Video Card Upgrade

[mjbradley]

Hi,
I got horrible FPS in beta for BF3 and wanted to upgrade my video card, if that makes sense.
My current specs are Dell XPS 630 with Intel Core2 Quad core 2.83 ghz, 8gb ram, and currently have dual radeon 4850, with Samsung T220 monitor 1680x1050.

I was looking at getting either HD 6950 or GTX 570. Which do you think is best, or is there a better solution in similar price point. Do you see any other limitations in my setup.

Thank You,
Michael

 

[ilysaml]

Welcome to the forum,
what resolution will you be gaming at ? also what's your PSU wattage ?
HD 6950 is comparable with GTX 560Ti, GTX 570 beats HD 6950 in performance

 

[nforce4max]

I would get a 6950 and not have to worry about problems in the future. The gtx 570 from the performance standpoint is a great card but far to many are having issues with the power vrm.

6950

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I was looking at getting either HD 6950 or GTX 570. Which do you think is best, or is there a better solution in similar price point. Do you see any other limitations in my setup.l

You decide, personally my fav is the 560 Ti (factory OC'd models w/ the bigger coolers).

Guru3D uses the following games in their test suite, COD-MW, Bad Company 2, Dirt 2, Far Cry 2, Metro 2033, Dawn of Discovery, Crysis Warhead. Total fps (summing fps in each game @ 1920 x 1200) for the various options in parenthesis (single card / SL or CF) are tabulated below along with their cost in dollars per frame single card - CF or SLI:


$ 210.00 6950 (479/751) $ 0.44 - $ 0.56
$ 260.00 6950 Frozr OC (484/759) $ 0.54 - $ 0.69
$ 205.00 560 Ti (455/792) $ 0.45 - $ 0.52
$ 360.00 6970 (526/825) $ 0.68 - $ 0.87
$ 205.00 560 Ti - 900 Mhz (495/862) $ 0.41 - $ 0.48
$ 320.00 570 (524/873) $ 0.61 - $ 0.73

The 6950 Frozr for example gets 484 fps (54 cents per frame) in the test suite w/ a single card and 759 (69 cents per frame) in CF.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125363

 

[Djentleman]

I don't think your CPU is going to be able to handle any of those cards. I think you're going to get some serious bottle necking.
Get a solid qaud core first, then a graphics card.

 

[mjbradley]

Thanks everyone for the responses.
Ilysaml: I played the BF3 beta at 1680x1050, and was getting high 20s to low 30s fps, only at medium settings, was a slide show at High, or ultra. I believe in looking at the PSU which was difficult to determine, that it is a 750 watt. Model number Dell 750e, which I'm assuming is 750 watt, correct?? That should be big enough to run everything that has been mentioned , from what I read?

Does anyone see any issues with the rest of the PC. I know it's a few years old but will the GPU upgrade alone, give me better fps particularly in BF3 given the rest of my PC specs, I mean without chaning anything else, cash is tight!

 

[delluser1]

I don't think your CPU is going to be able to handle any of those cards. I think you're going to get some serious bottle necking.
Get a solid qaud core first, then a graphics card.

Q9550 not solid enough ?
Can't do a whole lot better without a platform change, be easier to just overclock what he has.

 

[FlintIronStagg]

Q9550 not solid enough ?
Can't do a whole lot better without a platform change, be easier to just overclock what he has.

agreed

 

[Djentleman]

Q9550 not solid enough ?
Can't do a whole lot better without a platform change, be easier to just overclock what he has.

His FPS is going to suffer. Cpu's are very important for gaming; I just don't see the reason why in cutting corners. Might as well save up and get a really all around good rig.

 

[nforce4max]

For a single card that cpu will be good enough but sure it isn't a $1k i7 990x. All op has to do is just overclock that cpu over 3ghz and it can handle most cards othere with decent fps.

 

[delluser1]

His FPS is going to suffer. Cpu's are very important for gaming; I just don't see the reason why in cutting corners. Might as well save up and get a really all around good rig.

His cpu is roughly the equivalent of an Athlon 2 X4 645
http://www.techspot.com/review/448-battlefield-3-beta-performance/page7.html

How much is his fps really going to suffer ?

 

[Djentleman]

Lol, the athlon 2 x4 645 is terrible for gaming. It's a lower end Cpu. Also more cores means more threads. So they do not match each other in performance.
Really in all actuality, it all depends on what he's playing. If he's just playing cod then he's fine.

 

[ilysaml]

@ OP, sorry i didn't see the Samsung monitor in your post, and no problem with the PSU at all i just looked up the XPS 630, this PSU can handle 2 of the HD 6950s in CF.
GTX 560 TI or HD 6950 both will max out BF3 on Ultra at this resolution. both cards perform neck to neck depending on the game.

 

[mjbradley]

On a side note, in doing more reading. In CCC when I click on Hardware, it lists 'primary adapter', gives all the info for the HD 4850, then below that is says 'disabled adapter'. In my simplistic thinking that doesnt sound right, but of course that's why i joined here!! Is it possible my dual HD 4850s aren't working right? Also my 750 psu is plenty big enough for those vid. cards right?

 

[mjbradley]

Sorry!! More info., see, I'm learning as I go. I ran 3dmark Vantage, and said I only had 1 card and that SLI/Crossfire was off. Now i'm wondering if the BF3 beta fps would have been substantially better. Big question I have now is how I fix this. I don't see anywhere in Catalyst Control center to change this?

 

[ilysaml]

that's why i was surprised when you said you get 20 FPS with 4850s in CF.
disabled adapter means your CF is not working, have you been running the 2 cards like this from long time ago ?
take off the GPUs and re install them, put the Crossfire bridge, check if you see enable crossfire in the CCC or not

 

[mjbradley]

Actually I guess I wouldn't know for sure. The BF 3 beta was really the first game where it really didn't work well. I had updated the latest AMD/ATI drivers and CCC, and I think somehow it got messed up then. I'm going to try and make sure I have cleaned out my old drivers and reinstall that before I start pulling out the GPUs. I appreciate your help!

 

[mjbradley]

that's why i was surprised when you said you get 20 FPS with 4850s in CF.
disabled adapter means your CF is not working, have you been running the 2 cards like this from long time ago ?
take off the GPUs and re install them, put the Crossfire bridge, check if you see enable crossfire in the CCC or not

Thanks for all your help. I finally figured it out..what a pain. I would clear out all old drivers upgrade to latest nothing. I even tried pulling out vid. card, and installing one at a time... nothing. I thought as a long shot I'd try customer service for AMD, and Dell. Was very funny, AMD told me I needed to go back to Dell as they were oem , and their drivers cant guarantee that they would work, even though Dell's drivers are 2 years old. So I tried that, thinking maybe it would be a start as far as CCC recognizing both....and that didn't work. Then I called Dell, and what do you think the first thing they said was, "lets go to AMD site and update those drivers!!"

So still didn't recognize after going back to most current drivers. Then I read somewhere about swithcing momitors to the other card to just make sure it was working, I did that and rebooted and the Crossfire section in CCC finally became "ungrayed" and now it says "linked adapter" for the second 4850!.

At least now I can fully test out how the 2 work when BF3 is released, and decide if I want to upgrade.

 

[mjbradley]

Best answer selected by mjbradley.