Upgrades

M

microwolf96

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Jun 26, 2010
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Today's my birthday and my parents promised me a new video card and power supply for my rig.

Since my mom don't know that much 'bout computers and my dad isn't up to date with the current technology/doesn't know my computer that well, they let me choose what I wanted.

Tell me what you think of my choices.

Video Card

Power Supply

My PC + Specs
 
Eh, it'd work, but I'd got with Sapphire for the brand of GPU.
How much do you have to spend, and what all are you looking to upgrade? Also, what games do you play?
 
I don't know much about the power supply, but I'd definitely get the video card, I have an old 4800 HD Radeon from ATI, I need to upgrade so my dad's getting me a 59xx HD Radeon, and from reviews it's wonderful, and my 4800 is still fantastic and does it's job, I just want that edge for ArmA 2, and massive games such as that.
 
SoldierX77 said:
I don't know much about the power supply, but I'd definitely get the video card, I have an old 4800 HD Radeon from ATI, I need to upgrade so my dad's getting me a 59xx HD Radeon, and from reviews it's wonderful, and my 4800 is still fantastic and does it's job, I just want that edge for ArmA 2, and massive games such as that.
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The power supply? Corsair is one of the best brands when it comes to power supplies.
And you're getting a 5970? Really? That's like $700, and unless your resolution is 1920x1200+, useless.
 
And you're getting a 5970? Really? That's like $700, and unless your resolution is 1920x1200+, useless.
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Now I wouldn't say that. It's the fastest card on the market and can play many of today's games at their highest settings at high resolutions. It is expensive though which to me is the only drawback.

Infamous you've got about the same rig as I do. I have an HP Elite E9220y. Just about the same processor I have the 910. Same amount of RAM. I upgraded mine to a 650w Antec PSU and put an XFX 5850 Black Edition in it. Obviously you are on a budget though.

This would probably be a better bet for you in the video card department. If you can afford the little bit extra on it.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5660536&CatId=3669
 
SHiBBY927 said:
Now I wouldn't say that. It's the fastest card on the market and can play many of today's games at their highest settings at high resolutions. It is expensive though which to me is the only drawback.

Infamous you've got about the same rig as I do. I have an HP Elite E9220y. Just about the same processor I have the 910. Same amount of RAM. I upgraded mine to a 650w Antec PSU and put an XFX 5850 Black Edition in it. Obviously you are on a budget though.

This would probably be a better bet for you in the video card department. If you can afford the little bit extra on it.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5660536&CatId=3669
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It just seems like a waste if you're going to be playing at 1440x900 or even 1680x1050. So much power wouldn't even be used.
 
You guys need to pay attention to what kind of slot my computer has. If I get a 2.0 or 2.1 x16 card, it won't give me the full power of the card, and there's usually bugs when using newer technology on a older board/slot.

I just have a standard PCI-e x16 slot. Not the new and powerful 2.0 x16 or 2.1 x16 slots.

And Corsair is the most recommended power supply by most of the computer & gaming communities.
 
iiNfamous said:
You guys need to pay attention to what kind of slot my computer has. If I get a 2.0 or 2.1 x16 card, it won't give me the full power of the card, and there's usually bugs when using newer technology on a older board/slot.

I just have a standard PCI-e x16 slot. Not the new and powerful 2.0 x16 or 2.1 x16 slots.

And Corsair is the most recommended power supply by most of the computer & gaming communities.
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No offense, but with a low-end card such as a 5670, it wouldn't matter.
And 2.0/2.1 is backwards compatible with 1.0 AFAIK.
 
I know, but most of the 2.0 and 2.1 cards are 650-750 mhz core clock, and the card I chose was a 775 MHz CC. I think it's well worth the $120, as opposed to paying $10+ more for a card I would only get a fraction of it's true power because of the card using newer technology.

btw, I never meant for this to be anything more than you guys giving a quick rating on your opinion of what I chose. I wasn't really looking for other suggestions...
 
iiNfamous said:
I know, but most of the 2.0 and 2.1 cards are 650-750 mhz core clock, and the card I chose was a 775 MHz CC. I think it's well worth the $120, as opposed to paying $10+ more for a card I would only get a fraction of it's true power because of the card using newer technology.

btw, I never meant for this to be anything more than you guys giving a quick rating on your opinion of what I chose. I wasn't really looking for other suggestions...
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Uh, a PCI-E x16 2.0 and 1.0 slot won't show any difference in performance. I don't know where your getting a "fraction of the power". You'll be getting pretty much the full power of the card. (well, minus a cpu bottleneck)

The difference between 2.0 and 1.0 is just the amount of bandwith, and a change in standards.

