Widescreen Gaming Forum

I just bought 3x 23.6" ASUS VE247H monitors and I am going for the eyefinity setup
My current specs:

Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E7500 @2.93GHz 3MB L2 Cache

RAM: 4GB DDR2

Video Card: ATI Radeon 5750

MotherBoard: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5Q SE PLUS

Its a modest build at best, something I was barely able to put together on a tight budget during my undergraduate career. I know with my current setup I wouldn't be able to run most graphics intensive shooters even under normal quality settings. I want to be able to run graphics intensive games like crysis2, upcoming DeusEx and ME3 with a decent fps under high resolution and max resolution settings, but I am limited by my budget.

As far as videocards go, I am a hardcore ATI fanboy and my price range is somewhere around $150-250 CAD range (approximate). I also have a second 5750 in another computer, which I MIGHT consider running crossfire, though this is a secondary option to me unless I can get a better performance out of it. I am considering cards such as the 6870, 6850, or 5770. 6950 seems out of my budget, but I don't know what I really need.

For the CPU, I am looking at the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition, or possibly the 1100T (not sure if its worth the extra $).. This means ill have to get a new mb, but I am not sure which one to get. I want a motherboard that gives me good bang for the buck if possible.

All in all, I am willing to spend upwards of about $1000 CAD tax in for the cpu and video card combo.... though I would prefer it be cheaper since I just blew 6 bills on my monitor setup.

Any help would be appreciated!

Would probably say that it would of been best to get the GPU first, and monitors after, but never mind!

I would say that you need as much GPU grunt as you can get, your CPU shouldn't limit you too much at higher resolutions anyway, so I would go with a 2GB 6950 and flash its BIOS to a 6970. You can probably get away with less power, but the 2GB video ram seems to be advised by many people running nV and ATi cards, with multiple monitors.

I would also check your PSU to see how good it is before upgrading to a new graphics card, but I don't necessarily mean you need to buy a new one tomorrow.

I would then say you need to upgrade the Mobo, RAM and CPU, Intel's CPUs are faster, but also a little more expensive in many cases, a i5 2500K is about the best multi-purpose CPU of the moment; highly overclockable and easy to do, but of course cost is a serious factor for you.

Hope that helps a bit.

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P8Z68-V Pro | 2600K | HR02 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 128GB M4 + 6TB | X-Fi > HD595 | AX850 | Tai Chi | PB278Q | G110 + Deathadder 2013
P8Z77-V | 3570K | Mugen 2 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 500GB | X-750 | Fractal R3 | U2212HM | G110 + G400
P8H77-I | G860 | 4650 | 2x2GB XMS | 320GB | CX500 | Prodigy | T22B350EW | MX518
DC3217IYE | 1x4GB Vengeance | 64GB M4 | TX-42VT20E

For 1000 CAD you can get something nice :) but first...

E7500 @3ghz is old, you're gonna have some problems! I'm running a E8400 @4ghz and i get CPU limit at 50-60 FPS in Witcher 2. Heard that GTA 4 is even wors.

If you wanna Upgrade you also need new Ram (DDR3) i think you're still running on DDR2.

so
+300$ CAD for CPU :I7 -2600k http://www.expc.ca/i-17115-Intel_Core_i7_2600K_Sandy_Bridge_3_4GHz.html
(210 if you want to save i7-2500K http://www.expc.ca/i-17116-Intel_Core_i5_2500K_Sandy_Bridge_3_3GHz.html )
+150-300$ CAD Mainboard 1155. (If you buy K version of CPU, look that you get a Mainboard which can use Multiplier... was ist H or Z chipset? And also IF you Plan for the Future, look for a Bord with 2 PCI-E 16x Lanes, so you can use CF later on if you want to)
+100-150$ CAD RAM (DDR3-1600 (or 1333) 2x 2GB Kit.

And GPU
+300$ CAD AMD Radeon HD6950 http://www.expc.ca/i-16895-Gigabyte_Radeon_HD_6950.html

Total: 760 - 1050$ CAD.

Warning! do NOT Flash 6970 Bios on 6950 Card! because 6950 has other RAM! (Less RAM Voltage if i'm correct.) Use a Shadder Unlock mode, and Overclock GPU Manually (not RAM, only Core).

Also! There are New Versions of HD6950 which will NOT let you use Shader Mod oder Flash Bios! They are disabled on PCB. So you need to make sure that this Card will be able Shade mod (Needs Bios Switch, and... there are some Cards which have switch but no double Bios)

Hope you will find something you like.

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We gonna send it to outa space!

^Good choices. (and pretty much what i have, which I'm very happy with)

Though that Gigabyte card is one that's been verified to take a full 6790 flash without a problem. OF course, there's always s risk, just be sure to use ATI Tool to test for artifacting, keep a close eye on the temperatures, and always remember that if you fudge, it it has that little switch for the Safe BIOS.

But yes, those BIOS switch-equipped 6950s are getting harder to find. Even if a seller lists or shows a pic with it, be sure to email them and make sure. I did a lot of hinting and wound up buying mine from Amazon.ca - an ASUS with a manufacturer voltmod, so I was force to use a shader-only unlock, since using a full unlock on it fried others' cards.


The extra $100 or so for the 2600k is mostly for slightly higher OCing and Hyperthreading. Only really worth the both if you are going to do anything that will use thsoe virtual cores like encoding. Ive seen no PC game support it, and it actually hinders fps. But if you ARE going to do encoding, it's awesome.

and i Thought new Sandy Bridge CPU's are encoding over a Hardware pice in the CPU.

http://www.intel.com/technology/quicksync/index.htm

And here some tests about Shader unlock /Bios Flash

http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/909086-6950-shaders-unlocked-vs-full-unlocked.html

and

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/159

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We gonna send it to outa space!

I'm speaking of programs like Virtualdub, DVD-Fab, BR-Rebuilder, etc. But any program that utilizes virtual cores will benefit. It's just that encoders that i use can take advantage of it. I suspect other editing programs like Adobe could use virtual cores, but I'm unsure.

I do a fair amount of video encoding, so I settled on the 2600k. With the Hyper-Threading OFF, a full 50gb Blu-ray encode took 230 minutes. With Hyper-Threading ON, it only took 101 minutes.

Conversely, my Just Cause 2 "Concrete Jungle" benchmark actually LOST 4 fps, on average. So for gaming, it detrimental. Luckily, every BIOS I've seen lately ahsteh ability to disable the feature, so i only have it enabled when i need it.

When researching those Sandy Bridges, the consensus is that the 2500k is slightly poorer at overclocking than the 2600k. Well, slightly less awesome would be more accurate, as they both OC like crazy. I got my 2600k from defalt 3.4ghz to 4.8ghz pretty much right away, with only a simple divider jump and a slight vcore increase.

three29: If you DO end up getting a Sandy CPU, get one of the "K" versions. Unless you never plan to overclock. But it's so easy with the Sandys, i see reason not too.