Card to replace ATI 3870 with E5200.....

[AV1611]

All:

I haven't upgraded my pc in over 3 years. I'm not looking to buy a whole new MOBO, RAM, etc yet, so am going to have to settle for just a new vid card. I have a Pentium DC E5200 overclocked from 2.5 to 3.0 on stock voltage. What would be my best bet for a new vid card? I'll be gaming at 1440x900 for the short term, but will be upgrading to a 1080p monitor in the near future. New mobo, ram, and cpu are also in the works in the near future so I don't want to buy a vid card that won't mesh well with a new cpu.

Thanks,

AV1611 out..............

Oh, yes, $200 firm limit.

 

[toyota]

no point in getting anything more than a 7750 with your cpu and at that low resolution. even the 7750 will be held back. when you decide to get a more modern cpu and monitor, you can then sell the 7750 and get something new at that time.

 

[hodgenutts]

OP how many watts is your current PSU? And will you be upgrading your PSU?

If you want to avoid the whole get one now and sell it when you upgrade and you PSU can handle it, I would get an AMD 7850 as it is under your budget and a good value/performance. Such as:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161405

PCIE 3.0 is backwards compatible with older PCIE interfaces. Ture you CPU may hold you back a bit, but then you aren't trying to sell a newer card as soon as you get a new cpu to just in fact turn around and sell that newer card to get an even newer card.

If you don't want to spend that much the nvidia 650ti wouldn't be a bad mid grade card either. It isn't as powerful as the AMD 7850, but it is cheaper. Such as:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130838

 

[toyota]

7850 would be a laughable waste if he does not upgrade cpu and monitor for several months or even longer. he will have accomplished nothing over getting a 7750 and will simply just lose more money in the end. a 7850 will be much cheaper by the time he will likely actually upgrade that other stuff.

 

[hodgenutts]

Actually the OP stated in his post he is uprgading his CPU and other hardware in the "NEAR future" which means a 7850 is not as laughable as buying a 7750 now and then in the NEAR future when he upgrades his cpu and other hardware trys to sell the 7750 and takes a 40-60% loss on it. That was the reasoning behind the 2 recommendations I gave. As I stated, if 7850 is to high I would look at a 650ti.

 

[toyota]

what is near future? to me people that start threads like this are rarely ever in hurry to upgrade anything and are usually just daydreaming about upgrading their comps. really if he has concrete plans to get a new monitor and cpu then he should just wait and get a new gpu at that time too. upgrading part by part over months or years is just silly imo.

 

[hodgenutts]

..

 

[hodgenutts]

Oh ok so what you are actually doing is admitting you really don't have any kind of clue what the OP's timeframe is on upgrading, so why even bother giving advice or posting if you are going to be that judgemental?

 

[toyota]

Oh ok so what you are actually doing is admitting you really don't have any kind of clue what the OP's timeframe is on upgrading, so why even bother giving advice or posting if you are going to be that judgemental?

do I really have to explain the same thing over and over? again when I see people start threads like this then they usually have no serious plans of upgrading all of their parts. if they did then they would not have been running such outdated stuff for this long anyway. just upgrade everything if you are going to get a decent card. if not then just get a cheaper card for an upgrade until you get more serious.

EDIT: and to just prove my point, look at his previous thread from a year and a half ago where he started the same type thread. http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2174365&highlight=

any more questions???

 

[hodgenutts]

do I really have to explain the same thing over and over? again when I see people start threads like this then they usually have no serious plans of upgrading all of their parts. if they did then they would not have been running such outdated stuff for this long anyway. just upgrade everything if you are going to get a decent card. if not then just get a cheaper card for an upgrade until you get more serious.

acutally all you doing by repeating yourself is solidifying just how judgemental you are. You stated, "when I see people start threads like this then they usually have no serious plans of upgrading all of their parts." The truth of the matter is, you have no freakin clue what someone's intentions are until they state them. Go ahead and repeat yourself again if you'd like, and all you will be doing is once agian restating that you in fact that you are making assumptions and have no clue what the O.P's current timeline is. A thread a year and a half ago is not this thread. You don't know what happened to the O.P. that cause hime a year a half ago to not get a replacement, just as you don't know the O.P.'s current intentions now. If this is your mentality, "
again when I see people start threads like this then they usually have no serious plans of upgrading all of their parts" then why even post a reply at all?

Assumptions DO NOT equal advice or facts, which is what this forum is for.

 

[toyota]

did you even read my edited post? I just proved I was right because he started the same thread a year and half ago.

 

[hodgenutts]

LOL thanks,

 

[3DVagabond]

CPU bottleneck would be game dependent. A 7700 would be a better match to the rest of the current components, being roughly 2x as fast as the OP's 3870. Some games are not CPU intensive though, and would perform better on the 7850.

 

[toyota]

sorry but at just 1440x900 there will be basically no difference in any game between a 7770 and 7850 while using a Pentium dual core cpu.

we are likely just wasting our time here anyway but if the op really wants just a card then there is no need for more than a 7750 for his scenario.

 

[hodgenutts]

Lmao 3DVagabond, this a forum and suggestions are pointless according to Toyota lol I gave up trying.

 

[toyota]

um lets see...I said that people that start threads like this usually have no intention of upgrading their other parts in a timely manner. well low and behold I search the op's threads and sure enough he had the same thread as this a year and a half ago. gee I guess I was right but you still want to argue for the sake of arguing?

and now you actually think I am wrong for saying its a waste to choose a 7850 over a 7770 with a freaking old Pentium dual core at just 1440x900?

it looks like I am the only one in this thread who is being realistic.

