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Phluxed
VIP Member
Posts: 4911
Location: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
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 Posted: Sat, 2nd May 2009 19:07 Post subject: Where is my bottleneck? |
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So I've slipped out of the hardware game a bit and I'm looking to upgrade a bit as some new PC games are coming out that I really want to have a smooth experience on. I have a great soundcard and speakers and a 37" Westinghouse monitor but my PC seems to lag in some of the newer games. I want to get the most bang for my buck in an upgrade - for instance, I don't want to get a significant graphics card upgrade only to limit it significantly by having a processor bottleneck.
When I bought this machine, it was pretty beastly, and for the most part is pretty darn good today. Can you guys recommend a good upgrade for this box? Maybe go with a single graphics card solution so that the crossfire isn't limited by the 16x4 PCIE setup on the board?
Asus P5K-E Wifi/AP
Core2Quad Q6600@3.2GHZ Kentsfield
2x2GB OCZ Platinum Performence RAM PC6400
2x Radeon HD3870 in Crossfire
2x500GB, 1x1000GB hard drives
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LeoNatan
☢ NFOHump Despot ☢
Posts: 73196
Location: Ramat Gan, Israel 🇮🇱
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| Posted: Sat, 2nd May 2009 19:47 Post subject: |
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The only points of improvements I see (aside from total replacement of the CPU+motherboard+memory, which is totally unnecessary with your Q6600), is adding some more memory (DDR2, which dirt cheap), and perhaps replacing the 3870 duo with a 4870X2 (which is better by itself than a 4870 duo). The 4870X2 isn't that expensive anymore, so if you can afford it, definitely go with that. That motherboard has a PCIE1.0 controller, if I'm not mistaken, so the more cards you have, the more loss of performance you'll have (when compared to a PCIE2.0 motherboard)). 4870X2 handles the Crossfire communication between the GPUs by itself, and is much faster than even a PCIE2.0 can allow. 
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Frant
King's Bounty
Posts: 24636
Location: Your Mom
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Phluxed
VIP Member
Posts: 4911
Location: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Sat, 2nd May 2009 21:54 Post subject: |
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Its 1920x1080. Its about 2.5 years old but still looks amazing.
Which is why I usually keep my graphics card near the top end of the shelf for gaming. Looks breathtaking.
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| Posted: Sat, 2nd May 2009 22:25 Post subject: |
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| Phluxed wrote: | Its 1920x1080. Its about 2.5 years old but still looks amazing.
Which is why I usually keep my graphics card near the top end of the shelf for gaming. Looks breathtaking. |
Simple. Your gfx cards solution is shit for such high resolution. Get one of the new Gefore GTX2** series. You can pick up GTX260 core216 extremely cheap and it will do very good at that res, or if you have more cash get a beasty GTX295 and it will eat 1920x1080 for breakfast. It's a single card solution that will shit on any SLI or Crossfire of cheaper cards and you don't have to experience SLI/Crossfire incompatibilities bullshit.
C2D E6750 @ 3.2Ghz, 4GB 800MHz DDR2 4-4-4-12, GeForce GTX 260 c216 OC 896MB, 3.2TB, Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Xbox 360 Elite, PS2 Slim, Xbox
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Phluxed
VIP Member
Posts: 4911
Location: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Sat, 2nd May 2009 22:34 Post subject: |
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| Glottis wrote: | | Phluxed wrote: | Its 1920x1080. Its about 2.5 years old but still looks amazing.
Which is why I usually keep my graphics card near the top end of the shelf for gaming. Looks breathtaking. |
Simple. Your gfx cards solution is shit for such high resolution. Get one of the new Gefore GTX2** series. You can pick up GTX260 core216 extremely cheap and it will do very good at that res, or if you have more cash get a beasty GTX295 and it will eat 1920x1080 for breakfast. It's a single card solution that will shit on any SLI or Crossfire of cheaper cards and you don't have to experience SLI/Crossfire incompatibilities bullshit. |
I figured - I don't really like my Xfire setup, it eats case space lol. I actually have zero incompatibility issues as of right now. Lets say $350cdn is my limit, that X2 is sort of out of my price range. www.ncix.com - suggest me a card?
