Advice on a graphics option.. for a 300ish budget.

Jibberish · Nov 12, 2013

Hello guys.. I've got a PC built from 2008, from Dell. XPS 630, Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9550 @ 2.83GHz, Clock Speed 3Ghz, L2 Cashe Size: 12288 . I had been running dual ATI Radeo 4850s.. crossfired together. Suprisingly this setup has served me fine the 5 years I've been running.. including Call of Duty: Black Ops2 .

Now that I've bought the COD Ghosts games,, I'm force to go to a DirectX11 compatible card. I don't want to spend too much money, any more that 300 then I'll start thinking about building an new PC.

I wanted your advice... between the following two options:

I could buy two of these and crossfire together.
http://www.amazon.com/R7850-2xMiniDisplayPort-TWIN-FROZR-2GD5/dp/B007MLSGHE/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Or,, would I be better off going with a single:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FR6XPL8/ref=asc_df_B00FR6XPL82824448?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=pg-469-34-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395097&creativeASIN=B00FR6XPL8

I do need to verify my power supply, but I think it is a 750w.

I'd love to hear your opinions. I don't game that much, but do want to be able to play COD for the next couple years before eventually buying a new PC.

sincreator · Nov 12, 2013

Honestly your cpu will most likely hold back anything that cost $250 or more in graphics cards. A HD7870/GTX760 would probably do well for you. In games that are cpu intensive you may suffer a bit, meaning your CPU may bottleneck your graphics card.

Those chips(q9550) are known to be decent overclockers, so it may be worth it to check into that. Just make sure you have proper power, cooling, and motherboard to be able to do so first. You don't want to damage anything.

Jibberish · Nov 12, 2013

sincreator :

So.. doing a quick Amazon search.. I can find an HD 7870 for about $200.. with 2 gig of video ram. You think that would work better than two 7850s crossfired with 2gig on each card? Basically slower cards but twice the memory,, wondering if that's better or worse.

sincreator · Nov 12, 2013

Jibberish :

You will be bottlenecked by your cpu just with 1 7870, let alone a crossfire 7850 setup. You will see the same performance either way in most games because of the CPU bottleneck...

If you get a new cpu, mobo, and ram, the 7850 crossfire setup would then be more powerful than the single 7870. That would be the only way I would suggest the 7850 crossfire over a single 7870.

sora · Nov 12, 2013

Jibberish :

Hello guys.. I've got a PC built from 2008, from Dell. XPS 630, Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9550 @ 2.83GHz, Clock Speed 3Ghz, L2 Cashe Size: 12288 . I had been running dual ATI Radeo 4850s.. crossfired together. Suprisingly this setup has served me fine the 5 years I've been running.. including Call of Duty: Black Ops2 .

Now that I've bought the COD Ghosts games,, I'm force to go to a DirectX11 compatible card. I don't want to spend too much money, any more that 300 then I'll start thinking about building an new PC.

I wanted your advice... between the following two options:

I could buy two of these and crossfire together.
http://www.amazon.com/R7850-2xMiniDisplayPort-TWIN-FROZR-2GD5/dp/B007MLSGHE/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Or,, would I be better off going with a single:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FR6XPL8/ref=asc_df_B00FR6XPL82824448?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=pg-469-34-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395097&creativeASIN=B00FR6XPL8

I do need to verify my power supply, but I think it is a 750w.

I'd love to hear your opinions. I don't game that much, but do want to be able to play COD for the next couple years before eventually buying a new PC.

The 7850 would not run with your current CPU. You'll most likely need to upgrade your entire computer.

Apbg10 · Nov 12, 2013

Jibberish :

The vram on the two 7850's don't stack, so you would still have 2gb of memory. The 7850 setup would be faster but the CPU may not be strong enough to take full advantage of those cards. A GTX 760 or a 7870 XT would probably be the best cards to consider if you don't want to upgrade your CPU.

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Advice on a graphics option.. for a 300ish budget.

Jibberish

Honorable

Apbg10

sincreator

Splendid

Jibberish

Honorable

sincreator

Splendid

sora

Splendid

Apbg10

Honorable

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