New Graphics card arrived :)

[mp10]

Hi,

I'm looking to upgrade my graphics card, mainly because of the problems that i have been having with my XFX ATI 4890, Blue screens every now and its due to the Drivers, not sure exactly why, but its becoming a pain now.

So here is my current set up:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo Quad Q9550
Asus P5QL Pro Motherboard
XFX ATI 4890 1024mb
4GB Corsair DDR2 memory (2x2gb)
500GB SATA Hard Drive
650W Powercool PSU

I also have budget of £150.

Thanks hope this helps 👍

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

AMD Radeon 6870 or an Nvidia GTX 560 Ti if you can find one at a low price.

 

[mp10]

AMD Radeon 6870 or an Nvidia GTX 560 Ti if you can find one at a low price.

I have seen the GTX 560Ti, but what is the difference between this and the GTX 560 ? both seem to be pretty good according to Video card benchmarks too.

Thanks

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

The GTX 560 has one less Polymorth Engine in it compared to a GTX 560 Ti.

 

[mp10]

Just had a quick look and there are quite a few different 560Ti's, some by Gigabyte, Asus, PNY, MSI etc, which is the best to go for?

 

[RX-7_FD3S]

Probably one of the most recent one, I dont really know which is tho. GT560 Ti is your best option tho.

 

[Juiposa]

I'd invest the $500 (if you can) and get a Nvidia GTX580 and a 1000w powersupply, then that way you wont have to upgrade yuor graphics card for another 8 years.

 

[mp10]

I'd invest the $500 (if you can) and get a Nvidia GTX580 and a 1000w powersupply, then that way you wont have to upgrade yuor graphics card for another 8 years.

That card is a little too pricey for me It is a beast though. I'm going to definitely go for a Nvidia this time, Not had good experience with ATI, Still looking around and found this site http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html The 560 seems to be decent value for money too.

 

[Xenn]

The MSI GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II is a card worth looking at. It's nice and quiet, performs well, and provides decent cooling too.

It's also very good at overclocking too.

 

[mp10]

The MSI GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II is a card worth looking at. It's nice and quiet, performs well, and provides decent cooling too.

It's also very good at overclocking too.

Had a quick look and thats not too bad, a little above budget but it does seem good.

 

[RX-7_FD3S]

The GTX560 Ti is the best value for performance card out. No doubt about that.

 

[CMvan46]

560ti for your budget. Pretty big step up over the 560 and for not a lot more money.

The only other option I really see is a last gen 480 which usually beats the 560ti in benchmarks.

 

[djinline]

The MSI GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II is a card worth looking at. It's nice and quiet, performs well, and provides decent cooling too.

It's also very good at overclocking too.

+1 on this one.

 

[bergauk]

Why not buy a relatively cheap card right now, like 5770/6770/7770, then wait a few months for the prices on the latest generation of cards to drop a little. Spending a lot on today's tech, means you have today's tech for the next few years. Spending a little bit on today's tech, means you only spent a little, and can save up for tomorrow's tech. NVidia is releasing their 6xx series cards, and AMD has already released a good chunk of their 7xxx cards. The prices aren't completely right though.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Personally I would for an HD7850, since the 560Ti seems to be pretty close in price. It goes past the budget a bit, but I would say it's worth it. Otherwise, the 560Ti is a good choice.

 

[mp10]

Thanks for the input guy's, i would be willing to wait a little longer, but the Blue Screens are a pain, i was playing minecraft just now, and it Blue screened on that too. I think i be go for the 560ti, from either Gigabyte or the MSI one mentioned earlier on.

Thanks again 👍

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Did you try a different driver version?

 

[terminator363]

The MSI GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II

Enough said.

 

[mp10]

Hi, just a little update, i decided to go for the ASUS 560Ti, it was a little cheaper than the MSI Twin frozr.

Thanks for all the help 👍

 

[CMvan46]

Hi, just a little update, i decided to go for the ASUS 560Ti, it was a little cheaper than the MSI Twin frozr.

Thanks for all the help 👍

The twin frozr is more expensive because it's overclocked from MSI and comes with warranty on the overclock.

Good choice nonetheless.

 

[tlowr4]

Have we not thought of bottlenecks people? We're talking about a Core 2 Quad, not an i5. I've run into the same issue with a friend's PC, upgrading from a GT210 to a 5850. Can't go any higher than a 5850 as the CPU can't keep up. I know a C2Q is much more powerful than the C2D I've been working with, but certainly still hasn't got enough kick to support a 560Ti. I wouldn't recommend anything more than a 470 or a 6870.

