replacing my 7950 this year

[Blue Shift]

how is any of that hypocrisy? I fixed some misspelled words and added other stuff for clarification. would you like me to detail every edit that I do? would that make you happy?

The "/hypocrisy" was a reference to the fact that my criticising you for being on the attack is in and of itself hypocritical. It works like "/sarcasm", and is sort of like an apology; just without the remorse. Please don't get mad.

Not checking for ninja edits this time, just hitting submit and going to sleep. Again, good night.

 

[toyota]

The "/hypocrisy" was a reference to the fact that my criticising you for being on the attack is in and of itself hypocritical. It works like "/sarcasm", and is sort of like an apology; just without the remorse. Please don't get mad.

Not checking for ninja edits this time, just hitting submit and going to sleep. Again, good night.

I am not the least bit mad at you. I am simply trying to make you understand how silly it is wanting to buy a 5970 for 1440x900 and with that 5000 X2. that cpu is never going to be able to keep up with even half that much gpu power. I am serious when I say that you will get the same playable performance with a gpu half as fast and even then much of it would go to waste.

your logic on buying the most expensive video card is completely flawed. for the same price as that 5970 you could do a cpu/mobo/ram upgrade and get a 5850 and then sell your old stuff. that would be a MUCH better overall system and would still be WAY more than enough for just 1440x900.

 

[cbn]

Blueshift,

Which OS do you have right now? Is it Windows 7? OEM license or Retail?

 

[jlee]

OP- for what it's worth, I went from an E5200 @ 3.24Ghz (which I'm pretty sure will blow a 5000+ clean out of the water) to a Core i5 750 (not overclocked). I have a Radeon HD 4890 and noticed a significant increase in framerates. I do agree with some people here in that you would be much better off upgrade your entire system than dropping $600 on a graphics card.

 

[Keysplayr]

Blue Shift, Toyota, Curse. Just chill for a moment please.

There are tipping points that are wildly variable on a game per game basis concerning which component bottlenecks. There is no set rule here.

Blue Shift, your 5000X2 is of course outdated compared to todays CPUs. What everyone is worried about here is, if you are currently at 30fps in most games you play with doctored settings at 14x9, is that all your CPU can give at that res or above?
Getting a faster GPU to replace your 7 series would at the very least allow for maxxed setting across the board for your res. A 5870 or 5850 is overkill for your rig, but considering you mentioned you might do a big upgrade in the fall would make me tell you to get one of those cards. Or GTX470/480 when they get here. You will not see even close to the full performance with ANY of these cards I mentioned with your current rig, but if you do get one of them, and you upgrade around it later this year, you will then realize the potential of these pretty powerful GPUs.
My 2 cents is to at least wait of GTX4 series and see what they can do. Make your determination of which way to go then.

P.S. Ease up on the F-Bombs here in the tech forums. Please.

 

[Qbah]

I'm sorry, but a X2 5000 doesn't have enough power to give the necessary ground for a HD5850 and faster cards - meaning you get a HD5850 or a HD5970 and both will give you the same performance. Hell, I think even a HD4890 is severely limited by a X2 5000.

If you want an upgrade now and just for your GPU, I'd say HD5770 is the highest you should go. If you can find a nice deal on a HD4870, by all means go for it - it's a bit faster than a HD5770 and if you can get it cheaper than a HD5770, it's well worth it. Any of those will be a huge jump over a 7950GT .

Just check some CPU benchmarks on pcgameshardware for the games you wish to play. They test those on a GTX285 which is faster than a HD4890 but a little bit slower than a HD5850. That should be all the proof you need.

 

[titan131]

Maybe a HD4890 would be a good idea, and a high power good quality PSU that you can reuse. The HD4890 (or some equivalent) would be a enormous upgrade on the 7950. If your not planning on uping your monitor for a few years i think a 4890 would serve u well. I say this becuase u have been using a 7950GT for all this time, surely a 4890 or simular would suffice for the next couple of years?

 

[Amart]

At OP:

About... 3 years ago I built my current system - and has since upgraded the GPU and Memory once, along with buying a more powerful PSU.

