Upgrading to GTX 680 with a PhenomII. Is it worth?

[dandelioneater]

I don't suppose you could pop a bulldozer into that board?

[Bond007]

I think people are overreacting. Yes it will bottleneck, but in GPU heavy games it will be fine. It won't let the 680 stretch its legs to its fullest, but I don't think it would be by any means a waste.

I wouldn't recommend investing more in your current platform... an x6 or bulldozer isn't going to offer any massively tangible improvements. Stick with what you have an OC it until you can afford a new CPU/MOB down the road. The other option is to spend a bit less on a graphics card and save the difference for a CPU upgrade (which is what I would do).

[Don Chuck]

Originally Posted by dandelioneater

I don't suppose you could pop a bulldozer into that board?

No. My motherboard is a smart one, and it doesn't support bulldozer
Bulldozer seems to be a great disappointment from what I read from Hardware Canucks review AMD Bulldozer FX-8150 Processor Review.
Anyway the poll result is very clear. 3 votes says that the GTX680 would be heavily bottlenecked by my cpu and 3 votes says I would just slightly bottlenecked, and overclocking I should be fine. A 3vs3!
Honestly if overclocking my cpu to 3.4GHz I would just lose just a bit of the GTX 680 performance I would buy it, and I would avoid to buy a new pc, since my pc gives me everything I need at the moment.
If instead I would lose let's say a 20-30% of GTX 680 performance I would probably decide to buy an Ivy Bridge pc later this year, and to wait for the big nvidia chip (or the 7xx series) when it will come out.

[dandelioneater]

Originally Posted by Don Chuck

No. My motherboard is a smart one, and it doesn't support bulldozer.

Hehe.

[Pabz0r545]

If you are single monitor gaming @1080 I would personally keep your 570 and dish that money out on a new cpu/mobo when the ivy bridge comes out. I am guessing you could get the i5 3570k(new i5 2500k so to say) and a z77 mobo for under 500 or right around there when it is released?



Trust me I want to sell my 6970 and upgrade to nvidia 680 cuz Nvidia is teh best(and i have an AMD hate for my sc2 AMD fanboy clanmates LOL)....... but my 6970 is more then enough for my single monitor gaming @1080. It would be simply burning money to upgrade for me at this point. I could probably rock this card out for another year or so and upgrade with the next series of cards.

[Kilauea]

Originally Posted by Pabz0r545

If you are single monitor gaming @1080 I would personally keep your 570 and dish that money out on a new cpu/mobo when the ivy bridge comes out. I am guessing you could get the i5 3570k(new i5 2500k so to say) and a z77 mobo for under 500 or right around there when it is released?

My point exactly. With your current CPU being bottlenecked by your current GPU, I'd say you should stick with it. It is still powerful enough and in your case, I'd consider a CPU/mobo upgrade before GPU even if a new GPU could easily be added to a new CPU/mobo later on.

Originally Posted by Pabz0r545

Trust me I want to sell my 6970 and upgrade to nvidia 680 cuz Nvidia is teh best(and i have an AMD hate for my sc2 AMD fanboy clanmates LOL)....... but my 6970 is more then enough for my single monitor gaming @1080. It would be simply burning money to upgrade for me at this point. I could probably rock this card out for another year or so and upgrade with the next series of cards.

Ah come on Pabz, let's just trade, I'll give you my GTX 560ti(even if I love it) and you give me your 6970. Little guys all the way!

[Don Chuck]

Originally Posted by Pabz0r545

If you are single monitor gaming @1080 I would personally keep your 570 and dish that money out on a new cpu/mobo when the ivy bridge comes out. I am guessing you could get the i5 3570k(new i5 2500k so to say) and a z77 mobo for under 500 or right around there when it is released?

Yep. At the moment in Italy I can find an Intel i5-2500K at 180€, so the i5 3570k should have a similar price when it will be released (maximum 200€ I believe). Anyway with 500€ I should be able to change a lot of components (and I would keep the others like PSU, monitor, ssd, 2TB hard drive etc). Waiting for Ivy Bridge is surely the wisest choice, and to be perfectly honest with you I wasn't planning to buy a new video card... untill I read the review of the GTX 680 on Hardware Canucks!!!
Anyway thank you very much guys. Now I have clear ideas: I decided to spend those money to upgrade to Ivy Brigde. I will buy the video card later. Actually the game I will be playing the most this year will probably be Diablo III, and I read that with a GTX 570 I should be able to play it at the top.
Thanks again everyone!

[Bungwirez]

So would you guys run the 680 on the OP's Enermax 525?
I know the Keplar power specs are good, but that good?

[ern88]

I would atleast recommend the OP to have a 600 PSU for the GTX 680. But it would be a waste of a video card for the current CPU configuration anyways!!!

[GT7R]

Keep the 570. I'm in the same situation as yours - ache to get a 680 but my rig is CPU limited as well. :(