 

[corporatesteve]

Have we not thought of bottlenecks people? We're talking about a Core 2 Quad, not an i5. I've run into the same issue with a friend's PC, upgrading from a GT210 to a 5850. Can't go any higher than a 5850 as the CPU can't keep up. I know a C2Q is much more powerful than the C2D I've been working with, but certainly still hasn't got enough kick to support a 560Ti. I wouldn't recommend anything more than a 470 or a 6870.

You dont think a GTX 550 Ti would handle a Core 2 Quad 2.4ghz?
*see my "video card to older motherboard" thread for reference*

 

[bergauk]

Have we not thought of bottlenecks people? We're talking about a Core 2 Quad, not an i5. I've run into the same issue with a friend's PC, upgrading from a GT210 to a 5850. Can't go any higher than a 5850 as the CPU can't keep up. I know a C2Q is much more powerful than the C2D I've been working with, but certainly still hasn't got enough kick to support a 560Ti. I wouldn't recommend anything more than a 470 or a 6870.

We've thought about them, and dismissed them. http://www.anandtech.com/show/5458/the-radeon-hd-7970-reprise-pcie-bandwidth-overclocking-and-msaa

According to results shown on the graphs there. PCI-E Gen1 16x slots can run at a maximum of 4GB/s, while Gen2 can run at 8GB/s, and finally Gen3 runs at 16GB/s.

Now what this means is that even on a Gen 1 Board, you're going to be likely to get 80+FPS running at 1680x1050, if we went and blew that up to 1920x1080/1200 it'd be in the realm of roughly 60FPS, which is perfectly fine for anyone.

I don't know what magic satchel/hammerspace you pull your data from, but seeing as a 7970 will run at 60-80 fps on Gen1 bandwidth. There will be literally no problem. The problem will arise when games start to fully utilize 8, and 16GB/s bandwidths. That's not going to be for a long while.

 

[tlowr4]

You dont think a GTX 550 Ti would handle a Core 2 Quad 2.4ghz?
*see my "video card to older motherboard" thread for reference*

Umm...yes it would. By comparison, a GTX550Ti is a poor card, to something like a 460 or 6850. Especially for the price, it not a nice one.

We've thought about them, and dismissed them. http://www.anandtech.com/show/5458/the-radeon-hd-7970-reprise-pcie-bandwidth-overclocking-and-msaa

According to results shown on the graphs there. PCI-E Gen1 16x slots can run at a maximum of 4GB/s, while Gen2 can run at 8GB/s, and finally Gen3 runs at 16GB/s.

Now what this means is that even on a Gen 1 Board, you're going to be likely to get 80+FPS running at 1680x1050, if we went and blew that up to 1920x1080/1200 it'd be in the realm of roughly 60FPS, which is perfectly fine for anyone.

I don't know what magic satchel/hammerspace you pull your data from, but seeing as a 7970 will run at 60-80 fps on Gen1 bandwidth. There will be literally no problem. The problem will arise when games start to fully utilize 8, and 16GB/s bandwidths. That's not going to be for a long while.

Not talking about PCI bandwidth bottlenecks at all. Read my post, I'm talking about CPU to GPU bottlenecks 👍 A C2Q will quite simply not have the horses to keep up with a 560Ti. An older gen card would be more suited (like I said, 460, or 6850/6870. They're still very good performing cards, especially for an older rig such as the OP has.). Either way, PCI bandwith makes little to no differance in real time gaming, it's only in synthetic benchmarks where it makes a differance, and even so, it's rather minute. But I understand what you're saying, just got nothing to do with what I was

 

[bergauk]

Not talking about PCI bandwidth bottlenecks at all. Read my post, I'm talking about CPU to GPU bottlenecks 👍 A C2Q will quite simply not have the horses to keep up with a 560Ti. An older gen card would be more suited (like I said, 460, or 6850/6870. They're still very good performing cards, especially for an older rig such as the OP has.). Either way, PCI bandwith makes little to no differance in real time gaming, it's only in synthetic benchmarks where it makes a differance, and even so, it's rather minute. But I understand what you're saying, just got nothing to do with what I was

How can you make such an assumption? This is his processor. http://ark.intel.com/products/33924...cessor-Q9550-(12M-Cache-2_83-GHz-1333-MHz-FSB)

This is his Motherboard.
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5QL_PRO/

His board, supports PCI-E Gen2, which means he'll be able to use 8GB/s worth of bandwidth on any Gen3 card.