The CPU is the Core2Duo E4300 - that has been running stable for all that time at 2.7Ghz (it could o.c. even higher, but I didn't want to push it).

I first migrated my 7600GT from a previous build - then upgraded to a 8800 GTS and more recently to a 4850 512mb, then upgraded my screen from 19" LG, to the amazing BenQ G2400W - incredibly well made. Too bad they are discontinued now.

I can run most games on high with 1920x1200 at 30+ frames. Very minor and infrequent framerate issues when I load very busy scenes. The few games I can't - the BenQ monitor supports perfect scaling from 1600x. Most games these days are designed for the consoles - so until the next generation of consoles is released, my system won't benefit from further upgrades.

Your problem is that the AMD was the lesser CPU when you bought your system - it ran slower then Core2Duo per clock - by around 15%, and most Core2Duo's hit 3.0Ghz with an easy O.C. while you are probably stuck around stock speeds. However - the CONSOLE performance is not stronger then yours, and if you don't play CPU heavy games (like RTS with huge number of units/ai - ex: SupCom) you should be FINE.

For example - if you can run a game at 30FPS with your current CPU + GPU at 1440x900, but want to increase the resolution to 1600x or 1920x - the CPU will largely perform the same - it's all about the GPU!


My opinion on your best course of action:

- Upgrade your power supply to a PCP&C, Corsair or BFG LS brand 600W+ (anything else and make sure either HardOCP or JonnyGuru reviewed that exact model and check out the comments on Quality/Ripple. Anandtech has some complete reviews but had issues with showing DQ Quality data, so beware).
A low ripple, high quality PSU will last you through 5+ years of upgrades, and 600W+ is enough to keep buying single-slot cards and even doing some overclocking. (Try to get a model with 5 Year Warranty).
This looks like a good bet: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

- Buy an ATI card for $120 to 170. Check reviews to maximize that money for DX10. (Probably Radeon 5770 by XFX - but check comparisons to older cards as you don't need DX11 support).

- Buy a 1920x1028 or 1920x1200 monitor - make sure it gets good color accuracy and very low backlighting bleed - check sites like xBitlabs and the Anandtech LCD thread for good reviews. Spend a bit more to get the best quality TN panel you can afford.

These three components will allow you to play most games on High quality right now. The reason for that is that such games are typically designed to run on the current consoles - or midrange cards. This will NOT change until the PS4 and the next XBox are released - which might be several years ahead.

Worst case scenario, a year and a half from now the PS4 is released and you need to upgrade your system to stay with high graphics:
Your Monitor Works. Your PSU works and can support most single-card choices. You squeezed another year and a half out of your build for $120-$170 spent on a card - and have a choice whether to build a CF system with it, or just sell it to someone on the forums.

The consoles right now run the equivalent of an optimized 7800GTX. Whenever they try to improve the graphics just one bit - people start having framerate issues. Most of the conversions to PC have better graphics quality (DA:O, Mass Effect, Borderlands, Assassin's Creed, etc).

My 4850 is the bottleneck right now and I'm forced to play DX9 (which is still great unless you're nitpicking static screenshots). Considering you'll be buying a 5770 for the same money these days, you'll probably have enough power to use DX10.

Reading more of the thread drama - definitely listen to people telling you to buy a budget/midrange card. Anything high-end will be bottlenecked by the LACK OF CHALLENGE in current games, at your resolution. Who cares about 150FPS when you only need the game to stay above 30FPS on your 1920x Monitor. It's not like you'll be forced into an upgrade a year from now either:

While Sony has not released any official information concerning the system's future launch, the generally accepted release date is pegged as late 2012, which would follow the trend of Sony's previous console generations.

Which means a mid-range card bought now will still run high through 2012, and then it's a whole different world

P.S. Plan to replace most of your system, except the power supply and monitor, at summer 2012. The less you spend now to reach tolerable performance levels, the better.

