Would a new grafic card be enough?

[HardknoxDK]

Hey all

I am trying to figure out if a new grafic card would be enough to improve my computer or I should go for a hole new computer instead....?

My specs:

- Core 2 Duo CPU E8500 3.16 GHz
- 4 GB ram
- Radeon 4870, 512 GB
- PSU corsiar 650 watts

I dont want to spend a lot of money on a new grafic card if it dosent improve that much.

Hope someone can help

 

[tecmo34]

This topic has been moved from the section Forum Feedback to section Graphics & Displays by Tecmo34

 

[shrkbay]

you should upgrade both your CPU and GPU if you want to see an improvement over that what you got now, something like C2Q/i3/i5 would be good with a 6850/6870...

 

[jay2tall]

Depends what you are trying to get out of it? Are you looking for gaming performance? A new Graphics card would give you the best bang for the buck. You are running a dual core CPU so obviously you are limited there, but only if the game uses more than 2 cores. What is your budget?

 

[HardknoxDK]

Thanks for the replies. Money isnt really the issue, but I dont want to waste money on a hole new setup if a new gpu is enough and yes it is for gaming. But what you are saying is that I cant get top performance unless I also upgrade my CPU ....?

 

[shrkbay]

yes

 

[jay2tall]

Right. A GPU upgrade will give you better in game performance, however, an upgrade to both will give you even better performance. If you have a choice and you are looking at gaming as your primary reason, a new video card is what you want. If you can do both, I would look at an i5 or i7. As I mentioned more and more games are taking advantage of more than 2 cores. But a video card upgrade will give you better performance across the board as opposed to some games.

 

[HardknoxDK]

Thanks guys much appreciated, think I will wait for a little bit and go for a new setup, my motherboard dont support the new CPUs. thanks again

 

[jay2tall]

You could try your hand at overclocking your CPU. If i remember those can get up to 4GHz. That may give you a boost. You'd need a decent cooler for that though.

 

[jjb8675309]

gpu upgrade will bring you more performance overall but you will be limited in some games that utilize quadcores such as BFBC2 (one of my favs) in the end you should upgrade your cpu to an i5 2500k or something like that, even a P2 955 overclocked on a AM3 setup will serve its purpose but for the money I'd go with the Sandy bridge build. Go for a gpu something along the lines of a gtx 570/80 or 6950/70 and you will have one killer system (if you also upgrade your cpu, etc)

 

[jay2tall]

^ I am a fan of the GTX570. It packs a punch for $350. It also would not be a waste as you can always move it to a new system once you are ready to replace everything else.

If you are into overclocking the Asus big daddy card is for you.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121432&cm_re=gtx_570-_-14-121-432-_-Product
Otherwise if you have no intentions to OC then a standard 570 with a nice rebate would be a good buy. This one has a $40 MIR.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130613&cm_re=gtx_570-_-14-130-613-_-Product

 

[jjb8675309]

^+1 agreed and for that matter that is why I bought one for my own rig even though I see Jay2tall has the real big daddy of a (single) card, the asus gtx 580

 

[jay2tall]

^Yeah there is a long story behind that card. It started with a defective 5870 that was RMA'ed 4 times. They had no more in stock to send me so I got a brand new 5970 from them. Powerful, but a total royal pain in the ars. Driver issues, driver issues, driver issues. I had enough of it. Found out they were coming out with the GTX580. So I sold my 5970 for $500 on ebay 2 weeks before they came out. (and when they did the 5970's dropped like $100 on eBay, I knew they would) Used a loaner card until then and used that toward the GTX580.

If none of that happened I'd still be sitting on a 5870 looking at that Asus GTX570 as an upgrade.

I have tinkered with my 580 for overclocking but nothing I play maxes it out at stock so I left it alone. Plus if I OC it my APC SmartUPS 750 goes into overload and start beeping and blinking red. At least at stock the load leds just flash

 

[jjb8675309]

very nice, sounds like you made some good moves, at the right times, personally I hated the drivers, drivers, drivers of my 6870 crossfire setup and now I find myself happy as a pig in slop with a single oc'ed 570

 

[jay2tall]

^those pigs are always happy in cool mud.

 

[jjb8675309]

^that's right!

 

[shrkbay]

^ and they taste even better

 

[jay2tall]

^Bacon wrapped pork chops!

 

[shrkbay]

^ my favorite

 

[internetlad]

lol back on topic.

If money is an issue then you can buy the card and use it while you save up enough for the other parts, even if it's bottlenecking your system (which i don't think it is, at least not that badly, you're describing pretty much the same system i use to play a lot of games)

It's all about standards, if you're looking to play the latest and greatest at enthusiast levels that's going to be a different story than if you want to play Civ IV.

 

[shrkbay]

^OP can also OC his CPU to 3,5GHz to minimize bottleneck

 

[internetlad]

^OP can also OC his CPU to 3,5GHz to minimize bottleneck

the core 2 series is known for beastly OCs

 

[Embra]

Op...what resolution are you playing at??