do I need new ram? (mega gaming machine)

[omghaxcode]

I can get an i7-990X cpu + DX58OG motherboard for $535. I heard something about high end sandy bridges needing DDR3 or something. Is that true? My current specs are in my signature, would you buy at this price?

 

[BoomerD]

I can get an i7-990X cpu + DX58OG motherboard for $535. I heard something about high end sandy bridges needing DDR3 or something. Is that true? My current specs are in my signature, would you buy at this price?

I don't have signatures enabled, so I don't know your current specs...but the i7-990x is NOT a Sandy Bridge processor...it DOES however, require DDR3 RAM.

 

[omghaxcode]

ASUS Rampage Formula
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
Corsair 1000 watt PSU
4x2gb Corsair DDR2 1066 Ram
2xRadeon 4870x2 Crossfire
Western Digital Raptor 150 GB HD
Western Digital VelociRaptor 300 GB HD

yeah that was a mental lapse. I meant gulftown.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Why do you want it? Are there games that you want to play right now that don't run well enough on your current setup?

If what you have works well, it's probably better to wait. Speeds will go up, prices will go down.

 

[omghaxcode]

Actually yeah. There are several games wheren "ultra" settings start to chug on my machine. I mean you have to admit, this is an amazing deal. Wouldn't you be tempted? $700 off of the normal prices.

 

[DaveSimmons]

> I mean you have to admit, this is an amazing deal. Wouldn't you be tempted? $700 off of the normal prices.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/142?vs=287

An i7-2600K at stock speed is about as good while using ~60 watts less under load, so I'd get that instead.

 

[zi0n.]

> I mean you have to admit, this is an amazing deal. Wouldn't you be tempted? $700 off of the normal prices.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/142?vs=287

An i7-2600K at stock speed is about as good while using ~60 watts less under load, so I'd get that instead.

This. Having a faster, cheaper and newer tech I wouldn't go X58 route.

 

[mfenn]

This. Having a faster, cheaper and newer tech I wouldn't go X58 route.

Agree.

OP, you're going to have to buy new RAM with any new build. HOWEVER, your gaming problems are more likely due to your GPUs being kinda weak at this point (equivalent of 5770 CFX).

 

[omghaxcode]

you really think two 4870xs in crossfire are my bottleneck? I assumed my cpu was the problem just because it is not even close to current high end

 

[fffblackmage]

^ Yes.

Take a look:

Your two 4870s in CFX is roughly equivalent to a single 5870. (Close enough)

You'd be essentially be doubling your gaming performance if you upgraded to two 6950s in CFX.

You won't see that kind of performance boost if you upgraded to a 980X or an i5-2500K. (You'd see a nice performance increase everywhere else, just not gaming)

And no, I wouldn't buy the 990X, even at that nice price.

 

[DaveSimmons]

4870s were great cards . . . back in 2008.

 

[mfenn]

you really think two 4870xs in crossfire are my bottleneck? I assumed my cpu was the problem just because it is not even close to current high end

Hmm, I didn't initially notice that you had 4870X2 in crossfire, I read it as 4870 crossfire. Still, you're only talking about single 6950 2GB-caliber performance (scaling really sucked in that generation, quad-CFX even more so).

Since you mentioned that increasing the settings to ultra starts to slow it down, then I'm going to go with yes, the GPU is the bottleneck. GPUs advance much more quckly than CPUs. An i5 2500 is about twice as fast as a Q9550 in CPU-bound applications (20% or so in games) but a 6950 2GB CFX solution will be over twice as fast as what you have now.

 

[omghaxcode]

ok I get the point. how about this though:

i7-2600K + DZ68DB + 160 GB Intel 320 Series SSD - $491

Are SSD's much faster than VelociRaptors? how long do they live?

 

[omghaxcode]

^ Yes.

Take a look:

Your two 4870s in CFX is roughly equivalent to a single 5870. (Close enough)

You'd be essentially be doubling your gaming performance if you upgraded to two 6950s in CFX.

You won't see that kind of performance boost if you upgraded to a 980X or an i5-2500K. (You'd see a nice performance increase everywhere else, just not gaming)

And no, I wouldn't buy the 990X, even at that nice price.

4870s were great cards . . . back in 2008.

by the way, I have two 4870x2s... meaning 4 gpus on 2 cards. you're confusing 2 4870s in crossfire with 2 4870x2s in crossfire

 

[fffblackmage]

ok I get the point. how about this though:

i7-2600K + DZ68DB + 160 GB Intel 320 Series SSD - $491

Are SSD's much faster than VelociRaptors? how long do they live?

Sequential performance might not always be spectacular, depending on the SSD, but Velociraptors still can't touch SSDs on access latency and high I/O workloads (reading/writing a ton of small files).

They'll outlive the usefulness of your computer.

I still agree with mfenn that the GPU is more likely to make a bigger difference, as far as gaming is concerned.

by the way, I have two 4870x2s... meaning 4 gpus on 2 cards. you're confusing 2 4870s in crossfire with 2 4870x2s in crossfire

Yeah, I noticed now. Sorry about that.

 

[Morg.]

As said multiple times, the only thing really holding you back is your GPU's .. even your current CPU with modern GPU's would do much better.

VelociRaptor are pure crap compared to good (read 256GB last gen) SSD's, both in terms of access speed and bandwidth, be it sequential (where the HDD is less penalized) or random.

 

[omghaxcode]

so what about Intel's 320 series? is that a good line?

 

[mfenn]

so what about Intel's 320 series? is that a good line?

Yes, it is very good.

All this Intel gear; somebody knows sombody who works at Intel.

 

[omghaxcode]

somebody does work at Intel