Radeon HD 5770 compatible with?

[seriousturtle]

My 8800gt is consistently running btw 95-105 celcius. I've already taken it apart, cleaned and added AS5, but without much effect, except the fan runs quieter now. So - I plan on building my new rig when Battlefield 3 comes out, but I want to get a gpu now, that I can SLI later on. I will probably be building with the new SB ~2500k. I'm most likely getting the Radeon HD 5770, based on TH article, but I don't know it is compatible with my current setup. Sorry, but I'm still using XP and DX9. I want to know how the new gpus work with the different PCI connections. Is 2.1 compatible with 2.0, 1.0 1.0 X16. I don't know the difference. My mobo right now is (Motherboard Name DFI LANParty DK P35-T2 / P35-T2R/S). Everest also says it has (Expansion Slots 3 PCI, 2 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x16). Will this card work in this mobo. My new rig will use Win7 64, I guess DX11. Any info would be appreciated.

~seriousturtle

 

[Rustyy117]

As far as I'm aware PCI-e 2.1 is backwards compatible so a HD5770 should work fine in your current PC, Oh and a HD5770 is an ATI/AMD product so it would be Crossfire and not SLI (nVidia). Just install the HD5770 into the PCI-E x16 Lane.

 

[seriousturtle]

Is this too much card for my system, or am I going to see lots of improvement? I know that my DX9 will hold something back, but how much?

 

[Rustyy117]

Could you list your full system spec's?

as long as your CPU doesn't bottleneck your HD5770 then you will see a substantial performance boost in all the games you play.

 

[seriousturtle]

CPU Type DualCore Intel Core 2 Duo E8500, 3800 MHz (9.5 x 400)
Motherboard Name DFI LANParty DK P35-T2 / P35-T2R/S (3 PCI, 2 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN)
Motherboard Chipset Intel Bearlake P35
System Memory 3328 MB (DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM)
DIMM1: G Skill F2-8500CL5-2GBPK 2 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-10 @ 266 MHz)
DIMM2: G Skill F2-8500CL5-2GBPK 2 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-10 @ 266 MHz)
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (512 MB)


Sorry about the format. Best I could do

 

[Rustyy117]

Seems fine to me, you should see a large performance gain

Make sure you uninstall all nvidia drivers, I'd recommend using a program called driver sweeper to make sure all nVidia software is removed.

 

[seriousturtle]

As I'm scanning Newegg, I've spotted a few other cards. (Ahh, where do I draw the line?)

5870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102872R
6850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125348

 

[Rustyy117]

Why let reason and logic stand in the way of your PC hardware purchases? (Seriously don't follow my logic)

Anyway the HD5870 is twice as fast as a HD5770, but your current CPU will likely bottleneck it in CPU intensive games.
The HD6850 is about 15-20% slower than a HD5870, but obviously cheaper.

What power supply make and model do you have?

 

[seriousturtle]

http://www.xpcgear.com/nsppsh850v.html

I'm only looking at the 5870 because of the TH benchmarks. Its at the top of the lists, so in a years time after BF3 is out and I have my new rig, doesn't this card make sense, or are my eyes bigger than my mouth?

 

[Rustyy117]

Yeah a HD5870 isn't a bad purchase now as you could carry it over to your new build, and there quite cheap now. Never heard of Nspire before, I personally wouldn't trust a PSU brand I've never heard of before, I'd always recommend going with a quality brand like Corsair, Antec, Enermax ETC....

The PSU should have a sticker on it somewhere, and on that sticker it should tell you the max wattage output for the combined +12V rails, could you tell us that info?

 

[seriousturtle]

It says +12v1 = 18A
12v2 = 18A
12v3 = 30A
12v4 = 30A


Thanks for all your help fatal. I really appreciate it

 

[Rustyy117]

Thats the maximum possible amperage (A) that each rail is capable of outputting, what we need is the maximum combined wattage of the +12V rails.

 

[seriousturtle]

The sticker only shows the total wattage for the 3.3v and 5v rails is 180W

 

[seriousturtle]

It also shows the 3.3v and 5v rails as = 30A, just like 12v3&4 if that matters

 

[Rustyy117]

oh ok, well I'd assume then that the +12V total is 670W which should be fine.

 

[seriousturtle]

So would you recommend a 5870 to future proof myself as long as possible, or save $50 and get the 6850?

 

[Rustyy117]

I'd recommend the HD5870

 

[seriousturtle]

K, if my wife asks, I'll say an IT guy said it was my only hope of saving my pc.

 

[Rustyy117]

Hahaha that works for all PC hardware upgrades

I always say to my girlfriend "Its essential and the only way to fix the problem" Works a treat!

 

[seriousturtle]

I told my wife, "honey, it's pretty normal for a GPU to burn through the thermal compound. We really got our money's worth". Kind of works.

 

[Rustyy117]

Yeah my girlfriend just agree's with me because she knows nothing about PC's, If I mentioned thermal compound she wouldn't have a clue what i'm on about.

Anyway enjoy your HD5870!, gonna be one hell of an upgrade.

 

[seriousturtle]

Thanks again. Hope you're right

 

[Rustyy117]

Your Welcome