Desktop Computers

Mire_sl said:

If you're a 7970 owner, there's no real reason to upgrade just yet (unless you do 2x R290X Crossfire). In one year's time, all you'll have to do is pop in a R280x and you're done. I'm really liking AMD's affordability but my huge epeen won't allow me to buy their stuff.

Click to expand...

As a 7970 owner you literally just gave me wood which is disturbing with that avatar you use of that Lemmy (Motorhead) looking dude. Ok.. ok... not literally but man, I'm happy to hear that. (And got a 1000W PSU so no worries on overloading the PSU I'd imagine...)

Vaclav_sl said:

As a 7970 owner you literally just gave me wood which is disturbing with that avatar you use of that Lemmy (Motorhead) looking dude. Ok.. ok... not literally but man, I'm happy to hear that. (And got a 1000W PSU so no worries on overloading the PSU I'd imagine...)

Click to expand...

Lemmy is God, it's natural that he gives you a stiffy.

290 specs are out. The 280 is the best choice.



edit: No crossfire support on the 290?!?!

Titan killer indeed. *cough*

The No is if an interconnect is needed - Crossfire through the board seems plausible still no?

Ya, I think you're right. It is supported on the 290, you just don't need the "sli" ribbon.

There is supposed to be a 290 as well as the 290X. The 290 will be the units that failed to bin to 290X, and if history proves anything they'll more than likely flash to a full 290X in most cases.

And it was confirmed at the announcement that PCIe 3.0 has enough bandwidth that CrossFire/SLI connectors are no longer necessary.

Tripamang_sl said:

And it was confirmed at the announcement that PCIe 3.0 has enough bandwidth that CrossFire/SLI connectors are no longer necessary.

Click to expand...

ah, very nice, I hadn't ever heard that. I wonder why the lower cards still list the connectors as necessary then if they are all PCIe 3.0

Probably to allow flexibility with using them in older PCIe 2.0 boards to make them marketable to a wide range of people - at least that's my assumption.

It's just weird that they are all PCIe 3.0, yet half list it as required, and half dont. You'd think they would all be one way or the other instead of a mix. Hrmm...

Really looking at the list it's only the highest end one, and the bottom end that don't need it - might even be a motherboard thing - that the R9 290X will require a beefy motherboard so will have limited platforms it goes into without a motherboard switch, but thanks to the interlink instead of using the PCIe BUS they'll be able to have the midrange work on basically any motherboard. Meanwhile the lowend probably won't tax the PCIe BUS that much to warrant it even on a shitty (or possibly older PCIe 2.0) motherboard.

I'll agree it looks weird at first blush, but there's a number of easy explanations for it.

And am I seeing that right, that all the R9 "x" model boards support up to 4 GPUS in Crossfire? Is that actually 4 separate cards, or does each card already have 2GPUs on it or something?

Quad 290X cards would make me need a change of pants

It's actually a by product of the architecture. 290/260/250/240 are all new chips, while the ones that require the connector are rebrands of the previous generation at lower prices. It's just that every single new motherboard you buy now (And I think the last two generations?) comes with PCIe 3.0. So it's just phasing out old technology. Plus I don't think you're going to find a bunch of people who are going to cross fire the latest generation, but do it with a motherboard that's 3+ years old.

250 GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD - $159 + free shipping

Samsung 840 EVO Series 250GB 2 5 inch SATA III Internal Solid State Drive | eBay

So I did some searching on the forum and couldn't find anything, but I was wondering 2 things.

I have a 1st gen stock i7 and was considering upgrading to a newer processor for increased performance. Is it even worth it (other system specs aside, just from a processor stand point)? If I were to do this I would be swapping out the motherboard as well which leads me to my other question.

If I had to swap the motherboard/cpu and leave everything else the same, am I looking at a clean install here to make everything work correctly or would it be possible to do a little pre work and not have to clean install?

You will need a new motherboard for sure. Clean install thing I have no idea.

I would never swap out a motherboard without doing a clean windows install. You're talking dozens, if not hundreds of new hardware drivers, you don't want all the old crap lingering around, potentially causing problems and conflicts with the new stuff.

As far as whether to actually upgrade at all, upgrading from a first-gen i7(something like a 920) to a current-gen processor like a i5 4670k would make a decent difference in productivity type stuff like photoshop or video encoding, but that is mainly due just to the fact that the old 920 runs at 2.6ghz whereas the newer processors are going to be like 3.4-3.5 ghz at stock. As far as gaming goes, you won't see much difference at all really. Probably less than 10% gains in frames per second in most games. If you are looking for better gaming performance, you best bet would be upgrading your video card.

I use my PC primarily for gaming, what I would do if I were you would be to buy a nice CPU cooler, overclock my current i7(they are VERY overclockable, you might be able to push up towards 4ghz), and then take that $300-$400 you were going to spend on the new mobo + CPU and buy a new AMD 280x video card.

The only really big difference between your old i7 and a new 4th gen i5/i7 is going to be drastically reduced power consumption(not that big of a deal in a desktop), and getting a decent built-in GPU, if you have any need for that.

sebur_sl said:

So I did some searching on the forum and couldn't find anything, but I was wondering 2 things.

I have a 1st gen stock i7 and was considering upgrading to a newer processor for increased performance.

Click to expand...

Which CPU do you have? There is VERY little difference for gaming performance between: i5 3570k, i5 4670k, i7 3770k, i7 4770k, overclocked or not. I gave my nephews an older i7 960 (LGA 1366) with a GTX 760, and I have a hard time distinguishing their system from mine (i7 4770k). Like all the hardware reviewers say, put your money in a graphics card rather than a new CPU...

Mire_sl said:

Which CPU do you have? There is VERY little difference for gaming performance between: i5 3570k, i5 4670k, i7 3770k, i7 4770k, overclocked or not. I gave my nephews an older i7 960 (LGA 1366) with a GTX 760, and I have a hard time distinguishing their system from mine (i7 4770k). Like all the hardware reviewers say, put your money in a graphics card rather than a new CPU...

Click to expand...

I have the i7 920 running at 2.67 (1366 socket). Just to cover the other stuff of importance...I have 9 gigs of ram and a GTX 670. I was assuming the processor is where my biggest upgrade would be at this point but if you think I would still get more out of a better graphics card I have no problem dropping the money there instead.