Upgrades for a 4830?

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D

DDRGamer

Member
Jan 22, 2006
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Hi Anandtech forums,

Wanted to get some opinions on price-points for an upgrade from a Radeon 4830.

I've currently got the following system in a Lian-Li PC-A05:

AMD Phenom X4 9650
2x2GB Corsair DDR2-800
Asus M3A76-CM
Sapphire 4830 (512MB)
OCZ Agility 3 SSD (120GB)
BFG GS-550W PSU

I've been gaming on a 1080p 24" monitor, and am more likely to pick up a secondary monitor than upgrade to a bigger size.

Long story short; here's local card prices for me (pre-tax)

7770 - $120-$150
7850 - $175-$215
7870 - $225-$255

The most graphically intense game I might play this year is Crysis 2. Standard stuff so far has been games like Deus Ex, Borderlands 2, Assassin's Creed series.

Considering that I'm gaming at 1080p, are the differences in performance significant enough for me to get anything more powerful than the 7770?

Thanks in advance for your help,

Anders
 
S

Smoblikat

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2011
5,184
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I would say a 7770/7790 would be good enough, but an HD7850 1gb would be perfect for 1080P gaming.
 
Termie

Termie

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2005
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www.techbuyersguru.com
With that CPU, I would not get a 7850. That's significantly slower than a stock Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600. My guess is that you'd start to bottleneck with anything higher than a 7770 in a lot of games. The 7770 is already almost twice as fast as your 4830, so I'd probably just stick with that, especially given the cost of the other options.
 
D

DDRGamer

Member
Jan 22, 2006
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Termie said:
With that CPU, I would not get a 7850. That's significantly slower than a stock Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600. My guess is that you'd start to bottleneck with anything higher than a 7770 in a lot of games. The 7770 is already almost twice as fast as your 4830, so I'd probably just stick with that, especially given the cost of the other options.
Click to expand...
I had a suspicion that I'd be fairly limited moving forward - I'm just happy my rig has worked as well as it has so far.
Based on the VP rating, it looked like the 7770 would be quite adequate. looks like I've got my work cut out for me.

Jimzz said:
can you get a 7790?
Click to expand...
I can, but they're starting at $150.

It looks like I'm going el-cheapo on the 7770. (Cost is a major concern as I just got married and am buying a car within the month :p)
 
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toyota

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
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7750 or 7770 max with that cpu. a modern i5 lowered to 1.6 would still beat that old first gen 2.3 Phenom.
 
jacktesterson

jacktesterson

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
5,493
3
81
I have a 6850 I'd sell you cheaper than those options


How much longer you keeping the x4 system? if a while and you want new, Id go with a 7750

Your CPU is a major bottleneck unfortunately even for the typical modern 1080p value gaming cards (7850 for example )
 
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Yuriman

Yuriman

Diamond Member
Jun 25, 2004
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Whereabouts do you live? Some shopping around may move a better card down into your price range.
 
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SPBHM

Diamond Member
Sep 12, 2012
5,077
440
126
7870 - $225-$255

this is enough to buy a 650 Ti boost + Phenom Ii X4 965 (your MB support with a bios upgrade)
 
S

skipsneeky2

Diamond Member
May 21, 2011
5,035
1
71
SPBHM said:
7870 - $225-$255

this is enough to buy a 650 Ti boost + Phenom Ii X4 965 (your MB support with a bios upgrade)
Click to expand...

This is a excellent option and one hell of a good system overhaul without dumping to much money into that tower.
 
D

DDRGamer

Member
Jan 22, 2006
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Yuriman said:
Whereabouts do you live? Some shopping around may move a better card down into your price range.
Click to expand...
Vancouver, BC - I'd prefer to buy in Canada for minimal warranty issues.

bigystyle84 said:
I have a 6850 I'd sell you cheaper than those options

How much longer you keeping the x4 system? if a while and you want new, Id go with a 7750

Your CPU is a major bottleneck unfortunately even for the typical modern 1080p value gaming cards (7850 for example )
Click to expand...

SPBHM said:
7870 - $225-$255

this is enough to buy a 650 Ti boost + Phenom Ii X4 965 (your MB support with a bios upgrade)
Click to expand...

If it's that big of a bottleneck, I don't mind just saving up for a full system upgrade.

