Upgrade or New Build?

yayitsm4tt

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Feb 21, 2011
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I've been out of the loop since I last built my rig back in late 2007, early 2008. I've been trying to re-educate myself, but it's time consuming and searching forum after forum means I'll probably never upgrade or rebuild =\. So apologies if this is posted somewhere (and if so, just point me to it), thanks.

My primary focus is to upgrade my video card (all specs listed at the end). I need it to run Crysis 2 smoothly (more for the SDK/game engine than the game itself). I'm currently looking at the GTX 570 (no ATI cards, since Nvidia/Intel play better with game development software). I also don't want to spend an arm and a leg if it can be avoided.
My main concerns are:
--What is the best card for the price for Crysis 2?
--Will it fit in my case (Antec 900)?
--Will it play nice with the MoBo? (I know it doesn't have PCI-E 2.0, which could bottleneck performance)
--Do I need to update my PSU?
--Want the GPU to have stereoscopic 3D capability for future use.


Am I correct on my guess for the GPU? Also, if I need to update other areas of the rig, or even replace the whole core (MB, CPU, RAM, GPU, PSU) - what would you suggest?

Thanks!


Specs:
OS: Win7 Home Premium x64
CPU: QuadCore Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, 2600 MHz
Motherboard: DFI LANParty P35-T2 / P35-T2R/S
RAM: 4 Sticks (2 GB DDR2)
GPU: NVidia FeForce 8800GT (512MB)
HDD: (3 Total) 2 500GB @ 7200RPM and one TB @ 7200 RPM
PSU: PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W

& Two 22" Monitors @ 1680x1050
 
Well on a single 1680x1050 monitor. A 5850 or any card of that caliber would do you justice.

Personally, Would yo have the budget for a new build? If you will, its better for you to build a new system. From 8800 GT even a 460 GTX gets a HUGE boost.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/178?vs=180

So my suggestion, you should check out the builds in siggy, re-educate yourself on some of the things that have passed.

Your concerns:
1. Probably, to run on your single 1680x1050, a 6870 would be fine. Head room would be a 560 Ti or a 6950 1GB (get the 560 Ti though, for some reason the 6950 1GB is good at every resolution above 1680x1050).
2. Yes most will fit in your case, if it is anything like the counter part the 902, it'll fit up to a 10 in card i believe. My 902 fits my 8 inch 5850 fine.
3. No just do a new build if possible, the PCI 1x slot will bottleneck to much IMO,
4. Possibly, possibly not. all depends on the final system result.
5. Any GPU from Nvidia above GTS 450 and GTX 460 should support 3D, as for AMD it's any card with HDMI 1.4a.
 
If you OC the Q6600 to 3.0GHz (which should be easy), you should be able to use a GTX 570 to near it's full capacity.

Here's a good way to investigate if you'll be bottlenecked: http://3dmark.com/search?resultTypeId=232&linkedDisplayAdapters=1&cpuModelId=32&chipsetId=636&page=5
Keep the same GPU setup and search for the performance of your CPU with a graphics setup against an i7-920 or similar CPU that you know isn't bottlenecking with the identical setup. From what I saw quickly looking at the graphics component of the benchmark (since CPU/Physics component won't compare) is that an moderately OC'd Q6600 get similar graphics scores to an i7-920. I haven't checked stock ones yet, but you can. Just look at the CPU speed, GPU speed, and graphics score so you know if you're looking at a stock setup.
 
Oh! I forgot it was PCI-e 1.2 or whatever the revision before 2.0 was called. But doesn't that pretty much just mean one lane at 8x? Hmmm...a GTX 560 Ti would do well on 8x. I'm not sure if I want to claim that on a GTX 570 (or GTX 480).

There's probably a review of 8x performance somewhere--my guess is you'll lose 4% on frames until you upgrade your board.

EDIT: Here's a series of articles that discusses x16/x16 SLI down to x4/x4: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/08/23/gtx_480_sli_pcie_bandwidth_perf_x16x16_vs_x8x8/