Graphics Graphics card upgrade - HD4870 to... ?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by pete*, 6 Mar 2011.

  1. Picarro

    Picarro What's a Dremel?

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    Because the 480 grabs the 5850 by the balls and slings it through the room in a beautiful arc.


    And I would still go for the 560 since it's the latest tech. No need to go and spend money on old tech.
     
  2. murraynt

    murraynt Modder

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    A second hand 5870 @ 130 pounds would be a great buy.
    I know if I was was buying a card ATM it would either be a secondhand 5870/another 275 GTX/560 GTX
     
  3. carpetmonster

    carpetmonster What's a Dremel?

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    Someone else who doesn't understand simple economics. I heard a rack of Nvidia Tesla's grabs the 480 by the balls and 'swings it round the world'.
     
  4. Instagib

    Instagib Minimodder

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    The gtx480 is significantly faster than the 5850, but is not significantly more expensive; only around £70 more.
     
  5. pete*

    pete* Something witty here.

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    __

    Would you be able to recommend any reliable software CPU overclocking utils? :)


    But thanks for all the suggestions guys. I think i'm going to work on getting a 560 (or 460 if money tightens) and O/C my CPU once I have had it all out of the case and cleaned it all of dust, gonna be a loooong time doing that.
    Very dusty here in Uni room :( Much nicer back home haha.

    As for suggesting second hand cards, where am I able to find them? I know ebay is one place, but I don't really trust second hand PC parts on Ebay usually. You really never know what kind of life they've had.

    But cheers for advice, much appreciated guys :)
     
  6. wyx087

    wyx087 Homeworld 3 is happening!!

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    most forums have a member's market to trade member's used goodies. this one has a member's market, problem is you need a certain number of post (75 i think) and a certain amount of time on here to access it (to prevent scammers, so some extent)

    second hand 5870 is a great idea. or 6950 and unlock to 6970?
     
  7. Instagib

    Instagib Minimodder

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    In all honesty, I cannot. It's been awhile since I dabbled in the world of LGA 775. If you had an AMD rig, then i could reccomend AMD Overdrive, but i don't know of an Intel equivalent.

    There is the Asus Ai Suite, but i know nothing to it's reliability of ease of use.
    (available here; just enter Motherboard, Socket 775, P5Q PRO and hit search. Enter your OS then look under utilities. I think the newest is V1.05.32)

    I hope this helps.
     
  8. Blogins

    Blogins Panda have Guns

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    Definitely direct from the BIOS! Don't use any additional software for a CPU overclock.

    The ASUS P5Q Pro is actually very good and a GTX 560 would complement an E8400 very well. Looking at the current market I'd go for a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560Ti rated at 1GHz! Currently available from dabs.com for £209.98 (Just stick 7B28Q200 in dabs search bar).

    I have a similar processor overclocked to 4GHz, I'd imagine you'd get very close with an E8400 and the right memory. With a socket 775 CPU the trick is to find the maximum Front Side Bus (FSB) achievable whist maintaining a low enough voltage so that the CPU doesn't get too hot! The voltage range of the E8400 is 0.8500V-1.3625V, if it were me I'd opt for 1.25v and increase the FSB from then on. If you can then unlink the memory from FSB, I can do this on my 680i motherboard but I don't know if the ASUS P5Q Pro has the same option.
     
  9. asteldian

    asteldian Minimodder

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    On cards in question. The problem with the 480 is that while only £70 more than a 5850 it is still a f***ing monstrosity of a card, and while I admit the price is a tempter it's just too horrible a design. It grabs the 5850 by the balls then melts it with its overheating powerhungry desires.

    I am actually surprised the 4870 is struggling so much at your res. The GTX 460 would be all you need but it is a depressingly moderate upgrade to the 4870 for the price.
    I would actually agree that I would sooner have a 5850 than the GTX 460. Having said that, a 5870 seond hand would be a great buy. The GTX 560 is a bit pricey for what it is really, even a new 5870 wil cost you less and outperform it, so a second hand one is a winner.

    For OCing you should easily be able to reach 3.5ghz without much tweaking of voltage. If you google your CPU a'How to OC an e8400' for example you sould get guides telling you what needs to be done. The hardest part is disabling things in Bios, after that it is just a case of playing with the FSB and voltage
     
  10. pete*

    pete* Something witty here.

