Upgrading Sapphire HD4870 512mb, 200€ budget

[Zero wolf]

Hi everyone

I was thinking about upgrading my GPU cus i'm starting to have some problems running them well at least some of them

Well i just copied the template from "how to ask for advice..." so here it is

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: (e.g.: first two weeks in december BUDGET RANGE: 150-200€,

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: mostly games (AC III, Shogun 2, f1 2012, i'm not really interested in 1st person shooters like BF 3 or Crysis 2...), 3d modelling (3dsmax),

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: (e.g., ATI Sapphire HD 4870 521mb and LCpower 550w green power that will be probably changed with OCZ ZS Series 650W ATX 2.2

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: Asus p5e3 Deluxe, q9300 @ 2.5 Ghz, 3 Gb of memory - Corsair Dominator 1600mhz

PARTS PREFERENCES: ATI Sapphire

OVERCLOCKING: maybe, no CrossFireX

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680x1050

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Must run games at full settings at 1680x1050, AA not so important, if possible quiet and cool, must support dx11.

I was looking at hd7850 2gb from Sapphire but i'm not sure that will cope well with my other components. I was able to run games with reasonable FPS on very high settings even shogun 2 was running fairly smooth. But AC III is causing some problems. I can run it around 23 Fps average everything on very high i don't get ultra option cus my card doesn't support dx11 if i lower environment setting from very high to high the frame rate does improve a bit but...

Anyway what are your thoughts?

Thanks

 

[prototype18]

Where are u buying from ?

 

[oakcatton]

That 7850 is a really good graphics card, it could run anything on 1680x1050, but as you said your components might bottleneck it, anyways on the nvidia side as an alternative, the 660(non ti) is a great alternative at almost the same price point, the 660 beats the 7850 in some games, but sometimes the 7850 beats the 660, it is out of those 2 to choose, it depends what games you play most!

 

[Zero wolf]

I'll probably get it from here (austria)

http://www.1ashop.at/details/Sapphire_Technology_SAPPHIRE_HD7850_2048MB_DDR5_LRTL_PCI_E_256bit_DVI_I_DVI_D_HDMI_DisplayPort_aktiv.html?d=PR0117052

But is you said oakcatton my main concern is "bottleneck". Are my components just good enough for that card so that i wont "bottlenecked" it to much or...

As i said i won't be running Crysis 2 or bf3 so no worries.Total war series (shogun2), f1 2012, RBR and AC III are games that i play most and rest of the time i'm in 3ds max modelling. AA is not so important to me and have another pc just for movies so...

 

[prototype18]

Look my sig. I have that 20$ CPU bought on ebay and can easily max games except Bf3 where i get 50+ Fps.

So 7850 would be good. U can always upgrade your system after.

Right now AMD is cheaper than Nvidia and provides a good boost. So why no

 

[Zero wolf]

Thanks prototype18

One more thing.
What about PCI-E architecture. I have 2.0 on my mb while yours have 3.0. Will this effect performance. Is hd7850 backward compatible with 2.0 PCI-E.

BTW what about memory and PSU any thoughts on that?


Thanks

 

[prototype18]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/268876-15-radeon-hd4850-power-550w-question

 

[Zero wolf]

Look my sig. I have that 20$ CPU bought on ebay and can easily max games except Bf3 where i get 50+ Fps.

So 7850 would be good. U can always upgrade your system after.

Right now AMD is cheaper than Nvidia and provides a good boost. So why no

I had some time and compare your specs. to my and the fact that your CPU doesn't bottleneck your GPU i think i can ruled out my CPU as a potential bottleneck for HD7850. I still have some room for OC so... Fact that 3.0 Pcie architecture doesn't make much difference (for now) compared to 2.0 i can ruled out my MBO as well. My PSU match the minimum requirement of at least 500w (7850 is more power efficient than my 4870).

Now it's down to the memory this is the only isue that i have before ordering HD7850. I have 3GB is this enough for the card or i will have to do an upgrade?

Thanks