Processor Upgrade

[stuck]

i'm gonna go for the 4870 and see how it goes with that

CPU is running on the stock settings... I had planned to overclock it but have never got round to it, probably out of fear of blowing it up

[MSIC]

Well that might be wise given your current memory speeds - its not that you can't do it, however you'd have to lower the speeds initially (within the BIOS) to allow for an increase in the Front Side Bus on the CPU, which then bumps the RAM back up again, however they would then be running asynchronously. Do-able, but of limited use. Faster RAM allows for this, and to still be run synchronously. Post back if you want to try overclocking, certainly your great case will allow good airflow (which is so important in overclocking); do you know if you have the standard AMD Heatsink/Fan (HSF) on the CPU, or did you get a different one?

[stuck]

its the standard heatsink and fan but i was told at the time that the stock one is quite a good one anyway...

would there be a decent performance boost from overclocking? what can i expect?

also... the 4870... is it worth spending the extra to get 1gb rather than 512mb? and how does the powercolor compare to the sapphire? for an extra £5 it seems the powercolor is OC'd to 770 rather than 750Mhz ... is it worth the extra?

also is the 4870 that much better than the 4850? would save me about 35 quid to go for the 4850 instead

[kalniel]

would there be a decent performance boost from overclocking? what can i expect?

No. Depends on the game and whether it's CPU limited or not. It's going to be quite rare that you find a game old enough to be CPU limited, yet still running slowly enough on your computer that improving the speed gives you a noticeable improvement in enjoyment.

also... the 4870... is it worth spending the extra to get 1gb rather than 512mb?

Not at 1680x1050.

and how does the powercolor compare to the sapphire? for an extra £5 it seems the powercolor is OC'd to 770 rather than 750Mhz ... is it worth the extra?

Nominally there's no difference - I've not checked the coolers for those ones though.

also is the 4870 that much better than the 4850? would save me about 35 quid to go for the 4850 instead

It is about 25-30% better I guess so scales quite well with the cost.

[MSIC]

Have a glance at this Bit-tech review of the current AMD and nvidia graphics cards:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/gra...70-1gb-toxic/4
It's at your resolution, on full settings, and that page is FC2 which you mentioned. Perhaps the 4850 is the one to go for.
You'll probably get slightly lower framerates than they did because of your CPU etc, however it demonstrates the cards relative to one-another.

I've never personally been a fan of pre-overclocked cards, i think that's how the companies make easy money. The only extra 'feature' i'd recommend is if it comes with a really good cooling system (and quiet etc).

As for your stock HSF on the CPU, you can still get an extra 10 to 20% i'm sure without any sweat.

[kalniel]

Have a glance at this Bit-tech review of the current AMD and nvidia graphics cards:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/gra...70-1gb-toxic/4
It's at your resolution, on full settings, and that page is FC2 which you mentioned. Perhaps the 4850 is the one to go for.

I can't see anything about the 4850 there, am I missing it?

[stuck]

that page also seems to show a fairly decent +~10fps average improvement of the 1GB over the 512, with 4x AA......

[MSIC]

I can't see anything about the 4850 there, am I missing it?

Oops. that's true, sorry!
Will try to find a better link in the morning

[stuck]

I'm really quite unsure what to do now... the 4870 was pushing my budget in the first place but the extra £35 for the 1GB seems to offer some decent gains when running 4x AA and from what I'm reading it will be more suitable for the more consuming games that come out in the future.... what do you guys think?

[Biscuit]

If you where pushing your budget before then i would stick with the 512. Its still going to be a solid cards and whilst the extra bit of performance would be nice, the performance is going to be far from disappointing with a 512 model.

[stuck]

powercolor or sapphire?

[kalniel]

powercolor or sapphire?

Whichever's cheaper.

[stuck]

ordered the sapphire 512 just now off novatech... arrives friday 13th (scary!)

woohoo!

thanks for all your help

[stuck]

when the card arrives what do i need to do to install it? Should I flash the (now 2 and a bit years old) BIOS?? If so, how..

Also my current card is nvidia so what do i need to do to make sure all the drivers for that are completely gone?

Cheers

[kalniel]

when the card arrives what do i need to do to install it? Should I flash the (now 2 and a bit years old) BIOS?? If so, how..

No.

Also my current card is nvidia so what do i need to do to make sure all the drivers for that are completely gone?

Cheers

1) Download a driver cleaning program
2) Reboot into safe mode
3) Run the nVidia uninstaller/control panel uninstaller
4) Reboot into safe mode again
5) Run driver cleaning program
6) Reboot.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

ordered the sapphire 512 just now off novatech... arrives friday 13th (scary!)

woohoo!

thanks for all your help

It's the second Friday the 13th this year!!