Upgrading from ATI 4870 512mb for Battlefield 3

[jpnorm10]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: within 4-6 weeks

BUDGET RANGE: up to £120 ish

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming only - Battlefield 3, COD MW3

CURRENT GPU: ATI Powercolor HD 4870 512mb GDDR5.

POWER SUPPLY: POWER SUPPLY: Ace Value 650W Black Power Supply Unit PSU with 12cm Red Fan (http://www.box.co.uk/Ace_Value_650W_Black_Power_Supply_Unit_P_1084263.html)

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: AMD Phenom II x4 925 2.8GHZ (not overclocked), Mobo = ASUS M2N32 SLI Deluxe nForce 590 (bios version 5002), Memory = GEIL PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHZ

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: UK Shops / websites

PARTS PREFERENCES: Not bothered about make of card. Nvidia or ATI is fine.

OVERCLOCKING: Not into overclocking due to overheating worries / PSU weakness! Single card preferred

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680x1050, 22" Widescreen, 2ms

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I realize my PC is now pretty dated, but looking to play Battlefield 3 and MW3 at a decent standard if possible (want nice FPS with pleasing graphics, not amazing!), and wondering if my CPU / GPU combo is up to it. Will my CPU bottle neck with a more powerful card? Should i just leave it? Do i need to totally upgrade the lot?

Cheers for any advice!!

John

 

[rolli59]

One of these HD6850 http://www.ebuyer.com/search?page=1&limit=10&store=2&cat=48&subcat=3304

 

[amuffin]

6850!

 

[ilysaml]

@ OP, Welcome to the forums.
Yes HD 6850/70 as long as he sticks with this monitor resolution he will be able to play all the games at high settings with playable FPS.
You should just give a little boost up and OC your CPU to 3.4 - 3.5.

 

[jpnorm10]

Thanks a lot for the advice. I have a asus copper silent knight heatsink on my CPU. It's idle temp is about 30c, if I overclock, what sort of temps should I not be hitting? 50+?

 

[bowzef]

GTX 560 il say if you want BF3 and all phyx eye candy and performance you go nvidia other wise get ATI but most people want good phyx for bf3 so they get a Nvidia card

http://www.ebuyer.com/search?q=gtx560

*i'm not a fan boi*

 

[ilysaml]

GTX 560 il say if you want BF3 and all phyx eye candy and performance you go nvidia other wise get ATI but most people want good phyx for bf3 so they get a Nvidia card

http://www.ebuyer.com/search?q=gtx560

*i'm not a fan boi*

BF3 doesn't support Physx

 

[ilysaml]

Thanks a lot for the advice. I have a asus copper silent knight heatsink on my CPU. It's idle temp is about 30c, if I overclock, what sort of temps should I not be hitting? 50+?

When i OC my 1055T to 4.0 i never get above 55C for the core clock. any temp above 60 is not recommended.

 

[jpnorm10]

Ok, thanks. So 50ish under load is safe? What's the best way to overclock the CPU? In the BIOS with multiplier? Or some software?

 

[ilysaml]

Via the BOIS, if your CPU is a black edition just raise the multiplier step by step until you fail to boot, then increase VCore a little bit high.
If your CPU is non BE, you can google how to OC a phenom II CPU