My i7 860 needs an upgrade.

[fastreaction]

Hello,
I currently have the following specs.

CPU: i7 860
GPU: ATI HD 5850
Motherboard: ASUS p7p550 le
Cooler: Cooler Master V8
Power supply: Cooler master silent pro 600W
RAM: 8GB
OS: Windows 7 x64
Case: Cooler master elite 310

I actually have a lot of questions. Basically, I want to upgrade my pc. If I want to get a GTX 680, my friend told me that I could better get a whole new pc since my CPU will not use that GPU to its 'max'. My cpu.. is pretty old. It runs at 2.80 GHz since I couldn't overclock it, case problem?!? I also think that my case is bad which makes me think to upgrade or change it too. When I look at all those things that I think that should be changed I could better buy a whole new pc instead of upgrading part by part..

I told my background story of my pc now let me sum my questions up.

1) How is my CPU? Is it able to handle a GTX 680 to its fullest?

2) Should I get rid of this CPU right now or doesn't it really matter (for gaming purposes).

2) I tried to overclock my CPU but my temps are already at stock around 50, 60 degrees (on max load). Is that because of my bad case? I have a cooler master V8 as CPU cooler.

3) A GTX 680, is it really worth it to upgrade from an HD 5850?

4) My Power supply, is 600W enough to run strong GPU's?

5) What do you guys advise me to do? Is it just better if I would buy a whole new pc since buying/changing all those parts is almost a whole new pc.

Thanks for reading =]

 

[geekapproved]

Your cpu will be fine with a GTX680.

You can get a GTX670 for a lot less money and get 95% of the performance of a GTX680.

Either way it's a big upgrade and your psu will be enough as long as it's a quality name brand psu.

 

[Supernova1138]

The i7 860 is still a pretty strong gaming CPU. At stock clocks it might hold back the GTX 680 by a little bit in certain scenarios, though certainly not by a really significant margin.

Lynnfield CPUs can run a bit hot, especially with hyperthreading enabled, turning off hyperthreading (effectively turning your CPU into an i5 760) will help your temps if you really want to OC. Aside from that, try reapplying thermal paste, and double check airflow. If your case has very poor airflow, a new one will certainly help your overall temps.

That said, 70 degree core temps are acceptable on a Lynnfield CPU, so you do have a bit of headroom to overclock if you want to.

The 680 is a big jump over the 5850, whether it's worth dropping 500 bucks for it depends on what games you want to play and what resolution you're playing at. If your resolution is less than 1080p, the 680 is completely overkill. If you are playing at 1080p resolution, the 680 will only provide a huge benefit to the extremely demanding games, like the Crysis games, Battlefield 3, Witcher 2, Metro 2033. For most other titles, you would only see a slight improvement in framerates, or possibly none at all if you don't have a 120Hz display.

If you are looking to save a bit of money, the GTX 670 performs very close to the 680, like only about 6% slower, and costs less, and is much more available than the 680. If you don't absolutely need bleeding edge performance, it would also provide a worthwhile upgrade over you 5850.

 

[holykalo]

Hello! I will try my best to answer your questions simply. (you have 2 question 2s btw )


Many modern day CPUs can not push a top-of-the line beast like the 680 to its full potential, and yours is no exception as it isnt exactly new, or very powerful.


For gaming purposes, your card would suffice for high settings on many modern games, if you would be willing to settle for that. In my opinion I would buy a new CPU, it is surpassed by many modern mobile CPUs, so it isnt a powerful competitor in the desktop ranges, especially when gaming. I would recommend a new CPU, which if you decide on a new build, I can help you choose.

Next, the coolermaster 310 is a budget case, not designed for heavy gaming, as it is not designed for maximum airflow and cooling. An aftermarket CPU cooler is always nice, but when not in a properly ventilated case, all its doing is dissipating heat for it to get trapped and heat up your CPU all over again. So yes, I would say the high temps are due to your case.

Onto the next question. YES. There is no card that can match to the power of the 680. The 5850 was a low high end card, that is multiple years old, and 2 generations behind. Make no mistake the 5000 series were beasts compared to the 6000, but it still cannot hone up to the refined power of a 680. If you are okay with playing games on high, stick with your current build, but if you want to blow any games out of the water on full hd, yes you would notice a VERY substantial difference between the 5850 and the 680. (The 680 also has slightly higher power consumption, and for a flagship, generates little heat)

I would not try running the 680 on a 600w with a modern day GPU. 600w is the minimum before overclokcing on any parts whatsoever. At load, it can use about 360w, vs the 5850s 330-340w. You will find a 700w or higher will provide overclocking headroom and peace of mind.

I would in the end recommend replacing your computer, I can do you a cheap sample build that im sure you would like. What country do you live in? I will be happy to answer any questions that you have

 

[fastreaction]

@holykalo Thanks for your great answer. Just like I thought, in the end I can better just replace my pc instead of upgrading all those parts..

 

[lilotimz]

Absolutely WRONG.