 

[evolucion8]

I just had enough with toyota thread crapping every thread of an OP asking for a video card advice. Everytime that someone is asking for a video card upgrade, he gets in telling to upgrade your CPU and stuff, and then the thread goes down to the toilet. GTA4 is a crappy PS3/Xbox 360 port, and both systems are heavily multi threaded, and yet very inneficient because they use in order processors. I agree that the HD 5970 will be hold back by the CPU, but he will be able to get a nice performance boost going to the HD 5850 and then later can upgrade the CPU if he needs to, period. He doesn't need more information that the one I provided here, he doesn't need to know your point of view of a CPU bottleneck, of which games will hold him back whatever, everyone has a different point of view. He just need an advice, we give it to him and period, no warfest and no arguing!!

http://www.behardware.com/articles/778-10/giant-roundup-131-intel-and-amd-processors.html

There proves that the X2 5000 is as good as a Pentium Dual Core E2200, which is a budget CPU with enough power for current games, while the i7 tears everything apart, it doesn't add the value or changes the gaming landscape considerably for such investment, specially when the Phenom 2 X4 performs so admirably close. The games used there are the most CPU hungry games currently, and yet, the only CPU's that provides barely playable frame rates at average is the i7, does it give the best bang for the buck? No, most games currently are GPU bound, so going for a videocard upgrade now with hopes of a CPU upgrade later will bring him benefits now. Of course unless if you are gaming on a Pentium 4/D

You did the same thing in this thread, http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2051983

You need to stop now. Is annoying, specially with someone who owns a poky dual core like yours (Using your own terms or course)

 

[severus]

Take a look at the link evolucion8 provides. The e5200 which supposedly blows your x2 5000 out of the water only gets 3 more fps with their test settings. Granted I'm sure these aren't overclocked settings, but remember you can overclock too! Drop the ball on the HD5850 and you can always use it later down the road. Why listen to these people and buy a midrange card you'll have to upgrade in 6 months. Today's high end is the next generations midrange. With the HD5850, you'll be set for at least another year if not more!

 

[Blue Shift]

Take a look at the link evolucion8 provides. The e5200 which supposedly blows your x2 5000 out of the water only gets 3 more fps with their test settings. Granted I'm sure these aren't overclocked settings, but remember you can overclock too! Drop the ball on the HD5850 and you can always use it later down the road. Why listen to these people and buy a midrange card you'll have to upgrade in 6 months. Today's high end is the next generations midrange. With the HD5850, you'll be set for at least another year if not more!

That's exactly what I've been saying. I'll be buying a high-end card this fall, and a mid-grade cpu next year.

Will there be a bottleneck in between? Yes. Is it worth going cheap this year to avoid it, for someone who doesn't play the resell-and-trade-up game? Hell no.

As I said a few posts up (back when toyota had to be fought off), I'm well aware of the overclocking potential of my 500+X2 Black Edition. While my parts have been keeping each other in check, I've seen no need to overclock it at all, much less push it to its limit. That will change.


Reply to "bottlenecked by lack of challenge" -- After the cpu upgrade, I'd still like to fiddle with *the good stuff* before the next console gen comes out. Backing away from ATI cards, I'm interested in 3DVision. Pushing 120fps will be a worthy challenge for any card, not to mention my "poky dual core". (All this is pretty up-in-the-air, but hey; a man can dream!)


----------------------
Real body of the post here:
Reply to "wasted power" from a high end card -- There's no such thing as wasted power. The card will simply have extra power for me to unlock with the next upgrade. That would mean I'd see a performance boost the first year (to about the same as a mid-grade system), another boost the second year (to what will be mid-grade performance then), and mid-low performance the third year in preparation for an upgrade in 2013. That's a 50% life extension. So long as I don't miss out on any features that I may want in the next 3 years, and don't pay more than 50% more for the card (which rules out the 5970, which I used as an example), then it will pay itself off just as well as a mid-grade card.
----------------------

Reply to "which windows 7" -- OEM. I could probably get ahold of Enterprise retail for about $25, so it wouldn't be a big deal if my partition flopped after switching MoBos. That being said, I haven't seen a mobo/cpu replacement kill Windows in the past 4 years. Maybe because I've been sticking with one manufacturer?

