A question I thought I'd never ask... help me upgrade

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grimstoner

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Hi

Another one of those "what new hardware should I get" threads.

I have an Intel E6420 (2.11Ghz oc'ed to 2.66Ghz), on an Intel ?? mobo, 4Gb (2 x 2Gb in dual-channel) DDR3-1333 (Transcend I think) and a Radeon HD4870. Up until recently, I could play any game on a moderate to high graphics settings at a 1920x1080 resolution, which is perfect (don't have e-peen issues). When I got The Witcher 2 though, I had to drop the resolution to 1600x1200 to make it playable.

My question is... new CPU, or new graphics?

Option 1 :

Intel i5-760
Asus P55D-E
Extra 4Gb RAM

Option 2 :

Asus ATI Radeon HD6870
Extra 4Gb RAM

Option 3 :

Cross-fire with another Asus ATI Radeon HD4870
Extra 4Gb RAM

Option 4 :
Cross-fire with 2 new XFX ATI Radeon 5770's
Extra 4Gb RAM
 
Witcher 2 is a very demanding game graphics wise, so even members with GTX 580's complain about it running slowly at 1920x1080.

I'm not sure how demanding the game is on the CPU though, but if you wanted to play BattleField: Bad Company 2, I would've suggested a better CPU long before a GPU upgrade, because the E6420 is a very entry level CPU compared to like a Sandy Bridge i5 2500k.

Running the HD5770 / 4870 in CrossFire shouldn't even be considered, because they don't scale nearly as well as the HD6xxx series graphics cards, and a single HD6870 would outperform a CrossFire HD5770/HD4870 setup - see http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/273502-GPU-Value-Comparisons
I think your graphics card is still a 512MB card? And 512MB cards don't cope very well with resolutions higher than 1680x1050.

So suggestion is that you upgrade to a Sandy Bridge setup:
i5 2500k CPU
Asus P8P67-M motherboard
and stick with 2x 2GB DDR3 1333MHz - but please make sure that your modules are 1.5V and NOT 1.65V !

For the current games you really won't need more than 4GB of RAM.
 
Last edited:
Awesome advice... thanks.

Should I stick with the GPU? Budget-wise I'm constrained to either a CPU or GPU upgrade. The 6870 should set me back about R2500, and the i5 2500k + asus mobo about R3500 (even R4k).
 
If you can, you can always try and borrow like a GTX 460 1GB/ HD6870 graphics card from someone and see how the card + your current CPU handles it.

It might be worth while to run Process Explorer + MSI Afterburner to monitor both your CPU & GPU usage while playing Witcher 2 at very low detail.
If you still manage to max out your graphics card, but your CPU usage remains like below 80% over the 2 cores, then it would be better to upgrade just the graphics card?
 
its the cpu my i5 750 + 4870 can run most games on high with strain on ultra.but at 1080p.
 
grimstoner said:
Hi

Another one of those "what new hardware should I get" threads.

I have an Intel E6420 (2.11Ghz oc'ed to 2.66Ghz), on an Intel ?? mobo, 4Gb (2 x 2Gb in dual-channel) DDR3-1333 (Transcend I think) and a Radeon HD4870. Up until recently, I could play any game on a moderate to high graphics settings at a 1920x1080 resolution, which is perfect (don't have e-peen issues). When I got The Witcher 2 though, I had to drop the resolution to 1600x1200 to make it playable.

My question is... new CPU, or new graphics?

Option 1 :

Intel i5-760
Asus P55D-E
Extra 4Gb RAM

Option 2 :

Asus ATI Radeon HD6870
Extra 4Gb RAM

Option 3 :

Cross-fire with another Asus ATI Radeon HD4870
Extra 4Gb RAM

Option 4 :
Cross-fire with 2 new XFX ATI Radeon 5770's
Extra 4Gb RAM
Click to expand...

Get a new CPU.

Also you should be running at 1600*900 if 1920*1080 is too much for you, to keep the aspect ratio.
 
HMMM, If I had such a choice, I would also consider 2x5850's which are currently on special at R1099 ex vat at esquire...
 
Pada said:
Witcher 2 is a very demanding game graphics wise, so even members with GTX 580's complain about it running slowly at 1920x1080.

I'm not sure how demanding the game is on the CPU though, but if you wanted to play BattleField: Bad Company 2, I would've suggested a better CPU long before a GPU upgrade, because the E6420 is a very entry level CPU compared to like a Sandy Bridge i5 2500k.

Running the HD5770 / 4870 in CrossFire shouldn't even be considered, because they don't scale nearly as well as the HD6xxx series graphics cards, and a single HD6870 would outperform a CrossFire HD5770/HD4870 setup - see http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/273502-GPU-Value-Comparisons
I think your graphics card is still a 512MB card? And 512MB cards don't cope very well with resolutions higher than 1680x1050.

So suggestion is that you upgrade to a Sandy Bridge setup:
i5 2500k CPU
Asus P8P67-M motherboard
and stick with 2x 2GB DDR3 1333MHz - but please make sure that your modules are 1.5V and NOT 1.65V !

For the current games you really won't need more than 4GB of RAM.
Click to expand...

^^ I agree with all of this.

The unfortunate thing is that PC's aren't built as they were in the past where you could just add another part or two every couple of years on your PC. These days you have to almost replace everything in order to be able to do an upgrade.

I wouldn't go for option 1, I'd rather go Sandy Bridge.
You don't need more than 4Gb RAM at the moment, so don't go for that either..

I think the easiest would be if you give an idea of what budget you have..
 
SharkBait said:
Nice advice Pada.

What is your budget grimstoner?
Click to expand...

I'd like to get away around R3k to R4k... I can maybe "appropriate" a quad-core Intel CPU (not a Sandy Bridge, something like a Q8400) from an underutilized server at work.

Would 2 x 5850's outperform a single 6870?
 
grimstoner said:
I'd like to get away around R3k to R4k... I can maybe "appropriate" a quad-core Intel CPU (not a Sandy Bridge, something like a Q8400) from an underutilized server at work.

Would 2 x 5850's outperform a single 6870?
Click to expand...

Yes.

Just take the Q8400 for now and see how the performance is.
 
My thought is that the Q8400 would bottleneck the 2x 5850s. Unless you can OC it, but then again, we don't know what mobo you have...
 
^^ +1. The Q8400 would most definitely slow down a decent graphics card configuration.

grimstoner, could you also tell us what motherboard, PSU and case you have?

I really won't recommend a SLI/CrossFire setup unless you have a very good PSU & big case, and ofcourse you require a motherboard with at least 2x 16x PCI-E slots in 8x or 16x mode with CrossFire support to even consider it.

For just more than R3k you should be able to get an HD6970, but then you'll also need a big case since the graphics card is massive!
 
I have a DP45SG Intel mobo, 500W Antec PSU in a Coolermaster CM Stacker 830.
 
grimstoner said:
Btw... why would you take the Asus P8P67 over the Asus P8H67?
Click to expand...

Overclockability:

Here are some correct perceptions about H67.

1. Limited overclocking compared to P67. Largely manufacturer-specific. not really chipset-specific

2. Limited HT support.


Got this off another forum a while ago.
 
K... pretty much sold on the i5 2500k...

Mobo options :

1. Asus P8P67-M : Onboard BT and BIOS with a GUI, funky heatsinks
2. Gigabyte P67A-UD3R : Bit more expensive, Dual-BIOS (handy when oc'ing), Gigabyte name
 
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