Need a Video Card Recommendation

[clockjunkie]

Hi all. I've been wanting to play Modern Warfare 2 for too long now, but my old Radeon X800 just won't let me do that. It's time for me to upgrade my GPU and I couldn't be anymore ready for it right now. I want to go with ATI HD 5000 series; I just can't decide whether to go 5770, 5850 or just give in to the 5870. All I want is for MW2 to run smoothly at high settings.

My system specs are:
Windows 7 32-bit
AMD Athlon X2 5400+ Black Edition
GA-MA770-UD3
Kingston 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
200 GB SATA Rev 1.0 Western Digital HDD

 

[toyota]

that cpu is pretty weak but res are you running at? a 5750 would probably be as high as I would go depending on your res. a 5850 or 5870 would be a huge waste on a 5400 X2. 2gb of system ram doesnt cut anymore in some games either.

 

[clockjunkie]

Yeah, I know the CPU is weak and my monitor will not go above 1280x1024. I did forget to mention that I'll be upgrading gradually, buying component by component as my finances let me do it; I just want to buy the video card first and upgrade later. Oh, and my CPU is running at 3.1 GHz.

 

[nyker96]

best bang for buck in 5000s is the 5850. if you don't need anything new (i mean dx11) then 4870s are also excellent for the money.

 

[clockjunkie]

best bang for buck in 5000s is the 5850. if you don't need anything new (i mean dx11) then 4870s are also excellent for the money.

Will the 5850 run Modern Warfare 2 smoothly at high settings with my current system specs? I'm guessing there will be a bottleneck with my AMD Athlon X2 5400+ and a HD 5850 ? By the way, how do you calculate or know whether or not a bottleneck exists between a CPU and GPU on a system? Thanks

 

[toyota]

do NOT get a 5850 for 1280 with your cpu. at just 1280 a 5750 is plenty for that game especially with your relatively slow cpu.

 

[happy medium]

Double post

 

[happy medium]

do NOT get a 5850 for 1280 with your cpu. at just 1280 a 5750 is plenty for that game especially with your relatively slow cpu.

I can confrim a 5750 is enough for MW2@ at high settings @ 1280x1024.
But I would buy a 5770, because they are only 15$ more

 

[toyota]

I can confrim a 5750 is enough for MW2@ at high settings @ 1280x1024.
But I would buy a 5770, because they are only 15$ more

yeah for just 15 bucks more he might as well get the 5770.

 

[Boffinboy]

Hi Clock, I'm inclined to agree with the others. With the resolution that you are running at a particularly powerful card will not be necessary. Your CPU may in fact bottleneck many graphics cards. The 5770 is widely considered a good value card that will have some future proofing in it, being DX11 capable and able to play games at a higher resolution if you upgrade your monitor. However an older generation radeon 4870 can give similar performance for less cost. Why not look for some benchmarks of newer graphics cards? Anand has plenty on their site!

Boffinboy