 

[toyota]

I just had enough with toyota thread crapping every thread of an OP asking for a video card advice. Everytime that someone is asking for a video card upgrade, he gets in telling to upgrade your CPU and stuff, and then the thread goes down to the toilet. GTA4 is a crappy PS3/Xbox 360 port, and both systems are heavily multi threaded, and yet very inneficient because they use in order processors. I agree that the HD 5970 will be hold back by the CPU, but he will be able to get a nice performance boost going to the HD 5850 and then later can upgrade the CPU if he needs to, period. He doesn't need more information that the one I provided here, he doesn't need to know your point of view of a CPU bottleneck, of which games will hold him back whatever, everyone has a different point of view. He just need an advice, we give it to him and period, no warfest and no arguing!!

http://www.behardware.com/articles/778-10/giant-roundup-131-intel-and-amd-processors.html

There proves that the X2 5000 is as good as a Pentium Dual Core E2200, which is a budget CPU with enough power for current games, while the i7 tears everything apart, it doesn't add the value or changes the gaming landscape considerably for such investment, specially when the Phenom 2 X4 performs so admirably close. The games used there are the most CPU hungry games currently, and yet, the only CPU's that provides barely playable frame rates at average is the i7, does it give the best bang for the buck? No, most games currently are GPU bound, so going for a videocard upgrade now with hopes of a CPU upgrade later will bring him benefits now. Of course unless if you are gaming on a Pentium 4/D

You did the same thing in this thread, http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2051983

You need to stop now. Is annoying, specially with someone who owns a poky dual core like yours (Using your own terms or course)

its not thread crapping at all and if anything I am getting sick of your ignorant comments. where did I ever say all dual cores are poky? oh thats right I didnt, and was talking specifically about the 5000 X2 being poky if using with a high end card like the OP wants. how about not taking my words out of context for your ridiculous selfish reasons?

you need to get a clue instead of being a jerk because the cpu most certainly matters when making a high end gpu decision. the OP is being ridiculous trying to buy $600 gpu for 1440 with a slow 5000 X2 cpu. I most certainly gave him good advice by suggesting he get a new cpu/mobo/ram/ and 5850 for the same price as that would give him a better overall solution for playing games. pull your head out of your ass instead of just dismissing my advice and taking my comments out of context.


and all I said in that other thread for the guy with the E8400 was the following:

well in general that cpu is fine but for games like BC2 you will need a quad and preferably an i7/i5 for best experience. for Warhead its fine at stock speed but overclocking to an easy 3.6 might help give 1-2fps in certain spots when using a 5850.

well at 1920x1200 you want all the gpu power a 5850 can give for some games like Crysis or Clear Sky. there will be a handful of games that will not perform at their best though until you have a quad and preferably an i5/i7 at that.

how in the hell is anything wrong with what I said in that thread? I clearly said that his E8400 was fine and to go ahead with the 5850. he had mentioned playing BC2 which is one of the handful of games that does much better on a quad so I mentioned that. that is perfectly good advice and the only person thread crapping around here is you.

 

[toyota]

That's exactly what I've been saying. I'll be buying a high-end card this fall, and a mid-grade cpu next year.

Will there be a bottleneck in between? Yes. Is it worth going cheap this year to avoid it, for someone who doesn't play the resell-and-trade-up game? Hell no.

As I said a few posts up (back when toyota had to be fought off), I'm well aware of the overclocking potential of my 500+X2 Black Edition. While my parts have been keeping each other in check, I've seen no need to overclock it at all, much less push it to its limit. That will change.


Reply to "bottlenecked by lack of challenge" -- After the cpu upgrade, I'd still like to fiddle with *the good stuff* before the next console gen comes out. Backing away from ATI cards, I'm interested in 3DVision. Pushing 120fps will be a worthy challenge for any card, not to mention my "poky dual core". (All this is pretty up-in-the-air, but hey; a man can dream!)


