ATI FirePro

Mister Man

So I was thinking of adding a FirePro to my current system, but I don't know if it would be really worth it. So I'd like your input.

Current system is:
AMD Phenom II X4 840 OCed to 3.7GHz
4GB 1337MHz ram (Corsair XMS3)
Advance MPT-6500 - 650Watt PSU
Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 1GB
Aerocool StrikerX case
Coolormaster TX3 CPU Heatsink
Samsung Spin Point F3 1TB
Seagate 80GB HDD for OS
Acer 19Inch monitor
Toshiba 19Inch HD Ready TV
(Maybe a new monitor even?)

Before someone suggests a SSD, I don't really need one right now. I'm fine waiting for a bit while the system boots up

I do use Cinema 4D for 3D Modelling for some clients, but I don't know if I really need a FirePro GPU for this.
Also, am I able to run the FirePro on one monitor, and the 6850 on another?

I've 200E to spend on getting something new, although I'm not fully sold on buying anything new at all, I'd like to see what everyone else has to say.

I normally use my system for Adobe programs, such as dreamweaver, Photoshop, but also some 3D stuff in Maxon Cinema 4D.

I am a bit of a gamer, although lately I haven't been to interested by many new games.

Any suggestions will be taken onboard.

Monotype

I've never heard of mixing cards like that - I doubt that it would work.
I recommended that you upgrade your PSU before.
Don't bother with the Firepro unless you really need it. Dreamweaver is not going to use it. Photoshop uses minimal GPU power and can avail of other lines. Maxon Studio appears to have good compatibility across all card types so it wouldn't justify the new card. IMO, leave it unless you find something that you really need it for.

That seagate 80GB HDD... how old is that? Are your main programs running from there or the F3? If it's one of the older generations like a 7200.7, the F3 would be twice as fast.

Mister Man

Monotype wrote: »

That seagate 80GB HDD... how old is that? Are your main programs running from there or the F3? If it's one of the older generations like a 7200.7, the F3 would be twice as fast.

The Seagate is about... 1 and a half years old. Not sure of the exact model or anything. It's fast enough. I only have my OS on there. All my programs and games are on a F3

Komplett-Tech: Ryan

Hey MM.

I understand you only have 200E to spend, but if you can stretch to 300 or slightly more(400) to upgrade, possibilities are endless. Thankfully you can use the memory you have already so a saving there... If you upgrade to an Intel i5 2500/2400/2300 or the K series(unlocked for overclocking) with a p67(B3) motherbord you will see some impressive results. But the first thing i would upgrade is your hard drive. Honestly, and talking from experience the Samsung F3 or the new F4 series hard drives are by far the most reliable drives on the market while offering great performance.

Since you already have a 1TB F3 i would recommend you install your OS to this drive, and partition it for programs.(80GB for the OS, the rest for the programs).... If you can afford it, get a 60-120GB SSD purely for the main applications you run. If it is a 60-120GB drive you can also fit the OS(operating system) on it. The performance gains from a SSD (Solid Sate Drive) are incredible. Normally when you turn on your PC it can take up to 60 seconds or more before you can do anything. With a SSD it can be as low as 7 seconds.

The Graphics card you already have is fairly powerfully, but more than likely held back by your CPU(bottleneck). I honestly can't see any reason to upgrade it.

Perhaps it might be worthwhile to double your Ram (Memory) to 8GB, for programs like Photoshop, Sony Vegas and it will make a huge difference.

Quite a long post from me at this hour, but i hope it serves you well (",)

Mister Man

Komplett-Tech: Ryan wrote: »

Hey MM.

I understand you only have 200E to spend, but if you can stretch to 300 or slightly more(400) to upgrade, possibilities are endless. Thankfully you can use the memory you have already so a saving there... If you upgrade to an Intel i5 2500/2400/2300 or the K series(unlocked for overclocking) with a p67(B3) motherbord you will see some impressive results. But the first thing i would upgrade is your hard drive. Honestly, and talking from experience the Samsung F3 or the new F4 series hard drives are by far the most reliable drives on the market while offering great performance.

Since you already have a 1TB F3 i would recommend you install your OS to this drive, and partition it for programs.(80GB for the OS, the rest for the programs).... If you can afford it, get a 60-120GB SSD purely for the main applications you run. If it is a 60-120GB drive you can also fit the OS(operating system) on it. The performance gains from a SSD (Solid Sate Drive) are incredible. Normally when you turn on your PC it can take up to 60 seconds or more before you can do anything. With a SSD it can be as low as 7 seconds.