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    Yea, i've always thought i'll never do a software O/C, but the bios does baffle me.
    Mainly from lots of different guides giving lots of conflicting advice.
    But until I totally clean my system, suck the dust away and format and all that -
    then i'm going to attempt a proper bios O/C when I find a good guide and read up a bit!

    As for GFX - Indeed, I think I am set on a 560 Ti at the moment. Either that or the
    MSI one. Cheers for the advice :)


    Ahh, well you see i'm just as surprised too. A tell tale sign that things aren't all fine
    and dandy is it even struggles in CS1.6(ooold game) at 640x480... Which, OBV. isn't
    the graphics cards ability. I do believe something is overheating or something on
    my system is being a resource hog. Hence i'm going to be doing a full on clear out
    (both on hdd and of dust etc in the system).

    But I want an upgrade anyway, along with a nice O/C if I can manage it, it would be
    a nice way to go after giving my PC the monstrous clean that it needs. :)

    As for the Radeons over GeForces - I know they're usually cheaper and oftentimes
    more powerful - but my simple want of thinking, y'know I want a GeForce this time
    around is making me go more for a geforce than radeon for general stability.
    Unless I find a mega good deal on a 5870, then i'll be heading for a 560.

    But thanks for the input, very much appreciated :)

    - Another thing - talking about all these new graphics cards, will they fit in an
    Antec 300? My 4870's about 2mm from my HDD with the powercable in them, I think
    if a card was more than 1cm bigger than that it would be eating my HDD.
    I have an Antec 1200 sitting doing nothing at home, however would be about 2/3
    months before i'm back there at all and rather like the 300. :(
     
  11. Bloody_Pete

    Bloody_Pete Technophile

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    Get a 6990... :p Then you'd notice the difference...

    But yes, the 560 will be your best bet by far :)
     
  12. asteldian

    asteldian Minimodder

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    Antec 300 should be no issue with the recent cards as long as you are not going for the mammoth real high end expensive ones which tend to be longer.
    Just a note, at 640x480 resolution you are actually putting way more pressure on the CPU than the card. The higher the res the more the card is utilised.
    Can't say I blame you for wanting GeForce, I have to admit I have a GX 560 in bth my PC and the wife's, I actually had a 5850 which I sold off - there were no issues with the card, I just feel more comfortable with Nvidia. So while I advice a 5870 for a better deal, especially if you get a bargain, I personally didn't follow my own advice :D
     
  13. pete*

    pete* Something witty here.

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    Temps

    Hmm, cheers did kind of worry me a little with length of cards :)


    if anything i'll probably just have to work out a way to move the hdd to another spot.
     
  14. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

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    £70 is 50% of the purchase cost of the HD5850. I would consider that significantly more expensive considering the budget is only £200.

    The HD5850 with a clock speed bump to around HD5870 levels (should be do-able on the MSI model) will perform nigh on identically to the GTX560 TI for around £60 less.

    The GTX480 is a faster card but it isn't *that* much faster than a clocked HD5850 (HD5870) yet comes with a truck load of flaws.

    The Op's resolution of 1680x1050 means anything from the GTX460 1GB (£130) to a HD6950 2GB (£200) will offer more than enough performance without requiring colossal amounts of power.

    Personally at this resolution I would save my money and get a GTX460 (clocked to around 800MHz on the core) or the HD5850. Hexus have shown that clock for clock the 460 is only 10% slower than the 560TI yet costs alot less (again relative to the budget of £200). At 1680x1050 both cards will offer perfectly playable performance and TBH will be indistinquishable outside of benchmarks.
     
  15. Pete J

    Pete J Employed scum

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    +1. Here's a Zotac one at Scan. You have 20 posts so you can register for free delivery. You'll have to heavily OC your CPU to keep up with it though!

    Oh, and before someone comes along and says 'too noisy,' newer drivers alleviate that problem.
     
  16. urobulos

    urobulos Minimodder

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    Why the insistence on rear exhaust cards? I understand you want to avoid the card's cooler dumping all the heat into the case, but the Antec 300 should fairly easily go through pretty much any single card.
    In terms of raw power the GTX 480 is probably the best choice, but that card is loud and power hungry (something to think about if you are paying your own electricity bill). I'd go for the 560 linked before.
    IF you want to get closer to the 130-140£ region then both the 460 1GB and the 5850 are good choices. I'd say there is little difference between those two cards, though I'd go with a 460 personally (mainly because of Cuda and F@H performance, but not everyone cares about these).
     

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