# Saphhire hd7850 bottleneck



## Zero wolf (Nov 29, 2012)

Hi everyone!

I'd like to upgrade my GPU from hd4870 512mb to hd7850 2gb but i'm concerned about possible bottleneck from my other components.

Here are my specs: Asus p5e3 deluxe
                           Q9300 @ 2.5Ghz
                           3 Gb memory (corsair dominator 1600Mhz)
                           LcPower 550w silent giant series
                           Ati Saphhire hd4870 512mb

I play only on 1680x1050 AA isn't important to my so...
I won't be playing games such as Crysis 2 or BF3, i usualy play shogun 2, f1 2012, AC3.

So will the CPU or any other component bottleneck hd7850 and for how much?

Thanks in advance


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## brandonwh64 (Nov 29, 2012)

For BF3 you are going to bottle neck on the RAM part of your build. 3GB is not good to play on with BF3. When I built my 2600K I had to use 3GB of random sticks while I waited on my 8GB kit and it was pretty much unplayable.


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## 3870x2 (Nov 29, 2012)

Not a bottleneck, just scaling.  You will do fine, but if you can get your processor up to 3.0+, you would be doing great.

I play BF3 on my 945 with a 7950, max settings.  The 945 isn't as powerful clock-for-clock.

At that resolution I see you having no problem maxing out everything out there, however getting 60FPS will not always happen.

There is a 6950 for $165 in the FS section if you are interested, if not then you are looking at $220 for a 2GB, $180 for a 1GB (not recommended, especially for rockstar games)


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## Zero wolf (Nov 29, 2012)

Thanks so far guys

Yeah i build this CPU back in 2008 for very decent price. Back than 3gb of dd3 was more than enough so i might have to do some upgrade in near future on memory as well. 

As for CPU ac already "OC" it on 2.9 but it was unstable probably due to lack of power or something so i underclock it back to 2.5. When over 2.7GHz becomes very unstable so... will do some research on OC


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## PLSG08 (Nov 29, 2012)

Everything looks fine, just the memory. Get at least an 8GB kit and you're set to go


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## 3870x2 (Nov 29, 2012)

Just noticed, 3GB.  How did you get half a kit?  Unless you are still on a 32-bit OS.


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## Zero wolf (Nov 29, 2012)

I'm on windows 7 32-bit. Yes it was 3gb set (3x1gb stick).


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## Zero wolf (Nov 29, 2012)

Do you think that gonna souse troubles?


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## PLSG08 (Dec 1, 2012)

Well it's not gonna cause some major troubles, but for stability you could opt for bigger memory


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## trickson (Dec 1, 2012)

You need a min. of 8gb of ram for BF3.


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## boise49ers (Dec 1, 2012)

He'll need a 64 bit OS also.


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## drdeathx (Dec 1, 2012)

trickson said:


> You need a min. of 8gb of ram for BF3.



What are you smoking?


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## drdeathx (Dec 1, 2012)

boise49ers said:


> He'll need a 64 bit OS also.



Negative on that too.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Dec 1, 2012)

drdeathx said:


> Negative on that too.



How so, what is the point of getting 8GB of ram, and having a 32 bit OS that can only use 3.5GB of it? :shadedshu


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## drdeathx (Dec 1, 2012)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> How so, what is the point of getting 8GB of ram, and having a 32 bit OS that can only use 3.5GB of it? :shadedshu





Never said that. These guys need to clarify better.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Dec 1, 2012)

drdeathx said:


> Never said that



Everyone was talking about memory, and Boise came in saying he will need a 64 bit OS also after a memory upgrade was discussed. Which he will if he does get more memory.


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## drdeathx (Dec 1, 2012)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> Everyone was talking about memory, and Boise came in saying he will need a 64 bit OS also after a memory upgrade was discussed. Which he will if he does get more memory.





He does not need 8G to run BF3


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## trickson (Dec 1, 2012)

drdeathx said:


> What are you smoking?





drdeathx said:


> Negative on that too.





drdeathx said:


> He does not need 8G to run BF3





You will need a min. of 8gb's of RAM and yes I forgot a 64bit OS to play BF3 with best quality and with out stuttering or glitch's. 

I have been down this road before and once I got the ram up to 8gb's all was fine (I had the 64bit OS already).


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## MxPhenom 216 (Dec 1, 2012)

drdeathx said:


> He does not need 8G to run BF3



He sure as hell needs more then 3. And if he gets more then 3GB of ram, he will also need a 64 bit OS to make all that memory usable. And 8GB of ram is preferable for BF3. I have 8GB of ram and when I play BF3 my memory usage for overall system goes up to 5-6GB.


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## trickson (Dec 1, 2012)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> He sure as hell needs more then 3. And if he gets more then 3GB of ram, he will also need a 64 bit OS to make all that memory usable. And 8GB of ram is preferable for BF3. I have 8GB of ram and when I play BF3 my memory usage for overall system goes up to 5-6GB.



With 4gb's of RAM on my system It had memory usage up to 85%-90%!!! Just about killed my system!


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## erocker (Dec 1, 2012)

Instead of insulting other people, perhaps you could post some facts on the topic at hand as a rebuttal. Any more of this type of unnecessary behavior will result in losing posting privileges.


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## trickson (Dec 1, 2012)

erocker said:


> Instead of insulting other people, perhaps you could post some facts on the topic at hand as a rebuttal. Any more of this type of unnecessary behavior will result in losing posting privileges.



I have. He rebutted with what are you smoking and no you do not need what I said. And after all erocker I think it was you yourself that told me that I needed 8gb's of ram because I was having the same issue.