I actually PREFER AMD over Nvidia, but I won't die if you ask me to change. Is the 4890 any good? |
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Frant
King's Bounty
Posts: 24636
Location: Your Mom
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| Posted: Sat, 2nd May 2009 23:00 Post subject: |
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I thought about replacing my 4870 1GB with a 4890 but figured the increased clocks wouldn't really be worth the hassle, especially not since the 5870 will show up late august (1200 shaders/pipes, 900+Mhz Core, twice the rasterizers, DX11 etc.) and win my heart in an instant. From what I've read the 4890 can hold it's own, esp. for the price. Add another $100 and you get the Geforce 285 which IS faster but $100 more (give or take). I've lost my love for nVidia though and will stick with ATI/AMD for an unforeseeable future.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
"The sky was the color of a TV tuned to a dead station" - Neuromancer
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Phluxed
VIP Member
Posts: 4911
Location: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Sat, 2nd May 2009 23:19 Post subject: |
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I'd love to wait for the 5870 but I need something for the summer.
Interesting read here as well saying that crossfire 4770s beat a 4890.
I'll be ordering another 4GB of ram soon, upping it to 8GB, but I really need to get a new video card it looks like. So I'll begin taking suggestions (from ncix if possible please)
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Phluxed
VIP Member
Posts: 4911
Location: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Sat, 2nd May 2009 23:40 Post subject: |
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| Posted: Sun, 3rd May 2009 19:06 Post subject: |
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no idea if it`s a good deal.
But yes, you will notice a significant boost.
sell your cpu, while it`s worth some bucks and get a fast core2duo for the time being (8400/8500/8600 E0). they will be much faster in 99% of the current (and upcoming) games. they all make 4000 Mhz guaranteed - even on your p35 mb. even 4500 Mhz should be easy if your mainboard will do the required fsb.
You can switch back to a quad later if required, or upgrade the whole system.
If you are lucky, you won`t pay much for that "upgrade", but it will make a big difference. 3.2 Ghz would be a bottleneck with such a powerfull gpu.
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| Posted: Sun, 3rd May 2009 19:14 Post subject: |
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4890 is a kick ass card, you will feel the difference and you do not need more performance for any game on this planet
also make sure you have a 64bit OS with that amount of memory.
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Phluxed
VIP Member
Posts: 4911
Location: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Sun, 3rd May 2009 21:21 Post subject: |
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| Stefan F wrote: | 4890 is a kick ass card, you will feel the difference and you do not need more performance for any game on this planet
also make sure you have a 64bit OS with that amount of memory. |
Definitely have Vista 64, and will install Windows 7 x64 when its full available (im guessing early 2010).
I'm happy with my Q6600 - its GREAT for video editing, which I do now and then, and audio producing, which I also do now and then. Its also likely I can push it to 3.4ghz as its running at about 28 celsius idle and 32 under load. I have a pretty beastly air cooling system. Lots of high air volume 120mm fans and a giant heatsink (http://www.ixbt.com/cpu/heatpipe-giants-shootout/silent-tower-heatsink.jpg)
I just ordered the 4890XT and another 4GB of ram. |
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Phluxed
VIP Member
Posts: 4911
Location: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Sun, 3rd May 2009 23:57 Post subject: |
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I got a Q6600 when they first were released directly from intel through a partner program for $120ish.
I'm excited to see the card show up.
PS I have stepping B revision G0. 
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Phluxed
VIP Member
Posts: 4911
Location: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Tue, 5th May 2009 07:35 Post subject: |
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I got her up to 3.4ghz stable.
Good news, the video card I got apparently is great for overclocking as XFX put a better fan on it
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