little distracted. Right now I have been running my Q6600 stock since my overclocks fail after a short amount of time. I am in the process of getting a new motherboard to hopefully remedy that.
Click to expand...

I've been running my Q6600 at 3GHZ stock voltage for 2.5 years now. I do use a Thermalright Ultra-120 True Black with a 49cfm Scythe fan (very quiet), but it's the easiest overclock I've ever done and runs 4 instances of prime95 for 24 hours with no errors. You should be able to get 3GHZ really really easy.
 
rodneycubed said:
OCZ 680W PSU
Click to expand...
Which OCZ 680W PSU? OCZ PSU quality ranges from to crap too good so we got to make sure which OCZ PSU you have.
rodneycubed said:
My apologies. At a LAN party out of state and got a little distracted. Right now I have been running my Q6600 stock since my overclocks fail after a short amount of time. I am in the process of getting a new motherboard to hopefully remedy that.
Click to expand...

If the mobo costs more than $50, don't bother getting a new mobo as at that point, you might as well switch platforms.
 
I just went with a 5850 yesterday with my Q6600 @ 3Ghz. Side-graded from a GTX285.
I played Borderlands at 1680x1050 with everything maxed out and it ran silky smooth.
I also played some counterstrike source in eyefinity after I figured out how to turn it on.
4320x900 with everything maxed (16x AA and 16x AF) and averaged 200fps (min 120 FPS and max of 299 FPS which is the max display on netgraph, can't remember the command to increase the FPS display)

Antec TruePower New 650 powers my system.
 
I say 5870. Even with a stock CPU, it'll be your fastest option. The PSU is questionable but if you don't have any stability problems (and you'll know pretty quick if you do) then it can hack it. Surely even a so-so 680 watt PSU would still have enough juice for any single card.
 
rodneycubed said:
Right now I have been running my Q6600 stock since my overclocks fail after a short amount of time. I am in the process of getting a new motherboard to hopefully remedy that.
Click to expand...

What O/C you had the Q6600? What mobo? Also, can you specify which model OCZ 680? 680Watt OCZ, is there a OCZ 680 Watt model?
 
So basically it's a 500W PSU at best.

Should be ok for the HD 5850 then. Definitely not the HD 5870 or GTX 475.
 
rodneycubed said:
Heh, that bad, eh? Think that could be what is holding back my overclock also?
Click to expand...

Your PSU shouldn't be holding back your overclock. Most Q6600s will hit 3GHz on stock voltage. Mine is running 3.2GHz right now in summertime below stock voltage (it's hot, I have no AC).

The limiting factor for 775 overclocks is usually the motherboard. A p45 chipset would give you the most overclocking room and stability.
 
Danny Bui said:
Then one of two things:
A) You got a bum chip
B) You didn't have the correct OC settings.

Even with such an old chipset, a 3Ghz OC should be possible with the Q6600. Hit up this Gigabyte overclocking guide:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1169366

Though a very very small chance of the PSU holding back the OC.
Click to expand...

I appreciate the guide, I will definitely hit that guide up. For what it's worth, I used to have an E6300 and it did the same thing when I over clocked it (setting would go to defaults randomly after a few days)
 
rodneycubed said:
I appreciate the guide, I will definitely hit that guide up. For what it's worth, I used to have an E6300 and it did the same thing when I over clocked it (setting would go to defaults randomly after a few days)
Click to expand...

I think it is the board. I've had terrible luck with older Gigabyte boards with 775 before the P45 came around.
 
EP45-UD3L

if you can find one used, should go for about $60 or so. I bought a UD3P version for $90 (used), best motherboard I ever owned.
 
Spare-Flair said:
The limiting factor for 775 overclocks is usually the motherboard. A p45 chipset would give you the most overclocking room and stability.
Click to expand...

+1. I had a q6600 that would only do 3.3ghz on a EVGA 680i board, but it was able to hit just above 3.5ghz on a Gigabyte P45 UD3R.
 
How does the 975 stack against the P45 for OCing? I have both, but the P45 is chilling in a closet somewhere.
 