----------------------
Real body of the post here:
Reply to "wasted power" from a high end card -- There's no such thing as wasted power. The card will simply have extra power for me to unlock with the next upgrade. That would mean I'd see a performance boost the first year (to about the same as a mid-grade system), another boost the second year (to what will be mid-grade performance then), and mid-low performance the third year in preparation for an upgrade in 2013. That's a 50% life extension. So long as I don't miss out on any features that I may want in the next 3 years, and don't pay more than 50% more for the card (which rules out the 5970, which I used as an example), then it will pay itself off just as well as a mid-grade card.
----------------------

Reply to "which windows 7" -- OEM. I could probably get ahold of Enterprise retail for about $25, so it wouldn't be a big deal if my partition flopped after switching MoBos. That being said, I haven't seen a mobo/cpu replacement kill Windows in the past 4 years. Maybe because I've been sticking with one manufacturer?

sorry but if you buy a $600 5970 for gaming at 1440x900 with your 5000 X2 then you are wasting so much money that it is beyond foolish. you would do much better to follow my advice and get a new cpu/mobo/ram and 5850 for the same price.

 

[zerocool84]

You want to buy a 5850 to game with a 5000 X2 @ 1440x900??? Big waste

You don't buy a card for how you're going to play in 7/8 months. You buy a card for how you're going to play right now. If you're going to get a new monitor in fall then upgrade in fall. Total overkill but it's your money.

 

[blanketyblank]

You want to buy a 5850 to game with a 5000 X2 @ 1440x900??? Big waste

You don't buy a card for how you're going to play in 7/8 months. You buy a card for how you're going to play right now. If you're going to get a new monitor in fall then upgrade in fall. Total overkill but it's your money.

Some people like to upgrade by component instead of dumping all their money in at once to get a totally new system. It's a totally valid method, and can even save you a significant amount of money if you plan your purchases right and buy at the right times.
i.e. buy a new PSU when they are sale for under $40 vs. regular price of $100+, buy a radeon/fermi day of release directly instead of after it's inflated, buy ddr2 several months ago when it was like free after rebate instead of now when it's $50+. Cheap does not neccessarily mean low quality, and although in general technology drops in price it isn't always true and there is a limit to how low it goes.

If this is your strategy you should just make a basic list of the minimum parts you want to buy and just keep checking the hot deals section to see when the parts you want have fallen below the market price. Occaisonally when they go on sale you can save quite a bit of money especially if you're near a frys or microcenter. I've actually put together systems this way and sold them after more than a year of use for a profit.

 

[toyota]

Some people like to upgrade by component instead of dumping all their money in at once to get a totally new system. It's a totally valid method, and can even save you a significant amount of money if you plan your purchases right and buy at the right times.
i.e. buy a new PSU when they are sale for under $40 vs. regular price of $100+, buy a radeon/fermi day of release directly instead of after it's inflated, buy ddr2 several months ago when it was like free after rebate instead of now when it's $50+. Cheap does not neccessarily mean low quality, and although in general technology drops in price it isn't always true and there is a limit to how low it goes.

If this is your strategy you should just make a basic list of the minimum parts you want to buy and just keep checking the hot deals section to see when the parts you want have fallen below the market price. Occaisonally when they go on sale you can save quite a bit of money especially if you're near a frys or microcenter. I've actually put together systems this way and sold them after more than a year of use for a profit.

this is a stupid way of doing things sometimes though. the OP said he is not going to upgrade the cpu until next year so there is NO reason to buy a 5850 or faster for 1440 res with his 5000 X2. by the time he buys a cpu that can actually allow him to really utilize that 5850 there will be new faster cards for even less money.

I will never understand why people cant figure out that pc components are only valuable for a limited amount of time. if it takes over a year to upgrade other parts then there is no need to waste money on higher end parts in the mean time.

the OP could easily buy a 5750 or 5770 because even those would not be fully utilized with his 5000 X2 at just 1440x900. a 5770 is strong enough to max out basically every game at 1440. any games that he cant max out and play smoothly will likely have his cpu to blame anyway.

then a year from now when he gets a new platform he can just sell the 5770 and buy a 6770 or whatever else at that time.

the OP wanting to spend money on a 5850, 5870 or even the 5970 and not even come close to utilizing it is stupid and will cost more money than doing an appropriate upgrade now and then another later next year..

