Worth Upgrading?

MarkJD

Hey All,

Im currently very happy with my system. Plays the games i want on full with no problems. Runs great and eats up anything thrown at it. The thing is im currently being sucked into the idea of getting a Sandybridge system and also i just like new things . Im just wondering will i see much of a performance increase if i was to get a new system? With what i have is it a good time to upgrade? Anything on the horizon i should wait for? Id be willing to spend in the region of €1000-€1200 depending on what i would get for my current system.

I noticed a thread from Sink - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056207859
Maybe something along these lines? Dual GFX and Sandybridge system.

My current specs are:

Case - Antec P180
MOBO - EVGA X58 SLI LE
CPU - Intel Core i7-920 - 2.66 GHz - 8 MB L3 Cache - LGA 1366 Socket
GFX - SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY Radeon Toxic HD 5850 - 1 GB GDDR5
PSU - Cooler Master Silent Pro M700 700W PC Power Supply
RAM - 6GB DDR3 triple channel - OCZ Gold Low-Voltage Triple Channel 3 x 2 GB DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 CL8 PC Memory
HDD1 - Intel X25-M MLC 2.5 Solid State Disk (SSD) - 80 GB - SATA-300
HDD2 - Samsung SpinPoint F3 Desktop Class HD103SJ Hard Drive - 3.5"- 1 TB - 32 MB - 7200 rpm - SATA-300

Thanks for the help.

IrishMetalhead

tbh with your current system it really not worth upgrading espiecally when it comes down to games because as we all know thats mostly on the gpu so if your going to upgrade anything i'd suggest adding another 5850 as the 1366 platfrom has amazing suport for multi gpus and possibly oc your cpu if you have not done that yet (which i say you have because you seem to know your stuff) so upgrading to sandybridge wouldn't offer a massive increase as a second gpu would with your current mobo and cpu

Monotype

You're insane.

Get the extra 5850 and another two screens (+ eyefinity adapter!) to keep yourself entertained... or crossfire something a bit more powerful. 2x6950s should do it.

Tea_Bag

Monotype wrote: »

You're insane.

Get the extra 5850 and another two screens (+ eyefinity adapter!) to keep yourself entertained... or crossfire something a bit more powerful. 2x6950s should do it.

THIS!

you're not going to see any performance gain over your i7 really, just the GPU.
if i were in your situation, id definitely be going down the eyefinity route now.

also, get the 2gb versions of the 6950's instead of the 1gb if you do go down the eyefinity route.

MarkJD

Thanks very much for all the feedback guys. I guess it was more a case of making sure i wasnt missing out. All iv been hearing and reading is Sandybridge this and that now that the majority of issues are resolved.

Unfortunately i dont have it overclocked Metal. I did when i got it but it was running inconcistently. Im of the mindset that dont fix what isnt broken and it was running quite well. Id really like to overclock it though and have it run Stable but im not well up on doing that and id be afraid id ruin the system.

Im also not familiar with eyefinity guys? Ill google it now but care to bring me up to speed?

So essentially keep what i have but save and look at getting two new GFX cards and running it on Eyefinity?!. Whats the advantage of having two Monitors? I have my system on a 23" LG Flatron W2361V and also have a 32" TV that i use to watch movies etc on. Will this LG monitor work with another of the same for eyefinity?

Appreciate the feedback.

Tea_Bag

this is eyefinity essentially:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPCJh8tYri0

skip ahead a little.

you get to play on 3 or more screens, and it looks badass.

MarkJD

That is pretty amazing! Im not sure if the gaps because of the different screens annoys me or not haha!

Any particular monitors you need for this? Does it have to be 3 screens? Also is it just me or does the left hand screen look awful? Maybe a bad screen or just the angle?

Tea_Bag

MarkJD wrote: »

That is pretty amazing! Im not sure if the gaps because of the different screens annoys me or not haha!