Honestly, the 5670 isn't a very great card.. and you would be much happier with something like a 5770.

The performance difference between a 5670 and 5770 is huge, and well worth the extra 10/20$. You will have to replace the 5670 fairly quickly, the 5770 not so much.

Up to you though.
 
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I don't think you get it.
Using a 2.0/2.1 GPU on a 1.0 slot will get your about 4% less performance, not a fraction.
But fine, it's your money. And I think it's worth more towards $100, that's how much I bought one for a build for. It's a decent card.
 
I've seen comparison videos of a single 2.0 card running on a 1.0 slot and a 2.0 slot (2 different periods of times) on the same exact settings and the 2.0 card would have a significant drop of FPS when it was in the 1.0/1.1 slot.
 
iiNfamous said:
I've seen comparison videos of a single 2.0 card running on a 1.0 slot and a 2.0 slot (2 different periods of times) on the same exact settings and the 2.0 card would have a significant drop of FPS when it was in the 1.0/1.1 slot.
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Mmm. I haven't seen anything like that, my friend has tested it before on 2 different slots and the 4% difference isn't noticeable in real gaming applications.

Again, up to you. Spend like 20$ less for 20% less performance, a 5770 on a 1.0 is still going to be way more powerful then a 5670 on a 1.0. Then later, if you get a new motherboard, it's even better.
 
Agreed the 5770 is the much better choice. I was thinking about getting it myself and instead chose to spend a chunk of money and get a 5850 but the 5770 isn't a bad card for a budget. If I remember correctly it is also DX11 compatible as well.
 
SHiBBY927 said:
Agreed the 5770 is the much better choice. I was thinking about getting it myself and instead chose to spend a chunk of money and get a 5850 but the 5770 isn't a bad card for a budget. If I remember correctly it is also DX11 compatible as well.
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Yep. All of the HD 5000 series are.
 
I agree with the above statements. The 5770 is, IMHO, a lot more bang for your buck if you're just willing to spend a tiny bit extra. It's more than worth it, and the 5770 will last you quite a bit longer than the 5670. It's of course up to you, obviously, but it's sort of like this - getting the '670 will save you maybe $30 now, and cost you another couple hundred in the future when it becomes worthless and ultimately nearly obsolete. The '770 is probably going to be relevant for at LEAST another 1.5-2 years, by my estimate, and you could probably even squeeze a little more juice outta the '770 by overclocking it past stock rates later down the line. That won't really be NEEDED (if it ever is 'needed') until a while's off though.

IMO, that is why brand name really IS king when it comes to PC parts; a lot of brands are known for faulty parts for whatever reason - other brands are known for grade-A quality. The top dogs when it comes to ATi are, IMHO, a. Sapphire or b. XFX. TBH the only nVidia GPU manufacturer that I have much experience with is EVGA... and they are by far the cream of the crop for nVidia from the other brands I HAVE tried out.

Same brand as the 5670, not that I recommend it - Diamond [out of stock ATM]: Diamond 5770 1GB
The brand I DO recommend - Sapphire: Sapphire 5770 1GB

I kinda wish we could get the Vapor-X edition without having to purchase the combo. I've heard that V-X has superior cooling capabilities on the GPU unit itself. That aside, Sapphire is a really solid, reputable brand, and XFX's 5770 is pretty nice too. I've never really heard of Diamond as anything more than a cheaper knock-off of Sapphire (no offense Diamond fans, correct me if I'm wrong!).

EDIT:
SHiBBY927 said:
Really? For some reason I was thinking only the 5770 and better were DX11 capable.
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Nope! Thankfully it's the entire 5000 series.
... It is made possible by the ATI Radeon™ HD 5000 Series of graphics processors and the new features of Microsoft? DirectX? 11 technology ...
Click to expand...
[Source]

This makes DX11 available to pretty much every gamer, which I think is the beauty of it compared to equivalent nVidia cards which IIRC -- until recently, didn't tote DX11 as a feature. I don't intend to knock nVidia though as I love their cards. Especially EVGA. EVGA makes delicious cards.
 
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According to that link you posted, you have the 785G chipset. That chipset has full support of PCIe 2.0.. so no need to argue anymore.

Edit: I don't even think they make PCIe 1.0 on an AM3 motherboard..

Another edit: That card is also PCIe 2.0 (if you were thinking it was 1.0 for some reason),

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=623&card2=

The only PCIe 1.0 cards left on the market are mostly old Workstation and DX9 cards.
 
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Shadows, it would specifically SAY 2.0 or 2.1 on the name of the card if it were a 2.0 or 2.1 card. Go on newegg and look at the PCI-e x16 cards and there's only ONE HD 5k series on there. Is it listed as a 2.0/2.1? No.
 
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