Is it worth it to upgrade from HD3650 to HD5670 of radeon?

[rockstarxd]

Hi guys.

I want to upgrade my pc and i want to start with my Graphics card.
Currently I have Radeon HD 3650 512mb ddr3 on it. I want to upgrade to a Radeon HD 5670 1g ddr3.

I have tried a site gpureview and did a comparison of the two and i can see the the 5670 has a higher flops, memory bandwidth etc. while the 3650 has a higher clock rate.

link for the comparison: Video Card Comparison - GPUReview.com

I am using a sony bravia TV(dunno the exact unit) and i have a maximum resolution of 1920x1080. Playing games on this like Assasins creed and Skyrim seems to be on the bottleneck when at this resolution at only medium settings on skyrim and high quality but low . Thats why i want to upgrade to a higher graphics card.

Is it worth it to buy the 5670? I dunno how to compare the other things in the review so please help me on deciding to buy it.

[ShyguyXPC]

What are your Power supply specs?

Brand, Model, Wattage, +12V Amp Rating.

How much are you looking to spend on the 5670?

In a card to card comparison, the 5670 is vastly better.

But depending on the price, you might be better off getting a 6670 instead.


Also, what is your CPU? exact specs.

Since you mention some games, as the bottleneck could also be the CPU. Though certainly the GPU is holding those games back... well, at least Skyrim anyways, AC is hardly taxing GPU wise (also have AC, though only got a little ways into it).


Actually while your at it, can you tell us if you motherboard has a PCI Express or AGP slot for the video card... I forgot the 3650 was available in both slot "flavors".

[rockstarxd]

I have a old system.
I am at the office so ill make a rough description of my PC since i cant remember the exact specs of it.

I gots:
2 Gig DDR2 Ram
Core 2 Duo 2.8ghz
PSU is i think about 350W generic brand.

Oh should i just get the 6670? because in my currency 5670 is about 65$ and the 6670 is about 75$.

Do you think it will improve the performance of the said games even if i have poor PC specs?(Skyrim, and Assassins Creed)

Thanks for the Reply

[ShyguyXPC]

your CPU should still be fine, the C2D 2.8GHz should be enough for those games. Was worried the CPU might be too low end and be a bottleneck on the GPU choice, but its not.

I wouldn't really consider doing anything with more info on the PSU, if its a generic brand, I'd consider upgrading it to a better brand, better safe than sorry with putting in newer hardware, rather than chance overloading the old PSU and frying everything in the case.

I'd also consider adding another 1GB of RAM if possible, if your running Windows 64-bit, another 2GB would be fine.

assuming there's any slots to fill with more RAM.

How much of a budget do you have? And where are you? UK, EU? Etc?

The GPU upgrade would certainly improve performance, but the PSU is the main worry in regards to that upgrade. Not that the 5670 or 6670 are that power taxing, but they could be more than the 3650 and put the generic PSU over its limits.

[rockstarxd]

I am from the PH.
I have alloted about 100$ max in the meantime.
Can you recommend a PSU that will fit the budget? What should i look for when i am looking to buy a PSU? how many watts should i get?

I cant add anymore memory though, something about the motherboard i think. because currently i have 1 2G stick and 1 1g stick attached to it but it only read 2g.

Thanks for the replies! Kudos to you kind sir.

[ShyguyXPC]

400W Should be enough for your needs, with a Radeon 5670 or 6670 range card.

Corsair, Antec, Coolermaster, Seasonic, FSP/Fortron, OCZ, PC Power & Cooling, Enermax, Silverstone, Thermaltake, Sparkle, XFX, Zalman Are all the usual quality brand names, if you can find any of those over there in your budget range that should work fine...

Some of them over here cost around $40.

For example, these 2 should be fine, if you can find them over there for similar pricing:

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Elite 460 RS-460-PSAR-J3 460W ATX12V V2.31 Power Supply

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS500-PCARD3-US 500W ATX12V v2.3 Power Supply



Some other budget models:

Newegg.com - Antec VP-450 450W ATX 12V v2.3 Power Supply

Newegg.com - FSP Group ATX400-PNT 400W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply - Power Supplies

Newegg.com - SPARKLE ATX-350PN-B204 350W ATX 12V 2.0 Power Supply - Power Supplies

[rockstarxd]

Hi, I decided. to buy the Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS500-PCARD3-US 500W ATX12V v2.3 Power Supply item then buy a Sapphire Radeon HD 6670 1g ddr5 video card. Will it affect my performance in a great deal if i am currently using ATI Radon HD 3650 512mb ddr3? What is the DDR for by the way?

[stroyal]

Double Data Rate SDRAM

It just means that it dose 2 operations per cycle as opposed to plain old SDRAM, DIMMs, and SIMMs that only did 1 operation per cycle.

I'll leave the card performance to Shyguy.

Lots of things are DDR, it was one of the early ways AMD CPUs competed with Intel.

Some Intel CPUs are at least quad pumped

[ShyguyXPC]

I'm not sure I even understand what your asking about the 3650, you already HAVE it, so I'm not sure why your asking if it will affect your performance?