Advice on budget upgrade

[Named]

Hello,

This is my first time posting in TPU and I'm from Malaysia. I have been following this forum for quite some time now and decided to register to seek some advice..

I got my system about a year plus ago. This is what I'm going to do with it. I plan to buy another HD 4770 and crossfire it with my current HD 4770. I'm eyeing on a XFX HD-477A-YDFC HD4770 512MB DDR5 from a local online bidding and shopping site.

I need some assurance on how well it'll work out. I don't fancy playing games on Direct 10 or 11, what important to me is the FPS. Any future games or current latest games, i want them run well above 40 FPS on my LCD with the max resolution of 1,600 x 900.

I don't plan to replace any other parts except my GPU. All these in a budget of 172 USD (i know its not much )

So here are some of the questions I would like to ask, and any advice are mostly welcomed and appreciated

1. Can my single HD 4770 bottleneck my current CPU from max utilization during gaming on a 1280 resolution?
2. Will my mobo bottleneck 4770 CF settings due to the PCIE limited bandwidth upon using two PCIE slot?
3. Is my PSU sufficient for 4770 CF?
4. Will my stock speed CPU bottleneck 4770 CF ?
5. How well will 4770 CF perform on the latest games?
6. Other GPU recommendations with budget in mind?

Details on my mobo and psu listed below
PSU
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2793#sp
MOBO
http://asia.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=171&prod_no=1739
LCD
http://www.samsung.com/au/consumer/pc-peripherals/monitor/lcd-monitor/LS20PUZKF/XL/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail

 

[NdMk2o1o]

1: I dont understand this question
2: No, 8x8x Crossfire will see no reduction in performance vs 16x16x not with dual 4770's anyway
3: Your psu is fine for 4770's, though it's a 600w PSU in reality not a 720w as advertised that is its peak load
4: You should overclock to 3.2Ghz+ this will help eliminate any CPU bottleneck as there may be some.
5: I would imagine dual 4770's to be between a 5830 and just under 5850 performance as they were really close to 4850's and dual 4850's are in line with a single 5850 give or take.
6: You could get a 6850 for your budget, way better option that 2x4770.

I would opt for answer 6, welcome to TPU btw

 

[razaron]

6: You could get a 6850 for your budget, way better option that 2x4770.

I would opt for answer 6, welcome to TPU btw

+1 That's probably the best you can get for your budget and it should be faster than crossfire 4770's.

 

[gumpty]

I will add a +1 to the 6850 suggestion, it also gives you the option of selling your current 4770 for a bit of extra cash too.

 

[Fourstaff]

1. Depending on the game, but I would say in most games, the 4770 will be the bottleneck.
2. I am not too sure whether the 770 chipset supports Crossfire, but if it does, the 4x lanes on the second PCIe is not going to be much of an issue even for a high powered card like the 5850.
3. The 4770 takes in much less than 100w at max, so your psu will support it easily.
4. I am not too sure about that, but I would think its nicely balanced, again depend on game.
5. 4770CF is not going to give you "all max" settings, but I think it will play fairly decently on "mid to high".
6. You should ask this one first =.=" Get 5850, 6850, GTX460 etc, they are all decent cards and will kill the 4770CF.

Just curious, which part of Malaysia are you from? KL and Singapore offers a lot of good electronics at good prices, and if you are in East Malaysia, well, tough luck

 

[NdMk2o1o]

2. I am not too sure whether the 770 chipset supports Crossfire, but if it does, the 4x lanes on the second PCIe is not going to be much of an issue even for a high powered card like the 5850.

The motherboard he linked to does crossfire at 8x 8x

 

[Named]

welcome to TPU btw

Thanks

Just curious, which part of Malaysia are you from? KL and Singapore offers a lot of good electronics at good prices, and if you are in East Malaysia, well, tough luck

I live in East Malaysia, but i am currently in Kl, so i am hoping to grab a few stuff before returning.

Getting a 6850 definitely is the best choice for my current budget. but
I bought my system with OC and CF in mind as future upgrade. I think that is what i will do with it. Get another 4770, CM HYPER TX3 cooler, mayb a better casing, then OC my CPU then i can brag about it to my friends

I never tried CF before, i think it will be a good experience for me
Thanks for answering my questions, you guys rocks !!

 

[JrRacinFan]

Don't let marketing fool you, HD6850>>2x hd4770. If you want crossfire, get 1 6850 for now and when the time is right THEN spring for another.

Regarding your first question; If you mean 1280x720 on your current LCD, more like you will be maxing out it's 1600x900 res and nearly everything you throw at those card(s), either HD6850 single or hd4770 dual.

 

[Named]

I just found out that Leadtek Winfast GTX 460 1GB is selling within my budget, i did some research that 460 is slightly better than 6850. Should i go for 460 instead?

 

[JrRacinFan]

I just found out that Leadtek Winfast GTX 460 1GB is selling within my budget, i did some research that 460 is slightly better than 6850. Should i go for 460 instead?

Both about the same. I think you should.

 

[gumpty]

Both about the same. I think you should.

Agreed. Go for it. The 460 has the advantage of being shorter too - will fit in your case better.

 

[xBruce88x]

also agreed, be sure to run driver cleaner or the like before installing the nvidia card

 

[n-ster]

Is it a true GTX 460 1gb or one of them nuked ones?

 

[Named]

nuked ones? what do you mean ?
The one i refer to is http://www.leadtek.com/eng/3d_graphic/overview.asp?lineid=1&pronameid=568

One of the shops in KL is selling it for RM550, which is around USD 157

 

[NdMk2o1o]

Pull the trigger, lots better than your 4770 single and in crossfire don't forget to overclock your CPU to around 3.2 if you can, more would be nice though 3.2 should be very easy with a small bump in multiplier and maybe a tad more vcore

 

[n-ster]

nuked ones? what do you mean ?
The one i refer to is http://www.leadtek.com/eng/3d_graphic/overview.asp?lineid=1&pronameid=568

One of the shops in KL is selling it for RM550, which is around USD 157

There is this SE version of the 460 which is not a true GTX 460 1gb, it is EDIT: a shader count inbetween a GTX 460 768mb and GTX 460 1GB, Clocked at slower speeds than the 768mb but with the full 1GB.

That one seem like the true GTX 460, I'd sa jump on it NOW even if it were the SE, if still wouldn't be a bad price

 

[JrRacinFan]

There is this SE version of the 460 which is not a true GTX 460 1gb, it is a GTX 460 768mb with 256mb more.

Incorrect

As you can see the SE has one more ROP "cluster" unlocked but not as many shaders making the SE flavor an "in-between" for the 768MB and non se 1GB. I'd opt for the SE over the 768MB.

 

[n-ster]

my bad.

It is clocked at slower speeds than the gtx 460 768mb and has the full 1GB, while having an inbetween shadercount

 

[JrRacinFan]

my bad.

It is clocked at slower speeds than the gtx 460 768mb and has the full 1GB, while having an inbetween shadercount

Not clocked lower. I just have mine bios modded. SE gpu is the same can hit the roughly same clocks.