AMD CPU Question

[kmelaza]

Hey guyz, i have a Phenom II x4 820 2.80ghz CPU. Il be buying an used ATI Radeon 5670 1 gig DDR5 version from my friend at 50% the retail cost as an upgrade from an integrated GPU. My following questions are:


1- Will my CPU be able to run the card with out hiccups?

2- is the performance difference between the 820 and the 955 BE huge, that is worth the 120$ upgrade

3- Will the 955 Bottleneck with a Radeon 6870 (That's the card im planning buy with in 2 months)


P.S Im running 8 gigs of cheap 1066 DDR3 RAM, which il upgrade to 1333 along with the CPU and GPU.

 

[HostileDonut]

Yes, it will handle the hd5670 just fine. I would not upgrade from your 840 to the 955 because it is $120 for an a tech that is about to be old. The 955 will not bottleneck your hd6870. You don't need an upgrade from 1066 to 1333, you probably won't know the difference.

 

[kmelaza]

Yes, it will handle the hd5670 just fine. I would not upgrade from your 840 to the 955 because it is $120 for an a tech that is about to be old. The 955 will not bottleneck your hd6870. You don't need an upgrade from 1066 to 1333, you probably won't know the difference.

My processor is an 820. Thanks any way.

New Question then: Since your answer gives me an indication that i should wait for the bulldozers, if the jump from an 820 to a 955 is not worth the 120$, how well will the 820 run with the 6870?

 

[HostileDonut]

The 820 should be great in games that use 4 cores, such as the crysis series, BF:BC2, etc. If you can OC it to 3.4Ghz+, it should do very well. The 8xx series Phenom IIs are really Athlon IIs. They have no L3 cache.

 

[kmelaza]

My processor is an 820. Thanks any way.

New Question then: Since your answer gives me an indication that i should wait for the bulldozers, if the jump from an 820 to a 955 is not worth the 120$, how well will the 820 run with the 6870?

The 820 should be great in games that use 4 cores, such as the crysis series, BF:BC2, etc. If you can OC it to 3.4Ghz+, it should do very well. The 8xx series Phenom IIs are really Athlon IIs. They have no L3 cache.

So it's a decent processor for games, also i dont think i can overclock a 820, so it's stuck at 2.8, that's why i was asking for input between performance on the 820 and 955.

 

[HostileDonut]

Yeah, it will defiantly hold you over until bulldozer. Also, why can't you OC, is your machine OEM?

 

[kmelaza]

Yeah, it will defiantly hold you over until bulldozer. Also, why can't you OC, is your machine OEM?

my Desktop is Pre-built, so it came with W7 Home Premium Pre-installed, also im not tech savy, if i can OC it idk how XD, i never OC a CPU before so i been researching the net as of late learning about the voltages and stuff, and i haven't seen a need to OC it as i dont play graphically demanding games, until i get the radeon 6870 that is.

 

[HostileDonut]

Yeah, no OC then. You should be fine then.