Secondary question - if I plan on doing a full upgrade, is a 7790 a fairly future friendly GPU that will remain viable in 1-2 years?
 
N

networkman

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
10,436
1
0
I'd 2nd this option as I'm doing something similar, though I'm using a 6770 card and getting the Phenom II x4 945 for my motherboard. Of course I'm not doing 1080p gaming either, but I don't want to have to replace the motherboard and ram in an otherwise adequate system (for what I do with it).

skipsneeky2 said:
This is a excellent option and one hell of a good system overhaul without dumping to much money into that tower.
Click to expand...

Originally Posted by SPBHM View Post
7870 - $225-$255
this is enough to buy a 650 Ti boost + Phenom Ii X4 965 (your MB support with a bios upgrade)
 
Stuka87

Stuka87

Diamond Member
Dec 10, 2010
6,240
2,559
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If your mobo support a Phenom II, I HIGHLY suggest trying to find a C3 stepping 965BE. They OC well (Mine hits 4.1GHz), and is much faster clock for clock than your current chip. And you can find them for cheap.

Then go with a 7850 and you should have a far faster machine.
 
D

DDRGamer

Member
Jan 22, 2006
71
0
66
Well, now things are interesting.

1GB 7770 = ~$100
1GB 7790 = ~$150
2GB 7790 = ~$180
2GB 7850 = ~$195
2GB 7870 = ~$210 ($40 off for now)

and Phenom IIs are $90 (and only from Newegg.ca)

Man, maybe I should just sit and look at MB/A8 Combos for a few extra hundreds....
 
R

Rezist

Senior member
Jun 20, 2009
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to use a phenom 2 965 you need DDR3 memory support do you not? They removed the DDR2 compatibility after the 940 I'm pretty sure.
 
R

rainy

Senior member
Jul 17, 2013
523
453
136
Rezist said:
to use a phenom 2 965 you need DDR3 memory support do you not? They removed the DDR2 compatibility after the 940 I'm pretty sure.
Click to expand...

Sorry but you are wrong: Phenom II X4 920/940 supporting only DDR2 memory.
Rest of the family could work with DDR3 or DDR2:
In addition to the Phenom II's pin compatibility, the AM3 memory controller supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory (up to DDR2-1066 and DDR3-1333), allowing existing AM2+ users to upgrade their CPU without changing the motherboard or memory.
Click to expand...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenom_II

Btw, probably he need to upgrade BIOS to the latest version if it wasn't done before.
One more thing:
http://anandtech.com/bench/product/102?vs=23
 
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C

Concillian

Diamond Member
May 26, 2004
3,751
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81
If OCing, get the 7850, it OCs to be just a shade slower than a 7870. 7850 is kinda a dog at stock, but there's a good 20+% of OC margin in those things. 7770 and 7870 both have quite a bit less OCing margin.

It's more GPU than your CPU can comfortably support, but just move it when you upgrade your CPU.

MY ASUS DCII 7850 is quite quiet too.
 
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Stuka87

Stuka87

Diamond Member
Dec 10, 2010
6,240
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Concillian said:
If OCing, get the 7850, it OCs to be just a shade slower than a 7870. 7850 is kinda a dog at stock, but there's a good 20+% of OC margin in those things. 7770 and 7870 both have quite a bit less OCing margin.

It's more GPU than your CPU can comfortably support, but just move it when you upgrade your CPU.

MY ASUS DCII 7850 is quite quiet too.
Click to expand...

If he is upgrading the CPU, there is no reason for him to not go with the best card he can. A OC'ed 965BE will easily feed an OC'ed 7950.
 
jacktesterson

jacktesterson

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
5,493
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Stuka87 said:
If he is upgrading the CPU, there is no reason for him to not go with the best card he can. A OC'ed 965BE will easily feed an OC'ed 7950.
Click to expand...

Depends on his budget.

7850 I think is a great card @ 1200+ Core. I've owned 3 of them, 2 of them have gone past 1200 Core - One even 1300 core but not at 24/7 voltage putting it close to a stock 7950 in a lot of games. The other one would do 1175 Core. Putting it close to GTX 580 level, a card that was once king not that long ago. I'm talking 24/7 voltages here too. Not bad for a $160 card.
 
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