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Thread: Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

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    Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

    Hi guys,

    I'm currently using a ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire (as the title suggests...) and I'm thinking of purchasing an NVIDIA GeForce GT 610 2GB card: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/compon...04269-pdt.html

    Do you think this will be a worthwhile upgrade? I know the card I'm using is a very old card, but this computer is just basically a work PC, Photoshop is probably the most intensive I plan to do with it... The passive heatsink really appeals too, as the current card is really noisy!

    So, seeing as this is an old card, but was once a fairly high-spec card.... would it be worth upgrading to a low end but more modern card such as the linked above? Is there any other card in this price range that would be worth considering? I really don't want to spend much, and a passive heatsink would be nice...

    It might be worth noting that the rest of the computer is similarly "conservative" specs: Pentium D 3.00ghz, 1GB Ram

    Sorry for the stupid question, I know very little about graphics cards as I'm not much of a gamer!

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    Re: Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

    The 610 is fine if you just want to display an image/moving video. It's substantially less powerful than a single X1900XTX but will draw a fraction of the power.

    If you don't use any GPU accelerated aspects of PS then it'll do you fine, especially considering the rest of the rig. It won't do anything that requires any sort of grunt though.

    For perspective, the iGPUs built in to Sandy/Ivy Bridge and Haswell CPUs is quite a bit more powerful than the 610, and AMD's APUs blow it out of the water.

    Get the cheapest passive one you can find, or consider something like this (same sort of thing, cheaper)
    Last edited by Shirty; 21-06-2013 at 04:04 PM.

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    Re: Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

    Hi, thanks for your reply!

    So, is the only advantage of upgrading going to be lower current drawn, and decrease in loudness? If that's the case, I think I'll stick with what I have, especially if it's going to lead to decreased performance.

    I was under the impression it may be a fair bit better as the X1900XTX has to use the "legacy" drivers and CCC, and only supports DirectX9.

    Thanks again!

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    Re: Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

    When you say "decreased performance" what are you referring to? I get the impression from your original post that you don't really game, so you can't really be tapping into the performance of the cards you currently have.

    The XTXs are probably pulling between 50-100w from the wall in daily use at the moment, with a peak of about 240w if you load them up in 3D mode. The 610 will never draw more than 30w whatever you do with it, and even less than that in 2D mode.

    I should imagine that the drivers for the XTX are pretty stale by now, and if you spend too much on a GPU you're going to be held back by the single-threaded P4 anyway, so there's no point in sending too much money on any sort of upgrade without a complete overhaul.

    If you want a good boost without breaking the bank, it's worth looking at the second-hand market. You can pick up cards that are only a few years old and still respectable for well under £50 these days.

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    Re: Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

    The newer cards also have far better video acceleration abilities, including the offloading of flash, and also can accelerate the UI of things like the MS Office suite IIRC.

    It can help especially with a slower CPU.

    One of these cards should do the job:

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/VTX3D-Graphi...eywords=HD6570
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Palit-Graphi...keywords=gt630

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    Re: Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

    You're right to assume I'm not a gamer - the card was a hand-me-down from a friend who is, and I popped it in as I assumed that it would offer some boost to the system in terms of video playback etc, and also increase overall system performance by preventing the onboard graphics from using the main RAM, thus freeing up more for the rest of the system - am I way off the mark here?

    This computer is one I have constructed entirely from "leftovers" - in total, it has cost me around £6 so far (ATX cable extender, PCIe auxiliary power cable)! I do plan to upgrade the whole system as I go, as obviously it is hugely underpowered by today's standards. Would I be better off leaving the graphics card and looking for a better CPU/more RAM first? I've built computers in the past, but never on such a tight budget, and it seems to be much more difficult to find useful info on these dated components.

    Thanks again!

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    Re: Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

    It depends on what budget you have. You can get a Celeron dual core,which should have a passable IGP for basic work,or an AMD dual core which has a less powerful CPU but a much faster IGP than the Intel CPU.

    Either CPU will be much faster than a Pentium D.

    You could get a CPU,4GB of RAM,and a motherboard for around £100.

    Edit!!

    This AMD setup would end up quite cheap:

    http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-a...mhz-65w-retail
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CMX4...ds=4gb+1600mhz
    http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...2a55m-ds2.html

    You can get free postage from Scan too.

    There is also cashback:
    http://www.topcashback.co.uk/novatech/
    http://www.quidco.com/novatech/

    You also get Nectar points on Amazon purchases.