 

[zmatt]

no its not just a mild bottleneck at all. a 5000 X2 will not even deliver half of what a 5870 is capable of in many modern games especially some of the ones he listed. turning on more AA because you are getting shitty framerates doesnt change that fact.

Agreed before I had my current system assembled I ran one of my 4850s on an Opteron 164 OC'ed to 2.4ghz which is comparable to the Ops cpu. My 3dmark 06 score was around 8k. with the core 2 and stock clocks it was 11k with one card. That's more than a mild bottleneck.

For anything less than an e8400 I would recommend someone seriously consider upgrading their entire system if they intend to go with a 5870. The card is just that powerful, no way around it.

 

[cbn]

Reply to "which windows 7" -- OEM. I could probably get ahold of Enterprise retail for about $25, so it wouldn't be a big deal if my partition flopped after switching MoBos. That being said, I haven't seen a mobo/cpu replacement kill Windows in the past 4 years. Maybe because I've been sticking with one manufacturer?

I asked OEM or Retail OS because this pertains to to cost of a CPU/mainboard upgrade.

If you just recently purchased Windows 7 OEM for your older mainboard, then I suspect you are in it for the long haul with that 5000+ X2.

 

[cbn]

I will never understand why people cant figure out that pc components are only valuable for a limited amount of time. if it takes over a year to upgrade other parts then there is no need to waste money on higher end parts in the mean time.

I think OP is hesitant to buy another system because he just paid money for a Windows 7 OEM install on his AM2 board.

If he would have realized how far CPUs have come he might have looked for a good combo deal before doing the install.

 

[veri745]

For once I actually mostly agree with toyota. Getting a $600 top-of-the-line GPU now with no plans of upgrading you cpu or monitor for another year is wasting a lot of money/performance.

I think you'd be better off doing two mid-level upgrades instead of a spread out top-end one. With a spread out upgrade like that. You're missing some of the performance potential you purchased while waiting to upgrade other parts of your system.

 

[cbn]

Getting a $600 top-of-the-line GPU now with no plans of upgrading you cpu or monitor for another year is wasting a lot of money/performance.

Well by January aren't we expecting some 32nm products from ATI?

Worst case scenario HD6870 is released before the OP even gets a 1080p monitor.

 

[blanketyblank]

this is a stupid way of doing things sometimes though. the OP said he is not going to upgrade the cpu until next year so there is NO reason to buy a 5850 or faster for 1440 res with his 5000 X2. by the time he buys a cpu that can actually allow him to really utilize that 5850 there will be new faster cards for even less money.

I will never understand why people cant figure out that pc components are only valuable for a limited amount of time. if it takes over a year to upgrade other parts then there is no need to waste money on higher end parts in the mean time.

the OP could easily buy a 5750 or 5770 because even those would not be fully utilized with his 5000 X2 at just 1440x900. a 5770 is strong enough to max out basically every game at 1440. any games that he cant max out and play smoothly will likely have his cpu to blame anyway.

then a year from now when he gets a new platform he can just sell the 5770 and buy a 6770 or whatever else at that time.

the OP wanting to spend money on a 5850, 5870 or even the 5970 and not even come close to utilizing it is stupid and will cost more money than doing an appropriate upgrade now and then another later next year..

In general I agree, buying what you need is usually the cheaper way to go and why I got a 5770 instead of a 5850. However that does not mean the OP should not even consider faster cards no matter what the price just because it's beyond what he needs especially when he's considering upgrading again in less than a year. Within that time frame I doubt prices will drop dramatically, I'd say about 20% max if that.
If he waits for a good deal, and carefully uses things like bing cash back he can get those kinds of prices now and enjoy using them instead of having to wait. Just last month I saw a Visiontek 5850 at Dell for less than $250 which was quickly backordered, but because he wasn't in a rush he could have ordered and waited the 2 months for a great deal.

