Step up or not to step up, is the Q9450 outdated?

[bramdo]

Hello,


I've seen that i can update to an evga geforce gtx 285 or the 295.
I'm not a die hard gamer but i use video encoding and graphic software (CS4 adobe, tmg with cuda) a lot and if i play it's at 1900*1200.

So please help me out with some advice

1. which GPU would ideally match my CPU (since the latter could be a bottleneck?)
2. does a higher card decreases the video encoding time with cuda apps?


Thanks
Bram

 

[taltamir]

what do you have now? how much do they want for each of those two step ups.

 

[akugami]

I'd overclock your CPU rather than buy a new CPU. You can easily overclock it to match any upgraded CPU barring the Intel i7's and those will cost you an arm and a leg because you'll have to pretty much scrap your motherboard and RAM when you upgrade. A modest upgrade to 3GHZ is what I recommend. It'll save you money and boost your performance in video encoding and rendering software.

As for the video card upgrade, it'd depend on the price of stepping up from a GTX 260 to the 285 or 295. CUDA apps should benefit from a faster or SLI GPU but by how much is unknown by me since I do not currently have an nVidia card. Perhaps you should direct this question at Rollo or keysplayr2003.

 

[JaBro999]

Originally posted by: akugami
I'd overclock your CPU rather than buy a new CPU.... It'll save you money and boost your performance in video encoding and rendering software.

Agreed.

 

[Denithor]

GTX 295 hands down if you've gotta have something newer/faster.

GTX 285 just really isn't much a bump from your current GTX 260/216.

And, as others have said - OC your Q9450 and it won't hold you back in the least. 3GHz should be easy to attain and will open up your GPU nicely.

 

[Infrnl]

I dont know about GPU, but your 9450 will be fine for a while still. as others have said, overclock it. you should easily be able to get 3-3.4 ghz with good HSF.

look at the Q6600; its older than the 9450 and still more than enough for most people.

 

[secretanchitman]

i myself have the Q9450 pushed to 3.6Ghz. i definitely wont need to upgrade for at least a year or two. this thing just flies when its overclocked.

3.0Ghz is easily doable, 3.4-3.6Ghz will need fine tuning and a decent motherboard/ram combo.

anything around a GTX 260/Radeon 4850 range would be good for you. how much are you willing to spend?

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: bramdo
Hello,


I've seen that i can update to an evga geforce gtx 285 or the 295.
I'm not a die hard gamer but i use video encoding and graphic software (CS4 adobe, tmg with cuda) a lot and if i play it's at 1900*1200.

So please help me out with some advice

1. which GPU would ideally match my CPU (since the latter could be a bottleneck?)
2. does a higher card decreases the video encoding time with cuda apps?


Thanks
Bram

1. Don't buy into all the hype, unless you just want to buy an i7 rig because they are neat. At 1920x1200 on rig with a Q9450 the video card will still be your bottle neck most of the time. I run a a GTX 280 with an oc'ed Q9450, and this is certainly the case for me. That was even the case with SLI'ed 280s and an HD 4870 X2, so the Q9450 has a bit of life left in it.

2. A little bit more complicated... It stands to reason that a faster gpu will perform better in CUDA just as it does in playing games. However, CUDA is not "SLI capable" in that you can't just drop in two cards or a dual gpu card and expect gains in CUDA. IIRC, CUDA can use multiple gpus but the application must be multi-threaded to do so.

 

[bramdo]

Hi,

thanks to you all. It's a relief that the cpu has some time left

I have to admit I didn't like to overclock since I use my pc also for business and as a young father a blown up mb or cpu would spoil some family fun
My system runs stable at 3.2 ghz with the following settings
Loadline Calibration: Disabled
VCore: 1.25V
DRAM: 2.00V
NB:1.31V
FSB Termination Voltage (VTT): 1.24V
but I have occaisional lock up and i think the problem is the adaptec card (pci-e freq. locked @ 100)

What they ask as an upgrade for my GTX 260 will be +/- 170 usd for the gtx 285 and 270 usd for the gtx 295.

