framerate woes, upgrade advice needed

[ixelion]

I though I could milk my current system a bit more, but things aren't looking so good with the current release of games:

Q9550
4890
4GB
700W corsair


I reeeeeeaaaallyyy don't want to upgrade my cpu the cost would be too great, cannot justify it since I don't do as much gaming as I use to.

I play mostly Battlefield 3 and play on playing Skyrim, Batman 2 etc

My question is, would it be worthwhile to just get a GPU upgrade? I am looking at under $400 possibly the 6970, thoughts?

 

[lehtv]

6950 2GB would do nicely, just $250 AR. It's almost twice as fast as 4890.

What's your resolution?

 

[T_Yamamoto]

upgrading your GPU will be enough.

that quad will last you for a while

 

[ixelion]

I play at 1680x1050, but will probably upgrade to 1920x1080 in the future.

Currently I plan on buying from a BnM store, 6950 is only available in 1GB there but the 6970 can be had in 2GB. was wondering if there would be a substantial difference?

 

[mfenn]

I agree that your GPU is what's holding you back. At 1680x1050, there isn't a need for 1GB, but the need is emerging for 1080P and higher.

That being said, why do you need to buy it B&M? NCIX has a 6950 2GB for $240 AR.

 

[lehtv]

If they don't have 6950 2GB, I'd look elsewhere. 1GB VRAM can be inadequate on 1080p in new titles on high/ultra, while 6970 2GB is not worth paying for. It's only about 10-15% faster but costs 30-40% more. In addition many 6950's unlock to 6970 (it's the same GPU with lowered shader count), and pretty much all of them will overclock to 6970 speeds.

I noticed you're in Toronto. I'd probably order from ncix.ca:

Powercolor 6950 2GB $240 AR
XFX 6950 2GB $260 AR (transferable lifetime warranty)
Asus 6950 2GB $270 AR (very cool and quiet)

If you're not going to get a new monitor soon, get a 6870 for now (best bang for buck for 1680x1050), and upgrade it to 7000-series e.g. 7870 or 7950 while upgrading the monitor.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

If they don't have 6950 2GB, I'd look elsewhere. 1GB VRAM can be inadequate on 1080p in new titles on high/ultra, while 6970 2GB is not worth paying for. It's only about 10-15% faster but costs 30-40% more. In addition many 6950's unlock to 6970 (it's the same GPU with lowered shader count), and pretty much all of them will overclock to 6970 speeds.

I noticed you're in Toronto. I'd probably order from ncix.ca:

Powercolor 6950 2GB $240 AR
XFX 6950 2GB $260 AR (transferable lifetime warranty)
Asus 6950 2GB $270 AR (very cool and quiet)

If you're not going to get a new monitor soon, get a 6870 for now (best bang for buck for 1680x1050), and upgrade it to 7000-series e.g. 7870 or 7950 while upgrading the monitor.

Good stuff lehtv