GPU Upgrade 5850

[Whateverworks_19]

Hello there.

My friend has an old computer which actually run games pretty smooth. However, when we play newer games, especially VRAM heavy games, his frame-per-second drops significantly. I asked him to provide me with his setup, which he did, so I could suggest an upgrade which will improve performance in newer games. He plays on 1080p resolution, and has no intention to go above that.

Here is his setup:
AMD Phenom II X4 955

Asus M4A87TD/USB3

ATI HD 5850 1GB

8GB of DDR3

I do now know what his PSU is yet, but that does not matter. I only need you to suggest GPU's which will improve performance and not cost a great deal, then I will manually check his PSU and compare the quality to your suggestions.

I do not know that much of AMD GPU's, I have always used Nvidia myself, but as far as I can gather the 5850 is a pretty good card, the only thing that really limits its potential is the mere 1GB of VRAM. Would it make sense to keep his current card, and simply wait for the 280, 280x, 960, 970 too drop in price?

Thank you for your time.

 

[TheConsiderateIlliterate]

Your system is pretty balanced right now. Any GPU upgrades worth doing will be bottlenecked by your CPU. I had nearly the exact same setup you listed and the best thing I can suggest is save up some money upgrade your CPU/motherboard/GPU at the same time.

 

[RCFProd]

The HD 5850 is not a bad graphics card at all. It's only limitation is, as you said, only 1GB of VRAM.

The R9 280 has already dropped in price significantly and I do not expect it to drop a lot more, they will just sell at their current prices until they are no longer around.

I say 3GB VRAM minimum for AMD, perhaps 2GB if you take an Nvidia model.

I do not expect the GTX 960 to drop in price for the next 4-6 months.

I think the CPU is still good enough for a better graphics card.

 

[Whateverworks_19]

The HD 5850 is not a bad graphics card at all. It's only limitation is, as you said, only 1GB of VRAM.

The R9 280 has already dropped in price significantly and I do not expect it to drop a lot more, they will just sell at their current prices until they are no longer around.

I say 3GB VRAM minimum for AMD, perhaps 2GB if you take an Nvidia model.

I do not expect the GTX 960 to drop in price for the next 4-6 months.

I think the CPU is still good enough for a better graphics card.

Yeah. I essentially was on the right track, just wanted to make sure I knew what I was talking about, haha. Thanks for the replies both of you.

How does 5850 crossfire sound? I kid you not, we can buy the 5850 for 20-30 dollars, used of course, but that is kind of my friend ways, he usually buy used.

If you consider that 5850 crossfire is not worth it, I will suggest that my friend simply keeps his setup for now and starts saving for a new gaming rig in the future. That would make sense. He is, however, rather desperate that's why I wanted your opinion on 5850 crossfire.

 

[sincreator]

The highest I would recommend would be a r9 280 or GTX960. The CPU will hold them back a little bit but not enough to worry about. The r9 280 has 3gb of vram and the GTX960 has 2gb. The GTX960 is newer technology, uses less power, and is slightly faster at stock settings. When both are overclocked the r9 280 should put up higher numbers overall, but will consume quite a bit more power doing so. I've read in the past that AMD cards are more reliant on a powerful CPU than Nvidia cards, so because of these differences I would have to go with the GTX960 overall. They are both great cards either way, so either one would make a superb upgrade.

 

[RCFProd]

With a dual HD 5850 you are still stuck with 1GB of VRAM. I don't know about that.

You will get better performance obviously, but not better performance on the point that matters; the lack of VRAM.

Nor Crossfire or SLI stacks VRAM right now.

Maybe DX12 will support stacking VRAM, making dual graphics cards act like one big GPU.

 

[sincreator]

The HD 5850 is not a bad graphics card at all. It's only limitation is, as you said, only 1GB of VRAM.

The R9 280 has already dropped in price significantly and I do not expect it to drop a lot more, they will just sell at their current prices until they are no longer around.

I say 3GB VRAM minimum for AMD, perhaps 2GB if you take an Nvidia model.

I do not expect the GTX 960 to drop in price for the next 4-6 months.

