Looking to upgrade Ati 1950 pro to HD

[whatisacomputer]

Hi everyone,

I received a gateway computer about 2 years ago, it was one of the first FX series gateway they made for gaming. It came with 2 Ati 1950 cross fire card. I have taken part the computer and clean the card once or twice since then ( currently tempature running around 60-70). I'm looking to upgrade to a new pair I was wondering if any computer savy people here could give me a little guide as to what kind of cards to purchase, my main goal for the new card is lower the tempature and better performance. my budget is around $200-300 I have list the spec of my gateway below:

Intel® 975X (Big-Arm) - Viiv™ capable mother board (Northbridge: Intel D975X )
700 watt Grantsdale extended ATX
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition
Core 2 Duo E6700 (2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, 4 MB cache, non-HT, Conroe LGA775, EM64T, XD, EIST, VT)


Thanks.

 

[jay2tall]

Just get a single 5850. That will last your for a while. And is several times faster than your pair right now. A single card will run much cooler than 2.

 

[whatisacomputer]

ok thanks, the new HD cards all have the same slot configeration as the Ati 1950? and will my power supply be sufficient?

 

[edeawillrule]

Eh with the cpu that he has (it's not weak but it would bottleneck a 5850 a bit), the pci-e 1.0 mobo, the odds are low clocked ram, and Windows Xp he would probably be better off with a 4850 or 4870 which would still be a big boost that would be more suitable for his current pc.

 

[edeawillrule]

Here's a chart comparing a 4870, 4850, 2 X1900 XTs in CF, and a single X1950 Pro (2 X1950 Pros in CF wasn't on the list so I picked the closest thing).

=on&prod[2116]=on&prod[2142]=on&prod[2140]=on]http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-q3-2008/compare,799.html?prod[2114]=on&prod[2116]=on&prod[2142]=on&prod[2140]=on

Note that those scores were from when the HD 4xx0 series cards were brand new so they will be even higher now since drivers have matured greatly.

 

[jay2tall]

If you can run 2 1950's you can run a single 5870. 700watts is more than enough.

It would be a SIGNIFICANT upgrade.

 

[edeawillrule]

If you can run 2 1950's you can run a single 5870. 700watts is more than enough.

It would be a SIGNIFICANT upgrade.

And a waste of money since he wouldn't be using its full potential.

 

[edeawillrule]

The 4870 would more than double his current performance and cost half as much as the 5850 and only 40% of what a 5870 would cost.

 

[whatisacomputer]

Thanks for all the input, edeawillrule I like your suggestion it makes sense because you take into account my computer processor and motherboard.... I'll go with some form of 4xxx HD. I don't want to get a 5850 if it can't be used to its full potential

P.S.

Although I am curious as to the 5850 HD ability to run direct X 11.... is that something too far head I probably will need a whole new computer to see the difference?

 

[edeawillrule]

Thanks for all the input, edeawillrule I like your suggestion it makes sense because you take into account my computer processor and motherboard.... I'll go with some form of 4xxx HD. I don't want to get a 5850 if it can't be used to its full potential

P.S.

Although I am curious as to the 5850 HD ability to run direct X 11.... is that something too far head I probably will need a whole new computer to see the difference?

You're welcome :]
And if you wanted to benefit from an HD 5xxx series card's DirectX 11 capabilities then you would need to upgrade from Windows Xp to Windows 7 (or Vista) which I actually recommend doing.
If you do that then you may want to look at the HD 5770 which will perform on par with and cost about the same amount as the 4870 once drivers for it mature more. It would also consume less power although that isn't as much of a concern since you have that strong power supply lol.

 

[jay2tall]

And a waste of money since he wouldn't be using its full potential.

Obviously any card in his machine will run better if it was in an OCed i7 machine. Likewise, if he installed a 4870 in his machine it would obviously perform better in an i7. His 975x motherboard and E6700 will have no problems running a 5850 card. Whether the price difference between a 4870 and a 5850 is worth it to him, well that is his call. But in no way will a 5850 perform poorly in his system, or be a waste of money.

 

[paperfox]

how about a HD 5770? That should be about a 4870 in performance and has DX 11. But will cost alittle more I think.

 

[anarchy4sale]

Paperfox FTW

 

[edeawillrule]

Obviously any card in his machine will run better if it was in an OCed i7 machine. Likewise, if he installed a 4870 in his machine it would obviously perform better in an i7. His 975x motherboard and E6700 will have no problems running a 5850 card. Whether the price difference between a 4870 and a 5850 is worth it to him, well that is his call. But in no way will a 5850 perform poorly in his system, or be a waste of money.

Who said anything about an i7 machine
And you should read this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-balanced-platform,2469.html
A Pentium Dual Core E6300 which outclasses a Core 2 Duo E6700 in clock speed and is of wolfdale design the only area where it is weaker is L2 Cache and it even bottlenecks a 4850 in some cases and holds back a 4890 in almost every scenario so do some research before recommending greatly overpowered and overpriced gpus for underpowered platforms.

 

[edeawillrule]

how about a HD 5770? That should be about a 4870 in performance and has DX 11. But will cost alittle more I think.

A 5770 would be a wonderful idea if he plans on upgrading to Windows 7 or Vista in the future :]

 

[whatisacomputer]

I got some more questions after some digging online.

I was checking out the cards over at Newegg HD 5770 Sapphire only costs $179, it only have a 1 6pin power connector. Could I plug in the card and use the old power line from the 1950pro(which happens to be a Sapphire brand as well) ?

If I were to upgrade to windows 7 that's an additional $199 a little over my budget but will this investment last me say...another 2 years?

I mainly use this computer as a home entertainment system to watch dvd/play some latest computer games in the family room, hooked up to a 24 inch LCD I think its 1900x1200.

One of the area on this computer i forgot to mention is the memory, it came with a standard 2gb 667mhz memory, there are two additional slots should I add 2 more will it be that big of difference on the GPU?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102858

 

[edeawillrule]

I got some more questions after some digging online.

I was checking out the cards over at Newegg HD 5770 Sapphire only costs $179, it only have a 1 6pin power connector. Could I plug in the card and use the old power line from the 1950pro(which happens to be a Sapphire brand as well) ?

If I were to upgrade to windows 7 that's an additional $199 a little over my budget but will this investment last me say...another 2 years?

I mainly use this computer as a home entertainment system to watch dvd/play some latest computer games in the family room, hooked up to a 24 inch LCD I think its 1900x1200.

One of the area on this computer i forgot to mention is the memory, it came with a standard 2gb 667mhz memory, there are two additional slots should I add 2 more will it be that big of difference on the GPU?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102858

If what you mean by power line is 6 pin power connector then yes you can use the same one.

And if you ever plan on upgrading to 7 from Xp (even if it's year or 2 from now) then the 5770 would be worth the additional cost over the 4870 IMO.

And as for the amount of memory adding 2 more gb surely wouldn't hurt but I don't think it would be absolutely necessary.