upgrading old card

[wallrunnerm15]

i currently have a hd 3870 in my s939 system right now. was thinking about upgrading just the video card for right now. would i alreday be maxed out with the 3870 or could i push my rig a bit further with a 4890 or maybe 5850. i am looking for a card around $200. i am running vista 64 with a s939 opt 185 with 4gb ram.

 

[Spydermag68]

Right now it is really hard to find the 5850s and they are really over your budget $259 to $289 if you can find them. I am still trying to find one. I might have wait for another month.

There are 5750 and 5770 that you can get that have DX11 for about $129 to $175 range. I think the 5770 has the performance close to 4890.

 

[Rike]

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=40&threadid=2344802

Currently a good deal if you're willing to put your budget a little.

 

[lavaheadache]

although you'll see good gains by adding a more powerful card, certainly your cpu is going to hold back some performance. My old 939 FX60 was a minor bottleneck to the 8800GTX way back when.


Also depends on what games you are running and settings you desire

 

[toyota]

a $250 5850 would be a massive waste while using a 2.6 Opty. a 4890 would also be pretty dang wasteful too but at least its $100 cheaper. really a $90 4850 would be a nice boost and thats about as high as I would go as even that will be noticeably limited by your cpu in many modern games.

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: lavaheadache
although you'll see good gains by adding a more powerful card, certainly your cpu is going to hold back some performance. My old 939 FX60 was a minor bottleneck to the 8800GTX way back when.

Also depends on what games you are running and settings you desire

^ This. OP needs to include games/resolution to make a more informed decision.

Agree that 939 X2 can be pretty limiting - was for me even with my old 2900Pro.

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: toyota
a $250 5850 would be a massive waste while using a 2.6 Opty. a 4890 would also be pretty dang wasteful too but at least its $100 cheaper. really a $90 4850 would be a nice boost and thats about as high as I would go as even that will be noticeably limited by your cpu in many modern games.

wow, I didn't see that comment coming. Unfortunately, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

@OP, you should be concerned about the performance increase vs your current card. I went from a 3870 to a 4850, in most instances it is a good but not great increase. The 4890 would be a much more noticeable increase, but it is old tech dx 10.1 and is a power hog, plus it would be bottlenecked significantly by the opty even if you oc it to 3.0-3.2. 5850 is much better on power but is just too much for your cpu in many situations where it would actually make a difference.

Save the money from the potential video card purchase and upgrade your system first. A p55/i5 combo can be had for just slightly more than the price of a 5850, grab those and part out the old system before upgrading the video card.

 

[wallrunnerm15]

my opt is sitting at 3.2 and i did notice a significant difference when i upgraded from 2900xt to my hd 3870. a 4890 would be nice and can be had for under 200 now. the games i am looking to play are modern warfare 2, dragon age, and mass effect 2. currently i just play fallout 3 and WOW.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: wallrunnerm15
my opt is sitting at 3.2 and i did notice a significant difference when i upgraded from 2900xt to my hd 3870. a 4890 would be nice and can be had for under 200 now. the games i am looking to play are modern warfare 2, dragon age, and mass effect 2. currently i just play fallout 3 and WOW.

its funny that you say you noticed a "significant difference" going from a 2900xt to a 3870 because those cards are nearly identical in performance. heck in most cases there is not even more than 1 fps between them.

with your cpu a 4870 would certainly be the very highest I would go. even with the old opty at 3.2 it would still be very limiting on a 4890. in most games you would likely see little to no benefit in running a 4890 over a cheaper 4870. if you are used to playing games on that 3870 then even a 4850 would be huge improvement and much more suitable to your system.

 

[Jacen]

I wouldn't go over a 4850/4770 until you can upgrade your CPU/MB platform. No need to waste money where it isn't needed.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

The 1GB HD4870 or the HD4890 would be good options. The improved performance as well as the improved AA performance will make a huge difference over the 3870.

Your system is not maxed out with the 3870.

