Sandy Bridge, New GPU, or Wait.

[mingsoup]

System is as follows:
i5-750 @ 4.2Ghz
Crossfire 5770's EDIT: Now using Crossfire 6950's @ 6970 unlocked.
8gB DDR3 1600
Corsair 850
Asus P7P55D Deluxe.

Looking for extra performance in games. Honestly there aren't many games right now I can't run at 60fps at 1920*1200 maxed. Games such as Civilization 5 aren't 60fps though. I also have a hankering to upgrade. At this point in time what would net me more performance. Upgrading to dual 460's or a 580? (or ATI equivalent) or upgrading to a Sandy Bridge for massive oC. There is also the option of waiting.

Thanks.

 

[happy medium]

Really, since your not in a pinch, just wait for the gtx560. I believe you be will happy you did.
If your interested in close to 6950 performance for about 250$?

At the very least it should shake some prices around.
Its only 18 days or so.

 

[Skurge]

You have a 4GHz i5 and crossfire 5770s that you are happy with?

I say don't bother, Just wait for Radeon 7000 series or Geforce 600 series (If they don't skip a number again)

Or Sandy Bridge-E or Bulldozer if you want a CPU upgrade. If I were you I would not bother upgrading as you seem to be happy with the performance you have.

 

[bryanW1995]

i5-750 @ 4.0 is great, upgrading to a SB @ ~ 4.5 should net you about 30% cpu performance improvement. that will help you a ton in civ5, much more than a gpu upgrade. you'll probably net pay around $200 after selling the old mobo/cpu, maybe $250 if you get a top notch hsf. if you don't play civ5 much then I'd keep your current rig and upgrade the gpu's when hd7000 and gtx 6xx series comes out.

 

[Throckmorton]

Is this a joke, or are you one of those weirdos who upgrades every 6 months?

 

[toyota]

I will never understand threads like this. OP, you seem pretty smart so do you really need some forum members to tell you if you should upgrade? you know darn well Sandy Bridge is a minuscule upgrade over your current cpu and is in no way a limitation for any current gpu setup. and your 5770 crossfire is as fast as a 5870 so unless you really are not getting the performance you want then why bother. there is no need to start a thread just for everyone to tell you what you already know.

 

[Castiel]

Some people just want to waste money and have the newest and greatest. Pretty much what i'm doing. After i sell my Processor and Mobo the upgrade won't have cost me much at all.

 

[Imp]

I have:

i5 750
4 Gb Ram
Non-SSD 500 GB HDD
ATI 6850 (new)

I can run Metro 2033 at high (not extreme), 1920x1200 without even stuttering. Your 5770 crossfire is better than my 6850, and you have more Ram. Nothing, aside from Metro, made my system stutter at high and 1920x1200 even when I had my single 5770 up until yesterday.

 

[Powermoloch]

you're fine atm, I wouldn't worry another upgrade until a game really bogs down you machine.

CF 5770s are no joke

 

[happy medium]

I have:

i5 750
4 Gb Ram
Non-SSD 500 GB HDD
ATI 6850 (new)

I can run Metro 2033 at high (not extreme), 1920x1200 without even stuttering. Your 5770 crossfire is better than my 6850, and you have more Ram. Nothing, aside from Metro, made my system stutter at high and 1920x1200 even when I had my single 5770 up until yesterday.

What? This is with a i7 920 @ 3.33 and at 1920x1200 res. Do you have a super duper 6850?

If fact ,here is high quality at 1600x1050 res. Even that might dip below 30fps at times.

 

[mingsoup]

I will never understand threads like this. OP, you seem pretty smart so do you really need some forum members to tell you if you should upgrade? you know darn well Sandy Bridge is a minuscule upgrade over your current cpu and is in no way a limitation for any current gpu setup. and your 5770 crossfire is as fast as a 5870 so unless you really are not getting the performance you want then why bother. there is no need to start a thread just for everyone to tell you what you already know.

True. I do however like the feedback and we've seen some major changes in landscape over the past 6 months.

 

[Skurge]

30fps is very playable in that game. He would easily get 10fps just by using High instead of very high.

 

[Infrnl]

Some people just need a nudge in either direction. Like we are his friends; no matter the situation people ask their friends for their thoughts; just as he is doing here. Sometimes its just niice to hear the opinions.

Everyone has their own way of things and some like to pay a little extra for the added performance bump.

