New GFX card question

Dohnny Jepp

Hi all. I'm in the market for a new GFX card.
I currently have a 4850 and would like to stay ati.

I have a q6600 for my processor ( not sure if that will restrict my choices for a gfx card).

I pretty much want to be able to play any game out now on max settings, battlefield 3 etc and maybe even a bit of future proofing.


What are my options?

Thanks

deejer

Dohnny Jepp wrote: »

Hi all. I'm in the market for a new GFX card.
I currently have a 4850 and would like to stay ati.

I have a q6600 for my processor ( not sure if that will restrict my choices for a gfx card).

I pretty much want to be able to play any game out now on max settings, battlefield 3 etc and maybe even a bit of future proofing.


What are my options?

Thanks

Whats the clock speed on that processor? Have you it overclocked?

I think for your system, if you want to stay ATI, your best bet would be the 6870. (560TI if you end up going Nvidia).

Dohnny Jepp

its 2.4 but i've it oc'ed to 3.

is it possible my processor will restrict me being able to run BF3 and other new games at max settings?

I bought this pc about 3 years ago and it lasted me this long but instead of gradual upgrading I just left it as is.

So now pretty much the only thing i can upgrade is my gfx card unless i want to change everythin.

If I want an i5 or i7 i'd need a new mobo and then new ram etc =[

deejer

Dohnny Jepp wrote: »

its 2.4 but i've it oc'ed to 3.

is it possible my processor will restrict me being able to run BF3 and other new games at max settings?

Its a quad core cpu running at 3ghz. I dont think there would be a problem. Pair it with a 6870 and it will handle BF3

Shy_Dave!

I have a Q6600 at 3.0ghz too.
I upgraded from a 4850 to 5850 in January, and saw about 30-40% increase in performance. I actually bought another second-hand 5850 recently.
In the Battlefield 3 beta using two cards at 1920x1080 and using ultra settings (plus 4aa 8af) I go anywhere from 50fps to 9fps.
I suspect these framrates drops are game/driver issue more than the hardware holding it back.
If you were to buy say a 6870 or 6950 (depending on your budget), I imagine your in a good place to run BF3 on high settings.
Our Q6600 will bottleneck a little on the larger maps but you could probably compensate by dropping your ingame FOV for instance.
Try to OC more if it can take the heat! Just make sure you have a PSU to support the new card.

Dohnny Jepp

Thank you very much lads!! Really appreciate the advice. Might go two 6870's. . .

Tea_Bag

Dohnny Jepp wrote: »

Thank you very much lads!! Really appreciate the advice. Might go two 6870's. . .

you're better off with 1 6950 or 6970.

also check your PSU can handle those big boys.

Shy_Dave!

Yeah remember power supply & case size becomes an issue running two cards. Your computer will be hotter too with two cards.
With two cards your more dependant on driver and 'application profiles' to make sure your games utilize both cards properly (instead of one working at 99% and the other just 15%).
Also make sure your motherboard can support 2 PCI-E x16.

Dohnny Jepp

I'm not so sure about my psu, cant recall what it is. However because i have an antec case with the see through side bit i was able to see that i do have two pci express slots.