[LeoDDestroyer]

Ok so my new build is working. I decided to monitor the performance and found on my game when high to very high settings are applied the 6770 maxes out while the cpu stays around 15% to 20%. Now going into to this I knew that the 6770 would just be ok but what I would like to know what will be the best upgrade path from there. Should I stay with an amd gpu(note crossfire not possible on this card) or try nvidia? What type of card as well.

[coastie65]

Hi Leo, ati has put out some nice cards of late, but I went from the 5770 to the Nvidia GTX 560Ti. I moved it this new build and put the 5770 back in the Gateway ( running the i7 960 in that thing ). The 570,580, and yes, 590 are a bit pricey for me and the 560Ti was a good fit for both performance as well as cost.

[LiveBrianD]

I prefer nvidia's drivers, but either one will work. Maybe you'll want to wait for the ati HD 7000 series? The benchmarks for those are looking pretty good.

[LeoDDestroyer]

LiveBrianD, on 30 December 2011 - 11:37 AM, said:

I prefer nvidia's drivers, but either one will work. Maybe you'll want to wait for the ati HD 7000 series? The benchmarks for those are looking pretty good.

It does but then the cpu might be bottle necking then but it may be what I get in the end.

[waldojim]

You will always have a bottleneck of one or the other. The best you can hope for is a decent balance. If you are running an i5/i7 right now then the new 7970 will be a great fit. If you are running an AMD Phenom X4 or X6, then maybe wait until a 7870 is available.

[LeoDDestroyer]

waldojim, on 30 December 2011 - 01:56 PM, said:

You will always have a bottleneck of one or the other. The best you can hope for is a decent balance. If you are running an i5/i7 right now then the new 7970 will be a great fit. If you are running an AMD Phenom X4 or X6, then maybe wait until a 7870 is available.

It a fx-6100@4.1Ghz on stock cooler. I want take it any higher till I get a better cooling solution.

[waldojim]

Then a 7870 will probably be the best fit. The 7970 is going to be $550, so unless you have some serious power backing it, I wouldn't bother...

[LeoDDestroyer]

waldojim, on 30 December 2011 - 03:28 PM, said:

Then a 7870 will probably be the best fit. The 7970 is going to be $550, so unless you have some serious power backing it, I wouldn't bother...

Haven't heard about it any ideal on when it will be released?

[waldojim]

LeoDDestroyer, on 30 December 2011 - 03:42 PM, said:

waldojim, on 30 December 2011 - 03:28 PM, said:

Then a 7870 will probably be the best fit. The 7970 is going to be $550, so unless you have some serious power backing it, I wouldn't bother...

Haven't heard about it any ideal on when it will be released?

They already did their "soft launch", so they are claiming sometime in the next month or two we should see the flagship lineup.

[LeoDDestroyer]

waldojim, on 30 December 2011 - 04:43 PM, said:

LeoDDestroyer, on 30 December 2011 - 03:42 PM, said:

waldojim, on 30 December 2011 - 03:28 PM, said:

Then a 7870 will probably be the best fit. The 7970 is going to be $550, so unless you have some serious power backing it, I wouldn't bother...

Haven't heard about it any ideal on when it will be released?

They already did their "soft launch", so they are claiming sometime in the next month or two we should see the flagship lineup.

Interesting there are so many choices out there so I'll wait and see what happens.

[coastie65]

Yeah, there sure are. I have the EVGA 560Ti installed and am not looking for anything at the moment. May get a second one and go sli though.

[LiveBrianD]

If you're going to do that, you should at least get a 1920x1080 monitor first. Man, I only have ONE 550ti, and at that res it seems like enough.

[LeoDDestroyer]

LiveBrianD, on 31 December 2011 - 04:12 PM, said:

If you're going to do that, you should at least get a 1920x1080 monitor first. Man, I only have ONE 550ti, and at that res it seems like enough.

I'll wait to see how the 7000series cards do. Going to try and stay with a single card setup as well.

[waldojim]

The reviews on the 7970 are already promising. The card basically eats the Nvidia 580 for lunch, and consumes less power doing it.

[LeoDDestroyer]

waldojim, on 01 January 2012 - 04:21 PM, said:

The reviews on the 7970 are already promising. The card basically eats the Nvidia 580 for lunch, and consumes less power doing it.

Since building my first pc now I want to build more. Does everyone feel this way.

[waldojim]

Oh yeah. It takes a bit of restraint for me not to re-build with all the new stuff as they roll out. Of course, an angry wife makes restraint a bit easier

[coastie65]

waldojim, on 01 January 2012 - 05:52 PM, said:

Oh yeah. It takes a bit of restraint for me not to re-build with all the new stuff as they roll out. Of course, an angry wife makes restraint a bit easier

Angry wives can provide a bit of restraint all right. I've only had one who has long since added Ex to her title. The 2011 stuff is rolling out and the Ivy Bridge is coming. All kinds of possibilities.

[waldojim]

In a way I just want the massive 2011 for the quad channel memory. I want to see what I can convince 4 channels of ram to do for me!

From the rumors I have seen, we won't be getting the generational difference we saw between Clarkdale and SandyBridge. We are looking more like the difference between Core 2 and Clarkdale (meaning, sure its faster, but not by much).

[coastie65]

I do find the quad channel ram appealing, but haven't looked into the processors all that much. Processor speed is directlt tied to the ability to cool, and thus the the reason laptop processor speeds lag behind desktop speeds. Granted , there are cooling solutions that will allow you safely push 4+ Ghz at this time and i don't thnk we are too far off from seeing 5 Ghz on a regular basis and not just some extreme OC competition, that are only intended to run long enough to get a benchmark.

[waldojim]

coastie65, on 02 January 2012 - 08:46 AM, said:

I do find the quad channel ram appealing, but haven't looked into the processors all that much. Processor speed is directlt tied to the ability to cool, and thus the the reason laptop processor speeds lag behind desktop speeds. Granted , there are cooling solutions that will allow you safely push 4+ Ghz at this time and i don't thnk we are too far off from seeing 5 Ghz on a regular basis and not just some extreme OC competition, that are only intended to run long enough to get a benchmark.

The 3930K is a 3.2Ghz chip with a 3.8Ghz turbo. I think 3.2-3.8 will be good enough for me.

Side note, the Lenovo that my wife is using has a 3.0Ghz clock rate. Pretty aggressive if you ask me.