Purchasing new GPU today!

P

PhilyP

n00b
Joined
Jul 7, 2011
Messages
45
So I sold my 5870 for $300 :D and i'm looking for a new card(s)
I'm looking at:
6950
6950cfx
6970
gtx570

or what ever you recommend. I'll be purchasing today!
*EDIT*
Specs:
Q9450 3.4GHZ
4gb Corsair Dominator
XFX 5870(not anymore)
Biostar Tpower 145 motherboard
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
PSU 750Watt Thermaltake toughpower


i'm looking to max upcoming games at 1920x1200
 
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PhilyP said:
one more question. If I do decide to go crossfire will my motherboard handle it? it can do crossfire 8x. with a single card it does 16x

http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=365
Click to expand...

I had that board. It's a very good motherboard, esp. for overclocking. Nice choice. I "upgraded" to an EVGA 780i. The TPower blew it out of the water. 3-4 fps. faster than the more expensive 780i in the Crysis benchmark, everything else being equal. I guess the P45 is a better chipset.

Even with today's budget to mid-level motherboards, you're not going to do better than 8/8. Tests have shown there isn't much difference with 16/16 anyway.

I am planning to Crossfire...I'll have to do it @ 16/4. Unless I decide I want another board.
 
I personally would go with the GTX570.

Newegg.com has one for 304.99 with a 30MIR = 274.99

Great deal and amazing performance!
 
spacing guild said:
I had that board. It's a very good motherboard, esp. for overclocking. Nice choice. I "upgraded" to an EVGA 780i. The TPower blew it out of the water. 3-4 fps. faster than the more expensive 780i in the Crysis benchmark, everything else being equal. I guess the P45 is a better chipset.

Even with today's budget to mid-level motherboards, you're not going to do better than 8/8. Tests have shown there isn't much difference with 16/16 anyway.

I am planning to Crossfire...I'll have to do it @ 16/4. Unless I decide I want another board.
Click to expand...

Well thats good news:D so I'm leaning towards crossfire 6950. I don't know if I should go with the 1gb or 2gb model. I'm gaming at 1920x1200.
 
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spacing guild said:
I had that board. It's a very good motherboard, esp. for overclocking. Nice choice. I "upgraded" to an EVGA 780i. The TPower blew it out of the water. 3-4 fps. faster than the more expensive 780i in the Crysis benchmark, everything else being equal. I guess the P45 is a better chipset.

Even with today's budget to mid-level motherboards, you're not going to do better than 8/8. Tests have shown there isn't much difference with 16/16 anyway.

I am planning to Crossfire...I'll have to do it @ 16/4. Unless I decide I want another board.
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This, 8x is plenty of bandwidth just go 6950 2gb and later get a second one.
 
I don't know what CPU you're using, but you'll def. be bottlenecking 6950 crossfire with anything on lga775.
 
why limit yourself? Update the processor now. Youll never be happy with the performance if you always have a piece of hardware thats limiting your PC. Instead of laying down 500 dollars on video cards, put down 250 for a video card then replace your legacy motherboard/CPU. My 2 cents.
 
For the processing power, and the fact that there are few 6950s left brand new you can unlock, buy a single 6970.

Best bang for the buck and less power needs than what nvidia has to offer.:D
 
woah forgot about my specs:
Q9450 3.4GHZ
4gb Corsair Dominator
XFX 5870(not anymore)
Biostar Tpower 145 motherboard
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
PSU 750Watt Thermaltake toughpower
 
PhilyP said:
Really? How bad would it bottleneck my q9450 OC'd to 3.4ghz?
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I went from a Phenom II to Core i5 2500k with a GTX 460. In Crysis I picked-up 10-15 FPS. Phenom II and Q9450 are similar in gaming. You'll be told it's still a monster chip, but the truth is, the people who have those chips or can't afford an i5 or i7 set-up will say that.

It's night and day, I assure you.

And actually, i'm not sure my 2500k @ 4.6 ghz doesn't bottleneck 6950 Crossfire.
 
Def gonna bottleneck with the 775 chip.Best money would be a newer socket and chip.At least step up to a 1366.Personally I would opt for a 560ti.Great performance and sli'ed pretty wicked.At least it won't bottleneck too much.
 
I'd say go with a 2500k + mobo and a 6950. Figure you can a combo deal from newegg for ~325 after rebate and the 6950 for ~250 after rebate. I like the 6950 over the 560ti for the extra ram, even at your resolution, simply because it'll make a different in texture heavy games going forward. And you can pick up another 6950 for xfire next year and be set for a while and have the option to go eyefinity or step up to a 30" and won't be bottlenecked by your vram.
 
damn a new cpu and motherboard...ugh

ok what do you guys recommend I get. i5? What's a decent motherboard to get along with an i5 2500+?

How much do you think my cpu/motherboard is worth? I have a guy that wants spare pc parts

this way it wont hurt the wallet too much :D
 
This is the combo I just got, comes to 300 after 20 in a rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.660241

It's an i5 2500k with an MSI P67 board. I paired mine with a hyper 212 hsf and set the volts to 1.3 and have been running at 4.2 ghz from day one without any problems (6 hours prime). Max temps are 65c and idles around 38. Can't say how happy I am. Plus the board supports sli/xfire.

As for your other pieces I know the q6600s are still selling for 80-100 and have seen the q9550 go for 175 often so that would offset the cost quite a bit. And for the GPU I'd recommend the XFX 6950 2gb just for the lifetime warranty but there's lots of good choices for the 6950.
 
PhilyP said:
damn a new cpu and motherboard...ugh

ok what do you guys recommend I get. i5? What's a decent motherboard to get along with an i5 2500+?

How much do you think my cpu/motherboard is worth? I have a guy that wants spare pc parts

this way it wont hurt the wallet too much :D
Click to expand...