Any particular monitors you need for this? Does it have to be 3 screens? Also is it just me or does the left hand screen look awful? Maybe a bad screen or just the angle?

just the angle or different contrast between the monitors i think, easily fixable. never having played on eyefinity, i cant say, but i havent read any reviews where they said there was any problems with any screens, except in this 1 concept of eyefinity with 24 screens, there was a tiny bit of lag on the corners

the best thing to do is get 3 or 4 identical monitors (not a necessity, but more aesthetically pleasing) and get screens with the least amount bezel on the left and right edges. (thats the black "case" around the screen)

murphthesmurf

Samsung do screens specifically for Eyefinity. they're not cheap, but having much smaller black edging around the screen so the gaps are less noticable.
As for upgrading your bits, don't bother with the cpu. Get a decent cooler like the Thermaltake Frio and have a go at some overclocking. There are plenty of guides around for overclocking an i7 system.
The only thing worth upgrading as the other guys have said is your gpu. I dont think I'd bother buying 2 new cards though, just get another card like you have. 2 x 5850's will give you plenty of power for any current or future games.
As to your question of anything arriving in the future to look out for, well AMD are releasing their new Bulldozer architecture cpu's later in the year. They look promissing, but none have been proplery tested yet so no one really knows.
Sandybridge will be replaced by Ivorybridge probably late next yr.
Just go with an extra card, and do a little homework and have a dabble at overclocking.

Monotype

You just need to get an eyefinity displayport->DVI adapter.
There's crap displayport->DVI adapters that don't work, so make sure that you get the right one ~€20.

murphthesmurf wrote: »

Sandybridge will be replaced by Ivorybridge probably late next yr.

Ivybridge... unless there's an ivory one as well.

IrishMetalhead

you mean an active displayport to div yes?

murphthesmurf

Monotype wrote: »

Ivybridge... unless there's an ivory one as well.

Hank Scorpio

Update graphics card if you want an extra boost or go xfire, personally i wouldnt bother until at least december

Monotype

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

you mean an active displayport to div yes?

Yeah, or basically just one that says that eyefinity will work with it. The first active ones were €70 with a load of the cheap passive ones around. Then, luckily, with eyefinity out for a while, more people started making them.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00433C5Y4/ref=pd_luc_mri?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

MarkJD

Thanks for the information guys. I think i will have a go at overclocking some pieces again then. Im currently having some random freeze up issues which i think might be the RAM but im not sure at all. Ill make as seperate thread on that.

Think i will definately get another card. With crossfire though do the cards have to be exactly the same? Could i use one 5850 and then a 5870?

Monotype

They have to be similar cards (can usually crossfire within a series subset). The 5850 and 5870 would work in crossfire, but you'd only get the performance of two 5850s.


Re: RAM issue. memtest.org. You can boot it from a USB drive.

MarkJD

Well thats good to know. Thank you for the reply. I guess either buy one 5870 and then save up to buy another.

Would the performance different between a 5850 & 5870 be considerable?

Monotype

Probably 10-20% in most situations. The 5850 overclocks pretty well, and you could catch up on the difference with two overclocks (with good cooling).

There's a thread on overclockers demonstrating over 20% of a difference.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18112756
Overclocking is very impressive on the 5850!

You might need a new PSU, especially if you are overclocking all round.

MarkJD

Ok well thanks for that, ill archive that away until im ready to do it. I think ill definately look at upgrading to a new card or putting the 5850 in crossfire for the future. Maybe look at a new system next year but will see how things are then.

With regards the memory i did all the tests a few months back, wouldnt hurt to do them again though. The random freezing is annoying. Maybe if you have time check out the new thread i created. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056214733 might give you a better idea.

Thanks again btw!

IrishMetalhead

no they'd have to be 2 5850's unfortunatly
Which manufacture it is dosn't matter tho

Monotype

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

no they'd have to be 2 5850's unfortunatly
Which manufacture it is dosn't matter tho

Is this in answer the to the original question?
You can crossfire a 5850 and 5870.

http://sites.amd.com/PublishingImages/Public/Graphic_Illustrations/WebBannerJPEG/AMD_CrossfireX_Chart_1618W.jpg

Not worth it though.