Big Difference?

[edifice]

Hello,

I just want to konow if there would be a large perhaps noticeable difference between the performance of a Q9300 at stock X48 motherboard and 4gb Geil Black Dragon DDR2 at 1600mhz with a Nvidia 9800GX2, and a new homebuild of a Core i7 920 or 930 and X58 and 6gb of OCZ triple channel DDR3 at 1600 Mhz?

I don't want to pay out close to £500 and not see a dicernable difference between Crysis for example at 1680 x 1050 with everything on medium, would this new upgrade allow for much better settings/quality, and is my GX2 a dead duck and should I look into replacing that along with everything else? As a friend of mine informed me a GX2 is equivalent to a GTX 260?! Is this correct?



I just want some info as all the choices are making me

 

[MadAdmiral]

For gaming, there wouldn't be much of a real world difference. The thing about gaming is that it doesn't rely much on the CPU, but rather the GPU. If you have a somewhat recent build, you need to upgrade the GPU to get better gaming performance. Nothing else will give you much gain in terms of FPS.

If your PC isn't performing as well, I would suggest that you take that 500 pounds and pick up the HD 5850. You'd easily be able to max out Crysis on 1680x. Or pick up the HD 5870 or HD 5970 and be able to max it on 1900x resolutions. Investing in a better GPU would be the smarter choice if you're just gaming.

That said, if you're getting the performance you need/want right now, there isn't any reason to go out and spend a bunch of money.

EDIT: To eliminate any confusion people may have reading this after the fact: by "max out Crysis", I mean playing at maximum details, not maxing out the FPS possible.

 

[dndhatcher]

I think he has the performance of GX2 about right, which means its also about the equivalent of a new ATI 5770. If you want to max out Crysis at 1680x1050, an ATI 5870 in an i7 920 should be playable.

I would predict that overclocking your 2.5GHz core2quad and buying a 5870 would give you a larger gaming performance increase than keeping the same graphics card and getting a new CPU/Motherboard/RAM set.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/multi-core-cpu,2280-10.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5970,2474-8.html

 

[edifice]

Thanks for your comments MadAdmiral, I realise what your saying, but if I buy such an expensive card, am I not in danger bottlenecking my system? And do you see much life left in the system I have?

I have been told that my 9800GX2 was probably being let down by my CPU in the first place? I wish I knew more about all this than I actually do LOL!!! As much as I would like to play the latest games on maximum settings, I also want to try and "future proof" my rig as best I can without having to upgrade to another platform in the not too distant future?

 

[MadAdmiral]

No, see the rest of the explanation. You're system should have quite a bit of life. Besides, the big cards will be able to be used in a future system. It's not like you have to switch to a different card when you buy a new CPU/board...

Look at the prices for the 5870 (if you game at 1900x) or 5850 (if the max res is 1600x). It's very likely you can upgrade to an AM3 system with whatever is left in the budget...

 

[dndhatcher]

pick up the HD 5850. You'd easily be able to max out Crysis on 1680x. Or pick up the HD 5870 or HD 5970 and be able to max it on 1900x resolutions.

Thats not true of Crysis, see links in my post above. A 5870 can barely make 40FPS at 1680x.


Most games are much more GPU intensive so an increase in CPU will not give as much of a performance boost.

See the articles I linked in my post 2 posts up.

 

[MadAdmiral]

40 is great considering that 30 FPS is deemed playable. So the 5870 makes Crysis (with EVERYTHING turned up) playable all the way up to 1900x resolutions.

The 5850 is just barely playable on 1600x, but you can turn something down a little and it would be excellent without you really noticing it...

 

[edifice]

Hey Guys, how about upping to a Q9650 and a bigger card? Would that make a better difference? Just a small after thought?

 

[MadAdmiral]

I wouldn't waste the money on the new CPU. The GPU will give you more performance, but the CPU won't make a difference. You'll just be wasting your money on another CPU for a dead socket.

 

[dndhatcher]

pick up the HD 5850. You'd easily be able to max out Crysis on 1680x.

The 5850 is just barely playable on 1600x, but you can turn something down a little and it would be excellent

Those are not the same thing. Im just trying to clarify...
The second statement is much more accurate.



I think a Q9650 ($325) would be about the same as buying a $30 Coolermaster Hyper 212 and overclocking your exist CPU from 2.5 to 3.0GHz.

 

[MadAdmiral]

Maxing out was meant as maxing out the details, not the FPS. That could have been clearer. I'll fix it.

 

[edifice]

Thank you to you both for all your advice, I am now online trying to decide whether to buy an up to date GPU from ATI of Nvidia, I feel strongly towards nvidia esp seeing as I have the Cooler Master CM Stacker 830 case withnvidia on it LOL!!!

I really do appreciate your help, I know I would save money too by just getting the GPU, but here is where I need your opinions again?! Do I get the best card there is? Or like I have been told on many occasions, do I get a slightly less powerful one as paying full whack would result in not much difference?!

And again is the GTX 295 dead now that ATI brought in the 58XX series of cards?

Sorry to be a pain!!!! I just don't want to make the wrong choice and bottleneck my system etc!!!!

Thanks!!

 

[MadAdmiral]

ATI is the way to go right now. Seriously, don't even consider nVidia. None of their cards can hold a candle to ATI's 5xxx series. None of nVidia's cards support DirectX 11, Eyefinity (using 3 monitors as one), bitstreaming or a number of other features.

I wouldn't get anything less than the HD 5850. If you've got a 1900x monitor, I wouldn't get anything less than the HD 5870.

 

[dndhatcher]

The 5870 is a single core GPU that performs almost the same as the 295 (which is really dual 275 on one card) but the 5870 uses a ton less power and does not have the potential problems that sometimes happen with dual GPU systems.

IN a couple months Nvidias 400 series cards come out. Everything they have now is dead end. Not that it likely matters for the next year or two while software developers work on their DX11 implementations.

 

[edifice]

So to close this topic once and for all, in both of your opinions, I dont need to bother with a new mobo, RAM or CPU? Keep what I have and stay away from nvidia and go for either a 5870 or 5880?

And I can then play pretty much every game inc DX11 with everything on max settings?

 

[MadAdmiral]

You don't need a new CPU, board or RAM. Look into either the 5870 or 5850 depending on the resolution.

You will be able to play every current game on max settings. DirectX 11 may cause a bit of frame rate hit on the 5850, but that won't be mainstream for a while.

 

[edifice]

Thank you, you guys have helped me save a LOT of money overall, I will take your advice and go and get a new ATI card within the next week!!!

Thank you!!!!