I think the CPU is still good enough for a better graphics card.

Yeah. I essentially was on the right track, just wanted to make sure I knew what I was talking about, haha. Thanks for the replies both of you.

How does 5850 crossfire sound? I kid you not, we can buy the 5850 for 20-30 dollars, used of course, but that is kind of my friend ways, he usually buy used.

If you consider that 5850 crossfire is not worth it, I will suggest that my friend simply keeps his setup for now and starts saving for a new gaming rig in the future. That would make sense. He is, however, rather desperate that's why I wanted your opinion on 5850 crossfire.

Not worth it, because you will still be limited to 1gb of vram. Crossfire does not double vram, sorry.

 

[sincreator]

LOL RCFProd, this is the second time I have given practically the same answer at the same time as you. Sorry bout that, I guess I'm slower at typing haha!

 

[Whateverworks_19]

The highest I would recommend would be a r9 280 or GTX960. The CPU will hold them back a little bit but not enough to worry about. The r9 280 has 3gb of vram and the GTX960 has 2gb. The GTX960 is newer technology, uses less power, and is slightly faster at stock settings. When both are overclocked the r9 280 should put up higher numbers overall, but will consume quite a bit more power doing so. I've read in the past that AMD cards are more reliant on a powerful CPU than Nvidia cards, so because of these differences I would have to go with the GTX960 overall. They are both great cards either way, so either one would make a superb upgrade.

Thanks man! I have lots of knowledge when it comes to Intel and Nvidia but nearly zero knowledge of AMD's products, unfortunately - would love more knowledge.

However, I appreciate your estimation for the highest performing GPU which will not be bottle-necked by the CPU, as I said, I have next to no knowledge of any AMD products, its actually embarrassing, haha.

960 seems a solid choice, also due to the Maxwell architecture the 960's power consumption is significantly lower - which may prove to be crucial, depending upon my friends PSU.

 

[sincreator]

The highest I would recommend would be a r9 280 or GTX960. The CPU will hold them back a little bit but not enough to worry about. The r9 280 has 3gb of vram and the GTX960 has 2gb. The GTX960 is newer technology, uses less power, and is slightly faster at stock settings. When both are overclocked the r9 280 should put up higher numbers overall, but will consume quite a bit more power doing so. I've read in the past that AMD cards are more reliant on a powerful CPU than Nvidia cards, so because of these differences I would have to go with the GTX960 overall. They are both great cards either way, so either one would make a superb upgrade.

Thanks man! I have lots of knowledge when it comes to Intel and Nvidia but nearly zero knowledge of AMD's products, unfortunately - would love more knowledge.

However, I appreciate your estimation for the highest performing GPU which will not be bottle-necked by the CPU, as I said, I have next to no knowledge of any AMD products, its actually embarrassing, haha.

960 seems a solid choice, also due to the Maxwell architecture the 960's power consumption is significantly lower - which may prove to be crucial, depending upon my friends PSU.

A bit of overclocking can do wonders with a Phenom II x4 chip as well. If you could get your friends complete spec list including the make and model of power supply and motherboard we may be able to eliminate the bottleneck almost completely to balance the system more.

 

[Whateverworks_19]

The HD 5850 is not a bad graphics card at all. It's only limitation is, as you said, only 1GB of VRAM.

The R9 280 has already dropped in price significantly and I do not expect it to drop a lot more, they will just sell at their current prices until they are no longer around.

I say 3GB VRAM minimum for AMD, perhaps 2GB if you take an Nvidia model.

I do not expect the GTX 960 to drop in price for the next 4-6 months.

I think the CPU is still good enough for a better graphics card.

Yeah. I essentially was on the right track, just wanted to make sure I knew what I was talking about, haha. Thanks for the replies both of you.

How does 5850 crossfire sound? I kid you not, we can buy the 5850 for 20-30 dollars, used of course, but that is kind of my friend ways, he usually buy used.

If you consider that 5850 crossfire is not worth it, I will suggest that my friend simply keeps his setup for now and starts saving for a new gaming rig in the future. That would make sense. He is, however, rather desperate that's why I wanted your opinion on 5850 crossfire.

