What card to get?

[thegatekeeper]

Hey guys, im upgrading my 260 to a dx11 card, and was looking for some opinions. So far i found that the 590 is the best buy, but i wanted to get some opinions before i shell out the cash because its expensive!

Thanks

 

[FlintIronStagg]

What do you mean by best buy? It is the fastest out of the nvidia cards, yes, but it is rather expensive, unless you are considering an SLI with two other expensive GPUs, then i can see how it might be a better deal. If you are wanting a single card, the 580 or 570 are great choices; the 570 OCs with very nice gains and can run DX11 features well as well as being in the 350.00 price range.

 

[jyjjy]

Yeah, I wouldn't say the GTX 590 is a good buy at all. On the high end the best deal for the money right now imo would be 2 HD6950s in crossfire but even a single HD6950 or GTX 560 Ti would be a large upgrade over your GTX 260.

 

[purple stain]

Plz list oyur full system specs.(PSU,CPU,mobo etc.)

Wouldn't be a good idea to upgrade to a powerful card like the GTX580 or 590 and you can't use it because your other system parts will bottleneck it.

 

[thegatekeeper]

Sorry, i meant to type 570 not 590!

Here are my system specs:

-Crosshair 3 Motherboard (Am3, ddr3)
-4 Gigs of ram but will be upgrading to 12 gig soon ( check out the other thread http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/290684-12-will-work-together )
-1920 x 1080 res
-AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 810 2.60GHz (overclocked to 2.80)
-BFG 260

 

[purple stain]

Your gonna want to upgrade your processor you O.C. more.If you intend to get a big card like the GTX570 you will bottleneck it with that processor.

Are you sure you ahve the 810? I don't know if they actually make an 810 quad core.Try checking your numbers again.

What is the make/model of your PSU?

 

[jyjjy]

Is that the best OC you can get on the processor? It should be able to go much higher easily. If you can get it to 3.2ghz or over that would be good.
You really don't need 12gb of ram. You probably never use more than 4gb actually. DL a monitoring program and see if you actually would ever use more before considering an upgrade and even then make it 8gb.
The GTX 570 is a good choice if your PSU can handle it and you can get that processor up higher.

 

[purple stain]

^I agree.
Unless your managing lots and lots of applications theirs really no need for that much RAM.You prolly won't see any difference at all.I say don't buy RAM and just put it twards something else.Maybe a CPU cooler or a better GPU.

 

[thegatekeeper]

Your gonna want to upgrade your processor you O.C. more.If you intend to get a big card like the GTX570 you will bottleneck it with that processor.

Are you sure you ahve the 810? I don't know if they actually make an 810 quad core.Try checking your numbers again.

What is the make/model of your PSU?

Im not at home right now so i cant check the box (god knows where it is lol), but a quick google showed this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103650 . Maybe this is it?

Is that the best OC you can get on the processor? It should be able to go much higher easily. If you can get it to 3.2ghz or over that would be good.
You really don't need 12gb of ram. You probably never use more than 4gb actually. DL a monitoring program and see if you actually would ever use more before considering an upgrade and even then make it 8gb.
The GTX 570 is a good choice if your PSU can handle it and you can get that processor up higher.

I didnt try that much, i tried a bit and stopped. I always use borderline of my 4 gigs, so i thought i would get 8 gigs more (2*4). Why would the cpu limit the gpu? I have a 750W Corsair HX Series Modular Power Supply btw.

^I agree.
Unless your managing lots and lots of applications theirs really no need for that much RAM.You prolly won't see any difference at all.I say don't buy RAM and just put it twards something else.Maybe a CPU cooler or a better GPU.

Wel see

 

[jyjjy]

I didnt try that much, i tried a bit and stopped. I always use borderline of my 4 gigs, so i thought i would get 8 gigs more (2*4). Why would the cpu limit the gpu? I have a 750W Corsair HX Series Modular Power Supply btw.

Well in gaming the CPU can produce a certain number of frames as can the GPU. If the number of frames the CPU can produce is lower than the what the GPU can render then there is a CPU bottleneck which means the CPU is limiting the card from being fully used. The GTX 570 is a very high end card and even at 1080p can throw out a lot of frames per second. A Phenom II x4 at 2.8 however is more mid-range and especially in games that only utilize 2 cores(there are still a lot of them) it is going to hold back the GTX 570 to the point where just saving some money and scaling back to a weaker but still good card makes more sense.

 

[phenom90]

gtx 570 will be the choice for you... although it seems that your processor will bottleneck your graphics card depend on games....

 

[thegatekeeper]

Well in gaming the CPU can produce a certain number of frames as can the GPU. If the number of frames the CPU can produce is lower than the what the GPU can render then there is a CPU bottleneck which means the CPU is limiting the card from being fully used. The GTX 570 is a very high end card and even at 1080p can throw out a lot of frames per second. A Phenom II x4 at 2.8 however is more mid-range and especially in games that only utilize 2 cores(there are still a lot of them) it is going to hold back the GTX 570 to the point where just saving some money and scaling back to a weaker but still good card makes more sense.

Makes sense... so the cpu sends frames for the card to render. My monitor is 120 mhz refresh rate, so i need over 80 frames atleast. Think it will work if i oc my cpu to at leat 3.00 ghz? Im thinking of getting water cooling.

 

[purple stain]

That Phenom ii x4 810 is one of the lower end phenom quad cores.But at least it has 4mb of L3 catche,if i recall their are even lower versions that have higher clocked speeds but don't have the L3 catche.