I just added a 5870 to my system

q6600@3ghz
4gb ram
p5e-vm
corsair hx520
5 hdd's

The 5870 doesn't need that much power. Even with the cpu overclock the 5870 is fine. You don't need 600-700w for this setup, only for xfire or the 5970.

With this setup I can run every game at 1680x1050 at max settings and 4x fsaa. Crysis warhead runs great (30-50fps) at 3360x1080 with 2x fsaa on dual monitors. Triple monitor should be fine with fsaa off or a few settings lowered a bit.
 
Personally, I'd go with the evga gtx 460, cheap/used p45 board and a new 650/750w psu. Especially if you were considering the 5870(I'm thinking price wise). That way you know the psu will not hold your OC back, as well as being able to power future set ups.You'll also be able to step up to a 470/480gtx if you decide the 460 isn't cutting it for you.

You can get the EVGA GTX 460 for $173.59 after bing cash back @ tiger direct. credit to pxc
 
Last edited:
pdinc said:
How does the 975 stack against the P45 for OCing? I have both, but the P45 is chilling in a closet somewhere.
Click to expand...

Why are you running the 975? That is ancient compared to the P45. The 975 was developed even before Core2Duos were on market. The P45 should give you much higher overclocking potentional.
 
What PSU do you have? You probably won't have to change it if you get a GTX 460. Then just swap out to the P45 mobo in your closet and give you cpu a modest OC and you should be good to go.
 
rtd said:
Personally, I'd go with the evga gtx 460, cheap/used p45 board and a new 650/750w psu. Especially if you were considering the 5870(I'm thinking price wise). That way you know the psu will not hold your OC back, as well as being able to power future set ups.You'll also be able to step up to a 470/480gtx if you decide the 460 isn't cutting it for you.

You can get the EVGA GTX 460 for $173.59 after bing cash back @ tiger direct. credit to pxc
Click to expand...

How does the evga gtx 460 compare to a 5850?
 
rodneycubed said:
How does the evga gtx 460 compare to a 5850?
Click to expand...

From several of the reviews I've read, they trade blows but the 5850 does win overall however at a much higher price point. Honestly, I would get the 460 gtx and if it's not enough then just SLI it screw going for a step up 470/480. Great power usage and price/performance.
 
rtd said:
From several of the reviews I've read, they trade blows but the 5850 does win overall however at a much higher price point. Honestly, I would get the 460 gtx and if it's not enough then just SLI it screw going for a step up 470/480. Great power usage and price/performance.
Click to expand...

Not going to find a decent chipset for his Q6600 that will overclock while also doing SLI. The tradeoff is that to get a good overclock on that Q6600, he'll need an Intel chipset which means CF only.
 
Spare-Flair said:
Not going to find a decent chipset for his Q6600 that will overclock while also doing SLI. The tradeoff is that to get a good overclock on that Q6600, he'll need an Intel chipset which means CF only.
Click to expand...

I totally forgot about that. Either way step up is still available but that price is too good.Hopefully the rest of the mid range cards drop to compensate and maybe he can get CF equally as cheap!
 
Spare-Flair said:
Not going to find a decent chipset for his Q6600 that will overclock while also doing SLI. The tradeoff is that to get a good overclock on that Q6600, he'll need an Intel chipset which means CF only.
Click to expand...

Is there a thread somewhere on the that could educate me on the different chipsets, etc?

I tried doing a search but couldn't come up with what I was looking for.
 
rodneycubed said:
Is there a thread somewhere on the that could educate me on the different chipsets, etc?
Click to expand...
AFAIK, not really. You kind of just pick it up from reading many reviews, a dozen threads, the manufacturer's website or even Wikipedia.

However since we're really only talk socket 775, it's fairly straightforward: The more stable as well as highly overclockable chipset for socket 775 was the mainstream P45 chipset. However the P45 only supports x8/x8 Crossfire. Nvidia's 780i/750i did offer SLI for socket 775 but they were generally less stable than their Intel counterparts.

Don't bother getting a new socket P45 or 750i mobo as often times for not that much more cash, you can get a faster AMD quad-core build.
 
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