replacement for ati 5850

[hodgenutts]

Would it be possible to replace my ATI 5850 with a card for $175 and have a noticable gain in performance. I play WoW, Tera, Starcraft 2, Disblo 3, Star Wars the old republic and may be giving Skyrim a try.

I have 16 gb of gskill 1333 memory and a 1st gen Intel core i3 processor. Or is it possible I'm already bottle necking at my processor. Thanks in advance for the help

 

[hodgenutts]

Forgot, my board is crossfire capable, and I have a 750 watt modxtream OCZ power supply. Just wasn't sure if those games really scale with crossfire.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

What speed is your i3 running at?

A single highly overclocked 470 can be bottlenecked in some of the titles I play by a i3-540 @ 4.4GHz.


WoW, and SC2 are going to need a faster cpu. Even my i5-2500k at 5.3GHz bottlenecked 470s stock quite often in WoW, the second card was pretty much worthless in SC2 as well.

All the games you listed are fine with dual cores, in fact you wouldn't even see a benefit from a same gen quad core in them. The problem is they're all very cpu limited as well, the SB and IB dual cores aren't an option for upgrading since they're locked.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

First gen i3 with 16 GB ram?
I'd just upgrade processor and mobo and hold out on GPU for a little bit

 

[Red Hawk]

A Radeon HD 7850 sounds like the right choice for you if you're willing to spend a little more. You can get this Sapphire 7850 for $199, $189 after mail-in rebate.

 

[dennilfloss]

There are a couple of 7850 at $180 (VisionTek, Gigabyte) here if you wish to spend a little more.

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=69554&vpn=900505&manufacture=VISIONTEK

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=69494&vpn=GV-R785OC-2GD&manufacture=Gigabyte&promoid=1267

 

[BallaTheFeared]

7850 will be bottlenecked in many of the titles mentioned imo, though I don't know how fast his chip is running.

http://alienbabeltech.com/abt/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=25608

470 @ 850 is faster than the GTX 560 Ti 448, which I believe is right around stock 7850 performance, you can see the bottleneck imposed in Guild Wars 2, which is basically going to give the same problems as WoW, SWTOR, Skyrim, and SC2. He should already be capable of maxing out Diablo 3.

 

[hodgenutts]

I have an i3 530. Sock it runs at 2.93 ghz. I have it O.C.ed to 3.23 ghz. That was the best I could for an O.C. with my limited knowledge

Perhaps I should look into trying to find a decent used mobo that will hold my 4 sticks of ddr3 RAM and a used i5 2500K. I really appreciate everyone's help

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I have an i3 530. Sock it runs at 2.93 ghz. I have it O.C.ed to 3.23 ghz. That was the best I could for an O.C. with my limited knowledge

Perhaps I should look into trying to find a decent used mobo that will hold my 4 sticks of ddr3 RAM and a used i5 2500K. I really appreciate everyone's help

At those clocks, in those titles I think your best bet is an unlocked SB or IB setup first and foremost, the 5850 is still a decent card for those titles anyways if you're are having fps issues at this point my guess is that it's cpu related more often than not.

 

[hodgenutts]

One last question, What if I got another 5850 for SLI. Not sure how well those listed games scale with SLI. I think my PSU could hand SLI. I can grab a used 5850 for prob around $130.



If I cam up with more money, would I be better to grab a singl ATI 7870 for around $229
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121624

or

an ATI

or get a 660 ti for $299

or, for the games I play Would this refurb 2 gig 560 ti for $199 cut it?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130763

Just curious what would be the best option for the games I play. I can prob come up with some extra cash, but don't want to spend more than what is necesarry to get the job done. Once again thanks and sorry for all the questions

 

[KingRaptor]

Dual cards likely won't help much in those games. In any case, having two 5850s will likely accentuate the i3's bottleneck.

I run a 5850 with a 3.2 GHz phenom ii x4. SC2 runs fine on 4v4 games and most custom maps.

 

[hodgenutts]

After consideration I was just going to buy new mobo and an i5 2500k, and still go ahead upgrade my you, just wasn't sure which option would be the best bang for the buck in regards to the GPU's. Didn't know wether I should try to get another 5850 and for crossfire, or just get a new single card. I hear the new 660 ti's are nice, but I thought that referbed 560 ti for $199 wasn't bad since its a 2 gig model, and the fact its 100 bones cheaper than 660 ti.

 

[hodgenutts]

In Starcraft 2 in tower defense, I really bog down on higher levels.

 

[Red Hawk]

Yeah, crossfiring 5850s can be a headache that doesn't always benefit you. Better to just get a new card and sell your current one.

Current generation Nvidia cards are significantly better at Starcraft II currently than AMD cards. But the real bottleneck you're experiencing in Starcraft II is probably the processor, and you would be better served by upgrading the motherboard and CPU to somethink like a 2500k or 3570k.

Either way, the Radeon HD 7850 is a better choice than the Geforce GTX 560 Ti.

 

[Zorander]

Is there any reason why you can't just sell that i3 and buy a used i5 chip for your current motherboard? You'll save a lot too by not having to purchase a new motherboard and Windows license.

I did exactly that with my HTPC/Gaming PC. It had a i3-530 paired with a HD5850 and I replaced it with a i5-760. It still performs admirably in most games (currently playing Sleeping Dogs @1080p).

 

[Yuriman]

Is there any reason why you can't just sell that i3 and buy a used i5 chip for your current motherboard? You'll save a lot too by not having to purchase a new motherboard and Windows license.

I did exactly that with my HTPC/Gaming PC. It had a i3-530 paired with a HD5850 and I replaced it with a i5-760. It still performs admirably in most games (currently playing Sleeping Dogs @1080p).

What he needs in his listed games isn't more cores, but the 4.5ghz+ clocks and IPC improvement Sandy Bridge brings.

@OP, if you can find another 5850 hellacheap it might be worthwhile, a pair of them will probably be faster in games that scale well than even a heavily overclocked 7850. You get all of the disadvantages of crossfire though, such as microstutter, vram limitations, heat and power consumption. Maybe wait until after your CPU upgrade and decide then if you still need more GPU power.

 

[poohbear]

What resolution do u play @? thats the most important question right there. Anything 1080p & over is gpu limited once the quality settings r on.

 

[Yuriman]

What resolution do u play @? thats the most important question right there. Anything 1080p & over is gpu limited once the quality settings r on.

Starcraft and WoW are pretty much CPU limited regardless of graphical settings.

 

[Greenlepricon]

The cpu will matter a lot for those, but a good gpu will still help out, especially with most other games. My vote is for the 7850 as well, but to be honest I would do the cpu upgrade followed by the gpu. An i5 will be super nice as already mentioned. Plus you should be happier considering how much better Intel chips are now comparatively. It's really up to you which you decide to do first, but you may not be as happy as you're hoping for with only a fancy new graphics card upgrade. You'll definitely get to see how much your cpu is capable of.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

A 2500k oc will help you more than a 7970 cf in a number of games.