Worth upgrading to HD 4890 with E6600 CPU?

[motto]

Hi - after playing Arma 2 at 1400 x 900 with my current system (see sig) and most options on I have found a lot of mouse lag (and Crysis has to be run with pretty low options too) I want to buy a Sapphire Toxic HD 4890 Vapor-X.

Question is will this be worth it bareing in mind my current CPU? I don't have enough cash to buy a new MB & CPU at the moment.

Thanks.

 

[motto]

Not sure why sig isn't appearing but here is my setup:

E6600 Dual Core
ASUS P5LD2 SE
4 Gig Corsair 665Mhz
Nvidia Sparkle 8800GTS 320Meg
19\" Belina TFT

 

[_SirO_]

Yes, it will be enough, your bottleneck is your 8800gts....

If you can overclock it to 3GHz, better

 

[shubham1401]

Wait a month for new cards to come.Maybe you get better options......

 

[coozie7]

I would suggest saving some cash and getting a 1Gb HD4870 instead, it's a closer match to your CPU and resolution.
Agree with the overclock idea, my E6600/HD4870 combination yeilded useful speed improvements with a CPU overclock.
Just remember that both cards need two PCI-E connectors and most HD4890s need 1X6 pin and 1X8 pin, if your PSU is under 500Watts or lacks these connectors it might be a good idea to upgrade it as well.

 

[motto]

Thanks for your replys.

Would be probably be better to wait a month or so but you could go on for ever waiting till prices dropped and new cards come out - plus I'm very impatient!

I have a 570 watt PSU - it has the 6 pin but not the 8 pin but should be able to use a Molex to 8 pin adaptor though?

I wanted to go for this card because it's fairly cheap (compared to the last two Nvidia's I've bought at £200+ this is £142 and I'm getting £40 for my 8800GTS) so not much outlay for big improvement.

Also it runs pretty quiet and I hate loud fans - as well as the good speeds the card runs at.

I've never overclocked before - anyone know of a tutorial or something for overclocking an E6600? and also if the 3GHz is the safe speed to aim for?

Many thanks

 

[motto]

Ok - well I bought the Sapphire HD 4890 Vapor-X (didn't go for Toxic as I messed up the price) never mind should be a good card to learn overclocking!

 

[xc0mmiex]

overclock that E6600... you WILL NOT BELIVE how much difference even 3.0Ghz makes

 

[darkvine]

Ok - well I bought the Sapphire HD 4890 Vapor-X (didn't go for Toxic as I messed up the price) never mind should be a good card to learn overclocking!

A great card, about to buy one myself. I wish I could find an 4890 Atomic but I haven't had any luck. They are factory overclocked to 1GHz out of the box. You could get the Vapor-X up to that as well but nice to know you have it for sure.

 

[motto]

Never overclocked before but curious now you say it will make such a difference! I have a standard fan, will that cut it?

Also glad to see someone else going for the same card darkvine (makes me think I did something right in choosing it!). Got it for a £150 delivered which isn't bad especially with selling my 8800GTS for £40 and a buyer left a review saying it was actually the OC version. Now to see how Arma 2 runs!

 

[shubham1401]

Standard fan or stock intel fans ate not so good for oc'ing.

You can get ~300-400 Mhz with them.

 

[motto]

Standard fan or stock intel fans ate not so good for oc'ing.

You can get ~300-400 Mhz with them.

Ok - fair enough. So I guess I'm aiming for around 600Mhz, so something more powerfull then....

 

[shubham1401]

Room temps?

 

[motto]

Room temps?

Low 20's if that (this is Scotland!!)

 

[shubham1401]

You have good chance of getting 600mhz OC.

Here it is 35c.

 

[rangers]

where in scotland are you?

 

[motto]

where in scotland are you?

Livi (Livingston).

 

[rangers]

i've got a 4890 in the box for £100 if you can get to glasgow

 

[eightyeight]

Hey guys - I have a related question!

Here are my specs:

E6600
Asus P5W DH
7900GT (3 years old!!)
4GB RAM
19" LCD

I am experiencing severe screen flickering during idle (just looking at desktop, running firefox - very light tasks) and terrible artifacts during gameplay. My graphics card is dying for sure.

Here's my question:

My GPU core temp is around 53C idle. When a game boots up, the temp jumps to 60C, and then I start to see artifacts.

Should I look into better cooling solutions? I also want to upgrade to an HD4890 - should I be worried about my computer temps with a more powerful GPU?

I'm going to pull out my GPU and give it a thorough cleaning. I hope this solves the flicker, but I really doubt it will If you guys have any idea about this screen flicker, any input would be greatly appreciated

 

[rangers]

the temp is OK, sounds like the card is on its last legs just remember if you do go with ATI you will have to clean out the nvidia drivers

 

[motto]

i've got a 4890 in the box for £100 if you can get to glasgow

Now he tell's me! Thanks anyway mate but I ordered the vapor-x 4890 a couple of day's ago.

 

[motto]

Sorry - bit of a newb question but on the molex to 6 pin adaptor I take it I plug in both molex's? Ta.

 

[motto]

Well forget the last question as it only came with one molex!

Got the card and am very happy, Crysis running at full tilt is excellent, Arma 2 the occasional stutter when viewing distance is maxed - but I think this game is badly made, the mouse smoothing sucks!