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Computer to cope with 'Radeon HD 4870 X2' ?!

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ButterBricks   02-07-2009 at 02:37:41 AM

Hey everyone,

Mainly, I was just wondering what kind of computer you would be to be able to back a 'Radeon HD 4870 X2'. . .

As I'm looking at buying one, I understand I might need to upgrade components; I'm hoping however that I won't need to get a new motherboard and start all over again.. Maybe someone could suggest one that might work with my current configuration if the 'Radeon HD 4870 X2' won't work ?

~Please excuse my ignorance. :pt1cable:



My Spec's:

Mainboard : Intel D945GTP
Chipset : Intel i945G/GZ
Processor : Intel Pentium 4 640 @ 3200 MHz
Physical Memory : 5120 MB
Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 Service Pack 3


Cheers!


:bounce:


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theAnimal   02-07-2009 at 02:54:31 AM
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What size/resolution is your monitor?

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ButterBricks   02-07-2009 at 04:44:59 AM
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theAnimal wrote :

What size/resolution is your monitor?




Well it's 1280 by 1024 and 14" diagonally across the screen screen. However I am definatly upgrading later!

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cjl   02-07-2009 at 07:27:50 AM
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You'd have a MAJOR cpu bottleneck there. Even something like a 4830 or 4850 would probably be severely bottlenecked by a 3.2GHz P4.

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theAnimal   02-07-2009 at 08:11:22 AM
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ButterBricks wrote :

Well it's 1280 by 1024 and 14" diagonally across the screen screen. However I am definatly upgrading later!



Unless you're upgrading to a 30" monitor, I don't think there's any need for a 4870x2.

In order to upgrade your CPU, you will need a new motherboard.

You could get a Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R, E5200, HD4850 and 22" monitor for ~$450.

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ButterBricks   02-08-2009 at 12:24:00 PM
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theAnimal wrote :

Unless you're upgrading to a 30" monitor, I don't think there's any need for a 4870x2.

In order to upgrade your CPU, you will need a new motherboard.

You could get a Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R, E5200, HD4850 and 22" monitor for ~$450.




~~~
Well I know there are i7's and stuff out now back isn't a Pentium 4, 3.2 ghz good ?

~I mean I'm pretty sure its only single core, but that's still alright isn't it ?


Yea, The motherboard is getting on, no real room for expansion later. The whole idea is getting a great card now and buying another heaps later when there a lot cheaper.


*What you mean by 'bottle neck'?

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theAnimal   02-08-2009 at 05:47:56 PM
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ButterBricks wrote :

~~~
Well I know there are i7's and stuff out now back isn't a Pentium 4, 3.2 ghz good ?

~I mean I'm pretty sure its only single core, but that's still alright isn't it ?


Yea, The motherboard is getting on, no real room for expansion later. The whole idea is getting a great card now and buying another heaps later when there a lot cheaper.


*What you mean by 'bottle neck'?



I upgraded from a Pentium D to an E5300, and it is more than 2x as fast.

Bottle neck means that your CPU is not fast enough to keep the video card supplied with data, so you will not use the full potential of the card. I would say an HD4830 would be the highest you would want to get.

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meodowla   02-08-2009 at 06:07:36 PM
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cjl wrote :

You'd have a MAJOR cpu bottleneck there. Even something like a 4830 or 4850 would probably be severely bottlenecked by a 3.2GHz P4.



What about AMD Athlon64 X2 6000+ @ 3GHz? Does it bottleneck with HD4850?

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cjl   02-08-2009 at 09:05:06 PM
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A 3.2GHz P4 is quite low end now - the newer Core 2 architecture is quite a bit faster at lower clock speeds (so a 3.2GHz P4 is nowhere near half of a 3.2Ghz Core 2 Duo). As for the Athlon 64 x2 6000+, I'm not as familiar with those, but IIRC, they were quite a bit better than the P4s. it would probably still bottleneck sometimes (as it is still inferior to the Core architecture), but it would be better off by quite a bit.

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theAnimal   02-08-2009 at 11:12:53 PM
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meodowla wrote :

What about AMD Athlon64 X2 6000+ @ 3GHz? Does it bottleneck with HD4850?



You should be okay with that combo.

Reply to theAnimal
idisarmu   02-08-2009 at 11:44:04 PM
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but then you would still need a new mobo.

Reply to idisarmu
ButterBricks   02-09-2009 at 02:44:14 AM
- 0 +

Mmmmk, well in guessing 5Gb of RAM is enough (Correct me if I'm wrong); What kind of CPU would I need to use the full potential of the card ?

Thats pretty much all I need to worry about to run it isn't it, RAM & CPU ?
~Besides cooling etc.


Message edited by ButterBricks on 02-09-2009 at 02:44:39 AM
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