Advice for a new card...

[rash219]

Alrite guys my current rig includes

-P120B Antec Case (looking into buying cosmos 1000)
-750W Corsair PSU
-Abit IP35 Pro
-6GB Ram
-Q6600 CPU (not overclocked)
-1 DVD/CD Drive
-4 Hard Drives (1 of them is IDE)

Now I have been looking at the new Ati's HD5850 but was a bit worried if it will work on my current mobo. The first thing that attracted me to it was the fact that you could connect 3 displays, which I am planning for, and the GPU would not go into full load like the GTX260, which I just returned after finding out. and to top it the low idle power as its always on.

So basically my 1st question is will the HD5850 work on Abit IP35 Board, is there something I should look for....and 2nd are there any other cards that can offer the same features.

Thanks,

 

[Sylvanas]

You motherboard is PCi-E, The graphics card is PCI-E = it will work. 2nd: nothing else on the market offers a similar setup to ATI's Eyefinity like the 5800 series cards.

 

[toyota]

you certainly need to oc that cpu with a card like the 5850.

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: toyota
you certainly need to oc that cpu

A bit strong. Depends on the OP's usage. Main requirement seems to be to drive 3 displays (hi-res? 1080p?).

 

[MikeShunt]

Originally posted by: toyota
you certainly need to oc that cpu with a card like the 5850.

was just thinking the same!

he could get another 200-300 mhz out that CPU without even trying. its criminal to have a Q6600 and OC it even a little bit!

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: MikeShunt

Originally posted by: toyota
you certainly need to oc that cpu with a card like the 5850.

was just thinking the same!

he could get another 200-300 mhz out that CPU without even trying. its criminal to have a Q6600 and OC it even a little bit!

I have a coworker who has a Q6600 and a TRUE 120, he refuses to overclock.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

Originally posted by: MikeShunt

Originally posted by: toyota
you certainly need to oc that cpu with a card like the 5850.

was just thinking the same!

he could get another 200-300 mhz out that CPU without even trying. its criminal to have a Q6600 and OC it even a little bit!

I have a coworker who has a Q6600 and a TRUE 120, he refuses to overclock.

Wow. Sad story of the day right there.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: betasub

Originally posted by: toyota
you certainly need to oc that cpu

A bit strong. Depends on the OP's usage. Main requirement seems to be to drive 3 displays (hi-res? 1080p?).

well I already assumed he wasnt at a low res. still that stock Q6600 would most certainly hold back a 5850 at realistic playable settings no matter what res. its just the lower his res then the more performance he his missing out on. no point in going with a card that fast if you arent going to at least attempt to fully utilize it by simply overclocking the cpu a bit.

 

[v8envy]

Originally posted by: Zaitsev

Wow. Sad story of the day right there.

I can beat that. 100 mhz bclock on my i7 now that I'm experimenting with using it as my DVR and fileserver. With the 'powersave' governor it's boiling along at 1.2 ghz @ .92 volts.

Temperatures are down from 85C+ to about 40C at load with the stock heatsink + a single 120mm fan.

Might try disabling HT and a few cores to see just how little CPU and wall power&heat I can get away with.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: betasub

Originally posted by: toyota
you certainly need to oc that cpu

A bit strong. Depends on the OP's usage. Main requirement seems to be to drive 3 displays (hi-res? 1080p?).

well I already assumed he wasnt at a low res. still that stock Q6600 would most certainly hold back a 5850 at realistic playable settings no matter what res. its just the lower his res then the more performance he his missing out on. no point in going with a card that fast if you arent going to at least attempt to fully utilize it by simply overclocking the cpu a bit.

He's going with a three card setup. No other card is going to give him low idle power and the usage of three monitors simultaneously.

You also over-inflate CPU requirements. If you think his CPU is going to make the 5850 seem as if it performs like an HD4870 (or lower), then I'm calling you out: You're wrong.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: betasub

Originally posted by: toyota
you certainly need to oc that cpu

A bit strong. Depends on the OP's usage. Main requirement seems to be to drive 3 displays (hi-res? 1080p?).

well I already assumed he wasnt at a low res. still that stock Q6600 would most certainly hold back a 5850 at realistic playable settings no matter what res. its just the lower his res then the more performance he his missing out on. no point in going with a card that fast if you arent going to at least attempt to fully utilize it by simply overclocking the cpu a bit.