The Graphics card you already have is fairly powerfully, but more than likely held back by your CPU(bottleneck). I honestly can't see any reason to upgrade it.

Perhaps it might be worthwhile to double your Ram (Memory) to 8GB, for programs like Photoshop, Sony Vegas and it will make a huge difference.

Quite a long post from me at this hour, but i hope it serves you well (",)

Cheers for your post Ryan.
I don't think I would really need to go for a i5 right now. I only build this rig about a month ago.
The SSD, I may consider now that I think about it. What's the price range on a decent sized SSD?
The graphics card is a bit overkill for me right now if I'm honest (In terms on games) As the only games I've play on it so far is CoD4, And some cheap steam game!
As for ram, I've considered an upgrade, but I don't think 8GB Will be of use to me. I think an extra 2GB should be ok, As it's not too often I'm working with files that are so big.

Komplett-Tech: Ryan

SSD's can be picked up for less then 100e these days but.... Anything with more then 150mb/s read and 50mb/s write and a good resp time should be considered.

The below is a serious bargain to be honest:

http://komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_01COM/11_HDD/09_SSD/productdetails/20079774/Intel_Solid_State_Drive_320_Series_Solid_state/SSDSA2CW080G3K5/default.aspx

I dont mean to pimp the above but it is seriously good value for money. Sustained Sequential Read Up to 270 MB/s. Sustained Sequential Write Up to 90 MB/s. Blazing Fast for all File Transfers: Up to 38,000 IOPS random 4 KB reads; up to 10,000 IOPS random 4 KB writes

I honestly would consider upgrading to 8GB though, it will make a huge difference for photoshop and 3d rendering applications. You don't need a ATI Fire card for it. The fire cards are the exact same as the desktop models. Just slightly modified firmware and drivers. Nothing noticble though.

Mister Man

Hmm..i don't know, of the price, I'd be looking for more space? Or am I pushing it?

Fluffy88

That's pretty much as good as you will do for an 80Gb drive. If you want to go for 120GB the cheapest I found was the OCZ Vertex 2 which is a good drive.
http://www.dabs.ie/products/ocz-technology-120gb-vertex-2-sata-ii-2-5--solid-state-drive--oczssd2-2vtxe120g--72KB.html?refs=4294946440-52450000-52750000-41580000

Monotype

Just note that the V2 120GB is 115GB.

I think that an SSD would be a good idea alright. Photoshop is painful on a HDD to open, but you can use it on any whim when it's on an SSD and takes 3 seconds to open!

What was your motherboard again?

Fluffy88

This was his original thread
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056283712
and he made this a little after about the build
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=72523541

so I believe he has the MSI 870U-G55 so he can't support a SATA3 drive.

Monotype

Yeah, no point in going for the newer drives with SATA 3Gb/s (unless you get PCI-E card with 6Gbps ports). Something along those recommended by Fluffy and Ryan are your best options.

You seem to be upgrading quite often - perhaps in the future, wait until you have more money saved and buy components that will last longer and promote upgradability - e.g., high quality motherboard and PSU. I'm not talking about buying the latest rip-off thing on the market but pay attention to the subtle extras of, for example, a 900 series phenom or SATA 6Gbps to ensure that you have a significant jump each time. Or save for the next platform up (1155).

Mister Man

Monotype wrote: »

You seem to be upgrading quite often - perhaps in the future, wait until you have more money saved and buy components that will last longer and promote upgradability - e.g., high quality motherboard and PSU. I'm not talking about buying the latest rip-off thing on the market but pay attention to the subtle extras of, for example, a 900 series phenom or SATA 6Gbps to ensure that you have a significant jump each time. Or save for the next platform up (1155).

I Don't upgrade often at all. Until I built this, my other PC was a year and a half old.
I could afford a i5 & new motherboard now if I wanted it, I just don't see the point in going for a i5 when it's not going to show a big difference from what I have now. From what I hear, the i5 is more of a gamers CPU, and as I said, I'm not a big gamer right now.
If I was to upgrade the motherboard & CPU, i would have to be looking at a i7 - Which, right now would be out of budget, as I'd want more ram, & a SSD along with them.
Maybe someone can recommend a i7, motherboard etc combo, so I know what price i would be looking at?

As I said though, I'm not sold on upgrading right now, I'm just testing the water.

Monotype

The i7s are a definite waste of money. No sense in buying them over an i5-2500K. Maybe the i7-2600K if you need hyperthreading and the extra cache.