Considering upgrading my GPU which is an AMD 5850 that's water cooled. Cpu is i7 26k with 8gb ram Couple of things I'd like other people's opinions on. Is it worth it? Am I going to notice much difference, I'm not a huge FPS, mainly a racers or mmo's player and not really noticed slow down or had to turn anything down, so is it really worth it? The other thing is out of gtx 680, gtx 760 or gtx 770 which would be in your opinion the better investment? Remember the card is going to be water cooled so heat sink will be junked and it will have to be a reference design pcb to ensure water block compatibility. Thank you
Ahh right sorry. cpu i7 26k 8gb gskill ripsaws (cant remember the speed) mobo asus p8p67 ssd samsung 840 psu be quiet dark power 1000W (plenty of juice) WC'd TJ07 case with 120x3 +120x2 rad's upper limit £350 on the card because I have to get a waterblock as well. mainly after opinions on if it's worth it really.
It'd certainly be worth upgrading from a 5850 for efficiency etc. But if you don't need high performance, there's no point in spending over £100. Most current cards run very cool with low power, and will do fine with the supplied air coolers. My 7970 is barely audible even at full load and silent at idle.
It all comes down to this: are there any games you can't currently run? Do you have to have highest eye candy settings, or can you compromise a bit? If you're happy then why upgrade?
Sorry, forgot to put that in my spec (now amended) case is a TJ07 water cooled with a 120x3 + 120x2 so whatever happens the air coolers being junked, just to not waste the set up Thanks for the feedback though
the missus has a 5850 and even in wow @ ultra it does drop frame rate (depending on whats going on) a 7870LE or 7950 would a good drop in choice
If you do decide to upgrade, one thing to bear in mind is that the GTX680 and the GTX770 are nearly identical in terms of performance, but generally the 770 is around £20 cheaper.
Ok thanks for the help Certainly give me a lot to think about 7950 could be a good option I'd not even considered, GTX 770 seems to be a little difficult to get water blocks for so probably going to be a 7950, gtx 680 or gtx 760
GTX 770 waterblocks are easily available from EK, Watercool, XSPC etc. However you'll have more of a problem getting blocks for the 760s - while the reference layout uses a GTX670 PCB and therefore is compatible with GTX670 blocks, a lot of cards aren't using the reference PCB and it's hard to tell when they are and when they aren't. Also you might want to look in my thread about my new build - we were discussing GTX770 vs GTX760 SLI, and the 760 SLI is like a £900 Titan in terms of performance while costing around £400 - only £50 more then 1 GTX770, so worth considering.
Yes, my mistake Got so many numbers and spec's running round my head at the moment I got the GTX 770 & the 760 mixed up. Thanks for the correction