He's going with a three card setup. No other card is going to give him low idle power and the usage of three monitors simultaneously.

You also over-inflate CPU requirements. If you think his CPU is going to make the 5850 seem as if it performs like an HD4870 (or lower), then I'm calling you out: You're wrong.

did I say that? I said that if he doenst oc that cpu then he will be missing out on a lot of the 5850s performance.

 

[rash219]

Well I intitially had a 7600GT and to be honest that card didnt deserve a CPU overclock....but then again i never knew OCing the cpu would change the way the GPU worked. I will definately be doing some OCing when I get the 5850.

Just a quick question i was thinking of the cosmos1000 case do you think that its a good case for the HD5850 card using Air Cooling as i leave the computer on for lke over 12hrs a day.

Thanks for the quick reply...although it went kinda oftrack lol ;p

 

[SRoode]

A Q6600 at stock is more than enough not to bottleneck a HD5850. Crossfire may be another story. But, you can enjoy an overall system improvement by oc'ing a bit. I've had mine running at 3.2 GHz for about 2 years now (458 MHz bus x 7, 5/6 divider for memory running at 1100MHz), . I also just ordered a HD5850 to replace my 8800GT, and I have the same motherboard as you.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: SRoode
A Q6600 at stock is more than enough not to bottleneck a HD5850. Crossfire may be another story. But, you can enjoy an overall system improvement by oc'ing a bit. I've had mine running at 3.2 GHz for about 2 years now (458 MHz bus x 7, 5/6 divider for memory running at 1100MHz), . I also just ordered a HD5850 to replace my 8800GT, and I have the same motherboard as you.

sorry but a stock Q6600 will most certainly hold back a 5850 compared to either having it overclocked or a faster cpu.

 

[SRoode]

Proof please. Every link I have seen with benchies for this card does not show it being held back at all. That is until crossfire, and only on some games.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: SRoode
Proof please. Every link I have seen with benchies for this card does not show it being held back at all. That is until crossfire, and only on some games.

what cpu benchies are you looking at that use a 5850? do you really think that a stock Q6600 can get 100% of what the 5850 can do. if you think so then you do not know what you are talking about.

 

[alcoholbob]

The Q6600 is 2.4GHz...most games are heavily influenced by pure clock speed, which is why the E8xxx series is still amongst the fastest for gaming. An E8500 would run in circles around a Q6600.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: Astrallite
The Q6600 is 2.4GHz...most games are heavily influenced by pure clock speed, which is why the E8xxx series is still amongst the fastest for gaming. An E8500 would run in circles around a Q6600.

yep in most cases that is true. a Q6600 and E8400 are dead even in RE 5 with the i7 nearly twice as fast. http://www.pcgameshardware.com...ield-results/Practice/

 

[SRoode]

I am looking at GPU benchies.

Even this site shows that "CPU Limited" games such as Left 4 Dead will run at 132 fps @ 1920x1200 with all eye candy. The test bed was about 50% faster than a Q6600 at stock (~40% processor speed + ~10% for margin on the newer processor), so assuming a 1:1 reduction (which is VERY conservative), a Q6600 in the same situation would result in 88 fps. Since most monitors max out a 60 fps in this mode, the change in fps is irrelevant.

On top of that, games that a typically "CPU Limited" are older and do not look as good anyway. No need for a new video card if this is what you play. If you play newer games with tons of eye candy, the 5850 will not be CPU limited.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: SRoode
I am looking at GPU benchies.

Even this site shows that "CPU Limited" games such as Left 4 Dead will run at 132 fps @ 1920x1200 with all eye candy. The test bed was about 50% faster than a Q6600 at stock (~40% processor speed + ~10% for margin on the newer processor), so assuming a 1:1 reduction (which is VERY conservative), a Q6600 in the same situation would result in 88 fps. Since most monitors max out a 60 fps in this mode, the change in fps is irrelevant.

