New SSD and Graphics card?

[camalbitboy]

Hi All, I'm looking for a bit of advice on some new kit if you'd all be so kind.

I've had the rig in my sig for the last few years, but I'm begining to struggle to run games at decent frame rates at 1920 x1200 so am looking at a potential upgrade.

I was thinking about swapping out the 8800GT's for a radeon 6870 (£200ish) but am slightly concerned that I may not get the full benefit from it as my system is somewhat CPU limited. I know that when i OC my cpu up to 3Ghz I can get an extra 20fps in 3DMark06. Unfortunatley I can't find a stable OC any higher than that. So will the 6870 be significantly limited by the CPU?

I was also going to get a SSD, probably a Crucial C300 64Gb (£100ish) to use as a boot disc, especially as I have a free copy of Win7 coming. I know very little about SSD's beyond to look at the 4kb transfer rate which seems to be quite good for the price. Any thoughts?

I suppose overall would I be better off saving my money for now and saving up for a new rig for £800ish in a couple of years time?

Cheers
Cam

[nibbler]

You aren't CPU limited at all, 3GHz quad core is fine. Get a 6870 or a GTX 460 1 gb. That's a good SSD to go for as a boot drive

[chris_argyle]

I have a very similar system and am also concidering a 6870 (or maybe a 1gb 460), just hoping they drop down in price over the next week or two to encourage me to buy one!

[camalbitboy]

I have a very similar system and am also concidering a 6870 (or maybe a 1gb 460), just hoping they drop down in price over the next week or two to encourage me to buy one!

I am leaning towards the 6870 rather than 460 as it is much quieter and uses alot less power from what I've read, so less chance of me needing a new PSU as well. I've got a 600Watt Tagan so I should be fine.

[chris_argyle]

likewise. Its more the noise im looking to limit, but that usually comes with cooler components. Guess either card will be quieter than my old 8800GTXs though!

[PC4Free]

I have a Crucial C300 and i love it. You will notice the speed difference especially during boot

It hasn't got great write speeds however (Still good for me as i dont really use it for storage)

[nibbler]

I would say that if anything, the GTX460 is quieter, but the 6000 series certainly uses less power. Cooler perhaps not as efficient but still really good.

[camalbitboy]

Ah just realised I don't think we're looking at the correct card as compettion for the 6870. The 470not the 460 is the green teams competition to the 6870 surely? both at same price point, and similar performance from reviews (looks like 470 has the edge performance wise, but 6870 way less power and quieter)

"...the HD 6870 1GB and GTX 470 1,280MB performed very similarly across our benchmarks with perhaps the GTX 470 1,280MB edging it thanks to its superior anti-aliased performance in Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

"However, the GTX 470 1,280MB has some rather serious flaws; firstly its gargantuan power consumption, a full 95W more than the HD 6870 1GB and, secondly, it’s ferociously hot running and noisy cooler." Bit-Tech

^For example

[nibbler]

Don't get the GTX 470
I'd go for the 6870 personally, but you'd get away with the GTX 460 easily. I think that the 6850 and 6870 still use less power than the GTX 460.

[marktime]

Don't forget the C300's fastest read speeds are dependent on SATA3, so if you're sticking with your current m/b you might want to consider something like the F60/Vertex 2E if you can find one cheaper than the Crucial.

[camalbitboy]

Don't forget the C300's fastest read speeds are dependent on SATA3, so if you're sticking with your current m/b you might want to consider something like the F60/Vertex 2E if you can find one cheaper than the Crucial.

Striker Extreme has SATA 3.0Gb/s is that not the same thing? I've got a bit out of touch with Tec since having kids!

[marktime]

Striker Extreme has SATA 3.0Gb/s is that not the same thing? I've got a bit out of touch with Tec since having kids!

No, SATA3 is 6gb/s, so you won't get the full advantage of the C300 on that board. Just noticed the Vertex 2E down to just under £92 on OcUK today which might suit you fine.

[eyezpy]

SATA I 1.5Gbits/s
SATA II 3.0Gbits/s
SATA III 6.0Gbits/s

A lot of the 460 have after Market coolers, like the Gigabite with dual fan which I find quite and can be found for about £150 and have no problems playing games on 24" with high graphics settings. The GTX 5xx cards are coming soon so probably more price drops.

[camalbitboy]

No, SATA3 is 6gb/s, so you won't get the full advantage of the C300 on that board. Just noticed the Vertex 2E down to just under £92 on OcUK today which might suit you fine.

Hmm hadn't realised that. So a SATA 2 interface ssd should be just as fast as the crucial c300 and £20 cheaper?

Hmm need to balance that against moving this drive to a new rig at some stage. I'm guessing that by the time I do that ssd's will have advanced considerably and i'll be looking for a new one anyway.
So, recommendations for a SATA2 interfaced SSD around £100 please. looking at Vertex 2E and F60's on advice so far.

Cam

[camalbitboy]

hmm just thought of a further question. In the past when I've upgraded a system drive i've just cloned the old drive across and adjusted the partition afterwards.

But as I'm looking at installing a new OS I'm guessing that I'll need to delete all programmes, install the new drive and OS and reinstall everything. Or is there a way round this?

Cam

[marktime]

hmm just thought of a further question. In the past when I've upgraded a system drive i've just cloned the old drive across and adjusted the partition afterwards.

But as I'm looking at installing a new OS I'm guessing that I'll need to delete all programmes, install the new drive and OS and reinstall everything. Or is there a way round this?

Cam

Really not advisable with a new OS and more so with an SSD, you'll run into problems with 'alignment' plus Win7 configures itself for SSDs automatically on installation (switching off features such as Defrag, etc). Presumably the limited space of the SSD would mean you would have to remove a few things anyway.