Can i upgrade to amd 6850-6870 without replacing CPU etc.

[L33TSQU1RR3L]

i have been wanting to upgrade my graphics card for awhile but i worry that i may have to replace a lot of different parts i only have a small amount of money free for the card considering i am guessing that i will have to buy a new power supply as well

so in short i want to try to get the best card i can get for my current system without upgrading anything else other than power supply (if at all possible) i was hoping to get something along the lines of the AMD 6850-6870.

my computer is a acer aspire m3900, the processor is a pentium dual-core cpu E5500 2.80ghz and i have 6gb or ram and my motherboard is a acer eg43m and currently only have the intel integrated graphics card.

 

[L33TSQU1RR3L]

i really wouldnt mind spending the money if it was indeed a major boost to performance. you dont think the 6670 by itself would even work at all or are you stating that it would be more worth it to go above and beyond that? as time goes by i am trying to pinch pennies here and there cutting expenses where i can so the amount i can spend is going up and down depending on the day/week. so im just trying to get an idea of what would work if getting JUST the 6670 would work then its at least good to have it on the table leaves me more money that can go towards other things i need .i desperately need a new mouse and other non computer things. but if the 6670 wouldnt work or upgrading everything would just be THAT much better that its worth it then i can probably do that. seems you guys opinion vary so just trying to get a better of what your saying of the other opinions lol

 

[randomkid]

i really wouldnt mind spending the money if it was indeed a major boost to performance. you dont think the 6670 by itself would even work at all or are you stating that it would be more worth it to go above and beyond that? as time goes by i am trying to pinch pennies here and there cutting expenses where i can so the amount i can spend is going up and down depending on the day/week. so im just trying to get an idea of what would work if getting JUST the 6670 would work then its at least good to have it on the table leaves me more money that can go towards other things i need .i desperately need a new mouse and other non computer things. but if the 6670 wouldnt work or upgrading everything would just be THAT much better that its worth it then i can probably do that. seems you guys opinion vary so just trying to get a better of what your saying of the other opinions lol

You don't have to decide about the CPU now & at your current resolution, you will do very well with just the 6670. But if you plan to upgrade the monitor soon to a 1920x1080, then invest in a better graphics card & power supply. CPU should always be last because it entails the biggest expense because you have to replace motherboard & ram with it. Don't go for any more 775 processor. It is 3 generations back & soon will be 4. Save your money for the latest components & you will get better bang for your buck.

 

[truegenius]

www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/98?vs=78
http://ark.intel.com/products/42800/Intel-Pentium-Processor-E5500-(2M-Cache-2_80-GHz-800-MHz-FSB)
as you can see that my athlon 7750 is above e5300 (means it is near yours e5500).
I have 6770 and playing mw2,mw3,gta4,l4d,jc2 etc at 1920x1200x75hz and get good fps at medium to high settings (all filltering, antialiasing are off) but cpu is holding my 6770 (even after overclocking to 3.2ghz).
Also at 720p gpu do less work (i get same fps at 1200p and at 720p in most games)
and thus at 720p 6670 is enough and is a good match,

but for future build 6750 is a nice option to start your consideration with, if you want to play phyx games then 550ti will make your cpu free from phyx processing and thus will decrease cpu bottleneck
and if you want then you can get 560 also instead of 550ti

but you will need a new psu

also you will see huge huge difference between g45 and 6670

 

[Nashsafc]

I was thinking he could get by on a budget of $300 for an e8400 and a Radeon 6770 and a power supply upgrade. It would be out of his budget if he were to upgrade his motherboard as well to al LGA1155. I think he wants an upgrade quite soon. He will see alot of performance increase from an e5500 to an e8400 definitely, if he can search for a core 2 quad at a good price then even better. I have a phenom ii, and i think the core 2 quad is excellent, it's more efficient than phenom ii still (energy efficiency and performance for frequency), the only down point is price, and it's compatibility. Are you kidding me they were supporting/ boasting core 2 Quad for games like Crysis, Core 2 Quad 3Ghz rivals the i7 920, which was quite popular.

 

[L33TSQU1RR3L]

ok so if i want something to get me by for now to play at my current resolution cheap just get the 6670 and if i want an upgrade for not so cheap but without upgrading the mobo and everything i can do what Nashafc suggested?

@randomkid so if i were to get a PSU and better GPU now with the plan of getting a new CPU and MOBO in the future what would you recommend then? would everything still work ok till i did the upgrade of the mobo and CPU (im guessing there would be plenty of bottlenecking but other than that)

 

[Nashsafc]

why are you talking about a 6670 you should easily be able to buy a 6770 with that budget. I'm looking at them for under $130, or if not buy a 5770, it's about 1-2 FPS slower for all games pfft lol 1-2 FPS slower. If you buy a core 2 quad you won't be bottlenecked for the future, I don't know any games that will use more than 4 cores, until say next 3 - 4 years time. The most modern games of today are still using 2 cores. You will probably have to end up with Core 2 Duo though, because Core 2 Quad will be hard to find.

 

[L33TSQU1RR3L]

i was talking about the 6670 because randomkid was stating that i could run that without even upgrading the PSU thus being the CHEAPEST option available then he stateted i could go HIGHER end on the GPU but would then need to replace the PSU (which i can afford to do) so i was essentially just laying out the different ideas you guys have laid out for me

1. the cheapest being just getting the 6670
2.getting a new psu and a higher end GPU then when i can afford it a new CPU and MOBO
3.as you stated keeping my current mobo and upgrading the CPU and the GPU and PSU

in essence i was just trying to clarify the options you guys are laying out for me as there have been many

 

[Nashsafc]

yes actually i agree that it might be better for you to buy a 6670 in that case and in the future you can upgrade to a whole new system altogether. You won't need to spend money on a temporary expensive upgrade, noticing that you are soon going to upgrade to another expensive option.

 

[randomkid]

yes actually i agree that it might be better for you to buy a 6670 in that case and in the future you can upgrade to a whole new system altogether. You won't need to spend money on a temporary expensive upgrade, noticing that you are soon going to upgrade to another expensive option.

+1. And at 1280x720, the 6670 is really all he needs.

 

[L33TSQU1RR3L]

sounds like it makes pretty good sense if it will run everything i need at my current resolution. im unlikely to get another monitor right now as that is farther down on my list of things to get. i enjoy using my tv as a monitor since i dont have cable in my room anyway. well seeing as ill likely be going with the cheapest option does it matter WHICH 6670 i get or should i just go with the cheapest option?

 

[randomkid]

I recommended the cheapest option earlier and I repost below:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131440&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=cayp0jtdzbsv

It does have poor review but I do not pay attention too much to it. Many reviews are scripted to boost or degrade a brand/product reputation depending on who's writing it.

I have 2x4770 Power Color graphics cards for my kids' PC & has been working fine for more than 2 years. It does not falter a bit so I can vouch for Power Color.

 

[L33TSQU1RR3L]

ah i was just wondering because i saw this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150542 and after rebate it is technically cheaper and it has far more AND better reviews

 

[randomkid]

^Sure. But the Power Color also have mail in rebate although not free shipping. So the cost will be about the same. But it is interesting to notice that XFX fan is smaller than the PowerColor. So I predict the XFX will either be hotter or noisier than the power color. I will still go for the power color.

 

[L33TSQU1RR3L]

well i appreciate the help you guys have been very helpful ill probably make my decision about which to get tomorrow hope all goes well and ill start saving up for the big upgrades