Which should i upgrade?...

[diluzio91]

Im running an AMD 7850 (dual core), 2x4gb of patriot viper, (soon to be) 2x1gb of Gskill ram, and a 9800 GT graphics card, and a 320gb, and a 1000gb for hard drives. I want to get a phenom 2x4 or a 5770 for this rig, but dont know which would give me more of an oomph. Im starting to play some newer games and noticing that the system is having a little trouble keeping up with all the eye candy on. What do you guys think? (budget is ~ $160 USD)

[Trace]

GPU is almost certainly the hold back for games.

[BuzzKillington]

GPU. CPU will only boost you a few frames where a newer GPU can catch an extra ~50.

[blueonblack]

Definitely the video card. I see that Newegg has an MSI 5830 in your price range after rebate, that may be a better option, just a thought. (If you're one of those people that calculate rebates into a purchase price.)

[diluzio91]

haha... forgot my other requirement, it has to run on 1x6pin conection. but good find, on a second note, that 160 gotta be before rebate. Is there a beter card that meets all those specs?

[x88x]

haha... forgot my other requirement, it has to run on 1x6pin conection.

Is that because you have a weak PSU or because your PSU only has one 6-pin PCIe power connector? Just about every recent GPU I've seen came with an adapter to go from 2xmolex to a single 6-pin, and if not you can always get one, or I've also seen adapters to go from a single 6-pin to dual 6/8-pin.

EDIT:
If it's not a PSU power limitation, I would go with this 5830 instead. It's an XFX, so lifetime warranty, and after rebate it's the same as the MSI after rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150497
..that being said, a GTX460 will give you more power than a 5830, and this 768MB version is the same price as the two 5830s and it doesn't have a rebate to worry about.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130562

[diluzio91]

No, im running a 550 watt PSU, i think my power requirements were somewhere in the 330's when i built the system, problem is, when i was using the PSU in a small case i went on a cable pruning spree, and neutered the second 6pin...

Edit: it is a PSU limitation, lol... with that 460 my PSu would probably fry... now i have to put on my thinking hat... maybe ill put off the upgrade till later in the year and grab a bigger PSU too...:think:

[x88x]

What 550W is it? If it's a high quality/efficiency one I could see it powering it just fine, especially since your CPU is a (relatively) low power draw. Upgrading your PSU would still be a good idea a ways down the road, but not necessarily a requirement right now.

[diluzio91]

im running a rosewill... so not too great, but it runs off a single rail so i dont know what to say... my other thought that made me lean towards the 5770 is the low power draw. I will be putting this new GPU into the next computer i build in SLI/XFire, and the low heat and power made the 5770 seem really good, as its not too expensive. I really dont want to buy a new PSU until im ready to get a new processor as well... Would i be well off for a few years on a pair of 5770's with a quad core? the current setup is destined to become an htpc/gf's light gaming rig when i have enough $$ for a new build.

[x88x]

According to a recent quite in-depth comparison by thetechreport.com (http://techreport.com/articles.x/19404) (see page 11 for the results in a nice table), two 5770s in CrossFire will perform just a tad under a 5870, but if you throw another 5770 in for 3-way CrossFire, it almost hits 5970 levels. There are of course the GTX470 SLI, GTX480 SLI and 5870 CrossFire sitting pretty far above everything else, but if you drop those three, there's a pretty tight cluster at the high end, and the 5770x3 setup is right in the middle of that cluster, almost exactly on par with the GTX460 768MB SLI, and higher than a single GTX480! For $450 (less, if you add them over time as they get cheaper), that's not bad at all. :D The GTX460 is, imo, a better deal right now though.

If you do go for a 5770, I would recommend this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150462

[diluzio91]

is that a rev1 card? im silly and wanna WC it too. lol

[x88x]

I don't actually know...did they change any specs with the rev2 or just do a die shrink or change the board layout or something? It is the cheapest XFX 5770 by $20, so it might be a rev1.

[diluzio91]

its a pcb change, but as EK waterblocks is the only company that makes a full coverage block for the 5770...