Should I make this upgrade? 5850 to 7970?

[Hubb1e]

I've got a Q6600 running at 3ghz 8GB RAM and a 5850. I'm planning on doing an upgrade to Ivy when it drops, but I'm wondering if it is worth it to upgrade my 5850 to a 7970 now or if my CPU will hold it back too much for it to be worth the extra cash I might drop by jumping on the 7970 before prices stabilize or before the 7950 drops. A hundred bucks here and there isn't a killer for me, but I don't want to spend $550 frivolously.

The main game I play is BF3 at 1900x1200

Yes, I could get a bit more out of my Q6600 but I'm not a big fan of messing around with my northbridge frequency outside of standard ratios.

Eventually (March?) I'll pick up a basic board for Ivy and the 2500K Ivy equivalent so I will make good on the CPU. I could just wait until March and upgrade the whole system at once but I'd like to run ultra settings instead of my modified High I currently run.

 

[Panopticon]

This has been asked a few times and the general consensus is that a q6600 isn't going to dramatically gimp a 7970. There will be a slight bottleneck compared to SB but not enough that you wont notice a performance increase from a 5850. Someone around here had a chart comparing tahiti performance on a few difference cpus and the difference wasn't very dramatic.

 

[Joseph F]

I think that you should go for a higher OC on your CPU or get a 2500k before you consider getting a 7970, IMO.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Would PCIe 1.1 limit the 7970? Or did q6600's come out on pcie2.0?

 

[Hubb1e]

It's PCI-e 2.0. Even so, at 1.0 it would be equivalent to x8 PCI-e 2.0 which shows only a very slight performance decrease in 2 video card setups.

I could go for a bit more overclock I guess, but the extra performance boost would still be pretty minor compared to a Sandy or Ivy upgrade.

The question I am really asking, is if I'm going to buy a 7970 or 7950 in March, why shouldn't I just buy it now and enjoy it? The only problem with this so far is that it is running in an Antec Solo v.1 case which doesn't have the room. I'd have to move the machine into a new case too. I'm thinking a Solo II or a P280 since I like that look.

The other problem I might have is my PSU which is a Corsair VX450. It's a very nice Seasonic made PSU and it seems to barely turn it's fan on my current system but this new 7970 is a bit more power hungry by about 90W according to GPU bench.

 

[Grooveriding]

It's PCI-e 2.0. Even so, at 1.0 it would be equivalent to x8 PCI-e 2.0 which shows only a very slight performance decrease in 2 video card setups.

I could go for a bit more overclock I guess, but the extra performance boost would still be pretty minor compared to a Sandy or Ivy upgrade.

The question I am really asking, is if I'm going to buy a 7970 or 7950 in March, why shouldn't I just buy it now and enjoy it? The only problem with this so far is that it is running in an Antec Solo v.1 case which doesn't have the room. I'd have to move the machine into a new case too. I'm thinking a Solo II or a P280 since I like that look.

The other problem I might have is my PSU which is a Corsair VX450. It's a very nice Seasonic made PSU and it seems to barely turn it's fan on my current system but this new 7970 is a bit more power hungry by about 90W according to GPU bench.

A 450W PSU with an OCed Q6600 and 7970 would be pushing it.

 

[Panopticon]

Wow where is that chart from? The 7970 is pulling almost 400w!? I hope my 750w psu will be enough

 

[Bobisuruncle54]

Wow where is that chart from? The 7970 is pulling almost 400w!? I hope my 750w psu will be enough

That's total system power, not just the 7970, FWIW.

But yes, your 750w PSU will easily be enough if it is a product from a reputable brand.

 

[Panopticon]

Ah reading fail! 400w total system isn't too bad but your right the op would be pushing the power envelope of a 450w psu I'd imagine. Depending on the number of drives and memory it could even go over I imagine. Also isn't ddr2 more power hungry then ddr3?

 

[lehtv]

Memory isn't power hungry in the first place. Load power consumption mostly comes down to CPU&GPU. It's not like all your hard drives are going to be doing hard work while you're gaming.

In any case minimum 550W with at ~40A or more on the +12V would be good for a 7970.

 

[Hubb1e]

My Q6600 is at stock voltage so it's probably around 100W total output.

Those 400W numbers are total system power draw at the wall, so figure on about 85% efficiency and you can take 15% off the 400W number. That's still getting really close to the max on this PSU so I had better upgrade that as well. So it's case, PSU, and video card. It's getting really close to a new system...

 

[Magic Carpet]

I've got a Q6600 running at 3ghz 8GB RAM and a 5850. I'm planning on doing an upgrade to Ivy when it drops, but I'm wondering if it is worth it to upgrade my 5850 to a 7970 now or if my CPU will hold it back too much for it to be worth the extra cash I might drop by jumping on the 7970 before prices stabilize or before the 7950 drops. A hundred bucks here and there isn't a killer for me, but I don't want to spend $550 frivolously.

The main game I play is BF3 at 1900x1200

Yes, I could get a bit more out of my Q6600 but I'm not a big fan of messing around with my northbridge frequency outside of standard ratios.

Eventually (March?) I'll pick up a basic board for Ivy and the 2500K Ivy equivalent so I will make good on the CPU. I could just wait until March and upgrade the whole system at once but I'd like to run ultra settings instead of my modified High I currently run.

Well... the 7970 beats 5850 in every department but price. It's a no-brainer, really.

If you can afford, then hell yes

 

[RaistlinZ]

750W is fine for a single 7970, with wattage to spare.

 

[lehtv]

750W could power two 7970's.

Guru3D 7970 Crossfire review

System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 567W
Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 407 Watts

Radeon HD 7970 Crossfire - On your average system the cards require you to have a 750 Watt power supply unit as minimum.