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## erocker (Dec 1, 2012)

The facts are in the hundreds upon hundreds of internet threads on the subject of BF3 and RAM. For reference: Google search: "BF3 + RAM"


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## trickson (Dec 1, 2012)

erocker said:


> The facts are in the hundreds upon hundreds of internet threads on the subject of BF3 and RAM: Google search: "BF3 + RAM"



Yes but the OP came here for our help not Google's. So I have given my help. What has happened to TPU? I mean this is just getting worse and worse! All we tend to do now is tell people to Google it. If this is the case then TPU should just close! 
This place was great once we all help each other we had fun and now it is just getting pathetic. No wonder so many have left and not come back. Before you ban me erocker know this you used to be the one I looked forward to hearing from. I really respected your help and what you had to say. You were very informative and hell I even took every thing you ever told me and put it into use. What has happened to you? GOOGLE? I am going to take your post privileges away? All these threats and all the hate. DUDE I do not see any fun any more. DO you need a break? 
Sorry for my rant but I really needed to get that out and not in a PM others needed to hear this!  I want my friend erocker back.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Dec 1, 2012)

wow, this escalated quickly. OP just upgrade to a 64 bit OS, get more memory, and get the GPU you want. After that you should be good to go.


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## erocker (Dec 1, 2012)

trickson said:


> Yes but the OP came here for our help not Google's. So I have given my help. What has happened to TPU? I mean this is just getting worse and worse! All we tend to do now is tell people to Google it. If this is the case then TPU should just close!
> This place was great once we all help each other we had fun and now it is just getting pathetic. No wonder so many have left and not come back. Before you ban me erocker know this you used to be the one I looked forward to hearing from. I really respected your help and what you had to say. You were very informative and hell I even took every thing you ever told me and put it into use. What has happened to you? GOOGLE? I am going to take your post privileges away? All these threats and all the hate. DUDE I do not see any fun any more. DO you need a break?
> Sorry for my rant but I really needed to get that out and not in a PM others needed to hear this!  I want my friend erocker back.



Ugh... The fact of the matter is, the answer has been given in this thread over and over again already. I posted the google search link to show that it has been answered elsewhere over and over again. Your attitude and drama around here has been nothing but disruptive and irritating. The only reason I came into this thread was because of your poor behavior and having to deal with it. You need a break as you cannot seem to stay on topic, insult others and when someone points this out to you, you try to turn it around onto them. Enough is enough.


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## Melvis (Dec 1, 2012)

Like others have said your system is all good apart from the lack of Memory. Honestly 4GB would be enough i would think. 

Now correct me if im wrong but even if you install more then 4GB of memory on a 32bit system it will still use that memory but it just wont address it?


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## Spaceman Spiff (Dec 1, 2012)

Wow. I can't really follow this thread at all apparently due to editing...but I would like to try to help.

I would say the "minimum" for an acceptable playing experience would be 4gb on a 64bit system so video memory and ram don't trade-off, with 8gb being the "sweet spot" for a gaming system especially with BF3. 

Keep in mind everyone's "acceptable" playable performance varies.


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## remixedcat (Dec 1, 2012)

It is best to have more then 4GB of RAM in a gaming system. Games are memory hungry and if you plan on running a game while having anything else open, specially a browser with 20 tabs. 

Having a  64 bit OS is very much needed for this. No sense on getting a 32 bit OS in this day and age, specially for a gaming system. That would be holding your system back.


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## Bundy (Dec 1, 2012)

You definitely need more RAM FOR BF3. I think the advice Trickson orginally gave is spot on, with the addition of 64 bit OS.


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## PLSG08 (Dec 3, 2012)

Well it still depends on OP if he wants 8GB or just sit happy with 4GB. If it were me I'd buy a 4GB first then test it out, and if it seems lacking I'll just but another 4GB. Though getting a 64Bit OS now would help


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## Tonim89 (Dec 4, 2012)

I have 4 gigs (2x 2gb) and even with a high end video card, I can't see any bottleneck on my system.

In the past few days i've played Max Payne 3, MOH: Warfighter, F1 2012, Alan Wake, and the old MMORPG Lineage II, and all of them ran smoothly smooth.

The more RAM you have, more the system will cache it, giving you the same sensation: "OMG 85% of my RAM is being used!11!1!! I NEED 64GB STICKS!1!1!!! 4 OF THEM!1!!!!11! "

8GB is nice and give you some flexibility, but 4GB is enough for any kind of workload.


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## Zero wolf (Dec 13, 2012)

First i owe you guys an apology for not replaying so long.

Second i'd like to thank you for yor replyes they were very helpful so thanks

Anyway i got the radeon i was asking about and im very pleased with it. I can max out everything except assassin's creed 3 is sometimes (usualy in cities and dense forest) runing on low fps (lowest 15, highest 30) according to fraps. If i decrease the enviroment quality setting to high i get around 6 fps more so as you guys already discussed it i probably need at least 4gb of ram but i'm aiming at 8 gb (2x4gb) just to be sure. ATM i'm loking at some CPU overclocking guides soo...

Thanks again for the help you guys


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## EarthDog (Dec 13, 2012)

drdeathx said:


> What are you smoking?


I think you puff puffed and didnt pass in your time with these comments...



drdeathx said:


> Negative on that too.


I couldnt run this game well with 4GB/1080p/Ultra either. It paged out a ton and caused some hitching... Went to 8GB and its gone. Now, lower res, and lower settings that could help but full tilt it was a painful experience for me. 32bit OS as Im sure you know can only see 4GB (with less available). So while its not a requirement, you should should have it so you can use 8GB. 


EDIT: What a cluster...perhaps I should read past what I quoted, LOL! But I guess that happens when people post BS. Looks like the OP was taken care of, so that is what matters.


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