Graphics Considering HD5770 upgrade - suggestions invited

So I've been rocking the rig in my sig for a good few years now and haven't had any real need to consider upgrading. I don't tend to buy brand new games, I only have a 1280 x 1024 monitor currently etc. so am not pushing for premium performance.

Nevertheless, to get involved with the newer games at a decent framerate I suspect it's about time for me to upgrade, though I'm only really considering the GPU, not the whole rig.

I don't mind buying used, but would kind of find it reassuring if the card I was buying wasn't obsolete - i.e. can still be bought retail too (though ultimately, if there aren't any currently retailing cards that are compatible, or if buying them would be overkill for my system, then obsolete cards will obviously be the way to go).

Thanks.

 

TBH I think a slice of avocado would be an upgrade to what you have now.

It all depends what you are willing to spend but you could probably get a 780 for around £80-£110 depending on model or a 970 for £120+ if you fancied that.

 

Despite my GPU having gone off to cry in the corner, I'm going to thank you for that - thanks.

I'm not gonna get much back on my 5770, so £100 would be about as much as I'm wanting to go, but I guess if I can find a good deal on the 970 I might stretch a bit further.

 

You're extremely CPU limited at that resolution, so it's an absolute waste getting anything more powerful than maybe a 6950 for 35 quid.

 

Hmm dunno man. Depends on the game. My Xeon only runs at 2ghz but I can still play pretty much everything with a Fury X.

 

Something like a HD 7870 is probably what you want. It's v1 GCN, and shockingly can be had on ebay for as little as £40. Even if you upgrade to a 1080p monitor, it should still handle medium settings on current games.

 

Pop on the marketplace and see what is the best you can find for £40 - £50. 660/670 or 7870/270X would be about right I think.

 

At 1280x1024? Do your research, fella...

 

Sorry but I appear to be stuck in 'dunce mode' at the moment. Could you clarify what you mean by that? I don't see the link between reasonably low resolution and CPU.

 

As you lower the resolution the GPU has less work to do so it pumps out more and more frames to the point at which your CPU itself will be whats limiting the game not the GPU.

As you push the resolution up, the GPU has to do a lot more work, so it becomes the limiting factor of a PC while the CPU can relax a bit.

My system is pretty much identical to yours, have you got your CPU overclocked at all or stock, because it'd be an idea to do that if you can.

Edit: what games do you want to play?

 

Nice explanation, thanks Loftie. That was roughly what I was thinking it must be, but my head wasn't playing ball with the reason.

I haven't OC'd my CPU at all yet. My rig is now 7 years old jawdrop: - where did that go?), and now that it's running an SSD and 12gb RAM, I've never had any need to get into overclocking.

No specific games I'm having issues with or wanting to play immediately, I tend to wait til new releases have dropped below £5 on Steam. My most recent purchases have been Mad Max, Ori & the Blind Forest and Wolfenstein: New Order. Haven't tried the other two but Ori plays fine (though admittedly I think I'm running default settings as I haven't even looked in the menus yet). I have an enormous backlog across 6 platforms so it's not like I'm desperate to improve graphical performance, but given how my GPU is being compared unfavourably to an avocado, I think it's just time to start thinking about upgrades (but can't justify a full system upgrade right now). I've not gamed much on my PC since I got my Wii U in 2013, but having bought a Steam Link this week it's reignited my interest in Steam games.

Looks like I need to get myself a new monitor though. I can't get my Steam Link to display games at the correct screen ratio to fill my 1080 TV, so I'm starting to think it's because my monitor is preventing me running games at a resolution greater than 1280 x 1024. Hadn't really occurred to me that it wasn't even 1080

 

Yea the 5770 is pretty old, still just about manages Overwatch at 60fps most of the time on low settings at 1680x1050 with it's core clock ramped up to the max that CCC allows me to.