Looking at the OP's current system; It appears to be a pretty healthy one. Like myself; I like to upgrade every 6 months within a certain price point; just to have new toys and either help production on my Distributed computing along with having more nergy efficient hardware to help save on the electric bill. Theres Nothing wrong with this.
Everyone has their own way.
To the OP; If you have the money, I say go for it. Maybe wait for the GTX 560 as mentioned, but theres nothing wrong with going SB if you want. Just remember it will take some time to work out the bugs and they have the other socket later this year too.

Good luck in your decision

 

[Imp]

What? This is with a i7 920 @ 3.33 and at 1920x1200 res. Do you have a super duper 6850?


If fact ,here is high quality at 1600x1050 res. Even that might dip below 30fps at times.

At "High" settings with AAA, AF4X. I forgot about the Very High setting between "High" and "Extreme".

You win a prize.

 

[mingsoup]

Funny. My i5-750 @ 4.0Ghz beats all CPU's on the Dawn of War benchmark as Anandtech did it. 1680*1050 @ high preset, I got 91.7 FPS. This is a good test too, I believe, as Dawn of War is CPU hungry.

Guess Sandy Bridge @ least at stock, is not an upgrade.

 

[mosox]

Sell 2x5770. Get 6950. Flash it to 6970. Win. Total cost ~$100.

 

[mingsoup]

Now that the 560's are out. Anybody want to reiterate their suggestion?

I'm kinda sorta hankering to upgrade to either a 580 or two 560's.
Personally, the SLI/Xfire experience isn't all *that* bad. Profiles can sometimes be bothersome, but so are weak drivers.

Techspot recommended that if you already had $500 right now it would be better to just get a 580. However I don't know if I would ever plunk down another 500$ for another. It seems the reasonable ceiling for me for GPU's is 500$.

However I also feel that buying a GPU right now when the new games I want to play in the future aren't even released yet isn't really warranted. The 5870 level performance of dual 5770's certainly gets me by. I'm looking at games like Diablo 3, Dragon Age 2, Knights of the Old Republic, Guild Wars 2, possibly others I am forgetting.

Edit: this is dumb. please disregard. i'm going to wait till the games I want to play are out. 580 level performance might improve an oddball like Arma, but overall I don't think its wise from where I am sitting.

 

[Castiel]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-429-_-Product

Or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-432-_-Product

 

[happy medium]

More thoughts now that the 560 is out

Yea , I've seen the 6870 at about 200$ and it has good crossfire performance.
For 400$ overclocked 6870's in x-fire should double your performance @1650x1050 at max settings.

here is a Sapphire 6870 for 220$ with a 10% off promo code =198$ and a 20$ rebate. thats 178$ each! Plus a 10$ GIFT CARD.
Thats 356$ for much more performance then a 500$ gtx580.

Sale ends tomorrow hurry!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-913-_-Product

Civ 5, gtx580 vs 6870 x-fire.
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...-crossfire-vs-radeon-5970-civilization-5.html

 

[SickBeast]

OP if you're looking at the high end of the market you might as well wait for the new dual GPU cards that AMD and nVidia will both be releasing within the next few weeks.

Here's a link to an article that might be of interest to you:

http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=24236

 

[Castiel]

Yea , I've seen the 6870 at about 200$ and it has good crossfire performance.
For 400$ overclocked 6870's in x-fire should double your performance @1650x1050 at max settings.

Agreed with medium but damnit bro stop recommending amd. We're Nvidia fanboy's

 

[happy medium]

Agreed with medium but damnit bro stop recommending amd. We're Nvidia fanboy's

HEY, I've been finding some pretty good AMD deals latley though.
That 2gb eyeinfinity 6 5870 for 179$ was killer. I allmost bit. I would have but I just bought this gtx460 card.

 

[Castiel]

HEY, I've been finding some pretty good AMD deals latley though.
That 2gb eyeinfinity 6 5870 for 179$ was killer. I allmost bit. I would have but I just bought this gtx460 card.

Reference 5870's are nice cards but meh.. suck so bad in Xfire.

 

[happy medium]

Reference 5870's are nice cards but meh.. suck so bad in Xfire.

I agree, but I wanted just 1, and with 2gb and 6 outputs , it would have held its value better.

 

[happy medium]

OP if you're looking at the high end of the market you might as well wait for the new dual GPU cards that AMD and nVidia will both be releasing within the next few weeks.

Here's a link to an article that might be of interest to you:

http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=24236

Dude, your gonna tell him to hold out for 6/700$ cards that will perform about 25% better mabe? 356$ for 2 6870's is almost half the price!

Apoppin has the 6870's as 440$ in that article, but the cards I linked are 84$ less.