Upgrade Possible?

[Smudger]

I'm looking at maybe upgrading my CPU and graphics card without changing much else, am I going to be able to install say an e8400 and a 4870 into my present system? Or am I going to have to upgrade the motherboard as well?

If I can't, can anyone recommend an upgrade path I could take to get a bit more out of my system?

Oh, I should add, my CPU is OCd to 3ghz, and the graphics card is OCd using ATI's CC app

[staffsMike]

No problems doing that with a P5K-E, it's a good board and supports 1333MHz and 45nm chips

Have you overclocked the E4400, as long as you are getting around 2.4GHz out of it, which is entirely possible with relative ease then a CPU upgrade wouldn't be all that worth it.

[Thorsson]

Definitely not worth upgrading the CPU if you're getting 3GHz. Definitely is worth upgrading your video card to what you can afford - it's a bit of a "Golden Age" for cards at the moment, it's hard to go wrong.

[staffsMike]

Agreed ditch the chip upgrade.

I'd be tempted by the cheaper variant GTX260.

[Smudger]

Would the 260 give me a marked improvement over the 1950? How does it compare with the equivalent ATI card? What is the equivalent card?

[staffsMike]

They trade blows game to game. I'd probably give the slight edge to the ATi in performance. But heat and noise are better with the nvidia. Noise wise Silent PC Review arguably the most noise anal on the internet have just done a review in which they were very happy with the Nvidia, although I'm sure the ATi is just as good with noise.

It's heat with the stock cooler which makes the HD4870 a little.. worring. It's not much to worry about I'm sure but 80 degree's idle is a bit alarming, and lowering that means considerably more fan noise afaik.

You can't go wrong above £100 and below £200 right now but my preference is for the GTX260

At 1680 x 1050 both are overkill right now and both will mature very well. The GTX280 would probably be overkill unless a monitor upgrade is in order.

[Smudger]

Ok, I've had a look at both, and you seem to get more for your money from the 4870, which ones have/haven't got the stock cooler? Is there a HIS IceQ version?

[staffsMike]

There's quite a nice gainward but it's a lot more than you should pay for an HD4870
http://scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=878477

The one to go for is this powercolor I suppose
http://scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=860600

Hexus did a review and it faired quite well.

Only problem is the 1GB version is out now and its £1 more.. with the stock cooler though.
http://scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=860598

The EVGA GTX 260 with 10 year warranty and evidently decent stock cooler is only £177 on today only for comparison.

[Smudger]

Ah, Ok, forgot to look at today only...

[dfour]

I upgraded from the 1950xt to a 4850 and the difference is massive. If you only play in 1680*1050 then you dont really need anything more (except a decent cooler on it but I plan to water cool it so its no problem to me)

[Webby]

Looking for a 4870 then this maybe just what you are looking for

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148210

£172, comes with a good after market cooler and overclocks nicely.

As to Mikes point about the 1GB cards, I have had a close look at the numbers and I reckon that at 1920*1200 the appears to be little to no difference, the numbers in the Hexus review are misrepresented due to the 1GB card being pre-overclocked, if you look at the Force3d review on hexus when they overclocked to similar levels as the Powercolor the differences in frame rate were negligible.

Hexus results from Enemy Territory: Quake Wars 1920*1200
Powercolor 4870 PCS 1GB -> GPU: 800MHz, Mem: 3700MHz -> 75.3 fps
Powercolor 4870 PCS 1GB -> GPU: 830MHz, Mem: 4160MHz -> 79 fps
Force3d 4870 512MB -> GPU: 750MHz, Mem: 3600MHz -> 70.1 fps (69.83 fps in original review)
Force3d 4870 512MB -> GPU: 810MHz, Mem: 4400MHz -> 75.07 fps

Note: Powercolor results Catalyst 8.8, Force3D results Catalyst 8.7

Data from here: http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=15463&page=1 and http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=14608

The closest sets of results to compare based on GPU speed are the stock Powercolor and OCed Force3D and the FPS match quite nicely while the memory speed has obviously been increased as well, I would draw the conclusion that the really isn't a huge gain to be found from the 1GB model and overclocking offers more gains. Obviously if they are the same price more memory is good (unless your running a 32bit OS and have more than 2GB of system Memory) but the Force3D I linked is cheaper and offers better aftermarket cooling and I would take that over more RAM with negligible benefit every day of the week.

Of course these comparisons are for a single game and unless we can find a reliable review which compares a stock speed 4870 at both 1GB and 512MB using the same drivers then any conclusions we draw will have to be taken with a pinch of salt.