    Moreover,the CPU comes with a copy of Simcity 5 too. You can sell the code on Ebay:

    http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Games-/139...mplete=1&rt=nc

    Even with fees deducted,it would be around £75 to £80 for the whole upgrade.

    Second Edit!!

    You would need your HDD and DVD drive to be SATA though.
    Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 21-06-2013 at 05:12 PM.

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    Re: Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

    You really don't need a graphics card these days, even for light to moderate gaming you can get away with built-in graphics. The AMD FM2 platform that Cat suggested is excellent.

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    Re: Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

    If you need a cheap PSU,of these are also reasonably efficient:

    http://www.cclonline.com/product/763...W-PSU/PSU0307/
    http://www.cclonline.com/product/982...t-OEM/PSU0486/

    You can get cashback too on purchases from CCL Computers.

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    Re: Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

    Thanks guys, I might look into building that rig. The only thing is I'd much rather do this bit by bit, and obviously the CPU, memory and MoBo upgrades will all need to be done at the same time as none of the components are backwards compatible with what I have now.

    One more quick question (you've all been really helpful and I really appreciate it!) do you think upgrading the CPU to a Core 2 Duo E6750 would make much difference? I can get one at a very good price at the minute (around £25). Or maybe an E8200?

    E2A: Forgot to mention, I'm using IDE drives at the minute, and would ideally like to continue using both drives for the time being.

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    Re: Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

    I think with PS the amount of RAM might be an issue in your system,so you need to add the cost of more RAM,and a new CPU.

    An E6750 would be a big upgrade over a Pentium D.

    What motherboard and PSU do you have??

    Edit!!

    Just saw an E8200 on Ebay for around £18. That would eb a good upgrade if your motherboard can run it!

    Second Edit!!

    You can get an E8300 and E8400 for around the same price too.
    Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 21-06-2013 at 05:33 PM.

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    Re: Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

    The board is a Gigabyte GA_945GZM S2 Rev 3, and I think it can run an E8200 - at least it says so on the Gigabyte site!

    http://www.gigabyte.com/products/pro...aspx?pid=2467#

    I have no idea what brand or model the PSU is, I grabbed it out of a load of parts that were being thrown away at work... It's 420w I think, made out of that super-cheap gold coloured metal and makes a horrible whining noise on startup - I'm in the process of looking for a new one, too (probably going to go for one of your recommendations)!

    The eBay auction sounds perfect! Would you be so kind as to post a link, please?

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    Re: Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

    I am not sure it can actually run the CPU:

    http://www.gigabyte.com/support-down....aspx?pid=2467

    It seems with even first generation Core2 CPUs it reduces the FSB from 1066MHZ to 800MHZ!!

    Edit!!

    Regarding the PSU,I am using the 400W version to run an AMD A6-3670K based system. AFAIK,they are not certified for 110V operation,so even though they are reasonably efficient,are not 80+ certified.

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    Re: Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

    Wow, good job you pointed that out to me... I assumed N/A meant it was supported from the first BIOS version, I didn't notice the note at the top!

    Looks like a whole new motherboard/CPU/RAM setup is going to be the way forward really then... Oh well! Thanks for your help anyway guys

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    Re: Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

    Thing is, because the components come together as a bundle (i.e. DDR3 fits only modern boards, and modern boards require modern chips), it's usually best to buy them together.

    Also, if your PSU is whining, you'll probably need to upgrade that at the same time - not worth having the whole thing blow up for the sake of a new PSU. Best thing to do is probably to save up a bit of cash, and pop back with a budget when you're ready and we can see what the best move is. What you have at the moment is far from ideal in terms of both performance and electricity consumption, but there's probably little to gain from going bit-by-bit.

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    Re: Currently using ATI Radeon X1900XTX CrossFire... worthwhile upgrade?

    I wouldn't be that quick to dismiss a CPU upgrade.

    Yes, an E8400 doesn't make sense since it would be forced to run at 800/1333 (effectively 1.8GHz), but something like an E5400 is supported. While passmark is not great, it gives you some idea:
    Pentium Dual-Core E5400 @ 2.70GHz 1584
    Intel Pentium D 3.00GHz 674
    So that's nearly three times the speed and less power. And you can get those for £12 BiN on ebay:
    http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/CPUs-Proce...400%29&_sop=15

    Yes, your old motherboard will probably run that CPU a bit slower than it should be but value-wise for £12 you can't really beat that upgrade. At worst (if your motherboard has some issues with the CPU) you're £12 out of pocket.

    Oh, for your original question: you might was well take one of those X1900XTX's out since it's only generating noise.

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