Do I get the full potential out of my new HD6870 with this motherboard ?

Tobbe Bergman · Nov 28, 2010

I recently bought a Sapphire HD 6870 to put in my ASUS P5B SE motherboard.

The Sapphire HD 6870 is a PCI Express 2.1 card and the motherboard has a x16 PCI Express slot

Everything works but do I really get the full potential out of the HD 6870

System:
Mainboard : Asus P5B SE
Chipset : Intel P965
Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 @ 2333 MHz
Physical Memory : 4096 MB (4 x 1024 DDR2-SDRAM )
Hard Disk : ST3500418AS (500 GB)
Monitor Type : SONY SDM-S94 - 19 inches
Monitor Type : SONY BRAVIA TV - 46 inches (For Gaming)
Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional / Service Pack 3
DirectX : Version 9.0c (maj 2010)

Tobbe Bergman · Nov 28, 2010

I recently bought a Sapphire HD 6870 to put in my ASUS P5B SE motherboard.

The Sapphire HD 6870 is a PCI Express 2.1 card and the motherboard has a x16 PCI Express slot

Everything works but do I really get the full potential out of the HD 6870

System:
Mainboard : Asus P5B SE
Chipset : Intel P965
Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 @ 2333 MHz
Physical Memory : 4096 MB (4 x 1024 DDR2-SDRAM )
Hard Disk : ST3500418AS (500 GB)
Monitor Type : SONY SDM-S94 - 19 inches
Monitor Type : SONY BRAVIA TV - 46 inches (For Gaming)
Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional / Service Pack 3
DirectX : Version 9.0c (maj 2010)

danked05 · Nov 28, 2010

It really depends on the rest of your system specs, for example the CPU you are running, and the quantity and speed of your RAM. As such, there would only be certain situations where the card would be PCI-Express limited, and this is more of a problem with the ultra high end cards like the GTX580 and the radeon HD5970.
Provided you have at least a dual-core cpu and at least 2gb of RAM, you should be getting most, if not all of the performance.

Tobbe Bergman · Nov 28, 2010

Mainboard : Asus P5B SE
Chipset : Intel P965
Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 @ 2333 MHz
Physical Memory : 4096 MB (4 x 1024 DDR2-SDRAM )
Hard Disk : ST3500418AS (500 GB)
Monitor Type : SONY SDM-S94 - 19 inches
Monitor Type : SONY SONY TV - 46 inches (For Gaming)
Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3
DirectX : Version 9.0c (May 2010)

danked05 · Nov 28, 2010

Your system seems to be nicely balanced overall so I'd say the fast GPU shouldn't be held back. If you do feel the need to upgrade, then a motherboard based on the P45 chipset, such as ASUS's p5Q-e, and p5Q-deluxe, are affordable and quick (and support pci-e 2) , and all your current components would slot straight in.
It's worth using a program called Fraps to check the fps in game, which you can compare to reviews etc to see how your performance is.

Tobbe Bergman · Nov 28, 2010

danked05 said:
Your system seems to be nicely balanced overall so I'd say the fast GPU shouldn't be held back. If you do feel the need to upgrade, then a motherboard based on the P45 chipset, such as ASUS's p5Q-e, and p5Q-deluxe, are affordable and quick (and support pci-e 2) , and all your current components would slot straight in.
It's worth using a program called Fraps to check the fps in game, which you can compare to reviews etc to see how your performance is.

I do use FRAPS and it rarely drops below 80-100 but sometimes the graphics freeze (even though FRAPS shows + 100 frames) for a fraction of a second though!
I heard in a review from Insidesimracing that SIMBIN has always had this issue !
If that's a true fact I don't really know!

danked05 · Nov 28, 2010

Seeing as you have 80 to 100 fps, even with the glitching, I would'nt worry about the PCI-Express.
enjoy the card, I'm still on a steam powered Hd3870.

Tobbe Bergman · Nov 28, 2010

danked05 said:
Seeing as you have 80 to 100 fps, even with the glitching, I would'nt worry about the PCI-Express.
enjoy the card, I'm still on a steam powered Hd3870.

OK Thanks