SadisticMonkey

Basically what the title says. Would the HD5870 be in balance with the power of a E8400 OC-d to 3.6Ghz? Or is the technology of the 5870 so advanced that my cpu would be bottlenecking? And ofcourse we can peacefully exclude Arma 2 (CPU based game).
Or at least 5850 for that matter?
And is a 600W 80+ enough to run a 5870?

Phædrus2401

The E8400 will handle just about any game you throw at it, and overclocked it will keep up quite nicely with the 5870. The E8400 is a very, very nice CPU, and performs better than most quad cores in gaming terms. It will play on the same level as the Q9550 and the Q9650, i5 750, i7 850, and i7 920 are only marginally better and far more expensive.

I would recommend a quality 650-750W PSU for the 5870, from a reputable brand like Corsair, SeaSonic, or PC Power and cooling. What are you using/thinking of?

SadisticMonkey

I wont be updating my card if i need to get a new PSU too :(
Im using a SilverPower 600W 80+

Phædrus2401

SilverPower is made by Tagan... No, I would not run a 5870 on that.

What is your graphics card right now? A Corsair TX750W and a Radeon 4890 would cost you about $320, versus $380 for the 5870, and replacing a power supply is very easy.

Dacads

Yep it would be a great combination but like Phædrus2401 said you would need a quality brand 650-750W PSU

linderman

you would not see in "real world" performance the diff from the 4890 to the 5870

I would go with the Corsair TX-750 or better yet the Corsair-850-TX and the 4890

the price tag on the 5870 is TOO much ........your paying a heavy toll for new-release card


what cpu cooler are you using; I had not problem keep my E8400 at 3.8ghz all the time (24/7 and it idles at 35-40C and heavy work 50-55C)

SadisticMonkey

Right now im running Ati 4870
e8400
P5QL
antec 1200 (6LED fans)

And the PSU seems to be doing just fine.

The stock one.

linderman

you are not going to see ANY improvment in ANY card higher than the 4870 unless you have plans of using a monitor 30 inches or larger and playing on resolutions above 1900X ?

the 4870 needs no help whatsoever

banenwn

Im sorry but your just wrong.I have a GTX 260 216 Core and i cannott max every game out right now with all the eye candy full AA and AF at 1680x1050.My card is alittle better then a 4870 so this statement is just false.Play crysis at 1680x1050 full AA and Full AF and tell me you wont notice a difference?I also play ARMA 2 and im upgrading to a 5850 and trust me when i say ill notice a difference.The 4870 is a good card but it cannott compete with a 5870 even at the lower res.Where you will not notice a difference maybe is with AA and AF disabled but i like those options in games and this is where you will see the true power of the 5870 over the 4870.Nothing wrong with future proofing as well

Phædrus2401

This is true; the 4870 can play games more than one or two years old at 1680x1050 or greater just fine, with all the eye candy, but with really intensive games and brand new releases it works best at 1440x900. At that res with my 4870 setup I can play every game I own at maximum settings, 8x AA, at a playable framerate.

banenwn

To me playable is never dropping below 30 FPS.Crysis when i maxout aa and af i sometimes dip down to 21 fps and the same in farccry 2.Arma 2 when i max that out ill go as low as 11-13 FPS but with aa and af disabled i usually stay above 30.This is on an e8400.I can pretty much guarentee you when i get the 5850 ill stay well above 30 fps in arma 2 when totally maxed out so to me thats a huge difference

linderman

@ Banenwn

Keep us posted when you get your new card and your evaluation. I have never seen any system that can play crysis on every setting on high, Crysis is not written efficiently enough for that!

emosun

Honestly even I can play crysis above 30fps at all times, the game is almost 3 years old time to put it to bed lol.

banenwn

with aa and af maxed at 1680x1050?No you cant not on that 2600XT you cant.It maybe 3 years old but it is still the most demanding game out besides arma 2 now.

I will keep you posted.Later this weekend ill show some benches of farcry 2 and crysis on my gtx 260 then ill rerun those tests when i snag the 5850.Im ordering it either tuesday or friday so hope within 2 weeks will have comparable results between a gtx 260 which is basically the same performance wize as the 4870

emosun

well deh no , only with the aa off

As for crysis being the most demanding game it really isn't anymore. In reality it just the "lowest fps" game. I can run crysis on my older pentium D machine , but games like gta4 it cannot do. Gta4 uses much more cpu power which is why I went quad , lol.

Another part of crysis being so demanding is it doesn't supports quads as well.

banenwn

Im thinking of getting a Q9650 myself seems more games are coming out that support quad.Arma 2 is suppose to run better on quads to but im not sure if i should save money and get the Q9550 or spend the extra $100+ on th 9650 not sure theres enough performance between the 2 to waarent that much more cash

Phædrus2401

The Q9650 really is not worth it at all, the Core i5 750 performs better for cheaper. Only reason to get the Q9650 is in workstation builds where stability is just as important as performance.

The Q9550 is a good quad core at a good price. In many games it still can't compete with the E8400 and E8500, but it will excel at other tasks and at some newer games.

banenwn

Ya but an i5 would require a whole new build.I have a socket 775 so id need a whole new erything pretty much.Maybe ill just stick with my e8400 for another year or 2

Phædrus2401

That's a good idea. A Q9650 or Q9550 would not be any real upgrade over an E8400.

emosun

Unless you plan on doing quad supported tasks.