System Upgrade (graphics card?)

[slypenguin0]

Hi guys! Long time no post. Was wondering if you could give an opinion on my gameplan and tell me if I should alter/add to it. I'd also like your opinion on a HSF and ram. Currently I'm working with:
Antec 900
Q6600 2.4ghz w/stock HSF
OCZ 4gb (4 x 1gb) DDR2 800 2v
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
2x 4850 1gb XFire
Seagate 7200rpm 320gb
acer 23" 1920x1080
Current drivers

To give a real world example... I guess World of Warcraft since so many play it. I know WoW is CPU intensive also. On WoW I have to play with a mix of Good and High. In small spaces I get 90FPS but in the open, in cities or flying, I go down. I'm not sure how it runs in say, Crysis, but CoD4 had to have settings turned to Low. I am also excited about Battlefield 3 and would like to prep a bit for that. My Mobo and CPU seem fine right now but it looks like I need to:

1. OC my Q6600. The board and proc are very capable and it would help my XFire I think.
2. Upgrade my XFire'd 4850's?
Optional: Get better ram and condense it to 2 sticks.

On Ultra in Ogrimmar at 1920x1080 standing still: 16.7 FPS
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/pho [...] directlink

On Ultra in Ogrimmar at 1920x1080 while spinning the camera: stutters and goes between 8-12 FPS
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/pho [...] directlink

On High (1 notch lower) in Ogrimmar at 1920x1080 while standing still: 25FPS with little to no stuttering if I spin
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/pho [...] directlink


So my XFired 4850's are bottlenecking? I didn't think these two cards would have a problem with WoW's Ultra setting.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

I'd suggest this first:

take a game, lower its settings and resolution by a step each. if your FPS goes up, your gpu(s) are the bottleneck. If they don't the CPU is the bottleneck. your RAM upgrade won't improve your play very much, if at all (around 0.5 to 1 fps)

 

[slypenguin0]

On Ultra in Ogrimmar at 1920x1080 standing still: 16.7 FPS
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/DMnL7zJ7HbGiKtAyX7fF3g?feat=directlink

On Ultra in Ogrimmar at 1920x1080 while spinning the camera: stutters and goes between 8-12 FPS
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/yt7Qe39vWLV8mL37ZmZXYw?feat=directlink

On High (1 notch lower) in Ogrimmar at 1920x1080 while standing still: 25FPS with little to no stuttering if I spin
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/O7dfk9yI9vDTIqhLcB1XBg?feat=directlink


So my XFired 4850's are bottlenecking? I didn't think these two cards would have a problem with WoW's Ultra setting.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

they are indeed the limit, lowering the settings represents the equivelent of more muscle in the GPU. what you need is a stronger GPU, preferably Direct X 11 capable, as its much more efficient than direct X 9.

I'd suggest getting a HD6850 and a Coolermaster Hyper 212+ cooler for your overclock. The total will be about $200 for both.

 

[slypenguin0]

I do like your cooler recommendation. It isn't horribly louder and cools well for a much cheaper price!

For the graphics card I'm unsure. When I was doing my own research before posting I came across things like
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card-radeon-hd-6990-geforce-gtx-590,2912-7.html

And the advice is to not upgrade unless it is three tiers higher. Well the 6850 is 3 tiers below 4850 x2. But I do understand that the 6850's DX11 will help me but is it really going to be an upgrade?

 

[ScrewySqrl]

you could go with 2x6850 to replace your 2x4850, which would run about $340 total

 

[slypenguin0]

I don't want to spend over $300 right now =/
And some benchmarks show my crossfire is as good as a single 6850 so I guess you're right. I'd have to get two of them.
http://www.insidehw.com/Reviews/Graphics-cards/CrossFire-in-Practice-Radeon-HD-4850-CF-vs-6850/Page-4.html

 

[slypenguin0]

One thing that I overlooked and is of note:
I'm crossfiring 2 512mb cards and playing at 1920x1080

So I think I am going to, at some point, get a 6950 2gb card which will last me a long time. I'm not planning on getting anything bigger than a 23inch any time soon and I won't go dual monitor for quite some time I'm sure.

XFX and MSI both have boards that have good rebates on em and they are ref boards so maybe I can have a 6970

 

[ScrewySqrl]

that would work

 

[slypenguin0]

Thanks for all your help up to this point Screwy

Well I was going to try and flash a 6950 ref card but some people over at techpowerup are starting to have trouble flashing newer cards, even the ref ones. One of them got an email from newegg saying future xfx boards will malfunction with any attempt to flash. So maybe I should just get
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127562&cm_re=6950-_-14-127-562-_-Product
and overclock if I ever need too.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

should work, look into the recent $1000 system marathon PC, which 'unlocked' the 6950 without flashing the BIOS.

 

[slypenguin0]

Haha ya beat me to it!
I just went through 90 some odd pages of that thread on powertechup and found the bios mod that people are using on ALL 6950 cards. That's all I wanted! And someone successfully did it on the MSI board so I can go get it for $264 after rebates. Nice!

 

[slypenguin0]

I installed the heatsink/fan (I don't know why I forgot I was going to have to take the mobo out, pain) and the gfx card. When I first turned it on WOW quieter
I thought it wasn't on. But my side door 120mm fan had to be removed because of the heatsink. I'm going to have to find a very slim one or something.

Just installing drivers now so hopefully everything goes smooth and I did it right.
Thanks again

 

[Guest]

Actually I would have gone Nvidia especially since Intel/Nvidia are pretty well suited to WoW's programming. Toms hardware did a benchmark run of all (or at least most) current CPU's/GPU combo's and even a mid range Nvidia offering did better than (what was at the time of the review, just at Cataclysm dropped) a higher end AMD offering. I'll give you a real world example.

I play WoW on my rig (see signature for details) and I average on HIGH in major cities around 60 FPS. On Ultra I get about 45. I have a AMD 1055T so I know it's not my CPU bottle necking. My GPU is a 5850 Black edition. (A hair better than a 6850... AMD's numbering is all screwy. Actually it's better in most regards. A 6850 has better tessellation ability) so I know I've got some good beefy hardware. However it plays much better on my second machine.

That's a Intel i5 750 with a Nvidia GTX 460. I got about 30 more FPS on High and about 15 on Ultra (if I remember right, this was back when I had this machine, so about February). By all accounts my AMD should have kicked my Intel's butt. But it was vice versa. If possible try to get a exchange for a NVidia GPU and you'll make your old Q6600 very happy.