View Full Version : Processor or Video Upgrade
Well it's that time of the year when my age moves up one slot!!:doh: I was thinking of upgrading my CPU from an AM3 Phenom II X2 550 BE to a Phenom II X4 955/965, I will have to flash my bios first (nerve wrecking!:oops:).
Would this be a good move? or would it be better to upgrade my video card, (a ATI HIS Turbo HD 4850 512)? if so what would be a good one to switch to?:hmmm: seems the HD 5xxx series aren't that good, also the 4850 runs very hot so a cooler running one would be better, my motherboard chipset is optimized for AMD/ATI so I wouldn't change this.:hmmm:
Can only afford one or the other at this stage, maybe xmas for the other.:yep:
Advise always welcome!:up:
Bios upgrade only if absolutely Necessary, what you use for OS? And how much are you going to put in money for Graphics Card :hmmm:
At the moment I am using XP Pro, I am holding off Win 7 till SP1 is released, that isn't expected now till early to mid 2011!:stare:
I won't be going over AU $200, though our dollar is around 95c compared to US, so it's a good time to buy!:yep:
Yes it is good choice to wait until they have been released, service pack 1 for more stability,How about Nvidia 400 series,Ati 5 is a good choice also, how much RAM you are using, I assume that running 64-bit :yep:
No XP Pro is 32 bit, not much support for 64 bit and at this stage not worth purchasing and converting, because my AMD chipset is optimized for ATI I will stick with them, but as I stated the 5xxx series is vast but not really good performance write ups, the 4770 would be a better move but still quite pricey!:hmmm:
But if you later do an upgrade to W7, there are advantages with 64-bit,but have ATI left
ATI HIS Turbo HD 4850 512,what is the price roughly :hmmm:
Arclight
09-25-10, 01:13 AM
I'm thinking the 5850 would be a good card for you. 8530 doesn't make any sense any more with the 460 on the market, but it's something to consider if you want to stick to ATI.
CPU seems alright; as long as you have good speed, a dual-core can still pull its weight. When you move to a quad-core, make sure you're not trading in core speed for more cores.
I'm not sure how it is with the different Win7 packages, but mine came with both 32 and 64bit disc (retail Ultimate). 2GB RAM is getting on the meager side nowadays, while 4GB is still plenty (for gaming). But to use that 4 GB, you'll need 64b OS.
Yes the 5850 does seem to be the way to go regarding video cards, but a little too pricey still (average around $300).:-?
I guess I will have to do some more research on the CPU, I kinda figured that my 2 core running at 550mhz would be noticeably slower than a 4 core at 955mhz!:hmmm:
@ Vendor, my old card is around $100 new now.:yep:
Arclight
09-25-10, 03:02 AM
Regarding the CPU, it depends on the application. Games aren't all that well suited for multi-threading; you always see 1 core peak higher. As a result, a slow quad can be worse than a fast dual, sine that fast dual has enough speed on individual core to cope with demand, while the quad is lacking.
There isn't some kind of magic at play that always equally divides the load over all cores; an application needs to be created to make proper use of it.
Doesn't really matter though, going to 955 is a proper step up and goes a way to future-proofing. Or hold off for AMD's next series.
Honestly the only card I would recommend at this point is a 460, but mostly because it's such good value for money. A 5850 is ussually a bit faster, but costs more. 5830 is slower and costs about the same. Imo the 200-250 pricepoint is the sweetspot (upper-mainstream, should last you about 3 years or longer, allowing to max out graphics in 95% of games).
Well really it seems that for the time being I might hold off for now and review the situation around xmas, if I had the money I would do the following:
Change to Win 7 Pro 64 bit
Buy this: http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-474.shtml
Upgrade my CPU to AM3 X6 1090T
Upgrade my ram to 8gb Kingston HyperX.
I'll keep saving my pennies, may be the best move!:oops::yep:
THE_MASK
09-27-10, 06:10 PM
You can just go on upgrading an old system forever . I bit the bullit and got out a loan and bought all the parts and made it myself . I repaid the loan back in 6 months with no intrest .
Coolmaster haf 922 case .
Corsair HX750W power supply .
Asus P7P55D deluxe mobo .
Intel i5 760 cpu .
Corsair dominator memory 4 x 2 gig 1600 mhz .
Asus EAH5870 version 2 graphics card .
Win 7 Pro 64 bit
You can just go on upgrading an old system forever . I bit the bullit and got out a loan and bought all the parts and made it myself . I repaid the loan back in 6 months with no intrest .
Coolmaster haf 922 case .
Corsair HX750W power supply .
Asus P7P55D deluxe mobo .
Intel i5 760 cpu .
Corsair dominator memory 4 x 2 gig 1600 mhz .
Asus EAH5870 version 2 graphics card .
Win 7 Pro 64 bit meet the board what you expected, :hmmm:
antikristuseke
09-27-10, 06:23 PM
Yes the 5850 does seem to be the way to go regarding video cards, but a little too pricey still (average around $300).:-?
I guess I will have to do some more research on the CPU, I kinda figured that my 2 core running at 550mhz would be noticeably slower than a 4 core at 955mhz!:hmmm:
@ Vendor, my old card is around $100 new now.:yep:
What the bloody hell are you talking about, that number does not represent the operating frequancy of the processors:o
The 550 operates at 3.1Ghz and the 955 operates at 3.2. In your case the processor upgrade makes little to no sense unless you plan to overclokc since very few aplications take advantage of 4 cores. If you want a more immediate performance upgrade the graphics card would be the way to go. Later on you might want to do a processor swap, but to be honest there will be a whole nother generation of microprocessors out there by then.
