Hardware & Technical Computer Build

[Chazmyr]

I bought a Crosshair Formula IV with AMD 6 core processor at 3.2Ghz, a 5870 Eyefinity 6 and 8 GB Gskill 1600Mhz (2000Mhz O.C) ram almost 4 years ago.

Since then.... I have also purchased the Oculus Rift DK2 and noticed some graphic issues. Occasional white flashing and screen stutter.

I didn't want to purchase another motherboard or CPU because I thought they were sufficient for Elite. I wanted to make sure that the computer will be able to handle the Rift CV version which is rumored to be coming out in the summer of 2015, early orders in May. The CV version resolution will be increased from the 1080i (2244i?), possibly 4K for premium version, so I want to make sure I can handle it.

I am buying 16GB Gskill Ram 1600Mhz and the Radeon r9 290 tri-x graphics card.

Please tell me this will be enough to handle the CV version of the rift or 3 1080i monitors. And possibly give me another 2 years before I have to upgrade my motherboard and CPU!!

 

[SnowGhost]

Buying extra RAM won't help in this situation. 8G is enough, unless you have a burning need for more, and Elite isn't that need.

I'm not sure that an R9 290 will cope with an Occulus Rift. I"m assuming they are aiming at 4k for the first consumer release. Which means, two 4k monitors.

If you really want that video card to survive another 2 years, wait a little bit and see what the next real new AMD card does.

 

[Elessarus]

I can tell you right now that GPU wont cut it. You will need about double the power to do what you want and to have it survive for 2 yrs. That mobo by the way is the best money can buy for amd (overclocking beast). That proc however is pretty bad and i dont think it will matter for Elite to much but for other games a different proc will help you alot i think. I dont know how CPU intensive Elite is but a new proc could also help but its a given that the GPU you listed isnt very good.

 

[Chazmyr]

Really? The CPU was one of the best on the market "at the time" the only thing better now is an 8 core at 4.7Ghz. This one is at 3.2Ghz 6 core... are you sure it will not handle it?
I haven't tried to over clock it yet. I know I definitely need to upgrade the GPU. If I have too... I can get two Radeon 290 and crossfire them, but I am reading the SLI and Crossfire cause latency problems for the rift.

 

[coffeemonster]

Really? The CPU was one of the best on the market "at the time" the only thing better now is an 8 core at 4.7Ghz. This one is at 3.2Ghz 6 core... are you sure it will not handle it?
I haven't tried to over clock it yet. I know I definitely need to upgrade the GPU. If I have too... I can get two Radeon 290 and crossfire them, but I am reading the SLI and Crossfire cause latency problems for the rift.

mhz isn't really a good indication of speed, even since s462 days. how many instructions a cpu can perform per clock cycle depends on the architecture, cache and so forth. you'll find newer CPUs are faster than older ones at the same clock rate. you should look up benchmarks for the CPUs and you will see what i mean. AMD CPUs aren't bad (good performance for price) but they haven't really been faster than intel ones since s939, ignore the high clock-rate. games tend to be more GPU intensive so CPUs aren't as important any more.

 

[Elessarus]

Really? The CPU was one of the best on the market "at the time" the only thing better now is an 8 core at 4.7Ghz. This one is at 3.2Ghz 6 core... are you sure it will not handle it?
I haven't tried to over clock it yet. I know I definitely need to upgrade the GPU. If I have too... I can get two Radeon 290 and crossfire them, but I am reading the SLI and Crossfire cause latency problems for the rift.

Im confused now. You say the next step is the 8 core 4.7 which is the FX-9590 and that is not correct. Best Amd proc atm is fx-9590, one step back we get fx-9370 next is fx-8370 then 8350 and then 8320, 8150, 8120. After that we get the 6000 series which is 6 core and you have one of those i believe so as you can see there are alot of procs in between and the one you have really isnt very good anymore.

Coffeemonster was correct that Mhz isnt everything anymore especially with AMD. In flight/space sims CPU's tend to get more important becaus eit has alot of physics to calculate. Take Star Citizen, they are CPU bound atm and if you are an AMD user you will never get a high fps because of it.

I would leave your cpu for now and upgrade your GPU. If you still have the same issues then its time for CPU upgrade and if you want to keep it budget then the best is the FX 8350. Good luck!

 

[Surfinjo]

I'm not sure that an R9 290 will cope with an Occulus Rift. I"m assuming they are aiming at 4k for the first consumer release. Which means, two 4k monitors.

If you really want that video card to survive another 2 years, wait a little bit and see what the next real new AMD card does.

I'm rather surprised and a little disappointed to heat that. I had mused on buying an Occulus Rift. But my new graphics card is lower down the scale to the R9 290.

Looking at the list though, suggests that few graphics cards will be powerful enough. Seems rather strange to be buying something that only a few can ever hope to use.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html