graphics card for Asus P6T

Jeff_Smith wrote on 8/16/2015, 1:08 PM
I have read hundreds of posts on this forum on video cards. Is a R9 290X overkill for my computer or would I do just as well with something like a GTX 670 Ti?

This is for my secondary machine which is a win 7 64-bit i7 950 @ 3.07GHz with 6GB ram and Nexus 850w PS on an ASUS P6T mobo. The current video card is a nasty Radeon HD 4300/4500 w/ 512 MB RAM which has never worked well. My Windows Experience Index is a whopping 3.4 because of graphics ;) I am using a 27" Apple HD cinema display and a 15" Samsung VGA for monitors

Thanks

Comments

john_dennis wrote on 8/16/2015, 1:40 PM
I might be prone to emulate JohnnyRoy's experience with older hardware from this thread about the Radeon HD 5870.

"[I]So just getting an HD 5870 is not as important as how old a computer you put it in.[/I]" JohnnyRoy

Try to buy a used one and let it die when the system dies.
Jeff_Smith wrote on 8/16/2015, 4:03 PM
Interesting idea, I put a bid in for $40 on ebay ("new may be missing original packaging"), not sure I want to spend more than ~$70 including shipping.
Thanks!
astar wrote on 8/16/2015, 5:13 PM
For a board and CPU like that, I would look at one of the following in order:

HD5770 - Vegas listed this as recommended for GPU in VP11
HD6970
R9270x
HD7970-GHZ
R9-290x

Your GPU can not be overkill, as you can move the R9-290 to a newer machine. You will start seeing the CPU hold back the GPU as some point, which will look like the GPU is not being utilized fully. This is not because the GPU is not working, its just so much faster at what it is doing than the CPU.

You may also want to look into if the motherboard has maximum memory frequency installed. Also up the system memory to 32GB of all the same make and model, this will help windows with disk cache.

One of my systems is a P55, i7-870, 32GB ram, hd5770, and the GPU helps this system greatly on timeline playback of effects, and rendering to Sony AVC or MC encoders.
Jeff_Smith wrote on 8/16/2015, 6:56 PM
astar, thanks for reply. I know my memory is also an issue. I am thinking of going with 1600 MHz over 2000 since it is about twice the price.
astar wrote on 8/17/2015, 3:09 PM
The P6 (x58 chipset) motherboard has a unique memory design, as it has 3 channels. You only need ddr3-1333 as anything else is an overclock setting. If the over clock is stable fine, but I do not recommend running at those speeds for stability reasons. You would want to fill each Black channel with 8GB sticks, filling the orange channels with the same is up to you and how much you want to spend. Consult your MB manual on the channel color in case I am off.

If the memory you have is ddr-1333 and can still source more. Great. The main thing is all 3 channels are populated with the same make and model and speed.

PNY makes good cheap memory, nothing fancy or color heat syncs, that I find stable. Just make sure to use a tool like Speccy to verify the memory is identical in make and timing.
Jeff_Smith wrote on 8/18/2015, 10:51 PM
wow, thanks for the info, much appreciated
Jeff_Smith wrote on 8/21/2015, 2:24 PM
So, I have Mushkin Enhanced 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Model 998681. It it is not sold anymore. I have found the same triple channel kit on ebay and craigslist but used for $60. Do you think that a total of 12GB is going to help me much with Vegas and that I should ditch my sticks and buy 3 new DDR 1333 8GB for around $300, or 3x4GB for $150? I am just not sure it is worth it for this computer that I only use on the weekend, many GoPro footage. BTW, speccy shows the frequency as DDR3 @ 534MHz which is 1600/3. At first I thought I had super slow RAM.
Thanks again,
astar wrote on 8/21/2015, 2:53 PM
It is really up to you as to how much to spend on an older machine. I recommend the 12GB rig as windows performs better with more ram available for disk cache.

At $300, plus a new video card, you are most likely better off just upgrading to an off the shelf Gen4 system that will come with faster ram and possibly more than 12GB. 32GB on a Gen4 or Skylake system would be night and day difference, especially considering the compute performance of the 390x and furyx rigs.

The x58 was a really top end board with good architecture capable of fully supporting multiple GPUs, its just the tech has moved on so far since then. Pcie3.0 is so much faster, and offers less overhead than 1.0 or 2.0. This equates to much higher throughput and lower latency.

The Skylake chipset block design is amazing with amount of DMI, and PCIe lanes available for add-ons. Intel also just announced that their 3D memory will be coming soon to DDR4 slots, offering HUGE capacity of RAM we have never comprehended before. Like 6TB on a stick are possible.

Upgrading can be painful to the wallet, but upgrading more often, instead of buying the best, can actually be better. I normally wait like 2-4 generations of CPU before upgrading. I would be buying Skylake, or i7-4790k at the moment, as the i7-5xxx are just to expensive when you compare it to the Skylake architecture.
Jeff_Smith wrote on 8/21/2015, 3:31 PM
I picked up a new 5870 on ebay for $70 + shipping in a heated bidding war ;) $20 more than I wanted to spend. I just found a matching used 3x2GB ram upgrade for $40. That should hold me off for a year. Thanks for the sanity check.
Jeff_Smith wrote on 9/1/2015, 7:18 PM
Aaron and John, thanks for your help, made a huge difference. I can edit my footage without pulling my hair out. Side note... After installing the new card and memory I upgraded my win7x64 machine to win 10 and the now the start menu closes within 2 seconds. I've done several suggested fixes except for creating a new user profile. If I start in safemode then restart it fixes it... for a while....grrr
john_dennis wrote on 9/2/2015, 1:25 AM
Maybe someday I'll get real video card...
astar wrote on 9/2/2015, 2:12 AM
So you click on the start menu and it snaps closed before you can select?

That almost sounds like a mouse or keyboard driver issue to me.

I have posted this list before on things to after Win10 upgrade, or to clean up an old Windows install that has been running awhile.

Fully update Win10 from the windows update. Reboot.

Uninstall any applications that you no longer use.

Malware Bytes - Scan and remove anything found. reboot and verify.

Get latest version of CCleaner and run cleaner and reg clean.

Run Windows Disk Cleanup utility > Cleanup system files > remove all win update file, and old windows installations. Reboot

Verify that Window is fully updated still, install any updates found. Reboot if any updates installed.

Right Click on Start menu and select open admin command prompt. Execute SFC /scanow The log file will show issues the scan found, some may or may not impact the performance of windows. This is where it gets deep, but the scan should repair anything glaring. If any repairs are made, reboot and verify that windows update does not want to install more.

Verify you have the lasts drivers from:
Video Card
Sound Device
Mouse & Keyboard if other than an HID device in Device Manager.
Intel x58 chipset .INF updater from Intel
Reboot if any drivers are installed.

In Device Manager >View hidden devices, uninstall any greyed out keyboards or mice, such that you have only the 2 devices that are active. If you uninstall any reboot.

HD5800 is a real video card, pretty much anything above a hd5770 with Vegas is supported. Cards with more Compute Units will just return the math results faster and have more memory to do it with. You do want to try and balance your system with like technology. If a GPU comes with a PCIe3.0 interface, it was designed and tested with a host system in that range as well.