Should I Upgrade Graphics

[gregoryswan1985]

I currently have a PC that I am wondering whether or not I should upgrade my Graphics Card. The hardware specs of the PC are:

Intel Core 2 Quad q9550 OC'd to 3.4 GHZ - Cooled with H50 liquid cooler.
Gigabyte EP45-UD3L Motherboard
8gb DDR2 ADATA 800Mhz DDR2 400 SDRAM
2 x Intel SSD-V 40GB HD in RAID 0 - Windows 7 Boot Volume
2 x Western Digital 500GB SATA hard drives for storage
Nvidia 9800GT 512DDR3 GPU
Corsair 620HX modular PSU

I was looking at a 6950(and possibly flashing it to a 6870 bios). I was wondering if the performance increase would be noticeable? Would I need to reinstall windows 7?

I don't usually game much, but I do use virtualization pretty extensively.

I don't necessarily need a high end card, but I would like a more up to date piece of hardware. I also would like to move away from Nvidia hardware as my motherboard is CrossFire capable.

 

[welshmousepk]

Yes, a 6950 would be a huge improvement. YOu wouold be going to a card that can max out any game with good frames.

 

[purple stain]

It would take x5 9800gt's to even come close to the performance of a 6950.It is a very large increase in performance.Quite frankly i don't think you even need that much if your not a heavy gamer.I think a 6850 is perfect for you.

No you do not need to re-install Windows 7.

What is your budget?

 

[orangegator]

If you don't game much, then the 9800GT is plenty. And the EP45-UD3L only has one pciex16 slot, so you can't crossfire. The UD3P has 2 if that's the board you have. If that's the case, then that board is great for overclocking the Q9550. I had my Q9550 @ 4.1Ghz on the UD3P. That would give you a much bigger performance boost for virtualization. But to do that you'll need faster ram.

 

[gregoryswan1985]

My MOBO is, in fact a EP45-UD3P. Sorry about that. Good catch orangegator.

My budget is not really that tight feel free to suggest cards in any price range(Just because you suggest, it does not mean I have to buy it ). I just want an upgraded piece of hardware. Maybe something with some new features.

I will also start looking into purchasing faster RAM for a higher overclock. Problem with that is, purchasing 8GB of outdated DDR2 ram seems like a bit of a bad investment. Maybe you could suggest some nicely prices DDR2 RAM (I know its a GFX card post, but were still talking GFX here above )

Also is it possible to somehow accelerate the performance of my VM's by using my GFX card? Like CUDA?

 

[surfury]

I currently have a PC that I am wondering whether or not I should upgrade my Graphics Card. The hardware specs of the PC are:

Intel Core 2 Quad q9550 OC'd to 3.4 GHZ - Cooled with H50 liquid cooler.
Gigabyte EP45-UD3L Motherboard
8gb DDR2 ADATA 800Mhz DDR2 400 SDRAM
2 x Intel SSD-V 40GB HD in RAID 0 - Windows 7 Boot Volume
2 x Western Digital 500GB SATA hard drives for storage
Nvidia 9800GT 512DDR3 GPU
Corsair 620HX modular PSU

I was looking at a 6950(and possibly flashing it to a 6870 bios). I was wondering if the performance increase would be noticeable? Would I need to reinstall windows 7?

I don't usually game much, but I do use virtualization pretty extensively.

I don't necessarily need a high end card, but I would like a more up to date piece of hardware. I also would like to move away from Nvidia hardware as my motherboard is CrossFire capable.

Well I can certainly recommend XFX 6950's. Good and solid. One flashed to a 6970 without any problem, the other some how cut the shader count in 2 from a 6970 (ie 768) however on cold reboot - OK I took the card out and flashed the other Gfx card first - it reported as 1536 shaders and at 880. No artefacts yet, fingers crossed. I presume that you would be flashing to 6970 bios not 6870 bios ? Admitedly I have mine in CrossFire but there was a big jump from 6950 to 6970, mind nearest I have is an old X1950Pro in other PC.

 

[purple stain]

Either a 6870 or 6950 is best for you.I'm sure that the 2G the 6950 offers will help out a lot with your editing and virtualization but the 6870 can handle it just as good.If your not a heavy gamer i don't see why you would need such a fast card.