What the bloody hell are you talking about, that number does not represent the operating frequancy of the processors:o
The 550 operates at 3.1Ghz and the 955 operates at 3.2. In your case the processor upgrade makes little to no sense unless you plan to overclokc since very few aplications take advantage of 4 cores. If you want a more immediate performance upgrade the graphics card would be the way to go. Later on you might want to do a processor swap, but to be honest there will be a whole nother generation of microprocessors out there by then.
You are correct, I didn't know why I put that, it is clearly marked on the box the frequency, and I know it! also shown in PC Wizard/CPU-Z etc! I really don't know why I put that in, obviously typing without thinking, a moment of insanity!!:oops::doh:
So have you decided what you want?
antikristuseke
09-27-10, 09:22 PM
You are correct, I didn't know why I put that, it is clearly marked on the box the frequency, and I know it! also shown in PC Wizard/CPU-Z etc! I really don't know why I put that in, obviously typing without thinking, a moment of insanity!!:oops::doh:
Heh, it happens, I may have overreaced a bit in my reply too.:salute:
So have you decided what you want?
At this stage I might wait for awhile and save some more money, the best move would be a new video card, but the new ones are based on DX11, I don't know if the 5850 would even run in XP with DX9, I suppose it would, just have some of the cool features disabled.:hmmm:
HunterICX
09-28-10, 03:48 AM
At this stage I might wait for awhile and save some more money, the best move would be a new video card, but the new ones are based on DX11, I don't know if the 5850 would even run in XP with DX9, I suppose it would, just have some of the cool features disabled.:hmmm:
I got the HD 5850 running on XP,
you're not missing any cool feature because the card itself doesn't supply you with one. It's the DX11 itself that enhances some graphical features and with a DX11 card it just utilizes the feature a lot better.
I do however upgrade to Win7 as soon I get some extra cash to spend, but that's not only for the DX11 reason. :03:
HunterICX
Arclight
09-28-10, 03:52 AM
Actually you are missing things like tesselation and improved support for multi-core CPU, along with stuff like support for higher shader-models and more advanced effects.
Though I've only seen 1 game so far use tesselation and just a handfull that sport DX11 features.
Hmm, well after Xmas I might look at purchasing the 5850, but at the moment $350 is out of my range!:yep: What do you think of the HD 5850 Wim?:hmmm:
HunterICX
09-28-10, 10:35 AM
What do you think of the HD 5850 Wim?:hmmm:
What I find of the HD5850
My System Specs:
Intel Quad Core Q9400 2.66Ghz
2 x 2 GB Ram
500GB HD
Sapphire HD5850 1Gb GDDR5
Windows XP
So far the games I have which aren't that heavy on eye candy or the latest I've turned on max and it runs it smoothly. Games like DCS: Black Shark, Empire Total War, Mass Effect 2 and some outdated games like BoBII: Wings of Victory for that matter. I hope to put my system to the test when Storm of War: Battle of Britain is released. I'm pleased with the overall performance the card has shown me.
For me it was to ge a bit used to the CCC of ATI, but that's due beeing a long time Nvidia user and used to a different Control panel and ofcouse minor issues where I knew the work around for and had to learn those with ATI's CCC.
The temperature, on idle my card runs a 45ºC - 50ºC and under heavy load I haven't seen it going over 70ºC with the Fan settings on AUTO.
I've chosed for a open design of the card oposed to the default housed designs of ATI, mine is shown here:
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/9680/1408101954.jpg
The reason is that the housed in theory pushes the air out of the back, but it practice that doesn't really work that well and the bugger heats up a lot...with a open design you just have to make sure the airflow of the case is good so the heat can escape.
When my old Nvidia 8800GT broke down I was actually looking for the Nvidia 460GTX 1GB to replace it with but since I've seen the pricetag which was way over the limit I would like to spend on a video card I've chosen the ATI HD5850 as the runner up to replace it as the card fell in the same qualifications I was looking for in a Card
-Peformance
-Low Power input (watt)
-Low Heat
-The pricetag
and falls close to the performance range of the Nvidia 460GTX.
So far I'm pleased with the HD5850, an excellent card for its price.
it also made me look more in ATI's direction when in the future this card gives in or it's time for a upgrade.
Regards,
Wim
I was complaining about my card (HIS HD4850) heating up, playing Far Cry 2 it gets up over 50ºC, I thought that was hot, I didn't like the CCC so I uninstalled it (not the driver) and use ATI Tray Tools, this has an overclocker and you can set the fan speed for a range of temperatures, you may want to check that out.:yep:
Regarding Storm of War: Battle of Britain, I too am waiting eagerly for it's release, I understand that being online will not be a requirement according to OLEG, have you heard of it's release date, I haven't checked for a few months, been a little busy!:D
HunterICX
09-29-10, 03:49 AM
Regarding Storm of War: Battle of Britain, I too am waiting eagerly for it's release, I understand that being online will not be a requirement according to OLEG, have you heard of it's release date, I haven't checked for a few months, been a little busy!:D
About the release date, they mentioned it could be the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain if not the latest would be the end of November.
Oleg himself is against DRM's he said in one of his interviews, so that's good news.
regards,
Wim
About the release date, they mentioned it could be the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain if not the latest would be the end of November.
Oleg himself is against DRM's he said in one of his interviews, so that's good news.
regards,
WimThis is exciting like SH3 was to me!!:D The only failing with BOBII was no multiplay, hope SOWBOB has coop lan play!:yep:
Reece, you made a good choice for removing CCC and use ATI Tray Tools or Riva tools, has significantly improved
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