You also make it seem like tons of new options and much lower prices will be available by the time the OP upgrades, but we're talking about less than a year here so I doubt we'd see much beyond the limited release of fermi. I doubt that will change pricing much as nvidia has officially stated we won't be seeing mass release till next quarter. There have been no announcements of any new consoles coming out so anything faster than a 5850 should be fine atleast for a year after a new console with updated graphics is released.

Anyways point being, now is as good a time as any to start shopping and keeping an eye on prices. To the OP if there's a steal on a 5850 or faster get it otherwise wait as long as you can. I don't suggest a 5770 since you keep your parts for long periods of time and don't like selling them. I personally chose a 5770 myself becaue I don't mind doing that, and see crossfire as a possible option in a years time.

 

[cbn]

Blueshift,

Will a AM2+ Phenom II x4 work with your AM2 board? Have you checked the CPU compatibility list?

 

[toyota]

In general I agree, buying what you need is usually the cheaper way to go and why I got a 5770 instead of a 5850. However that does not mean the OP should not even consider faster cards no matter what the price just because it's beyond what he needs especially when he's considering upgrading again in less than a year. Within that time frame I doubt prices will drop dramatically, I'd say about 20% max if that.
If he waits for a good deal, and carefully uses things like bing cash back he can get those kinds of prices now and enjoy using them instead of having to wait. Just last month I saw a Visiontek 5850 at Dell for less than $250 which was quickly backordered, but because he wasn't in a rush he could have ordered and waited the 2 months for a great deal.

You also make it seem like tons of new options and much lower prices will be available by the time the OP upgrades, but we're talking about less than a year here so I doubt we'd see much beyond the limited release of fermi. I doubt that will change pricing much as nvidia has officially stated we won't be seeing mass release till next quarter. There have been no announcements of any new consoles coming out so anything faster than a 5850 should be fine atleast for a year after a new console with updated graphics is released.

Anyways point being, now is as good a time as any to start shopping and keeping an eye on prices. To the OP if there's a steal on a 5850 or faster get it otherwise wait as long as you can. I don't suggest a 5770 since you keep your parts for long periods of time and don't like selling them. I personally chose a 5770 myself becaue I don't mind doing that, and see crossfire as a possible option in a years time.

the OP said it would not be until next year before he gets a new cpu. thats at least 10 months away so we will certainly have the 6 series out before then. its asinine to buy an expensive video card that you cant come close to utilizing for a year. a 5770 will not even be fully utilized at 1440 with a 5000 X2 but its not a bad choice because its only 160 bucks. a 5770 is more than enough for 1440x900 when you dont even have a cpu that will let you fully push it.

its also real easy to buy a $160 card and then sale it later and buy much faster one with new features for the same price. again buying an expensive video card now that is massively bottlenecked just so you can play games later in the future is illogical. that costs way more money and gives you no more usable performance than buying an appropriate card for your system now, selling it and then buying another when you upgrade your cpu a year later.

 

[bryanW1995]

I'm sorry, but a X2 5000 doesn't have enough power to give the necessary ground for a HD5850 and faster cards - meaning you get a HD5850 or a HD5970 and both will give you the same performance. Hell, I think even a HD4890 is severely limited by a X2 5000.

If you want an upgrade now and just for your GPU, I'd say HD5770 is the highest you should go. If you can find a nice deal on a HD4870, by all means go for it - it's a bit faster than a HD5770 and if you can get it cheaper than a HD5770, it's well worth it. Any of those will be a huge jump over a 7950GT .

Just check some CPU benchmarks on pcgameshardware for the games you wish to play. They test those on a GTX285 which is faster than a HD4890 but a little bit slower than a HD5850. That should be all the proof you need.

gtx 285 is a lot closer to a 4890 than it is to a 5850. even 5850 on launch drivers was ~25% faster than gtx 285, while gtx285 is more like 5-10% faster than 4890. It seems likely based upon past events that 5850 will pull further and further away from both 4890 and gtx 285 over time, too.