Old PC + new 5870 = no gain

[toyota]

Given that you have to get new stuff anyway, and you're a gamer with a 5870, I think PhII makes perfect sense for you. I'd skip the unlocking gamble though, and just spring for the full X4 BE from the start. It will still be cheaper that the alternatives, and is a very well-rounded setup. With a 3.6ghz+ OC on the X4, you'll be video card limited anyway.

but why get something thats slower than an i5 750 right off the bat? overclock both of them and the i5 750 will be even faster. the i5 750 is just a better overall cpu especially when it come to min framerate.

 

[jpeake]

well I am sure some people would have still told him to do it because "games are gpu limited". lol

yeah, that is exaclty what i was thinking. i new obviously I wasn't gonna get full potential out of the card until i upgrade the rest of my system, but was hoping for enough boost to get 60fps with eye-candy on the few games i am playing now.

 

[jpeake]

Given that you have to get new stuff anyway, and you're a gamer with a 5870, I think PhII makes perfect sense for you. I'd skip the unlocking gamble though, and just spring for the full X4 BE from the start. It will still be cheaper that the alternatives, and is a very well-rounded setup. With a 3.6ghz+ OC on the X4, you'll be video card limited anyway.

Thanks everyone for the tips.

yeah, i had an eye on the X4 BE, but at $160 i am just a stone's throw from the i5-750. So my thought was just to go cheaper AMD and get a great price/perf, or go i5-750.

too many options. i have 4 different "wish lists" on newegg right now, and I keep changing my mind!

 

[cbn]

So i'm torn between a P55 setup with i5-750 (about $500) or a Phenom II X2 555 with a AM3 board with SB790FX, which may allow me to unlock the extra cores. The AMD setup would save me about $150.

I'd just upgrade CPU, mobo and RAM

If i go AMD, and am unable to unlock the extra cores, should I still see a night and day performance boost over my current rig? My thought was maybe to go that route now, and the i can always upgrade just the CPU later if needed

or should i just say to heck with it and go the Intel route? looks like that i5 can OC to 4Ghz pretty easily

What are the CPU requirements for Mass Effect 2?

 

[toyota]

yeah, that is exaclty what i was thinking. i new obviously I wasn't gonna get full potential out of the card until i upgrade the rest of my system, but was hoping for enough boost to get 60fps with eye-candy on the few games i am playing now.

yeah but you were already holding back that 4850 by quite a bit. there just really wasnt a chance to get better performance in most games with that slow cpu. anyway at least you are going to upgrade your platform now so it wont be an issue again for quite some time.

 

[jpeake]

What are the CPU requirements for Mass Effect 2?

Haven't even looked yet. I wont buy it until i finish the first one. And i just started with that one last week.

 

[toyota]

Haven't even looked yet. I wont buy it until i finish the first one. And i just started with that one last week.

1.8 Core 2 Duo is the min so you dont even meet that right now. 2.6 Core 2 Duo or better is recommended. realistically I usually consider what they call recommended as the true minimum when looking for smooth gameplay. I mean that in general not just for Mass Effect.

 

[jpeake]

yeah but you were already holding back that 4850 by quite a bit. there just really wasnt a chance to get better performance in most games with that slow cpu. anyway at least you are going to upgrade your platform now so it wont be an issue again for quite some time.

Yeah, guess i just gotta bite the bullet.

This review was one thing that messed me up:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5870-review-test/20

They have a Mass Effect chart with a 4850 on it. it gets 47fps. That's what I get on my current rig so I was thinking my GPU was the bottleneck since this review was running on an i7-965. granted, they are running one step higher res than me, but come on.

screw it. newegg here i come

 

[happy medium]

What are the CPU requirements for Mass Effect 2?

PC RECOMMENDED System Requirements
Windows XP SP3 / Windows Vista SP1 / Windows 7
2.6+ GHz Cure 2 Duo Intel or equivalent AMD CPU
2 GB RAM
ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, or better recommended

 

[cbn]

1.8 Core 2 Duo is the min so you dont even meet that right now. 2.6 Core 2 Duo or better is recommended. realistically I usually consider what they call recommended as the true minimum when looking for smooth gameplay. I mean that in general not just for Mass Effect.

You have high standards for CPUs then.

My eyes still see gameplay in the 20's as smooth. Even dips into the high teens don't seem that bad for me.

In fact, Guru of 3d calls gameplay averaging 30 FPS the "cutoff" for smooth. (That means some parts can be as high as 40's and some parts as low as 20s)

 

[toyota]

You have high standards for CPUs then.

My eyes still see gameplay in the 20's as smooth. Even dips into the high teens don't seem that bad for me.