 

[3DVagabond]

Lmao 3DVagabond, this a forum and suggestions are pointless according to Toyota lol I gave up trying.

Thing is, I'm not trying to prove Toyota wrong. I'm just disagreeing with him. He can disagree back, if he wants. I know his posting style, and it doesn't bother me.

The only 2 games I can come up with off the top of my head that you could turn up eyecandy more on the 7850 at the OP's res are Metro 2033 and Batman AA (no PhysX). There are likely some others, too.

I'm agreeing that at the OP's current res the best card is a 7700. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and work on the assumption he'll be upgrading his monitor, at least, and the rest of his system sooner than he'll want to replace his card again.

 

[toyota]

you probably should not give the OP the benefit of the doubt though. 18 months ago he said the same thing and you see nothing has changed during that time.

and imo a 7750 would fit his needs and make the best overall choice. a 7770 can already max most games at 1440x900 except for those things such as ubersampling in Witcher 2 or dof in Metro 2033. I think it would be beyond silly to get a 7850 with his cpu and res just to maybe get a few more fps in rare cases like that. in pretty much any other scenario he will not see any playable difference between a 7770 or 7850 at his res with that old cpu. or even a 7750 for the most part. heck some games are going to be limited just in general with that cpu. imo anything more than a 7750 is money down the drain.

 

[3DVagabond]

you probably should not give the OP the benefit of the doubt though. 18 months ago he said the same thing and you see nothing has changed during that time.

and imo a 7750 would fit his needs and make the best overall choice. a 7770 can already max most games at 1440x900 except for those things such as ubersampling in Witcher 2 or dof in Metro 2033. I think it would be beyond silly to get a 7850 just to maybe get a few more fps in rare cases like that. in pretty much any other scenario he will not see any playable difference between a 7770 or 7850 at his res with that old cpu. or even a 7750 for the most part. heck some games are going to be limited just in general with that cpu. imo anything more than a 7750 is money down the drain.

I'm not categorically disagreeing with you. His current setup, the 7750 is a better match, no doubt. Only he knows whether or not he is now ready to upgrade. I understand what you are basing your recommendation from.

 

[CuriousMike]

I had an E5200 @ 3.0ghz; upgraded from a 3850 to a 6580 expecting a huge boost.
I got a moderate boost, but definitely not what I expected.

I upgraded my E5200 to a i2500k and that 6850 sang a sweet song.

While buying a 7850 (or even 7770) might be overkill for your CPU, you might be upgrading your CPU in the next year and it'd be nice to have headroom in your GPU.

 

[AV1611]

Darn that OP for buying an Asus G73 instead, then dropping it and breaking it beyond repair and out of warranty. I swear, there are some serious drama queens on this forum. I guess I need to wear foul weather gear to stay dry in this epic pissing match.

AV1611 out................

you probably should not give the OP the benefit of the doubt though. 18 months ago he said the same thing and you see nothing has changed during that time.

and imo a 7750 would fit his needs and make the best overall choice. a 7770 can already max most games at 1440x900 except for those things such as ubersampling in Witcher 2 or dof in Metro 2033. I think it would be beyond silly to get a 7850 with his cpu and res just to maybe get a few more fps in rare cases like that. in pretty much any other scenario he will not see any playable difference between a 7770 or 7850 at his res with that old cpu. or even a 7750 for the most part. heck some games are going to be limited just in general with that cpu. imo anything more than a 7750 is money down the drain.

 

[notty22]

For the benefit of others and maybe the OP, there are new 'older' , 'oem' version video cards available here.
A 4850 1gb, was 42 dollars for a few weeks, it's now 47.00 dollars.
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...4-2-CO&cat=VCD
XFX Radeon HD 6750 1GB DDR5 PCI Express (PCIe) Dual DVI Video Card w/Mini-DisplayPort & HDCP Support
70 dollars

 

[Insert_Nickname]

For the benefit of others and maybe the OP, there are new 'older' , 'oem' version video cards available here.
A 4850 1gb, was 42 dollars for a few weeks, it's now 47.00 dollars.

XFX Radeon HD 6750 1GB DDR5 PCI Express (PCIe) Dual DVI Video Card w/Mini-DisplayPort & HDCP Support
70 dollars

The HD4850 is old and power hungry. Wouldn't recommend it.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/513?vs=535

Look at how close those two are, but keep in mind that is a HD4870.

The HD6750 is basically a rebranded HD5750. Certainly not worth $70 when you can get a brand new HD7750 for $100...

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/537?vs=535

my 2c...

 

[VirtualLarry]

I agree with Toyota. If the OP asked this same question, a year ago, but did nothing, then the OP is hardly serious about upgrading anything.

Wait until his current PC breaks down suddenly, and then we can help him build a new rig in the General Hardware forum.

Edit: PS. Toyota, I miss the monkey avatar.

 

[Zanovar]

I agree with Toyota. If the OP asked this same question, a year ago, but did nothing, then the OP is hardly serious about upgrading anything.

Wait until his current PC breaks down suddenly, and then we can help him build a new rig in the General Hardware forum.

Edit: PS. Toyota, I miss the monkey avatar.

hahah,i agree bring back the chimps T.