Biggest Video card without bottleneking my system

[caceledon]

I currently have a Core 2 Duo E7500 overclocked @3.75 Ghz ,an Ati Hd 4850, and 3 gb ram ddr2 667.
I don't have the cash to upgrade the complete system, so I wanted to upgrade the video card, since it makes the most impact on games.
I was looking into a HD 6950 2gb ($250) but I'm afraid that since my cpu is so old it might bottleneck the system, and I wont notice any difference between an HD 6950 and a HD 6850 1gb, ($140)...
So, is it worth it to go for the 6950 or it would be more reasonable to go for the 6850.

Thanks!

 

[sunnk]

hd 6870 will be the better way to go it performs very well in the resolution of 1080p and gives the performance over the price just make sure your psu has good enough power with 2x6 pin pcie connector.

 

[bucknutty]

Get the 6950. Depending on the game title your cpu will be enough to saturate that video card. In a year or whenever you get around to upgrading your chip and board your gpu will be good to go.

 

[refillable]

With your processor and clocks, I think a 6870 would be most appropriate, and see if you can upgrade your RAMs to I guess 6GB.

 

[elbert]

I currently have a Core 2 Duo E7500 overclocked @3.75 Ghz ,an Ati Hd 4850, and 3 gb ram ddr2 667.
I don't have the cash to upgrade the complete system, so I wanted to upgrade the video card, since it makes the most impact on games.
I was looking into a HD 6950 2gb ($250) but I'm afraid that since my cpu is so old it might bottleneck the system, and I wont notice any difference between an HD 6950 and a HD 6850 1gb, ($140)...
So, is it worth it to go for the 6950 or it would be more reasonable to go for the 6850.

Thanks!

The video card will not bottleneck the system. The system may bottleneck the video card. IE the system will preform just as well if it is bottle necking. Its just you sent more money on a video card with only a small gain on a lower end GPU. I suggest you not worry much about this as higher end video card will get a few more FPS. The big plus will be using a better video card down the road on a new CPU, motherboard, and memory. This is what you may see if your system is bottle necking the video card. This said with a CPU upgrade you would see the sept builds performance.

As you may notice with higher resolutions the bottle neck may not matter much at all. This may depend more on your monitor.

 

[sunnk]

in my opinion the hd 6950 will not be an good choice to go because the fact is cpu it doesnt matter your cpu is overclock it will do fine in gpu dependent game and in cpu dependent game like skyrim it may botlleneck so the hd 6870 will be the better way to go with that setup and hd 6870 is the best choice for its price and bang for the buck.

and for brand sapphire model dirt 3 one good to go.

check the review for the clearification.

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/sapphire_hd_6870_dirt3/9.html

this is the review of the sapphire hd 6870 dirt 3 edition there u can see that it is nearly comparable towards the hd 6950 so it will be better way to go with hd 6870.

 

[pell380]

1st thing plz upgrade your ram to 4gb ddr2 with 800mhz it will bost ur performance

 

[sunnk]

yes upgrade your ram to atleast 4 gb or 6gb.

 

[bucknutty]

+1 to pell380. You can get a 2x2 gb set of 800 mhz ram for like 30-40 on ebay or 50 new.
4 gigs of 800 in dual channel will give you a good boost.

 

[elbert]

I would caution against a RAM upgrade as the system as it may be using a 32bit OS. If the OS is 64bit then yes it would be a great upgrade. I wouldnt suggest upgrade the OS for the RAM upgrade. If this is the case save up for a new CPU i5 3570K, motherboard z77, and DDR3 RAM. For a video card I suggest the 7850 when it release on March 6th. The 7850 should be as powerful as the 6950 but will support DX 11.1.

AMD stopped production of the 6800's and 6900's about 2 months ago so you will have a hard time finding one later to crossfire. If you want one of these 6000's cards look for price cuts around March the 6th.

 

[refillable]

I would caution against a RAM upgrade as the system as it may be using a 32bit OS. If the OS is 64bit then yes it would be a great upgrade. I wouldnt suggest upgrade the OS for the RAM upgrade. If this is the case save up for a new CPU i5 3570K, motherboard z77, and DDR3 RAM. For a video card I suggest the 7850 when it release on March 6th. The 7850 should be as powerful as the 6950 but will support DX 11.1.

AMD stopped production of the 6800's and 6900's about 2 months ago so you will have a hard time finding one later to crossfire. If you want one of these 6000's cards look for price cuts around March the 6th.

what? :O

 

[caceledon]

Thanks everybody for the input. I decided to buy an Ati HD 6870 ($170) and 4gb ddr2 800mhz ram ($56), that should be enough to help me until the end of the year, when I will upgrade the complete system... Any final thoughts on this, before I finalize the purchase?

 

[elbert]

what? :O

This production cut was stated in the 7770 review. AMD doesn't want to compete against its discounted old stock for long.

 

[jeffredo]

Thanks everybody for the input. I decided to buy an Ati HD 6870 ($170) and 4gb ddr2 800mhz ram ($56), that should be enough to help me until the end of the year, when I will upgrade the complete system... Any final thoughts on this, before I finalize the purchase?

Smart move. The HD 6870 will be more balanced with the rest of your system and is a pretty decent buy right now.

 

[kdawgmaster]

I currently have a Core 2 Duo E7500 overclocked @3.75 Ghz ,an Ati Hd 4850, and 3 gb ram ddr2 667.
I don't have the cash to upgrade the complete system, so I wanted to upgrade the video card, since it makes the most impact on games.
I was looking into a HD 6950 2gb ($250) but I'm afraid that since my cpu is so old it might bottleneck the system, and I wont notice any difference between an HD 6950 and a HD 6850 1gb, ($140)...
So, is it worth it to go for the 6950 or it would be more reasonable to go for the 6850.

Thanks!

As it stands for right now system bottlenecks will depend on the games you are going to play. If you plan on playing BF3 its not as much as a CPU intensive game as most people think where a core 2 duo was scoring 1 fps less then a I5 in it. Bottlenecks have alot more to do with the games then the system as a whole. While it may seem odd that a 6950 is with a older dual core that may be all u need for a CPU.

Give us a list of games and then people can make a better judgement.

 

[sunnk]

Thanks everybody for the input. I decided to buy an Ati HD 6870 ($170) and 4gb ddr2 800mhz ram ($56), that should be enough to help me until the end of the year, when I will upgrade the complete system... Any final thoughts on this, before I finalize the purchase?

for end of the year it will be more then enough and for 2 years it will be ok it will also work with your newer system at the end of the year so good luck and good choice to choose hd 6870.

 

[caceledon]

Best answer selected by caceledon.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey