new GPu /cpu bottleneck advice please

[amermirg]

Helloo

I have to update 2 rigs
1st:
Asus m4n72e mobo, 4gb ddr2ram, gtx260 GPU, corsair tx850 psu, CM case, vista oem 64bit. screen 1920x1080

2nd
Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4 ,4gb ddr3 ram, XFX 5770, corsair tx 750 psu , Nzxt case, win 7 oem 64 bit.(son runs 2-3 screens on this)

Thinking about getting this XFX 7850 2gb 1 fan model which is on special offer just now at 1300 swedish kronor and has three games.

Would prefer a 7870 (or maybe a gtx 660 gigiabyte OC model, though i read that overcloccking the 660 manually is pretty pointless as it regulates the wattage level or something and can actually result in worst performance and thus the raderons 7850/7870 were in someways better due to OC potential)

Really the question is whether there is any point in getting anything more than a 7850 2gb considering the rigs they will be going into?
i.e cpu bottlenecking etc.

the thought of getting 2 cards the same is that when rig 1 becomes useless than the 7850 can be put in rig 2 in crossfire(hopefully any issues with crossfire are ironed out by then)

Grateful for any help/advice..thanks

 

[Stuka87]

You listed everything but what CPU's they have

 

[amermirg]

DUHHHHH!!!!!!!! soooorryyyy

1st rig AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition 3.0 GHz

2nd rig AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3 6MB L3 Cache Cache 125W

both have WD caviar black HDD

ehhh I can be a real silly billy at times

 

[BUnit1701]

Also important, what resolution will you be gaming at?

EDIT: NVM, See you included that for the first rig, multi-monitor for the second.

 

[Stuka87]

A 7850 is fine for those.

I run an OC'ed 7950 with my OC'ed 965BE, and I do get CPU limited at times, but it is not very often. Most games that will utilize 4 threads are fine. I think BF3 runs my CPU the hardest. I average 90% CPU with it.

Games that are only dual threaded like SC2 and such leave me CPU bound, but they are not very graphically intense.

 

[daveybrat]

Go with either an HD 7850 or a GTX 650Ti Boost card. Either would be just fine for those specs listed above.

 

[toyota]

Go with either an HD 7850 or a GTX 650Ti Boost card. Either would be just fine for those specs listed above.

yes but make sure either of this are the 2gb model.

 

[amermirg]

Thanks ALL for the quick replies.....

So if I understand correctly it wouldn't be unreasonable/ overkill to get a 7870 2gb or a GTX 660 with those setups if I can find a good deal on one of them ?
(don't OC the 965 BE just now and my 940 BE is a bad overclocker and I read an article some time back that basically said that with the 940BE, the couple of FPS gained in OC just didn't justify the extra wattage/power needed )

If that is the case would a 7870 be better than a single gtx660 ( believe I read gtx660 was much smoother in sli than radeons in crossfire BUT hopefully Amd (or somebody) will recify this in the future)

thanks

 

[Jaydip]

7870 ~660.It maybe be faster in few games but they are mostly tied.If going mgpu go with NV as they have better mgpu solution at the moment.As far as sgpu is concerned you can't go wrong with either.

 

[raghu78]

get the sapphire HD 7870 XT. uses the Tahiti LE chip. at stock this card is 30 - 35% faster than HD 7850 and 10% faster than HD 7870.

stock perf on par with HD 7950(800 Mhz) and GTX 660 Ti. overclocked to 1.2 ghz matches the HD 7970(925 mhz).

you can find all the info you need here

http://www.overclock.net/t/1373543/official-7870-tahiti-le-xt-owners-club

this card costs 1870 SEK. well worth it.

http://www.pixmania.se/se/se/13213161/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-7870-xt-med-boo.html

also with the new LEVEL UP offer you get 4 free games - crysis 3, tombraider, bioshock infinite and farcry 3 blood dragon. :thumbsup:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6957/...loaded-program-again-launches-level-up-bundle

the Phenom II X4 965 can handle a HD 7870 XT. get it to 4 Ghz with a hyper 212 plus cooler.

 

[skipsneeky2]

The 7850 should be plenty,that and it overclocks well so with a good card you could easily 7870 performance.

 

[amermirg]

this is the card in question...probably not a grat overclocker with one fan..and can't find any reviews on it...
http://www.netonnet.se/art/dator/ko...d-pci-e/xfx-radeonhd78502gbghost/183978.7064/

does this compete with a gtx 560ti 448?
think it's behind a Gtx 570----problem is reviews are seldom revisted when drivers are maturer...
I will wait till tomorrow to see if any of the other webshops are doing any deals.....
thanks everyone for the advice....much appreciated!!!

 

[amermirg]

Hi..just realised that if the card I buy for the amd PII x4 940 is going to end up in the PII x4 965 in the future then the Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4 (Rev 1.0)
dictates that it has to be a Radeon as the mobo only supports crossfire---forums like this helps people (like me) to throughly think things through....

 

[amermirg]

http://powercolor.com/us/products_features.asp?id=430

PowerColor PCS+ HD7870 Myst. Edition 2GB GDDR5(UEFI READY)

don't think this will work with my asus m4n72e or Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4 (Rev 1.0) motherboards due to something called UEFI bios

see second question http://powercolor.com/us/support_faq.asp

anyway round this +?? or should I bin my systems and get xbox 720's ???
will have this problem with any recent GPU --i.e 7850/7870's??

thanks