On top of that, games that a typically "CPU Limited" are older and do not look as good anyway. No need for a new video card if this is what you play. If you play newer games with tons of eye candy, the 5850 will not be CPU limited.

okay this is the last time I will say this so maybe it will sink in. a stock Q6600 will NOT provide ALL the performance that a 5850 is capable of. you can already see that in cpu benchies that faster cpus will provide higher framerates when using a card like the 4870 or gtx280. well a 5850 is stronger than either one of those cards. its a FACT that overcloking the Q6600 will give you better performance even with card slower than than a 5850. so to sum up overclocking that Q6600 would be a good idea if he wants to get close to what a 5850 is capable of.

 

[SRoode]

Originally posted by: SRoode
A Q6600 at stock is more than enough not to bottleneck a HD5850. Crossfire may be another story. But, you can enjoy an overall system improvement by oc'ing a bit. I've had mine running at 3.2 GHz for about 2 years now (458 MHz bus x 7, 5/6 divider for memory running at 1100MHz), . I also just ordered a HD5850 to replace my 8800GT, and I have the same motherboard as you.

Quoting myself. I told the OP that OC'ing the CPU would result in an overall system improvement. That's very different from the "bottleneck" you are describing.

In the end (and you can check every site you want), OCing the CPU will result in small graphical gains (10-20%). Getting a new video card will result in major gains, if that is what you are looking for.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: SRoode
Proof please. Every link I have seen with benchies for this card does not show it being held back at all. That is until crossfire, and only on some games.

Resident Evil 5 and Similar results here
GTA4
Anno1404
ArmA2

Obviously if you are gaming at 1920x1200 8AA, then the weight will shift almost entirely towards the videocard.

 

[SRoode]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation

Originally posted by: SRoode
Proof please. Every link I have seen with benchies for this card does not show it being held back at all. That is until crossfire, and only on some games.

Resident Evil 5 and Similar results here
GTA4
Anno1404
ArmA2

Obviously if you are gaming at 1920x1200 8AA, then the weight will shift almost entirely towards the videocard.

Thank you for proving my point. It's always over 60 fps regardless on older games, and about 10-20% faster on newer ones (about 4 fps which your eyes will not see). The CPU "bottleneck" never comes into play unless the video card is about 6 years old, and you want to compare 90 vs 120 fps in low res. In newer games, you will not see the difference.

OP - There is no need at this point to change out your CPU.

EDIT - Clarified my point on older vs newer games. How much the CPU really contributes.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: SRoode

Originally posted by: SRoode
A Q6600 at stock is more than enough not to bottleneck a HD5850. Crossfire may be another story. But, you can enjoy an overall system improvement by oc'ing a bit. I've had mine running at 3.2 GHz for about 2 years now (458 MHz bus x 7, 5/6 divider for memory running at 1100MHz), . I also just ordered a HD5850 to replace my 8800GT, and I have the same motherboard as you.

Quoting myself. I told the OP that OC'ing the CPU would result in an overall system improvement. That's very different from the "bottleneck" you are describing.

In the end (and you can check every site you want), OCing the CPU will result in small graphical gains (10-20%). Getting a new video card will result in major gains, if that is what you are looking for.

I have explained myself several times in this thread by saying if he overclocks he will get more out of that 5850. well common sense would say that if he doesnt overclock then he most certainly will not get all the 5850 can do. also the term bottleneck can be used to describe any level of limitation. in other words if someone overcloks their cpu and gets more performance then their stock cpu was a bottleneck. it doesnt necessarily mean that are 100% cpu limited.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: SRoode

Originally posted by: RussianSensation

Originally posted by: SRoode
Proof please. Every link I have seen with benchies for this card does not show it being held back at all. That is until crossfire, and only on some games.

Resident Evil 5 and Similar results here
GTA4
Anno1404
ArmA2

Obviously if you are gaming at 1920x1200 8AA, then the weight will shift almost entirely towards the videocard.

Thank you for proving my point. It's always over 60 fps regardless. The CPU "bottleneck" never comes into play unless the video card is about 6 years old, and you want to compare 90 vs 120 fps in low res.

OP - There is no need at this point to change out your CPU.

did you even LOOK at the those because I certainly do not see 60fps in all those benchmarks. faster cpus are getting TWICE the framerate as the Q6600 in some cases.

all we have been saying is that a card of that level will not be used to its full potential if he doesnt overclock the cpu. why buy a high end gpu and if you are not going to at least try to get the most out of it?