Not worth it, because you will still be limited to 1gb of vram. Crossfire does not double vram, sorry.

Well, sure I know that VRAM does not stack, it would still improve performance, no? If he can buy another 5850 for 20 dollar then the price to performance upgrade would surely be favorable, or am I missing something? Besides, just a side note, isn't Directx 12 going to allow VRAM summation? Thanks for your answer, sin.

 

[Whateverworks_19]

The highest I would recommend would be a r9 280 or GTX960. The CPU will hold them back a little bit but not enough to worry about. The r9 280 has 3gb of vram and the GTX960 has 2gb. The GTX960 is newer technology, uses less power, and is slightly faster at stock settings. When both are overclocked the r9 280 should put up higher numbers overall, but will consume quite a bit more power doing so. I've read in the past that AMD cards are more reliant on a powerful CPU than Nvidia cards, so because of these differences I would have to go with the GTX960 overall. They are both great cards either way, so either one would make a superb upgrade.

Thanks man! I have lots of knowledge when it comes to Intel and Nvidia but nearly zero knowledge of AMD's products, unfortunately - would love more knowledge.

However, I appreciate your estimation for the highest performing GPU which will not be bottle-necked by the CPU, as I said, I have next to no knowledge of any AMD products, its actually embarrassing, haha.

960 seems a solid choice, also due to the Maxwell architecture the 960's power consumption is significantly lower - which may prove to be crucial, depending upon my friends PSU.

A bit of overclocking can do wonders with a Phenom II x4 chip as well. If you could get your friends complete spec list including the make and model of power supply and motherboard we may be able to eliminate the bottleneck almost completely to balance the system more.

Well the motherboard is already showed it is: Asus M4A87TD/USB3.

Regarding PSU, I can first see which model when I split apart his computer and I really do not know when, but I have great knowledge regarding PSU's, so I can figure that out myself.

I only need AMD GPU and indeed CPU help, as I have said, nearly have zero knowledge and frankly, do not know what I'm talking about, hehe.

Again, I really appreciate your responses.

What I can gather thus far:

CPU's limit is around 960 or 280. OC will help (of course), the limit of the OC depends upon the board and the PSU.
Depending upon the PSU and indeed the capabilities of the board, a conclusion regarding to upgrade or to wait, can be intelligently derived.

 

[RCFProd]

LOL RCFProd, this is the second time I have given practically the same answer at the same time as you. Sorry bout that, I guess I'm slower at typing haha!

Not to worry, it only guarantees that I'm not talking flip flap!

 

[sincreator]

Yes DX12 will allow vram stacking but no one knows how well it will work yet. From what I have read it will even work combining an Nvidia and AMD card in one system. It could all end up being smoke and mirrors, if drivers aren't written well to utilize it properly from AMD and Nvidia. Also is the fact that the HD5850 is so old that vram stacking with that card may not even be possible. They haven't even announced yet AFAIK which cards will support it. For all we know, it may only be the newest cards that support DX12 that it will work with.

 

[Whateverworks_19]

Yes DX12 will allow vram stacking but no one knows how well it will work yet. From what I have read it will even work combining an Nvidia and AMD card in one system. It could all end up being smoke and mirrors, if drivers aren't written well to utilize it properly from AMD and Nvidia. Also is the fact that the HD5850 is so old that vram stacking with that card may not even be possible. They haven't even announced yet AFAIK which cards will support it. For all we know, it may only be the newest cards that support DX12 that it will work with.

Yes, thanks for clearing that up, Sir.

Now I have so much more knowledge to use, when I finally get to split his PC apart, and because of you guys help, I will be able to make an intelligent decision based on the data available. Instead of just my gut feeling, which would be sumptuously unintelligent.

EDIT:

Mr. @sincreator and Mr. @RCFProd has been great help, I am going to choose RCF as the best answer, simply because he essentially said the same as Mr. @sincreator, he was just first.

Thanks I really appreciate your time.

 

[sincreator]

No problem, anytime!