Bought a 6850, have questions.

[thisguy105]

Ignorance is a bliss. I'm new at pc gaming and I do know a little bit, but I don't know all the technical details of the graphics cards, processors, mobos and I would like to learn about them. I don't want to go to forums every time asking if so and so parts good. I would like to have enough knowledge to know what parts to buy myself. Anyways, I bought a 6850 without knowing it's a midrange card. The guy at the shop told me it was a high end card. After finding out I'm a bit disappointed because I'm going for the high end stuff that will last a long time and run games without problems. This is what I bought.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131655
ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150516

XFX HD-685X-ZNDC Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260
CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C9

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX

Should I return the graphics card and get a better one? Or return everything and get better stuff?

 

[bystander]

While the 6850 is the new midranged card of the 6000 series. The high end line up has not yet been released, so it actually is a high end card for now. It performs very close to the 5870/5850's, in many cases it's faster.

You got a nice card for your needs and it overclocks to 6870 performance.

Btw, what monitor resolution do you use?

 

[thisguy105]

Ah fudge, The guy told me that amd is all I need and it's more of a bang for your buck than intel. I guess the cards not too bad plus I might do crossfire, I think that's what it's called. So should I just keep this build? Or exchange everything? My resolution is 1920x1080 will it run games at high settings?

Tweak the resolution? By that you mean lowering it? If so than that sucks...

 

[bystander]

For any 1920x1200 or lower resolution with a single card solution, the AMD is all you need. You got a high end budget build. There are faster setups, but they cost more.

The 6850 is one of the best bang for buck higher end cards and so is the Phenom 965 BE CPU.

Ya, the 6850 won't be the high end card of the series, but until the 69xx cards are released, it is.

 

[thisguy105]

Should I wait until the 69 series comes out and return my card?

 

[builderbobftw]

YOu should jsut buy another 6850 and presto high end.

Lol what?

The AMd 955/865 (same ***) still does fine once you ge tit 4.0ghz.

 

[thisguy105]

Thanks guys. Last time I ask though, should I just build the damn computer and crossfire it later to get a bigger leap in performance? But wait, I read that not all games support crossfire, so will the card do just fine on it's own? Sorry for asking so many questions, I'm new at this stuff. And one more thing, how long will this setup last and did I get my moneys worth?

 

[notty22]

One 6850 is enough imo, to impress a new pc gamer. Things are going to look much prettier than console graphics, with the hardware you have.
A 6850 is easily faster than a gtx 285- o/c hd 4890 and comparable to a 5850 (almost), plenty of gaming power. Once you get used to everything, all the settings. What AA does and means to you, you might feel the need for more power.
See what the landscape looks like then.

 

[bystander]

Those are all up to personal tastes. It will still be able to run all games for the next 2-3 years, but towards the end, you likely won't be able to turn all the settings up. Of course that goes for almost any system.

I'd try it out the way it is. If you like how it performs now, then you don't need to get a 2nd 6850. If you find performance is suffering, then you can add another. This will be largely effected by the resolution you play at.

 

[builderbobftw]

One 6850 is enough imo, to impress a new pc gamer. Things are going to look much prettier than console graphics, with the hardware you have.
A 6850 is easily faster than a gtx 285- o/c hd 4890 and comparable to a 5850 (almost), plenty of gaming power. Once you get used to everything, all the settings. What AA does and means to you, you might feel the need for more power.
See what the landscape looks like then.

Notty you made addict! Gratz!

Also, Almost all modern games support crossifre. The ones that e maxed dont can easily out on a single card (console ports).

The best soultion is to just buy another card for X-fire, giving yourself a setup that matches the 5970, last gens flag ship.

 

[thisguy105]

Well I've built my computer and it's not displaying anything. I double checked twice to make sure the graphics card was in properly and it was. One thing though, when I was putting in the processor I had a bit of trouble with it. I wasn't rough with it but I don't know if I did damage to it. I have a DVI adapter and a vga cable on it. Could it be due to my old harddrive having the old bios on it?

 

[bystander]

I'd recommend following these steps: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-boot-video-problems

It's a guide to help with your exact problem.

 

[purple stain]

What games are you looking to play now and in the future?
Would make it easier into determing how serious the games are and what you will want them to look like.

 

[thisguy105]

I plan on playing future games. They don't have to have ultra high settings, I'm happy with my purchase. I just bumped this thread with another question on trouble shooting.

So, I made all the right connections and I'm hoping it will work. Before I turn it on, my harddrive has my os on it and the old bios. Will that cause it not to boot?

 

[bystander]

I plan on playing future games. They don't have to have ultra high settings, I'm happy with my purchase. I just bumped this thread with another question on trouble shooting.

So, I made all the right connections and I'm hoping it will work. Before I turn it on, my harddrive has my os on it and the old bios. Will that cause it not to boot?

The bios is not on your harddrive. That is stored on the motherboard itself. You may have to do a fresh reinstall of your OS, but it's not a problem with the bios. No matter what's on the harddrive, you should still see the boot screen.

 

[thisguy105]

Well I don't. I have no clue why it's not displaying anything. I read the guide you linked and I forgot to put in the audio speaker. I did that, connected everything right but it still won't turn on. I'm ready to give up. It's been three days. I had no problem putting my other system together.

 

[purple stain]

What games exactly?Please list game names of present that you play and the future ones you would like to..Example: Call of Duty Black Ops....Battlefield 3

Do you hear a *beep* sound when you turn on the computer?
Are you sure the Graphics card is properly seated in to the Pci-express slot.(can you see the GPU fan running when you turn it on,will tell if power is going to it)

 

[thisguy105]

No I don't hear beep sounds, I plugged in the audio speaker from the case and I don't hear beeps, the graphics card fan is running and the games I plan on playing:
Portal 2, GTA IV, Heavily modded oblivion, fallout 3, fallout new vegas, morrowind, I can't think of anything else right now, but I do know there are games coming out that I want to play.

 

[purple stain]

Yah,none of those games are particularay demanding you should have no problems running those games on maxed out settings...
I'm not sure on this but i'm sure your supposed to hear a *beep* sound when your computer first turns on..
The mobo is new?If so, it might be defective or the battery could be bad,i'm not sure but this could be 1 of many problems almost anything could be defective.
How old is your monitor?Are you sure thats not the problem,trying hooking up a sifferent one if you have one.

 

[thisguy105]

Will do thanks.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

look, if you wanted a high end card and the salesperson didnt sell you one, take it back and get a high end card like a nvidia gtx570 or gtx580. Also make sure you got a good power supply to run these things. 650w+ corsair, seasonic or antec are good choices. With PSU's remember you get what you pay for most of the time, dont cheap out on the PSU. as to your no display problem - did you plug in the gfx cards extra power connectors? what PSU do you have??

 

[thisguy105]

Yeah when the 69 series comes out tomorrow and if I have enough money I might exchange my graphics card for that. I also bought a new power supply the other day, my older one didn't have 2 pci e cables.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

 

[thisguy105]

FFFUUUU- this is making me mad to the point that I want to return everything.

 

[purple stain]

Where did you buy the card from,didn't you say something like a computer store?
Why not take your comp to the store and ask them if they can solve it?

 

[thisguy105]

I bought it from a local store. I'd rather not though because I don't have a car right now and taking the bus down there would be a pain in the ass. FFFUUUU- I just want to play civ 5.....