You'll need DDR3 RAM to go with that new Ci5 Chip and motherboard.:eek:
 
magoo said:
You'll need DDR3 RAM to go with that new Ci5 Chip and motherboard.:eek:
Click to expand...

So basically a whole new pc minus psu and case... What would happen if I pair crossfire 6950s with my current system? I'm thinking about getting the cpu mobile and ram at a later date.
 
PhilyP said:
So basically a whole new pc minus psu and case... What would happen if I pair crossfire 6950s with my current system? I'm thinking about getting the cpu mobile and ram at a later date.
Click to expand...

Roll with it for now if that's what you want...just know an i5 or i7, Ivy Bridge or *cough* Bulldozer will give you much better performance.
 
PhilyP said:
So basically a whole new pc minus psu and case... What would happen if I pair crossfire 6950s with my current system? I'm thinking about getting the cpu mobile and ram at a later date.
Click to expand...

I think you will be fine. A big deal is made about bottlenecking here and in some cases it would be a problem, but I don't think you will have much issue. There will be some games that are more CPU dependant than others and in these games you will see more improvements going to a sandybridge cpu. But in others, just crank up the settings to the max and play.

Personally I would get the 2GB model of the 6950 if I could. I also would just one 6950 first and see how happy you are with the performance. If down the road you think you need more performance than you can think about going crossfire.
 
Good idea. Thanks everyone for your help. I'll be going with one 6950 :) one more question. Is it easy to unlock a 6950 to a 6970? I'm sure I could find some guide online, but could it mess up the card? Also, if I want another card for crossfire down the road, would I have to reset the 6950 back to factory default if I choose to unlock it?
 
PhilyP said:
Good idea. Thanks everyone for your help. I'll be going with one 6950 :) one more question. Is it easy to unlock a 6950 to a 6970? I'm sure I could find some guide online, but could it mess up the card? Also, if I want another card for crossfire down the road, would I have to reset the 6950 back to factory default if I choose to unlock it?
Click to expand...

It's pretty easy, but I am not sure you can get the unlockable models anymore. The ones that can be unlocked have the dual bios switch. The ones that can't be unlocked dont. I think that's how you know anyway.
 
PhilyP said:
Good idea. Thanks everyone for your help. I'll be going with one 6950 :) one more question. Is it easy to unlock a 6950 to a 6970? I'm sure I could find some guide online, but could it mess up the card? Also, if I want another card for crossfire down the road, would I have to reset the 6950 back to factory default if I choose to unlock it?
Click to expand...

Just save the original BIOS, use that to flash back if you need or want. I unlocked both my MSI Twin Frozr II OC's shaders.

reaper12 said:
The ones that can be unlocked have the dual bios switch. The ones that can't be unlocked don't. I think that's how you know anyway.
Click to expand...

Not true... The MSI Twin Frozr II OC edition does not have a dual BIOS switch and as of a few days ago, they were still unlock-able. I just unlocked my recently purchased second card. AMD seems to be putting an end to the unlocking, but some cards still can be unlocked.
 
renixinq said:
This is the combo I just got, comes to 300 after 20 in a rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.660241

It's an i5 2500k with an MSI P67 board. I paired mine with a hyper 212 hsf and set the volts to 1.3 and have been running at 4.2 ghz from day one without any problems (6 hours prime). Max temps are 65c and idles around 38. Can't say how happy I am. Plus the board supports sli/xfire.
Click to expand...

You should be able to hit 4.2ghz on 1.25 volts.
 
I'd get a single 6970 and upgrade your mobo/cpu/ram alongside the card purchase.

Sandy Bridge owns because it's alot of power and little cost.

Get an i5 2500K a good crossfire compatible mobo (just about any SB board you like) and 8GB PC 1600 DDR3 and call it a day. You should be fine to run the new games maxed at 1080P

Also if current rumors hold out the 6970 would be a good card to have and sell to get a 7970 if they do come out by years end. If your 6970 Sandy Combo doesn't max those games the 7970 probably surely will.
 
Get a single 2gb 6950 and if its not powerful enough for your taste pick up a second one, Good luck =)
 
GTX 570, AMD has too many driver issues. I would stear clear untill they get their act straight.
 
Hah if you're still thinking about upgrading your processor and mobo I came across this deal that someone else posted... Essentially you can get Intel Core i5 2500K CPU processor and Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 motherboard for $270 shipped Neweggbusiness.com. Use $50 coupon code FBFAN50... A steal iMO
 
gar818 said:
GTX 570, AMD has too many driver issues. I would stear clear untill they get their act straight.
Click to expand...

False. Nvidia is no better than ATI when it comes to drivers. They both have had driver issues in the past. Both companies make fine products.
 
TheCommander said:
False. Nvidia is no better than ATI when it comes to drivers. They both have had driver issues in the past. Both companies make fine products.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I've had driver problems with both ATI and Nvidia cards... Both companies have usually sorted my problems out, although at times they take their time while doing so.
 
I have that video card...good choice. Quiet and cool. I would go with 8 GB RAM @ least. That's my preference..but 4gb should be okay.

Other than that...good balanced purchase. You'll like the 6950 with i2500k it should be a very nice upgrade...save your pennies and you'll crossfire in few months.

I just hope those Sapphire cards are still being sold by the time i'm ready to Crossfire.
 
I think you will do well with a 6950. Though if you were eventually planning to Crossfire, I'd say push for the 6990 and enjoy dual gpu goodness now. It's not cheap, and it destroys your budget. It'll be the most expensive card you'll ever buy. But it's probably more resellable, and I'm fairly sure you'd get most of your money back since it'll be the only current card able to hang with the 7xxx lineup when that comes out. I'd have one myself, except for the Bitcoiners. :(
 
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