Modern day CPUs have reached a point of stagnation where they've all become so powerful that only software is holding them back. Any recent core processor from first generation to the latest third generation are all more than powerful enough to run any graphic card setup with little to no bottleneck. Saying 'modern day cpus cannot push a top of the line beast like the 680' is complete rubbish.

A sandy bridge i5-2500k is only 10-15% more powerful compared to the first generation while the ivy bridge are on average about 5% faster than sandy bridge. But the point is that any intel core processor is more than enough for anything out there today gaming wise.

The greatest part that affects gaming is the graphics card. A 5850 was and is still a respectable card but it seems that you have not gotten the performance you've craved for. As someone posted earlier; a respectable and powerful upgrade would be a GTX 670. The GTX 680 is powerful but the gtx 670 only performs 5-10% less in most situations.

This would be a significant upgrade over a 5850 and much lighter on the wallet. By the way, you CAN overclock the i7-860 on that Asus motherboard. There are numerous guides and asus mobos are usually overclock friendly. It's trickier compared to the K models but it's doable if you follow the guides.

Also your friend is a what i would coin an 'idiot' or a more PC word... a person who is technologically inept.

 

[fastreaction]

@lilotimz Thanks for your answer. Lol I laughed at your last phrase. Thats why I am asking everybody in the forums xd.
So what do you advise me to do? Buy a whole new pc or just change my case + graphics card + (maybe PSU if needed?)

 

[amuffin]

FIRST

Grab a gtx 680 or 670, play your games. They should run perfectly fine without being bottlenecked in anyway.

SECOND

If you feel like you are being bottlenecked, which is IMPOSSIBLE. You can always OVERCLOCK.

 

[bumnut53]

Hello! I will try my best to answer your questions simply. (you have 2 question 2s btw )


Many modern day CPUs can not push a top-of-the line beast like the 680 to its full potential, and yours is no exception as it isnt exactly new, or very powerful.


For gaming purposes, your card would suffice for high settings on many modern games, if you would be willing to settle for that. In my opinion I would buy a new CPU, it is surpassed by many modern mobile CPUs, so it isnt a powerful competitor in the desktop ranges, especially when gaming. I would recommend a new CPU, which if you decide on a new build, I can help you choose.

Next, the coolermaster 310 is a budget case, not designed for heavy gaming, as it is not designed for maximum airflow and cooling. An aftermarket CPU cooler is always nice, but when not in a properly ventilated case, all its doing is dissipating heat for it to get trapped and heat up your CPU all over again. So yes, I would say the high temps are due to your case.

Onto the next question. YES. There is no card that can match to the power of the 680. The 5850 was a low high end card, that is multiple years old, and 2 generations behind. Make no mistake the 5000 series were beasts compared to the 6000, but it still cannot hone up to the refined power of a 680. If you are okay with playing games on high, stick with your current build, but if you want to blow any games out of the water on full hd, yes you would notice a VERY substantial difference between the 5850 and the 680. (The 680 also has slightly higher power consumption, and for a flagship, generates little heat)



I would not try running the 680 on a 600w with a modern day GPU. 600w is the minimum before overclokcing on any parts whatsoever. At load, it can use about 360w, vs the 5850s 330-340w. You will find a 700w or higher will provide overclocking headroom and peace of mind.

I would in the end recommend replacing your computer, I can do you a cheap sample build that im sure you would like. What country do you live in? I will be happy to answer any questions that you have

Sorry I do not agree with your advice, his system is fine, he only needs a better GPU for better performance. Recommending a new system is crazy talk imo

 

[amuffin]

Many modern day CPUs can not push a top-of-the line beast like the 680 to its full potential, and yours is no exception as it isnt exactly new, or very powerful.

What is this...I don't even...

An i3-2100 won't even bottleneck a gtx 680, most likely a Pentium G860 won't either.

For gaming purposes, your card would suffice for high settings on many modern games, if you would be willing to settle for that. In my opinion I would buy a new CPU, it is surpassed by many modern mobile CPUs, so it isnt a powerful competitor in the desktop ranges, especially when gaming. I would recommend a new CPU, which if you decide on a new build, I can help you choose.

No, because his processor doesn't even bottleneck the 680 in the first place.

I would not try running the 680 on a 600w with a modern day GPU. 600w is the minimum before overclokcing on any parts whatsoever. At load, it can use about 360w, vs the 5850s 330-340w. You will find a 700w or higher will provide overclocking headroom and peace of mind.

At load under non-real world conditions it can draw 360W, in real world probably 200W at most.

 

[amuffin]

Absolutely WRONG.

The worst case of it!

Also your friend is a what i would coin an 'idiot' or a more PC word... a person who is technologically inept.

Agreed.

 

[fastreaction]

Kay guys I think I will just get a new GPU, probably a GTX 670 or 680 and a new case, a CM HAF X or something. Thanks for helping me out! I really appreciate that!

 

[geekapproved]

Some of these people are absolutely clueless.

Your cpu will NOT bottleneck a single GTX680. Gotta laugh at some of the responses.