What to upgrade now?

[c_h1132]

ive waited long enough to see bulldozer fail. now what do i do with the money i saved up to buy bulldozer? 2600K build?, 120ssd, xfire 2gb 6950, eye infinity, or a single 1900x1200 monitor? i played bf3 beta with 50fps+ and bf2 i get 50fps+ both on 1080 monitor. so what to upgrade? $500 budget since im not buying bulldozer.

my current setup
1055t OC 3.5ghz
asrock 870 extreme3 mobo
8gb 1600 gskill
powercolor 2gb 6950 flashed to 6970 bios
64gb ssd Adata
1.5tb seagate hdd
corsair h70 cooler
CM gx650w psu
CM stormsniper case
cd/dvd writer
24inch 1080 lcd monitor

 

[rolli59]

I personally do not see the upgrade need!

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

Based on what you have right now it looks like you could do a fairly nice upgrade as a gaming system Intel® Core™ i5-2500K, maybe a board like the MSI Z68A GD55, and a small SSD like the Intel SSD 320 40GB to set up on the Intel SRT (Smart Response Technology), I don't know which HSF (heatsink/fan) you have so you might be able to use it in your upgrade. Also check the memory that you are using and make sure that it is 1.5v and not the 1.65v that can lead to some problems.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

 

[rolli59]

Based on what you have right now it looks like you could do a fairly nice upgrade as a gaming system Intel® Core™ i5-2500K, maybe a board like the MSI Z68A GD55, and a small SSD like the Intel SSD 320 40GB to set up on the Intel SRT (Smart Response Technology), I don't know which HSF (heatsink/fan) you have so you might be able to use it in your upgrade. Also check the memory that you are using and make sure that it is 1.5v and not the 1.65v that can lead to some problems.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

Marketing!

 

[c_h1132]

but i saved all year long just to buy a bulldozer rigg and thats not happening. im leaning towards eye infinity i think. how would 1 2gb 6950 do in eye infinity?

 

[rolli59]

It should handle 3 monitors OK but would be better with 2 cards in CF.

 

[thebski]

Some advice on 3 monitors....

Make sure the monitors are IDENTICAL. I had a Samsung SyncMaster 2333SW and just this spring I went to purchase two more monitors so I could run Nvidia 2D Surround Vision. The monitors had a different model name (2333T I think), but they looked identical and everything so I picked up 2. Needless to say, I was on my way back to get another within a couple days because something about the monitors was not the same and it wouldn't run at 5760x1080.

Second thing, you want all the graphics memory you can muster. I have 2 EVGA GTX 570 Superclocked editions, and while the chips themselves are fast enough, 1.25GB of memory is not enough. I can play games ok, just not at the highest settings. For example, while playing Grand Theft Auto 4 my frames are around 30-40 fps and my cards are only running between 60-70% load. I don't have on vsync, so I'm guessing I'm hitting a memory bottleneck.

Because of this, I'm considering selling my 2 perfectly fine 570's in exchange for a couple of EVGA's GTX 580 Classified 3GB versions.

I can't stress enough. Buy all the memory you can get for massive resolutions!

 

[popatim]

I would go with eyefinity if you dont mind gaming with reduced quality graphics but if thats important to you then crossfire away!

 

[c_h1132]

hmm i didnt know the monitors had to be identical. i figured i would just buy 2 more 1080 monitor,display ports, and it would work. if i can get 40fps+ id be happy with a single 2gb hd6950 otherwise xfire cost willt go over $500.

 

[popatim]

Eyefinity just cares about the same resolution on all monitors, models can differ.
Be aware that displayed color across different models is usually slightly off and you'll have to do some tweeking.

 

[c_h1132]

Best answer selected by c_h1132.