Just bought Radeon 4850/4870/New PSU/RAM Very Frustrated On What To Do

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wick001

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Dec 30, 2008
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First Post!, Hi all!... Please help, So frustrated...

I have a HP m7250n Media Center PC from 2005.

PentiumD 820 2.8 GHZ / 800 MHz front side bus / Socket 755 / Intel 945P Chipset
Asus Motherboard P5LP-LE
4 GB of PNY PC2 DDR2 240pin Ram (speed supported PC2-3200) **NEW**
250GB SATA 7200rpm Hard Drive
650watt BFG Power supply **New**
Visiontek 4850 512mb & Visiontek 4870 512mb **NEW**
**Total New Parts $600**

This whole thing got started when I saw the new Gateway FX6800-01e at best buy. I bought the system for $1249 which included the new Corei7 chip, ddr3 ram 3gigs, HD4850, etc. I got it home and was just not impressed with it. The games weren’t “THAT” much faster than on my HP with the 4850.
So I returned the system, and thought to myself, well, what if I buy the HD4870, upgrade my power supply, and add 4 gigs of ram to my HP? It should run awesome, right?

Well there was no difference in performance with those upgrades to my HP.
So now I have 2 video cards a HD4850 and HD4870, Just bought 4 gigs of ram for my old computer, and a new 650 watt PSU, and now $600 poorer.
I’m really confused and frustrated on what to do here. Should I just take everything back and just stick with my 4850 on this HP computer? Should I re-buy that gateway and keep my power supply and 4870? Should I wait until prices come down for a better deal? Can my HP PentiumD perform any faster by overclocking?

Please help!
 
flyin15sec

flyin15sec

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What i7 did you get? Because if you got a 920, than you are running at a measly 2.6ghz. A STOCK E8400 3.0ghz, when it comes to gaming, will beat up on an i7 920 that is not overclocked at all.

You should not go i7 if you are staying with single video card. The only time i7 beat out fast dual cores like a 4.0ghz E8x00 series is when it is overclocked to 3.6ghz or more and have multiple video card setups.

The problem with your old system is you are using a slow processor. Yes a Pentium D 820@2.8ghz is slower than a E2180@2.0ghz. If you want that HD4870 to shine, I recommend just picking up some extra parts.

Find a nice P45 chipset motherboard from Asus or Gigabyte - $130
4gig DDR2 1066mhz PC8500 Ram - $50 - $70
E8400 - $160
Case - Antec 300 Frys - $35 Microcenter - $39
All the rest of the parts should work fine.

This should get you big improvement over your current Pentium D 820.
 
W

wick001

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If i'm going to buy a new CPU, Motherboard, Ram, I would want it to be the best I can get for obviously the lowest price, that will last me a few years, and be able to handle new and upcoming games.

Can I use my HP case with a new cpu, mobo?
 
col-p-todd

col-p-todd

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you should have kept the I7 system, i can,t imaging that that system wasn't faster than your current system because a i7 920 is alot faster then a pentium d820. t see improvement in your performance you will need a new cpu and this means getting a new mobo and ram. it will end up costing you more then the 1250 you paid for the gateway
 
flyin15sec

flyin15sec

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If you're talking about NO overclocking:
E8600 - $270
Q9650 - $560

With Overclocking and Single GPU:
E8400 - $160, Once you hit 4ghz, anything more will require alot more voltage increase
Q9550 - $320, this process will be plenty at 3.6ghz - 3.8ghz

With Overclocking and Multiple GPU:
i7 920 - $300 , Absolute best buy. Many reports getting this to the 3.8ghz on air. With water definite 4.0ghz.
 
flyin15sec

flyin15sec

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$1250 can buy you a i7 system that can overclock also. I'm pretty sure an OEM like Gateway has locked down BIOS, so there is no option to overclock.
 
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javimars

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wow that gateway case looks awesome but to bad you cant do a extreme overclock on that setup do to lock bios. seems you have money to burn and already have a 4850 and a 4870. i say try to sell the 4850 and try to pick up another 4870 or sell both cards and get the 4870x2 or wait till the nvidia 295gtx comes out and build a i7 system from scratch. also what kind of monitor you using? and what resolution does it support?
 
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serpent1202

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Wick001. You're a train wreck! You have a 4 year old PC your trying to salvage, thats the first problem. Keep that PC as is and turn it into a 2nd box, or donate to good will or something, but don't try to revive it.

If I were you, I'd return everything you can and build yourself a new machine. The Gateway for $1250 is ok, but if your posting on here I would think you read the site frequently and in that case why aren't you building your own machine?

Give us your budget and we will build you the absolute best gaming machine for your budget.
 
D

dhvd79a

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May 9, 2006
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Return it all. Take a deep breath. Think about what you want to do.

Come back here. Describe in as much detail as possible what you want to do including what games you play and what you might play.

Then everyone will help you build the system you want. Probably a much better one that the Gateway.

dave
 
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wick001

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lol, thank you...

I want to stay around $1200.
I want the best system for only gaming possible.
I will not be going over 1680 x 1050 resolution. (happy with my 22" wide)
I would like to stay the ATI route.
Don't know if I should use Vista 32 or 64.

Thank you for the help, this is my first build, so I really don't know what I should get!
 
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serpent1202

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Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Motherboard - $136
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128358

Q9550 CPU - $319
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115041

Gskill 4 gigs of ram - $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231122

WD6401AALS 640 Gig HD - $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136319

DVD Burner - $23
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136319

PC Power & Cooling 750W PSU - $100 ($70 after MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817341011

Cooler Master Case - $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119047

Sapphire 4870X2 Video Card - $490
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102768

Xigmatek CPU Cooler - $37
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003

Xigmatek Retention Clip - $9
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233019

This comes in around $1325. I would put this PC up against almost anything once you OC it. You can easily get it to 3.6 - 3.8 on air with the Xigamtek Cooler.
 
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stonedallday420

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bwhahahaha , so as you state it the i7 is a worse system than your stone age p4...

You have to have a 64bit OS to run over 3.2gig of ram.

A basic understanding of how computers work is required before wasting money on a problem that you don't get.


 
P

Pico_w

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First, nice PSU and nice Video card. 4870 is not a big upgrade from 4850 so return it for the money. What ram did you buy? PC2-3200? You mean PC2-4200? Return it. Get these listed. I chose a quad core cpu because games are starting to utilize multiple cores in the future. Overclocking the Q6600 will be good enough. This rig is the most bang for the money. Get a decent CPU heatsink for overclocking.

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148212
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227269

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131299

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017
 
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javimars

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no need for the 4870x2 as he would only be gaming at 16x10. for max eye-candy and even high aa i would recommend the most a 4850x2 at a price point of $330. he could even use his current 4870 512mb. no need for a power supply as he already bought a 650w.
 
M

megamanx00

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Sep 3, 2008
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1) Your Pentium D is too slow to get the most out of the 4850 alone so you won't really see any difference in using a 4870 instead.

2) If you get a P45 board and a Decent CPU then you should be able to crossfire those cards to get some real good gaming performance.
 
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