Upgrade from 8800 GTX

[drpcken]

I'm currently running an 8800 GTX on a GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R with a Q6600. 4 gigs of gskill on Windows 7 pro x64.

The 8800 GTX still runs great but I'm looking to upgrade to either a nvidia gtx 470 fermi http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130550 or an ATI 5870. Any suggestions? I always get out of the loop with the latest and greatest and have to catch up when it is time to buy again.

I tend to lean toward nvidia most of the time But my buddy recently got an ATI card and loves it. I remember there was a good comparison chart on here but I'm having trouble finding it.

 

[wa1]

I would stay with your current 8800GTX, your CPU will bottlenecking the new high-end card like HD5870 or GTX 470...

If you want to go with higher card then you will better with a new system...

 

[drpcken]

really? a quad core processor?

 

[jonnyboyC]

do you have that q6600 overclocked at all

 

[drpcken]

no i don't

 

[jonnyboyC]

well at stock speed your q6600 will probably bottleneck, if you try overclocking, you may be able to get by with your q6600 otherwise you'll have to upgrade

 

[spotless]

wait up, keep ur money save...yet

 

[amnotanoobie]

OC'ing would be the quickest and advisable way to increase your rig's performance in the short term. Get a better cooler and probably some new thermal paste, and then read up:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/240001-29-howto-overclock-quads-duals-guide

 

[drpcken]

I actually already have a xigmatek cooler on the cpu, it is huge. with arctic 5 thermal paste.

 

[drpcken]

ok i'm thinking of using this as a guide http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlK4S5z2ScE

 

[drpcken]

Ok instead of starting a new thread I'll just put this here: Here is my machine:
MB: GA-EP45-UD3R
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775
CPU Cooler: XIGMATEK HDT-RS1283 120mm CPU Cooler
RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
GPU: Geforce 8800 GTX

Would it be better to overclock the cpu so a new gpu won't bottleneck? Or can I get a new CPU for that board?

 

[megamanx00]

I say get a 5870, a good CPU cooler, and overclock your CPU to 3.2GHz or more. That should keep you gaming for a while .

 

[drpcken]

Would the xigmatek i have now be sufficient? My case is this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137

It does an excellent job at cooling mixed with the xig cooler

 

[megamanx00]

Yeah, you should be good to overclock.

 

[drpcken]

Great!!. Next question Whats the best way to OC this setup? I haven't overclocked anything since I OC'd a Pentium 2 back in the day Thanks again everyone!

 

[jonnyboyC]

well overclocking, is really alot of hit and miss, you'll want to raise your fsb to the speed your looking for, then raise you core voltage, You'll also want to drop the speed of your ram to the lowest multiplier to ensure it won't be a stability problem. once you get your desired speed and you can boot into windows. you'll want to use realtemp to monitor temps and prime 95 to stress test, if you get a crash you'll need to bump up the core voltage, and possibly the ppl voltage. As your front side bus climbs higher it becomes more important to raise this as well

 

[amnotanoobie]

Great!!. Next question Whats the best way to OC this setup? I haven't overclocked anything since I OC'd a Pentium 2 back in the day Thanks again everyone!

Start here : HOWTO: Overclock C2Q (Quads) and C2D (Duals) - Guide v1.6.1

 

[Tat]

I just OC'ed same setup as yours...

That is, same MB and CPU. We're in a pretty hot place, but it seems (still testing) that it's stable and not getting too hot (68 Degrees) at 9x333Mhz. However, with our CPU we couldn't get it higher without raising voltage and thus increasing the heat level too much... But others got it to work at far lower voltages...

Good advice is to use above mentioned guide and remember to turn C1E and EIST of, as well as setting PCI Express to 100Mhz and Ram to the lowest speed - then after you find a stable speed, you can go back and look at the RAM . . .

BTW. My 8800 is running hot when using it 107 degrees last time I checked while running a low end 3D game - worried that it may burn out . . .

 

[asteldian]

Overclocking aside, if you want a new card the 5870 is the way to go. The 470 was designed to beat the 5850 but was priced at a 5870 lvl (typical Nvidia tend to be overpriced). The 5870 is a better performing card, add in the bad factors of the 470 (heat, noise power) and it really is no competition. Performance wise the 5870 wins, quality design wise it wins again

 

[unknown_13]

Well i'd say go for the HD 5870. Your current CPU won't bottleneck that card as long as you have it OC' ed to 3GHz and above.

 

[amnotanoobie]

Well i'd say go for the HD 5870. Your current CPU won't bottleneck that card as long as you have it OC' ed to 3GHz and above.

Even if the 5870 is bottlenecked, it would still perform a lot faster than the 8800GTX.

@OP
5870 is the way to go.

 

[unknown_13]

Even if the 5870 is bottlenecked, it would still perform a lot faster than the 8800GTX.

@OP
5870 is the way to go.

Yes, that's true, especially at 1080p res, cause then the GPU will do a lot more work than the CPU. But, to get most out of the 5870, OP should try and OC, 2.7,2.8 GHz should remove the little bottleneck. 3GHz and above if he's running low res ( like 1440x900 ).

8800GTX~HD 4770, so a 5870 which is around 2.3x-2.4x faster than a 4770, should be pretty much of a good GPU upgrade.

 

[fisshy]

5870 IS the way, Just tweak up the CPU a BIt , http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus...ing-updated-core-2-a.html Heres another guide

 

[drpcken]

ok i've set everything but the voltage. right now it is at 9x312 for a 2.8 ghz. RAM is default timing right now. What do i set the voltage as?

 

[fisshy]

Run A program called Prime 95 On a torture test with small FET's for at least 6 hours (YMMV)

If everything turns out fine you should just leave the voltages as is

Edit= Watch your temps Very carefully with a program called Speedfan OR HWmonitor (Google it and you will get a download link)

Don't let your core temps over 70'C!!!