Imperativity Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 (edited) Hey guys, I'm wanting to upgrade my computer as my power supply recently died; so I thought it's time for an upgrade. I have around £500-£550 and currently I'm running: ATI Radeon 5870 AMD Phenom II X4 Black Edition 3.2GHz ASUS Crosshair III Formula 4GB RAM DDR3 Windows 7 64-bit 1920x1080 700W PSU I really want to play games like Battlefield 3 at a stable fps (above 60) on high/maximum settings. I'm not bothered about antialiasing so I'm more than happy to turn that off completely, but I'd prefer the rest to at least be on high. I currently cannot play Battlefield 3/Skyrim etc on any higher than medium settings at around 30fps. I'm really set on getting an Nvidia/Intel combo, and preferably a card similar to a GTX 580 but they are very expensive indeed, so getting a GPU/CPU (and possible motherboard) combination might be out of the question for such an expensive card. I live in the UK, and plan to purchase new components ASAP. If you guys could link me to any components, I'd highly appreciate it. Thanks in advance. //edit by Wolf68k This topic has been merged with 2 other topics that the OP created after this one. Formally: Topic 1: Looking to upgrade my PC - budget around £500-£550 Topic 2: Would these components go well together? - Budget: £600-£640 Topic 3: Need help picking a motherboard - UK websites only please =] Edited February 15, 2012 by Wolf68k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exxon Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 You've got a powerful GPU, I should upgrade the motherboard to something like a AsRock P67 PRO3 and then buy an i5 2500k. You can still use your RAM as it's DDR3 If you want a GTX 580, you can try to sell your HD 5870 and see what you can get. ASUS' GTX 580 is very good with it's DirectCu II cooling. I believe that's a very good one, although it's quite big. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperativity Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 My graphics card is more-or-less dying, I've seen noticeable frame-rate losses in games, as well as having to lower the settings to maintain FPS. I really think I need a GPU/CPU upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exxon Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Try HW Monitor to see if the temperatures are too high to prevent any overheating issues. Overheating might lead to a damaged GPU. You could also download MSI Afterburner to see if the usage is 99%, if not it could be that your GPU is not damaged and your CPU can't keep up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperativity Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 I've already done all that. For a time they worked perfectly side-by-side. Anyways, please can we just discuss possible CPU/GPU upgrades? I found this and this. Would these two work well together? They're about £506 combined, I don't suppose someone could find me a suitable motherboard as I know nothing about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoječ Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Yes, they will work fine, although you can get i5-2500k instead of i7-2600k - there won't be any difference in games. ASRock P67 Pro3 would be a good mobo for i5; for i7 I'd get something like ASRock Z68 Extreme3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf68k Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I agree with yojo. Another reason to go with the i5-2500k in your case is that if you want to switch to Intel that's fine but you have to account for the fact that you'll need a new mobo to go with it. As for a mobo to put it all on: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3-B3 or if you want pretty much same thing but with on-board graphics (nice for a backup and trouble shooting) GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slamman Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 (edited) If you're a casual gamer, the K for over clocking needs won't be required, Intel offers their new Turbo tech to do this engineered automatically, shifting CPU needs internally when requirements come into play (re: programs demand it) The Phenom II x4 was used to benchmark against the new Intel Sandy Bridge E, and it seemed to fair well, the CPU is part of the equation for Skyrim operations Edited February 13, 2012 by Slamman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exxon Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 ^ But the k version is just a few bucks more expensive, besides the Turbo only helped me from 3.3 GHz to 3.4 GHz while I was playing IV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperativity Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 Hey guys, I decided I'd sell my Xbox 360 to gain a little more spending money towards upgrading my PC as I hardly play it. This means I'll have around an extra £100-£140 to spend on components, equalling £600+ altogether. I found these: i5 2500k 3.3GHz This 580 or this 580. This motherboard or this motherboard. I was just wondering if you guys would recommend these components, if they work well together, which GPU/motherboard you'd recommend and so forth. If they wouldn't go well together, what would you guys recommend? Will I need to purchase a new computer case or anything? Current specs are: ATI Radeon 5870 AMD Phenom II X4 Black Edition 3.2GHz ASUS Crosshair III Formula 4GB RAM DDR3 Windows 7 64-bit 1920x1080 700W PSU I'm a little worried about my 700W PSU too, would I need to upgrade that too, or? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoječ Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 What's the make and model of your PSU? Anyway - all these parts will work together, though both mobos you posted are very weak. ASUS doesn't even have cooled VRMs. I'd pay a few bucks more and get i.e. MSI Z68A-G45 (G3). As for the GPU - IMHO HD7950 is a better option in that price range; performance is comparable with GTX580, it overclocks better, and it draws significantly less power. http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-power-c...ink-dvi-i-hdmi- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperativity Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 I'm unsure of the make, I should be getting a new one today (700W minimum) as the old one broke, I forgot to mention. If I was to purchase this motherboard, as well as a 7950, would the GPU still work with the i5 2500k? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoječ Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Yes, it'd work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperativity Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 I was always told to either go for an NVidia/Intel combination, never combine them with AMD. Are there any negative effects to doing so? AMD have always been slow at releasing new drivers for their cards. And you say the two cards are 'comparable', will it run any worse? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to be entirely sure of what to buy before I spend £600+. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finn 7 five 11 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I was always told to either go for an NVidia/Intel combination, never combine them with AMD. Are there any negative effects to doing so? AMD have always been slow at releasing new drivers for their cards. And you say the two cards are 'comparable', will it run any worse? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to be entirely sure of what to buy before I spend £600+. No, doesn't really matter at all. There may be minor differences, but i couldn't tell you what they were, and the pro's/cons would swing both ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoječ Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 You can pair Intel CPUs with AMD GPUs fine, there won't be any issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperativity Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) Unfortunately that 7950 you linked me looked brilliant, but is out of my budget range and can only be pre-ordered. Would this, this and this be suitable? I wouldn't need to purchase anything else would I? e.g. better cooling, a bigger case or whatever? Edit: Also, would I be able to play Battlefield 3 on high/ultra settings (without anti-aliasing and maybe some effects like motion blur) with a constant 60fps? Edited February 14, 2012 by Imperativity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friendly luggage Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) You might have to look into an aftermarket cpu cooler. My i5 can get to 80°C while under heavy tasks. Idles at 30°C. That's on the standard cooler btw. For it all fitting into your case, we can't say because we don't know what case you have. Most mid tower atx ones will be fine. Edited February 14, 2012 by illegal_luggage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperativity Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) I do have a heatsink that I purchased a while back, will that do the job? It was around £40. Apparently the safe temp for an i5 2500K is like 72C. I'm pretty sure my tower is of correct size, it fitted all of my other components mentioned in the first post, so I'm hoping this one will too. I don't know the name of it or I'd look it up. Edit: I'm seriously considering either a 580 or 7950. Which one would you guys consider better? Edited February 14, 2012 by Imperativity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friendly luggage Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Well your normal cooler with the i5 will be ok if you don't overclock. At the moment the i5 doesn't really need overclocking for games as it's the graphics card which is the bottleneck. If you do fit that cooler make sure you remove any old thermal paste. To apply some just stick a small pea sized blob in the middle of the processor and then fit your cooler into place. As for the 580 vs the 7950 I would say go with the 7950 as it has new features and very low idle power consumption. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperativity Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 Just to make things clear, you're not saying my graphics card will be a bottleneck if combined with the i5 2500k? Also, I want to buy the overclocked version of the 7950 3GB but I'd need a £20-£30 cheaper motherboard. I don't suppose you could help me pick a suitable one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friendly luggage Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Well by your graphics card being a bottleneck I mean that is a good thing in a way because that's is the main thing to stop you achieving higher FPS. The rest of the system is can keep up with the card. I'm not saying the 7950 or the 580 is a bad card because they are far from that and very powerful cards. Don't buy an overclocked version of those graphics cards. You can overclock yourself and it's really easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperativity Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 So none of my system will be negatively affected right? I will be able to play games at a high FPS? Sorry for the misunderstanding, I'm really tired. So my graphics card/rest of the system is a bottleneck? Is this a negative thing? As for not buying the OC'd version, alright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friendly luggage Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 What I mean is that all your system is of a very high spec and will have no problem keeping up with your fast graphics card. This means only your graphics card is the limit on how much fps you can get. I'm not saying your card is slow, it's far from it as you'll be able to max out like 99% of games at 1080p. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperativity Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 Oh right, that's brilliant then. Final question, so the components mentioned in the previous posts will be adequate for my needs, or would you recommend anything different? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anus Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Unless you can stretch your budget, this is more than adequate. Tbh, even if you can spend more, the system you have now will do what you want perfectly fine. No need to spend any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperativity Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 That's great to hear, thanks a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slamman Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) You can pair Intel CPUs with AMD GPUs fine, there won't be any issues. For gaming, it depends on the budget, it seems that Intel is still the CPU of choice, for raw performance. AMD does have multi core, but often as stated, a game or app has to be using the threads Gaming will use 2 or more, Hyper Threading WILL benefit gaming, as far as Intel, having each core with a virtual split via HTT, it will improve gaming. As noted in testing, apps can work better then some games, and no two games demand the same hardware, I'd say Bottlenecks can be simple things like the memory interface. How many bits it is, or the FSB, where an overclock can be made on the simple end Edited February 14, 2012 by Slamman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slamman Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Every buck saved is a buck spent on something else, like your GPU. Another thing to consider is if your CPU would migrate in an upgrade to a new mobo, or your graphics card!!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finn 7 five 11 Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 You can pair Intel CPUs with AMD GPUs fine, there won't be any issues. For gaming, it depends on the budget, it seems that Intel is still the CPU of choice, for raw performance. AMD does have multi core, but often as stated, a game or app has to be using the threads Gaming will use 2 or more, Hyper Threading WILL benefit gaming, as far as Intel, having each core with a virtual split via HTT, it will improve gaming. As noted in testing, apps can work better then some games, and no two games demand the same hardware, I'd say Bottlenecks can be simple things like the memory interface. How many bits it is, or the FSB, where an overclock can be made on the simple end The post you quoted has absolutely nothing to do with AMD vs Intel cpu's slamman. He was asking about whether it mattered if you had an AMD card and an Intel CPU, and it was already answered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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