I think you will need to O.C. your CPU quite a bit,at least to around 3.4ghz,to not hamper its abilites.As jyjjy was saying maybe going with a lesser card like the GTX560 is a better option.Because I highly doubt your going to be able to O.C. that processor much past 3.0ghz.

 

[jyjjy]

I don't see why it wouldn't OC past 3.0ghz. They are all pretty much the same chip just with different stock speeds/multipliers and amounts of cache. Here's Anandtech getting it up to 3.7ghz;
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2721/11
Neoseeker 3.5ghz;
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/phenom_ii_x4_810/15.html
Xbit 3.6ghz;
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/phenom-ii-x4-810_16.html#sect0
It will vary depending on the specific processor, motherboard, cooling and amount of time you put into it of course.

 

[jyjjy]

Makes sense... so the cpu sends frames for the card to render. My monitor is 120 mhz refresh rate, so i need over 80 frames atleast. Think it will work if i oc my cpu to at leat 3.00 ghz? Im thinking of getting water cooling.

Just having an 120hz monitor doesn't mean you need 80 fps. Generally if frame rates stay above 30-40 things are pretty smooth IMO and I doubt most people could tell much difference above 50 or so. How noticeable higher/lower frame rates will be also depends on the game/perspective.
You would be better off just replacing the processor than spending enough to get water cooling but I do think your current should be able to get up pretty high. Might want to invest in a good air cooler though if you are still using the stock fan/heatsink.

 

[purple stain]

I forgot,is their a limit that a CPU clock speed can go that say the Northbridge speed isn't O.C.'d that it will hold back the CPU in terms of O.C. not performance?

 

[thegatekeeper]

Just having an 120hz monitor doesn't mean you need 80 fps. Generally if frame rates stay above 30-40 things are pretty smooth IMO and I doubt most people could tell much difference above 50 or so. How noticeable higher/lower frame rates will be also depends on the game/perspective.
You would be better off just replacing the processor than spending enough to get water cooling but I do think your current should be able to get up pretty high. Might want to invest in a good air cooler though if you are still using the stock fan/heatsink.

I have an aftermarket cooler. I wasnt going to buy watercooling just for this cpu, water cooling is something permanent. (plus its my worst nightmare having to install the cpu cooler). I just checked my box and it is indeed the 810. Iv had this cpu for almost 2 years now, and my graphic card a bit more.

I dont know what i should do.. maybe change both cpu and graphic card but not ram? The 975 from amd doesnt cost a lot more than the ram, and its unlocked (i belive) and 3.6 ghz.

So i could get the 975
570
and watercooling (what brand of watercooling do you guys reccomend? I heard of dangerden but they dont have an AM3 block)

but no ram.

What do you think?

 

[purple stain]

I say to hold off on the CPU upgrade.With AMD's new line of processor's about a month or two away I think it would be best to wait until they come out before you start looking to buy a new CPU.When they do come out you can expect to see some price drops of the current Phenom ii's or maybe pick up a Bulldozer if you want.

Your RAM is fine because it's DDR3.
If you have the money and the knowledge then I say go for the watercooling but only if you really want it.If your not a serious Overclocker then I don't see any point to it.You should definitly check out some of the stickys in Tom's Watercooling section,lots of stuff for first time beginers and tips.

For now I say upgrade the GPU and wait for the CPU.I've heard the new line of GPU's from AMD is also expected to come out really soon so you might even think of waiting a month to see what happens in the market.I know the AMD CPU is for sure dropping in a month or 2 but i'm not so sure about their 7000 series GPU's.

 

[thegatekeeper]

I say to hold off on the CPU upgrade.With AMD's new line of processor's about a month or two away I think it would be best to wait until they come out before you start looking to buy a new CPU.When they do come out you can expect to see some price drops of the current Phenom ii's or maybe pick up a Bulldozer if you want.

Your RAM is fine because it's DDR3.
If you have the money and the knowledge then I say go for the watercooling but only if you really want it.If your not a serious Overclocker then I don't see any point to it.You should definitly check out some of the stickys in Tom's Watercooling section,lots of stuff for first time beginers and tips.

For now I say upgrade the GPU and wait for the CPU.I've heard the new line of GPU's from AMD is also expected to come out really soon so you might even think of waiting a month to see what happens in the market.I know the AMD CPU is for sure dropping in a month or 2 but i'm not so sure about their 7000 series GPU's.

Hmm you are right. I read a bit on watercooling, and it seems like something i want to do. Can you give me more info on these new cpus coming out?

Also, i found sometinh called a XEON from intel and they cost A LOT lol, whats so special about them?

 

[lowjack989]

Just spring for a 955 it will not bottleneck that GPU and is easily OCed...and its on sale at the egg for like $130.00...

 

[jyjjy]

At least try to see how high you can OC that CPU before replacing it.

 

[thegatekeeper]

What brands should i look into for watercooling? Id like it if it was all from one brand.

 

[jyjjy]

Also, i found sometinh called a XEON from intel and they cost A LOT lol, whats so special about them?

The Xeons are intended for servers and not something you need to worry about. On the Intel side at the moment the Sandy Bridge chips are the way to go. They are rather impressive compared to AMD's current line-up;
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=203

 

[lowjack989]

Server based CPU's will do you no good....or workstation GPU's...they are work specific hardware..Xeon, Firepro, Quadro, Opteron...If you plan on replacing the chip the 955 BE is the best choice for you IMHO

 

[thegatekeeper]

I was just wondering what it was.... i wont be changing my mobo anytime soon hehe