Any further advice more than welcome,
Bram

 

[mmnno]

$170 is definitely not worth it for the 285. $270 is basically like buying another 260 for SLI (of course your board can't SLI) so ask yourself if the games you play will benefit from dual-GPU and if you want to spend that money. I can't imagine it being worth it for CUDA apps.

 

[bramdo]

Originally posted by: mmnno
$170 is definitely not worth it for the 285. $270 is basically like buying another 260 for SLI (of course your board can't SLI) so ask yourself if the games you play will benefit from dual-GPU and if you want to spend that money. I can't imagine it being worth it for CUDA apps.

That's what I was thinking too, another geforce wouldn' fit my x45 mainboard but in the end I could keep the gtx 260 and use it later as a physx card.
Are the bios settings for my cpu any good for long term reliability?

 

[Denithor]

BIOS settings - looks good overall, the only thing I would say is, make sure your memory is rated for 2V before you run it like that long term. CAS5 @ 1.8V is much easier on memory than CAS4 @ 2V and won't make hardly any difference in apps (other than memory benchmarks LOL).

GTX 260 as PhysX card? Egad...you've got more money than I do...

I think in your OP you're asking what is the max card you could push properly with your CPU? With your CPU now at 3.2GHz you can easily handle the fastest cards out there (GTX 295 or 4870X2) which would be a nice upgrade from your GTX 260/216.

But a better question - do you need more GPU power? Do any games feel sluggish or stutter at 1920x1200? If not - don't worry about an upgrade at this point. A "step-up" just because you can doesn't make any sense if you don't need it. You can always sell the card in six months to a year (or more) when it does start to feel slow and buy something even faster at that point.

 

[bramdo]

Dear Denithor,

Thanks for the advice and the selling the card after six months is also an alternative that I was forgotten (selective memory, upgrade-itis )

Now, my memory is corsair xms2 and is obliged the run at 2.1 v by corsair.
Do I understand you correctly that you would set the timings at 5-5-5 instead of 4-4-4 (the latter is the memory specs on corsair) to improve stability?

Thanks
Bram

 

[chizow]

At 1920 you'd see some benefit from a GTX 285 or GTX 295, but probably only with AA. If you're adverse to overclocking, that Q9450 at 2.66GHz will definitely hold you back so you might not see much gain from a faster GPU solution. Also, you shouldn't feel obligated to step-up, its an option that's nice to have, but it doesn't always make sense. Unless you're willing to OC or you're not satisfied with performance in your current games I'd say it doesn't make too much sense if that means less toys for your kid.

You may want to try overclocking your current GPU first, as that's covered by EVGA, easy with Precision and relatively safe (GPU will throttle or artifact if things get unstable). This should give you an idea of how much improvement you can expect from a faster GPU. Try setting memory at 1200MHz, then increase core clock in 25MHz increments. You can keep shader clock linked, however shader clock tends to cap out ~1400MHz on GT200s. Unlinked should let you go higher on the core if your particular GPU can handle it.

 

[taltamir]

there is a sticky guide here on anandtech, a total overclocking newb (at the time) like myself spent a mere 30 minutes reading it through, and I was able to just OC great since then. It is not difficult at ALL, it is however obscure knowledge that you must READ. If you just ask for people for snippets and try to figure it out yourself you will miss things, and for what? you are saving a few minutes of reading to waste hours of tinkering... just read this:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2057083&enterthread=y

 

[Hxx]

Your quad will bottleneck anything above a gtx 260 sli. So you're good with any single card I wouldn't go any further than a 4870 x2 or a gtx 295 in terms of gpu power , regardless of your overclock. You can read more here:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/...e-performance-review/1

 

[Soulkeeper]

the Q9450 is about as fast as anything out there when overclocked (cept maybe i7)
it shouldn't be a bottleneck with any card if you're willing to bump it up to 3GHZ+