You could try running the games at 1280x720 and see how it looks on your steam link. might look awful but you won't know if you don't try

 

Get a new monitor (1080 one). Upgrade gpu to 780 or 970, and overclock your CPU! A 750 reaches 4GHz easy with a half decent cooler, should even get to 4.2! If your case can take it get a Noctua NH-D15.

A 750 is still quite a powerful cpu, your limitations atm are your monitor and gpu. I only recently upgraded my 860 to 5820K, and only did it because my 860 died. Sure I saw a bump in performance, but you will get a much bigger bump in performance by upgrading the GPU.

 

The i5 should overclock nicely, easy get another Ghz on its stock speed which really helps

Then I would go for a 670 or similar, 7950's are also around the £60 mark.

 

I would really recommend a monitor upgrade first and foremost. It will improve image quality a lot due to the higher resolution but also provide you with a larger workspace for day to day stuff. This will benefit gaming and workflow. Your CPU is not a bad performer and if you go for a newer monitor it wont be taking on as much load anyway, as others have pointed out.

There are a lot of cheap GPU upgrades you could get to pair with a 1080p monitor. You could get something like http://www.ebuyer.com/284043-acer-s220hqlb-led-lcd-full-hd-21-5-dvi-monitor-et-ws0he-b01 for under £75 or stretch for a IPS panel http://www.ebuyer.com/646732-acer-g246hyl-23-8-led-ips-hdmi-monitor-um-qg6ee-009 and if you shop around you will be able to find cheaper, this was just a quick check on Ebuyer as I was on the site.

If you get a 1080p monitor, something like the AMD 7770 up would do for playable framerates on most titles at 1080p, of course on low/medium graphics. I would agree with what the others have said and get something more like the AMD 7950, they go for about £50 over on the marketplace (Though you could get away with something much lower tier at 1080p as you dont mind lower settings). You would be able to play modern games at very decent settings at 1080p and the total would come to less than the price of a current mid-tier GPU like a 1050 Ti.

 

Shucks you guys, thanks for all the input. Looks like I'm monitor shopping now. IPS 24" seems like a decent standard. Should be a nice change from a 17".

 

Glad we helped I made a similar upgrade from a 15 inc to 22 inch IPS panel a few years ago and the difference was quite stark. IPS panels are worth the little bit extra. I cant recommend you a specific monitor at that size from experience but the one I linked earlier http://www.ebuyer.com/646732-acer-g246hyl-23-8-led-ips-hdmi-monitor-um-qg6ee-009 has decent reviews and looks good for the value. If you want to spend a bit more, http://www.ebuyer.com/748122-lg-23mp68vq-23-ips-led-full-hd-monitor-23mp68vq is a LG panel with very good reviews and comes with FreeSync, which is quite a nice feature.

I will say regarding brands, I have had a AOC Q2577W for 5 months now and am mostly disappointed with it. Quite a few noticeable dead pixels, it suffers from quite bad light bleed compared to my LG IPS, and the front bezel has come detached from the monitor. This was my second one, the first had to be sent back as the stand did not work properly. I guess I was unlucky Quite anecdotal.

 

So if I opt for a monitor with Freesync, does that mean I need an AMD gpu of R2__ series or above to take advantage of it? If so, what would be recommended?

 

There are a lot of rebadges on the low-mid range, so consult Wikipedia before you buy to make sure you're getting GCN v2.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...ng_units#Volcanic_Islands_.28Rx_2xx.29_Series

 

I've bought a used 1080p 24" IPS monitor (doesn't have freesync I don't think) for £75 - won't get it for a few days though.

So now I can re-focus on GPU. In terms of compatibility with my existing system, is there anything other than physical size of the card, that I have to take into account? I think my PSU should handle any single card. Now that I've gotten a 1080p monitor, it seems a shame to settle for 'medium' settings - if I can find something affordable (c.£100-125 used) that can give me solid 60fps+ at 1080p on max settings, then that's what I'll go for. I just need to know if I'm limited by anything other than size and price...

Further advice and/or card recommendations much appreciated