In fact, Guru of 3d calls gameplay averaging 30 FPS the "cutoff" for smooth. (That means some parts can be as high as 40's and some parts as low as 20s)

you didnt understand my point. MOST of the minimum specs are a joke and will not provide good gameplay at all. the recommended specs are usually borderline for most games. for example Far Cry 2 "recommends" an 8600gts for a video card. lol

 

[poohbear]

if u noticed no difference then that's not normal regardless of your cpu especially if u're at a high resolution wherein cpu doesnt factor in much.

has it occurred to u that UE3 based games might have an FPS cap, so regardless of video card if u're getting over 30fps w/ ur old video card u're still gonna get 30fps with ur new video card because that's the cap. it might have nothing to do w/ cpu.

 

[jpeake]

if u noticed no difference then that's not normal regardless of your cpu especially if u're at a high resolution wherein cpu doesnt factor in much.

has it occurred to u that UE3 based games might have an FPS cap, so regardless of video card if u're getting over 30fps w/ ur old video card u're still gonna get 30fps with ur new video card because that's the cap. it might have nothing to do w/ cpu.

I was not aware of any such thing. Are you saying there is an artificial cap? Never heard of that. plus i see benchmarks that get frame rates in the hundreds, so i'm not sure if there is a cap coded in.

not sure...

Just gonna use my results as a good excuse to expedite the cpu/board/ram upgrades!

 

[toyota]

if u noticed no difference then that's not normal regardless of your cpu especially if u're at a high resolution wherein cpu doesnt factor in much.

has it occurred to u that UE3 based games might have an FPS cap, so regardless of video card if u're getting over 30fps w/ ur old video card u're still gonna get 30fps with ur new video card because that's the cap. it might have nothing to do w/ cpu.

it would most certainly be normal with a cpu that slow and already coming from a 4850. now if he had a slower card to begin with then sure there would have been a performance increase but he was already pretty cpu bottlenecked with that a 4850. 1680 is not a super hi res anyway so games that a fairly cpu intensive were not likely to improve much if at all in his situation.

his 2.0 X2 would be slower than my E8500 even at 1.5. if I was to fire up a few games at 1680 with my cpu at that speed then I guarantee you that many of them wouldnt budge much with my card overclocked compared to being underclocked.

 

[cbn]

Just gonna use my results as a good excuse to expedite the cpu/board/ram upgrades!

Well yeah....Opty 170 is not fast by today's standards.

If you don't mind bargain hunting, shopping for a X58 might not be a bad idea. (We are still waiting on prices for the 32nm 12mb Gulftown based Xeon quad cores. These should be out in 6 weeks).

Nice thing about X58 is that it leaves good room for expansion upgrades in the future (SATA 3/USB 3 AIB still allows full Crossfire bandwidth AFAIK)

In fact, I reckon a X58 based system could easily go 4-6 years as a gamer (even with SATA 3/USB 3 add-in-card using up PCI-E bandwidth). We can't say this about P55.

 

[cbn]

OP,

Another thing you might consider is Eyefinity (which is a feature of the ATI product you bought)

Allow the HD5870 to run three monitors. This way the extra GPU power doesn't go to waste like it does with one LCD.

However, this depends on how you really feel about your CPU.

 

[toyota]

OP,

Another thing you might consider is Eyefinity (which is a feature of the ATI product you bought)

Allow the HD5870 to run three monitors. This way the extra GPU power doesn't go to waste like it does with one LCD.

However, this depends on how you really feel about your CPU.

sorry but that just seems like a ridiculous suggestion. you seem to be missing the point that a 2.0 X2 is too slow for a 5870 to begin with. that cpu doesnt even meet the requirements to run many modern games. it will not provide decent minimum framerates and going to a gigantic resolution doesnt change that. common sense would dictate that he get an appropriate modern cpu to run games smoothly on his 5870.

 

[cbn]

sorry but that just seems like a ridiculous suggestion. you seem to be missing the point a 2.0 X2 is too slow for a 5870 to begin with. that cpu doesnt even meet the requirements to run many modern games. it will not provide decent minimum framerates and going to a gigantic resolution doesnt change that. common sense would dictate that he get an appropriate modern cpu to run games smoothly on his 5870.

The OP says he is getting 40-60 FPS with his Opty 170 on Dragon Age Origins. That is a modern quad optimized game running fine on a old dual core.

Besides, what is the minimum requirement for CPU on Mass Effect 2? If the OP can overclock his CPU then he might be able to get more time out of his system before an complete overhaul is truly needed.

