GPU Advice

rmagu02

Hi,

My current setup is a Q9650 @ 4.1Ghz, 4gb RAM and a 4870x2. I was thinking about upgrading GPU to a 6990 or GTX 590. Would I see any major gains or would I just be bottlenecked with the RAM and CPU?? Not quite sure on all this stuff, any help appreciated.

Leman

It really depends on what game. Minecraft won't see any gains, but something like Crysis would whereas Fallout or Dragon Age would benefit from an SSD more.

Also, the "high end" GPUs are a major waste unless you are:
a) A Videophile (aka you get your jollies off getting that last 5% the same way Audiophiles do for sound)
2) Have the rest of the hardware to back it up. ;P

Also, are you running Windowz or Linux? Either way I would recommend the nVidia 560 ti over anything AMD or the GTX 590. AMD seem to not have had their **** together both hardware wise and driver wise for a long time now and as you can see here, a 560 ti has 76% of the performance for less than half the price. Also, the 590 is plagued by Driver problems, so stay clear of that too. However, since you have xFire at the moment, I would suggest grabbing two 560 ti's or if you really want, a 580.

rmagu02

Thanks for the reply. Im running vista 64. The 4870x2 has served me well up to now but its starting to struggle with some newer games with all the bells and whistles on (i like to have games maxed out) hence me thinking about an upgrade. Ill give the 580 a look. Im such a sucker for paying top dollar for the latest and greatest even though they're not great value .

Leman

Actually, from what I can tell Two 560 ti's outclass a single 580 significantly:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-560-ti-sli-review/1

So as long as your power supply can handle it, you'd be better off doing that.

rmagu02

My motherboard is an ASUS Rampage extreme, I dont think that supports SLI though??

Leman

Oh. Well, easy solution, Buy a new Motherboard! :P

Tea_Bag

the 590 is also prone to exploding at the moment so best to avoid. get 580 sli which beats the 590 anyway and your top performance.

Jonny7

Leman wrote: »

Also, are you running Windowz or Linux? Either way I would recommend the nVidia 560 ti over anything AMD or the GTX 590. AMD seem to not have had their **** together both hardware wise and driver wise for a long time now and as you can see here, a 560 ti has 76% of the performance for less than half the price. Also, the 590 is plagued by Driver problems, so stay clear of that too. However, since you have xFire at the moment, I would suggest grabbing two 560 ti's or if you really want, a 580.

That passmark benchmark is fairly crap to be honest

Actually the 4870x2 is very similar to the 5870 in performance-wise... and the 5870 is very close to the 560 ti - so there wouldn't be much performance increase buying a single 560 ti

Also, SLI 560's and a new board will be 500+ euros, which would give you roughly a 10% increase in speed over a single 580 GTX which should be around 400 euros so OP that's your call (considering you are powering a 4870x2 am assuming you have a strong PSU)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_560_Ti_SLI/23.html

As for OP's chip, well, the 9650 you have is about 10% faster than the AMD x4 955 at stock speeds, add in the pretty large overclock and there shouldn't be any game out there able to so far "bottle-neck" that chip

Vicxas

I would go for the 560ti, looks nice and overclocks well apparently.

rmagu02

Thanks for the replies people. Ive got a 1200 watt PSU so theres no issue there. Ive narrowed my choice down to a 580 (didnt realise the 590 had such a bed rep) or the more expensive but slightly more powerful 6990. Decisions,decisions.

Jonny7

Or perhaps this

could be a little hot and noisy though

http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=48832&agid=1165

Heres a review of the powercolor version

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_6870_X2/27.html