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[Solved] Upgrade Advice

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - [Solved] Upgrade Advice

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Best answer from hallowed_dragon.

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selicate   10-09-2009 at 12:15:34 PM

So, I'm in the process of building a new system, but I'm buying the parts piece by piece over a few months as my budget allows. I've decided to purchase the graphics card first, since I can just drop it into my current system and get benefits out of it until I have all the parts, whereas with mobo/cpu/memory I'd have to wait until I have all three.

I'm going with a 5850.

My question is, does anyone see any major problems (besides a CPU bottleneck, already know that's coming) with running it in this for now:

Asus P5AD2 Premium
Pentium 4F @ 3.2 GHz
2GB DDR2-533
~4 1/2 year old 500w Antec SP-500 PSU
XP Pro SP3

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by selicate on 10-09-2009 at 12:40:51 PM
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Best answer from hallowed_dragon

selicate wrote :

So, I'm in the process of building a new system, but I'm buying the parts piece by piece over a few months as my budget allows. I've decided to purchase the graphics card first, since I can just drop it into my current system and get benefits out of it until I have all the parts, whereas with mobo/cpu/memory I'd have to wait until I have all three.

I'm going with a 5850.

My question is, does anyone see any major problems (besides a CPU bottleneck, already know that's coming) with running it in this for now:

Asus P5AD2 Premium
Pentium 4F @ 3.2 GHz
2MB DDR2-533
~4 1/2 year old 600w Antec PSU
XP Pro SP3



You will have a severe bottleneck at resolutions below 1680x1050, but at higher resolutions it will not be that drastic. Until the next build a 5850 will go as fast as the CPU can supply information, so I guess it will be better than anything you have at the moment. For less bottleneck I suggest cranking up the detail (AA&AF) to the maximum in any game shifting the power to the card not the CPU. If you have monitor with a resolution under 1680x1050 configure the driver for the card to give you the maximum quality not performance stressing the card to the max.

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hallowed_dragon   10-09-2009 at 12:26:31 PM
Best answer

selicate wrote :

So, I'm in the process of building a new system, but I'm buying the parts piece by piece over a few months as my budget allows. I've decided to purchase the graphics card first, since I can just drop it into my current system and get benefits out of it until I have all the parts, whereas with mobo/cpu/memory I'd have to wait until I have all three.

I'm going with a 5850.

My question is, does anyone see any major problems (besides a CPU bottleneck, already know that's coming) with running it in this for now:

Asus P5AD2 Premium
Pentium 4F @ 3.2 GHz
2MB DDR2-533
~4 1/2 year old 600w Antec PSU
XP Pro SP3



You will have a severe bottleneck at resolutions below 1680x1050, but at higher resolutions it will not be that drastic. Until the next build a 5850 will go as fast as the CPU can supply information, so I guess it will be better than anything you have at the moment. For less bottleneck I suggest cranking up the detail (AA&AF) to the maximum in any game shifting the power to the card not the CPU. If you have monitor with a resolution under 1680x1050 configure the driver for the card to give you the maximum quality not performance stressing the card to the max.

------------------------------ Q6600 stock; GB-P35-DS3L; 4GB A-DATA Vitesta Extreme; Sapphire ATI 4870 760/1000; 1+ TB HDDs (Seagate + Maxtor + WD); OCZ StealthXtream 600W; ASUS VW222U 22"
 Reply to hallowed_dragon
sirkillalot   10-09-2009 at 12:27:46 PM

i hope thats 2 giga b ram other than that no major problem man :)


Message edited by sirkillalot on 10-09-2009 at 12:29:13 PM
------------------------------ AMD P2955X4 ATI 5870 DX11 [:boudy:2]
24" dell 1900x1200 2x74 wraptor hd's1 X-FI pro gamer sounds
2G ram log.Z5500 speakers 650w toughpower G15kb dvd....ITS A MEAN GREEN GAMING MACHINE
 Reply to sirkillalot
selicate   10-09-2009 at 12:41:47 PM

Whoops, yea, 2GB. Edited to fix.

Also, 24" monitor at 1920x1200

Reply to selicate
sirkillalot   10-09-2009 at 12:43:03 PM

does it do 1900x1200?

------------------------------ AMD P2955X4 ATI 5870 DX11 [:boudy:2]
24" dell 1900x1200 2x74 wraptor hd's1 X-FI pro gamer sounds
2G ram log.Z5500 speakers 650w toughpower G15kb dvd....ITS A MEAN GREEN GAMING MACHINE
 Reply to sirkillalot
selicate   10-09-2009 at 01:00:20 PM

Possibly. I'd have to check later when I'm home.

It's a Dell 2407WFP. Would it be a problem if it didn't support that resolution?

Reply to selicate
sirkillalot   10-09-2009 at 01:07:29 PM

no! its also what i have so it does 1900x1200 good choice
o and since your upgrading stuff later i wouldnt worry about bottlenecking


Message edited by sirkillalot on 10-09-2009 at 01:09:56 PM
------------------------------ AMD P2955X4 ATI 5870 DX11 [:boudy:2]
24" dell 1900x1200 2x74 wraptor hd's1 X-FI pro gamer sounds
2G ram log.Z5500 speakers 650w toughpower G15kb dvd....ITS A MEAN GREEN GAMING MACHINE
 Reply to sirkillalot
metalweenis   10-09-2009 at 04:30:03 PM

The 5850 is the smartest choice you can make at the current time. If you're running a resolution of 1920x1080 or over the card will do it's job and make you happy. It seems that you are, so order it up!

Reply to metalweenis
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