In the meantime I would suggest the OP look into using the Eyefinity Technology of his HD5870 to get the most out of his hardware purcahse. Maybe he will like it? There are possible multi-tasking advantages also ( I myself like running dual monitors)

 

[zerocool84]

The OP says he is getting 40-60 FPS with his Opty 170 on Dragon Age Origins. That is a modern quad optimized game running fine on a old dual core.

Besides, what is the minimum requirement for CPU on Mass Effect 2? If the OP can overclock his CPU then he might be able to get more time out of his system before an complete overhaul is truly needed.

In the meantime I would suggest the OP look into using the Eyefinity Technology of his HD5870 to get the most out of his hardware purcahse. Maybe he will like it? There are possible multi-tasking advantages also ( I myself like running dual monitors)

Dragon Age isn't that taxing of a game though. It ran perfect on high everything 4xAA on my E6300 @ 2.9 and didn't notice any difference with my Q9550 @ 3.4.

 

[toyota]

The OP says he is getting 40-60 FPS with his Opty 170 on Dragon Age Origins. That is a modern quad optimized game running fine on a old dual core.

Besides, what is the minimum requirement for CPU on Mass Effect 2? If the OP can overclock his CPU then he might be able to get more time out of his system before an complete overhaul is truly needed.

In the meantime I would suggest the OP look into using the Eyefinity Technology of his HD5870 to get the most out of his hardware purcahse. Maybe he will like it? There are possible multi-tasking advantages also ( I myself like running dual monitors)

the min is a 1.8 Core 2 Duo so he would need to get around 2.6 on the X2 to match that. really its quite silly though because even at 2.6 that X2 cpu will bottleneck the crap out of a 5870 in modern games. its kind of silly to have a card that can tear through game saddled with a cpu that doesnt even meet the recommended and some cases minimum requirements just to run a game. he needs to get a better cpu NOW before he worries about anything else.

 

[cbn]

the min is a 1.8 Core 2 Duo so he would need to get around 2.6 on the X2 to match that. really its quite silly though because even at 2.6 that X2 cpu will bottleneck the crap out of a 5870 in modern games. its kind of silly to have a card that can tear through game saddled with a cpu that doesnt even meet the recommended and some cases minimum requirements just to run a game. he needs to get a better cpu NOW before he worries about anything else.

If the OP wanted triple monitors the HD5870 would no longer be the bottleneck. (and would be appropriate hardware for the higher resolution demands)

So if he is able to get his CPU up to minimum requirements I say why not at least consider it? Besides Opteron 170 has 1 MB cache which is better than the 512MB per core of the lesser AMD X2s.

 

[toyota]

If the OP wanted triple monitors the HD5870 would no longer be the bottleneck. (and would be appropriate hardware for the higher resolution demands)

So if he is able to get his CPU up to minimum requirements I say why not? Besides Opteron 170 has 1 MB cache which is better than the 512MB per core of the lesser AMD X2s.

I just dont get your thought process at all. so instead of him trying to get an adequate modern cpu to use with the 5780 he should go buy more monitors to try an make himself more gpu limited? sorry but that just seems like a really stupid suggestion. and again you dont buy a $400 video card and saddle it with a cpu that doesnt meet the recommended requirements to even play many games.

 

[crisium]

What CPU are you looking at currently OP?

 

[cbn]

I just dont get your thought process at all. so instead of him trying to get an adequate modern cpu to use with the 5780 he should go buy more monitors to try an make himself more gpu limited? sorry but that just seems like a really stupid suggestion. and again you dont buy a $400 video card and saddle it with a cpu that doesnt meet the recommended requirements to even play many games.

I'm not saying multiple monitors fixes a CPU problem. Obviously that is not true.

But doesn't Eyefinity sound pretty cool? I am already considering going that route on my LGA 775 after my next video card upgrade . To me the "surround gaming experience" seems like a better return on the money invested vs. getting a better CPU/mainboard.

Like I said before as long as the OP can OC enough to reach "adequate CPU" there should be nothing wrong about considering this option.

 

[toyota]

I'm not saying multiple monitors fixes a CPU problem. Obviously that is not true.

But doesn't Eyefinity sound pretty cool? I am already considering going that route on my LGA 775 after my next video card upgrade . To me the "surround gaming experience" seems like a better return on the money invested vs. getting a better CPU/maiboard.

he needs to get the basics down first though is what I am saying. its much more important for him to get a proper cpu to go with that new card and then worry about the other stuff. and for the third time you dont buy a $400 video card and run it with a cpu that does NOT come close to letting you use the card as intended. the first few people that replied to this thread certainly got that so I wish you would to.