Intel Core 2 Quad with GTX 580 or 590

[DigitalVenom]

Hi there i want to swap my 5750s crossfire for a GTX 580 or 590 would this be bottleneck by my CPU?

System Specs:
Asus P5Q PRO TURBO
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9505 @ 2.83Ghz
4gb Corsair RAM
Two Asus 5750 Crossfire
500 W NZXT PSU
Windows 7 Pro

 

[CaptainTom]

he said he wanted a 660ti. how did we get to the 7800 series amd card ? dude buy what you want.

Because the 7870 is as good as or beats the 660Ti while using less power and costing $70 less.

 

[stickmansam]

^We're trying to dissuade him from a 660ti since the 7870 is cheaper and will almost have the same performance =P
At OP, only reason to get the 660ti over the 7870 is if you have a app that only uses CUDA or you really like PhysX. AMD can do adaptive vsync with a program called " RadeonPro" and can handle FXAA as well. You will be paying the $70 premium CUDA and PhysX.

 

[swifty_morgan]

i must have missed that

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_geforce_gtx_660_ti_directcu_top_review,1.html

 

[CaptainTom]

i must have missed that

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_geforce_gtx_660_ti_directcu_top_review,1.html

Not sure if you are saying you agree with us or not. But that review shows basically what we say. Also did you notice in one benchmark in that review a 7950 crossfire beat 680 3-way sli? Did I read that wrong?

 

[bigshootr8]

Well SLi, and CF scaling is weird in some cases where it actually hurts you to use more cards. Reviews like tiny tom logan from overclock 3D go over and over again over how running 3-4 sli/cf systems look great in synthetic benchmarks but in real world applications do awful. Wouldn't be surprised.

This thread is starting to get quite tiresome. We're talking about band aids to a larger problem. He went with a cheap power supply with lousy... extremely lousy 12v rail and efficiency. He has a low amount of ram for current games. His CPU is on its last legs and instead people want to throw a 300 dollar card into a system that's probably worth that right now.

 

[swifty_morgan]

Not sure if you are saying you agree with us or not. But that review shows basically what we say. Also did you notice in one benchmark in that review a 7950 crossfire beat 680 3-way sli? Did I read that wrong?

I see where the 660ti beats the 7970............. I don't see where it gets trounced by anything........ and now WHY are we talking about dual and tri sli/crossfire ?

 

[stickmansam]

Throw in card and next year slap it into the new platform. Better than staying with CF 5750 and new platform unless OP wants to wait for 8xxx or 7xx
That guru3D review is misleading since they are using the latest Nvidia drivers at the time but not the latest AMD ones.
This is the performance with latest drivers from both sides.
http://www.techspot.com/review/603-best-graphics-cards/

 

[bigshootr8]

The next platform kind of scares me (from intel) if they start doing what they say they are going to by soldering the cpu's onto the motherboards. I think in the immediate future yea the gpu would be the best upgrade because it will push you to the ceiling of what your system can handle. But going forward things to put on your list of shiz to fix.

CPU
MOTHERBOARD
RAM
PSU
VIDEO CARD

 

[DigitalVenom]

Guys guys thanks so much i really don't mind getting a 7850 i just like nivida because for me ATI drivers i have had have made me run into so many problems. Anyway can i get a 7850 without having to upgrade my PSU or anything. I could get 2x4 gbs of corsair ddr2 ram with the GPU. But yeah can i get the GPU without changing my PSU and running into a huge bottleneck problem?

 

[DigitalVenom]

Or should i get a 7870? I just need to know about getting a new PSU and ram or not?

 

[stickmansam]

The 7870 should be fine with your PSU but a 7850 will obviously be safer. I would recommend the 7870 since you want something good you can move into your future platform and not hold that back.
You can grab a PSU right now at the same time as the 7870 and you won't have any issues at all then.
AMD drivers have gotten a lot better and without Crossfire, a lot of the issues should go away.
I would not get anymore ram since its a DDR2 system. If you plan to upgrade in the near future don't get any (unless u can find some dirt cheap). If you don't plan to upgrade soon, then maybe grab more ram.

 

[bigshootr8]

Well the 70 and 50 both have the same system requirements so I would say that power draw is pretty close either way. I like how nvidia does there drivers although amd does a decent job as well. I've had both.
And I agree with the ram I think beyond your gpu if you were to upgrade it you would want to make a system overhaul in terms of everything

 

[CaptainTom]

Hi there i want to swap my 5750s crossfire for a GTX 580 or 590 would this be bottleneck by my CPU?

System Specs:
Asus P5Q PRO TURBO
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9505 @ 2.83Ghz
4gb Corsair RAM
Two Asus 5750 Crossfire
500 W NZXT PSU
Windows 7 Pro

Look this post needs to be closed. The consensus is that if you want to improve your gaming performance now, a 7870 will work wonders. Make sure you overclock your cpu and ram as much as possible though as well.

Otherwise a full system upgrade should be in order within a year, and you can either transfer your 7870 (if you buy it) into the new system, or just wait and buy an 8000 series card when you upgrade.

Only you know what is the best choice for you at this point. We have given you all of our knowledge. The rest is up to you.

Good luck!

 

[DigitalVenom]

Best answer selected by DigitalVenom.