If there is ANY bottleneck. It's going to be the PCI bandwidth, and it WILL NOT be an issue. As no game currently makes use of 16 GB/s worth of PCI bandwidth.





So.. Please stop acting like you know what you're talking about. Because it's fairly obvious at this point that you don't.

 

[corporatesteve]

Umm...yes it would. By comparison, a GTX550Ti is a poor card, to something like a 460 or 6850. Especially for the price, it not a nice one.

Sorry I dont know much about GPUS. Is the bottlenecking more so affected by the difference in texel rate, or more so memory bandwith?

 

[tlowr4]

How can you make such an assumption? This is his processor. http://ark.intel.com/products/33924/Intel-Core2-Quad-Processor-Q9550-(12M-Cache-2_83-GHz-1333-MHz-FSB)

This is his Motherboard.
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5QL_PRO/

His board, supports PCI-E Gen2, which means he'll be able to use 8GB/s worth of bandwidth on any Gen3 card.

If there is ANY bottleneck. It's going to be the PCI bandwidth, and it WILL NOT be an issue. As no game currently makes use of 16 GB/s worth of PCI bandwidth.





So.. Please stop acting like you know what you're talking about. Because it's fairly obvious at this point that you don't.

Ok, please don't turn this into an argument. I'm talking about a CPU/GPU bottleneck, which will appear under heavy conditions with the GTX560Ti.

And please, show me, where I was trying to say I knew what I was talking about. I'm just giving a thought, since I just did the same thing a week ago. I know how much you'd love it if I racked off and never posted in the C&T section, but I'm really not going to leave just because a couple of people don't like what I say. 👍

Sorry I dont know much about GPUS. Is the bottlenecking more so affected by the difference in texel rate, or more so memory bandwith?

No no. It's not withing the GPU itself (most of the time). What I was talking about was a CPU/GPU bottlneck, that the CPU isn't powerful enough for the particular GPU.

What bergauk was talking about, was PCI bandwith limitations and bottlenecks. PCI bandwith bottlnecks make little to no difference in gaming, only appears in synthetic benchmarks like 3dMark

 

[bergauk]

Ok, please don't turn this into an argument. I'm talking about a CPU/GPU bottleneck, which will appear under heavy conditions with the GTX560Ti.

And please, show me, where I was trying to say I knew what I was talking about. I'm just giving a thought, since I just did the same thing a week ago. I know how much you'd love it if I racked off and never posted in the C&T section, but I'm really not going to leave just because a couple of people don't like what I say. 👍



No no. It's not withing the GPU itself (most of the time). What I was talking about was a CPU/GPU bottlneck, that the CPU isn't powerful enough for the particular GPU.

What bergauk was talking about, was PCI bandwith limitations and bottlenecks. PCI bandwith bottlnecks make little to no difference in gaming, only appears in synthetic benchmarks like 3dMark

How is there going to be a bottleneck!? ITS A 560TI NOT A 660. ITS GEN2. GENERATION TWO, RUNNING ON A PCI-E GEN2 COMPATIBLE MOTHERBOARD. RUNNING WITH ONE OF THE BETTER CPUS FROM THE CORE2 ERA.



You are a freaking idiot. I'm trying to point out the simplest fact. There will not be any bottlenecking on it as there is no reason for it to bottleneck whatsoever. The Q9550 is more than enough to handle the load the 560Ti will put out.

You talk about these things as if you know it for a fact. Just because you've dealt with lesser Core2 processors, doesn't mean they're all like that.

 

[tlowr4]

Hey mate, settle down OK? I was just mentioning something. Dosn't make a differance now, the OP's already bought the card.

Honestly I don't know why people get so worked up....

EDIT: And I don't appreciated being called an idiot...

 

[bergauk]

I get worked up, because you spout out facts that aren't even relevant, and push people into bad decisions due to it. If you'd done a little bit of digging, you'd know that what he has, is perfectly capable of running what he purchased.

And I could care less if you don't like being called an idiot, because in my eyes, until you learn to do some research on what you're talking about. You're going to be an unskilled 13/14 year old that doesn't know what he's talking about.