Graphic Cards GPU *only* upgrade for my 3 year old rig. Budget ~20K

B

buBleZ

Forerunner
Hello folks,

Feeling the need to upgrade my gaming experience. My current config is in my sig with a 3870x2 bought in Jan-2008 for gaming.

Budget: ~20K

Requirements:

1. Single ATI 6xxx card which I can crossfire with another card later using the 2 PCIe 16x slots that my mobo(Asus rampage formula x48) has .

2. Card which does't blow air outwards towards the bottom of the cabinet as I have 2 intake fans there. Somecard which blows air external to the cabinet.

3. Card which requires a single 6pin and a single 8pin power supply.

Queries:

1. My mobo has 2 PCIE 16x 2.0 slots while the newer cards are 2.1 standard. Does the new standard offer any performance improvements? I am assuming ATI 6xxx series cards are compatible with my mobo.

2. Is my Tagan 700W power supply enough for one card now and 2 if I want to crossfire later?

3. Will my current CPu/RAM combo bottleneck the GPU?

4. Will a single 6970 suffice gaming at full HD on Dell 2408 with 8xAA for the current games and games in 2012?

5. Finally does it make sense to wait for 7xxx series in 2012?

Regards,

buBleZ.
 
For your budget I would suggest you to wait for 3-4 months cause amd hd7xxx series about to be released in Q1 of 2012,otherwise go for Sapphire toxic 6950/msi twinfrozr iii 6950-15.5k both can be unlocked to 6970.you can play games at full hd reso with 8xAA.your tagan psu will suffice for single hd6950 oc,might be better if you change to 750/850w psu for xfire.The 2.1v pcie cards are backward compatible so no need to worry it will support your mobo.Add 2gb ram if possible,your cpu won't bottleneck as it's already overclocked.

HARDOCP - Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - SAPPHIRE TOXIC HD6950 Video Card Review
 
^^your cpu will bottleneck any hd 6950 / 6970 CF set-up. More RAM is not required as anyway no game takes advantage of more than 3 gig of RAM. Waiting is an option only if you are the patient type. Then again if you decide to wait for the HD 7xxx series or the GTX 6xx series, then for sure you will require an entire rig upgrade.

Regarding the blower requirement of your card, you will either have stick to reference models or models like the sapphire 6950 toxic which actually blows the hot air outside of your case.

Lastly a single hd 6970 wont be able to run games at max settings with 8xaa smoothly in 2012. It still cant run most GPU intensive games with 8xaa that are available now. Crysis, Crysis 2 & Metro 2033 being those games.

I would suggest you to either upgrade your rig and get a hd 6950 2gb CF set-up or wait till march-april next year & then upgrade to ivy-bridge (or bulldozer) and HD 7xxx series.
 
Answer to queries

1. Your card will work fine as PCI-e 2.0 is backward compatible. PCI-e 2.1 brings no significant performance improvements over 2.0, though the former offers high bandwidth.
2. Your PSU is enough to handle a single card, can't comment on two cards in crossfire since you have cpu overcloked to 4ghz.
3. Not at all.
4. Yes HD6970 should suffice at 1080p for current games but same can't be said to upcoming games at high settings.
5. I see you have a HD3870X2 that should do pretty well @ 1650x1xxx resolution. Hold your purchase till Q4 and get a new HD7XXX series when it gets launched.
 
2 contradicting replies on CPU becoming bottleneck

muzux2 said:
3. Not at all.
Click to expand...

devvfata1ity said:
^^your cpu will bottleneck any hd 6950 / 6970 CF set-up.
Click to expand...

Please elaborate how?

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

Thanks for the input folks. Now I am in a dilemma whether I need to wait and if so how much time I need to wait for 7xxx series.

Also what manufacturer gives international warranty? I am thinking of getting the card from US if there is a significant price advantage.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

---bump---
 
you will never be bothered by CPU bottlenecks, cos you will play at 1080p,even if the frames are restriced by the CPU, playability will not be an issues... (110 fps instead of 135)

wait for the HD7xxx / GTX6xx series...me doing the same..
 
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