 

[Qbah]

Originally posted by: wallrunnerm15
my opt is sitting at 3.2 and i did notice a significant difference when i upgraded from 2900xt to my hd 3870. a 4890 would be nice and can be had for under 200 now. the games i am looking to play are modern warfare 2, dragon age, and mass effect 2. currently i just play fallout 3 and WOW.

That is called an illusion There's virtually no difference in performance between the two.

As for your upgrade, I'd reconsider. Put away a bit more money and do a full upgrade, I'd say. Get a nice quad core and a HD5850 and you'll be set

As for the games you mention, what resolution are you running? You should be fine with ME2 and DAO and no AA, unless you're at 2560x1600. (or 1920x1200 - should be better here). No idea about MW2, but since it's basically a console port, you should be fine too - provided you're willing to not use AA or perhaps drop a slider or two with details. I don't see the point in buying a card that's already old tech. Sure it runs games fine now, but what about in a year? Will you buy a new card then? Or be forced again to lower details? A new quad core and a HD58xx card should be a great buy for the foreseeable future.

 

[Pederv]

I noticed smoother game play in Need for Speed Shift when I upgraded my video from an AIW X1900 to a 4890 on my S939 4800. I have 3DMark 2000 - 2006 scores, at home, if you want to compare but your CPU is clocked 800MHz higher than mine.

The plan is to put the 4890 into my new system, upgrade my daughters PhII940/4870 to a 5850 and put the 4870 into my S939 4800 system.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: Pederv
I noticed smoother game play in Need for Speed Shift when I upgraded my video from an AIW X1900 to a 4890 on my S939 4800. I have 3DMark 2000 - 2006 scores, at home, if you want to compare but your CPU is clocked 800MHz higher than mine.

The plan is to put the 4890 into my new system, upgrade my daughters PhII940/4870 to a 5850 and put the 4870 into my S939 4800 system.

of course going from a very old x1900 to a 4890 would have resulted in smoother game play. heck even going from an x1900 to just a 3870 would have given you smoother game play. with that 4800 X2 cpu, a 4870 and likely even a 4850 in some cases would have given you the same playable experience in many games as that 4890 did. depending on the individual game, settings and res a 4800 X2 could easily hold a 4890 back by 40-50%.

 

[happy medium]

I go with a hd5770 1gb (160$ shipped). Direct x 11, lower power usage,runs cooler,and smack in the middle of a 4850/4870 in performance.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102858

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: happy medium
I go with a hd5770 1gb. Direct x 11, lower power usage,runs cooler,and smack in the middle of a 4850/4870 in performance.

its not really smack in the middle as its basically almost even with the 4870. the 5770 is just not a good performer for the money right now though. IMO it really needs to come down at least 20 bucks.

 

[happy medium]

160$ shipped. Thats not to bad for the extra features it gives and the other positives I listed. The cheapest 4870 is 145$ shipped and only sports 2 dvi ports and runs hot according to the reviews on Newegg.
15$ more is not bad.

edit: if it drops to 150$ and there is no sign of a 5830, thats what I'm buying.
I would bet future games with direct x 11, it will be faster then the 4870 also.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: happy medium
160$ shipped. Thats not to bad for the extra features it gives and the other positives I listed. The cheapest 4870 is 145$ shipped and only sports 2 dvi ports and runs hot according to the reviews on Newegg.
15$ more is not bad.

edit: if it drops to 150$ and there is no sign of a 5830, thats what I'm buying.

yeah I see what you are saying. I guess its just the the thought of currently paying 15 bucks more for a slower card that bothers me a bit.

 

[happy medium]

How about the "HIS" version for 160$ and free Dirt 2 game?
Mabe even better?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161306

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: happy medium
How about the "HIS" version for 160$ and free Dirt 2 game?
Mabe even better?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161306

if someone actually wanted that game it would certainly be a decent deal. too bad it doesnt have free shipping as that would help sweeten it a bit.