Upgrading to 5850?

[sdnly]

I have an Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E7200 (3M Cache, 2.53 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) with 3 gb ddr2 800mhz ram and a 3600 hd radeon as gpu. my screen resolution is 1920*1080.

i'm wondering if it would be the right thing to buy a 5850 as an upgrade, as my main interest are Steam games. however, would i be able to handle BF2/the new Medal of Honor? i'm really looking for minimal 50 fps here otherwise i don't see the point in paying $300, might as well save up $900 and upgrade everything

what i really want to know is how badly would my cpu bottleneck the gpu? how much performance increase would i see from my current gpu to a 5850 with my current setup? keep in mind i can't OC because my mobo is locked

 

[Helltech]

Well you could always buy a good price per perforamnce card now, that will last you untill and THROUGH when you do upgrade with 900 later on..

Thats what I would do. You would see a bottleneck, but it will still perform better then what you have now.

When would your estimated upgrade be? I could suggest a GTX 460 1GB version, for 200 dollars, then in the future when you go to upgrade you can get a SLI compatible motherboard so you can get another 460 if you ever need it....

Also what resolution do you play at and what is your PSU?

 

[sdnly]

As you said, I could buy a price per performance card, such as the 5770/GTX 460, but personally I feel that once I upgrade the other parts (probably only beginning of 2011 though), the 5770 might just be out of place with the rest of the parts where as the 5850 would nicely fit if I get it now and use it through the upgrade.

What that means in other words is that I'll be stuck with it for awhile and if I feel that the bottleneck isn't worth the $300, then I might as well hold onto my money and wait for an eventual price drop on the card to buy it later when I upgrade. Main concern is basically if it would show a tremendous performance increase or not with my current setup.

I have a 500W PSU and I currently play games at lower resolution than 1920*1080 to preserve better fps. This is why I want to upgrade, to play at my original resolution with 50+ fps.

 

[Helltech]

Dual 460's will not be "out of place" in Q1 of 2011. They perform better then a single 480. Hell I'm still using my 260s, and they have been around since June 08. I even play Metro 2033 at max settings.

The 5000 series are getting old yes, but I never suggested them.

Anyway if plan on upgrading your entire computer that soon, then just buy the card you want to have then, and deal with the bottleneck. A CPU bottleneck isn't as bad as you think and you only have to live with it for little while.

 

[OvrClkr]

I have an Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E7200 (3M Cache, 2.53 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) with 3 gb ddr2 800mhz ram and a 3600 hd radeon as gpu. my screen resolution is 1920*1080.

i'm wondering if it would be the right thing to buy a 5850 as an upgrade, as my main interest are Steam games. however, would i be able to handle BF2/the new Medal of Honor? i'm really looking for minimal 50 fps here otherwise i don't see the point in paying $300, might as well save up $900 and upgrade everything

what i really want to know is how badly would my cpu bottleneck the gpu? how much performance increase would i see from my current gpu to a 5850 with my current setup? keep in mind i can't OC because my mobo is locked

I say get a new mobo + GTX 460 and later on when its time to upgrade you can add a second 460 if needed.

With a new board you will be able to overclock that CPU to about 3.1Ghz+ on stock cooling.

Your CPU at 2.5Ghz is going to cause a bottleneck especially in BC2. I play BC2 @ 3.8Ghz + OC'ed 5850 and still get massive frame-drops every now n then. On the other hand MOH is not as demanding as BC2 so you are fine as far as that game goes.

If you absolutely want to get the 5850 then go ahead but you will not see its full potential till you balance your system.

 

[sdnly]

Thanks for the quick responses guys, I'll be thinking this through with the GTX 460.

@OvrClkr: You mention that I won't see it's full potential, which is understandable but what about the performance increase? I guess I'm just waiting to hear a % increase with my setup to see if the purchase is worth it now or not, as I don't know how bad a CPU bottleneck is, because I'd like to get it in the end.

 

[OvrClkr]

Thanks for the quick responses guys, I'll be thinking this through with the GTX 460.

@OvrClkr: You mention that I won't see it's full potential, which is understandable but what about the performance increase? I guess I'm just waiting to hear a % increase with my setup to see if the purchase is worth it now or not, as I don't know how bad a CPU bottleneck is, because I'd like to get it in the end.

you will definitely see a performance increase if you decide to go with the 5850, problem is your board is limiting you by not being able to overclock that CPU. You don't need a new CPU, you just need to get over the 3Ghz hump and add at least a 460 or better