Thinking 5870

[I Hunta x]

Ok so ive been planning to upgrade this 8800gt for a while now and ive finaly got to a point where i can afford to get a 5870 with a little saving over the next month, ive just been having some thoughts keep popping back up about if my other components are going to hinder its performance much/at all.

Currently my set up is an E8600 @ 4ghz*, 2gb DDR2 1066, 8800gt Slightly OC, Asus p5k Premium, Win 7 ULT 64Bit, 1280x1024** screen for RST/Shooters and a 42" 1920x1080 tv for racing games (as i use a 360 pad and can sit far enough away).

*My current cooler sucks eggs when its fan is toned down to accepable noise levels.

**Im getting a new primary monitor (most likely 1920x1080/1200) for a collage course im starting next year as soon as i get my student card through as a local shop has discounts on monitors and some other stuff for students.

So the first thought was "Is 2gb ram going to be enough?" and the second was "As its a dual core is the cpu clock going to be affecting it even if i upgrade to 4gb Ram?"

So basicaly would 4gb Ram make any minimum/average FPS difference? i can get 4gb CL5 Corsair Dominator/OCZ Blades/Kingston HyperX 1066mhz for around £90-100 inc postage - 4gb OCZ Gold CL5 1150mhz for around £115-120 - 4gb CL6 1200mhz gskill ripjaw for £110 inc postage

I can up the cpu clock to around 4.25 by running my current cpu cooler on flat out fans no problem but due to the noise id rather just spend 30-50 on a new cooler like a Titan Fenrir, CM V8 or Noctua NH U12P as to keep it nice and quiet, i realy dont mind that cost once i get the new GPU if i will get better perfomance all round (i know i will in sketch'up/photoshop ect).

EDIT: Incase it matters aiming to play things like Dirt 2, Red Faction: Guerrilla, Metro 2033 and the new STALKER ect on fairly high at 1920x1080/1200

[tinytomlogan]

4gb will make a general speed increase with Win 7 tbh fella, mine is sat at 1.8gb used now. And deffo get a new cooler, I'll be covering a few more over the coming weeks but the NH-D14 got a gold for a reason

As for the CPU its plenty to keep a 5870 happy with a good bus speed tbh dude.

[Brooksie]

I can play Dirt 2 max with 4xaa on my 5850 XXX at 1920x1080. Solid 50-70 FPS (pefectly smooth)

Q6600 at 3.2GHz (400x8)

DFI Lanparty DK P45-T2RS Plus

4gb Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400

XFX 5850 XXX edition

Need to tryout Red Faction and Metro 2033 as they both look like good games.

[I Hunta x]

@Tom - I have no problems with win 7 being slow at all with 2 gb (currently sat at 1.6gb used with photoshop, FF and dirt 2 open on the big screen) but im sure 4gb would be a noteable increase once i get it stuck in there and. As to the cooler acording to the Noctua site the d14 has no problems with my p5k and the Gskill ripjaws fit under the 120mm side fan fine so it looks like ill be getting the d14 and the ripjaws.

@Brooksie - just ran the benchmark on dirt 2 and with everything maxed (high + ultra were possable) 8x qcsaa in 1080p and im getting 36 min 51 max, very big suprise tbh .

metro 2033 seems fun from the first 30 mins i played on my laptop the other evening, not yet installed it on the tower, as for red faction if you like destroying stuff then you will enjoy it.

Now just to decide in what order to buy them, mabey ram (then sell mine to put towards a 5870) > 5870 (then sell my 8800gt to put towards the noctua) > noctua?? as my current cooler has like no resale value so it would make sense being the last upgrade.

[AMDFTW]

sell your RAM,then your GPU fella

[Diablo]

The extra ram becomes important when you change the GPU as there will be some used by the system for the GPU shared. I'd say RAM then GPU then cooler.

[I Hunta x]

Fair enough guys thanks for the input, this also gives time for the compo for the 3 d14's to finish.

[Steve-O-]

Extra ram is def going to help like TTL said. I wouldn't go any less. I see your a fello PS user so it will make that even better

Your CPU is at a high enough clock speed for your cards.

Def get the NH-D14. I just got one and I can vouch for it as being an amazing cooler! Also I think your board might be really similar to my P5N-D so make sure you don't get ram with too big of heatsink. the cooler will block the first ram slot if you go with a horizontal config. I have mushkin ram and their heatsink allows it to be in the first slot.

[I Hunta x]

Ive double checked my board on the noctua site and it says it wont conflict with anything onboard, i also checked the ram (Gskill ripjaw) im going to get to see if it would fit under the outside fan and it says it will so i should be good to go, your mobo has the same ram slot postitions (distance away from the cpu) as mine so if it turns out it wont fit under the fan ill just move them over a slot and it shouldnt affect dual channel as i used to run my ram in slots 2 and 4 instead of 1 and 3 like i do currently.

[Steve-O-]

then your set to go. the way the wire fan holders are on the cooler you can just raise the fan up a notch or two if you want to keep your ram in slot 1 and 3.