i7-870 processor, which GPU makes sense for 1680x1050 resolution

[xoxen]

Hi,

my son (11) got addicted to DCS, which is a great thing The negative point is, that he uses my PC for flying. He has an old one from me, but actually with a 1050 Ti and 8 GB of DDR3-1600 RAM. He has a display with a resolution of 1680x1050. So my idea is to upgrade the RAM to 16 GB (or even 32 GB, I read that in some cases the P55 chipset can also handle this, even though it is not official).

The question I have is, what GPU makes sense at this resolution with the old CPU, to get a reasonable result. He is not addicted to eye candy as much as I am, but I want to give him the best possible experience with a relatively low amount of cost. There is not really a budged, but I would say 75 EUR for the RAM and 150-200 EUR for a used GPU.

Maybe someone in this forum has some input for me to make the best out of it.

The mainboard he has is a Asus P7P55D-E.

Any feedback is very much appreciated.

Thanks.

[BitMaster]

IIRC the biggest DDR3 module made for Desktop is a 4GB Dimm, so with 4 slots it will top out at 16GB, 4x4GB.

I assume it would need 2R-Dimms with 16 dies on it, likely made for servers, I would not try that route.

 

No idea what GPU was best, get the fattest one for the 150-200€ I'd say

[AngleOff66]

For me when upgrading the 1st question has to be:

Will the psu handle it.

My system is roughly the same vintage.   By the time I upgrade the PSU to handle even a cheap gpu, I am spending more than it is worth. But I want eye candy.  I am also not sure as to comparability of a mother board that old and the newer cards.

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by NoCoolName66

[xoxen]

Thanks for your input,

for sure I will have a look at tve most bang for the bucks, but if someone would have said that something in the price range of 250 for the GPU would be best for the CPU to be aligned power wise, I'm at least open minded

Regarding the RAM I guess I will not make any experiments.

[LucShep]

On 8/31/2022 at 12:58 PM, xoxen said:

Hi,

my son (11) got addicted to DCS, which is a great thing The negative point is, that he uses my PC for flying. He has an old one from me, but actually with a 1050 Ti and 8 GB of DDR3-1600 RAM. He has a display with a resolution of 1680x1050. So my idea is to upgrade the RAM to 16 GB (or even 32 GB, I read that in some cases the P55 chipset can also handle this, even though it is not official).

The question I have is, what GPU makes sense at this resolution with the old CPU, to get a reasonable result. He is not addicted to eye candy as much as I am, but I want to give him the best possible experience with a relatively low amount of cost. There is not really a budged, but I would say 75 EUR for the RAM and 150-200 EUR for a used GPU.

Maybe someone in this forum has some input for me to make the best out of it.

The mainboard he has is a Asus P7P55D-E.

Any feedback is very much appreciated.

Thanks.

As the old  i7 870 (LGA1156) processor and old DDR3 RAM tech can - and will - bottleneck things, anything beyond a GTX1070Ti 8GB (plenty listed in EBAY as "Buy it now" from reputable sellers) will be a waste of money for that system. That GPU is (+/-) the minimum requirement for DCS, and what I would consider "good" for 1680x1050 @60Hz.

16GB RAM is kind of limiting for DCS, but then so is that processor and the DDR3 RAM speed, so you need to revaluate your options and actual investment.
You can of course try 1x Kit of 32GB (4x 8GB sticks), or 2x Kits of 16GB (2x 8GB sticks) of same exact RAM, to get a total of 32GB RAM with 4 sticks.
Either 16GB or 32GB, I'd recommend these as they're still available, highly compatible with XMP loaded, it's good for gaming and relatively cheap.

At least a SATA SSD (preferentially 500GB+) will be needed for DCS, as it is intensive for activity in drive's files, so that's another thing to get, if you don't have it already.

Keep in mind that you may need (or not) a new PSU of decent quality and wattage (f.ex, the GTX1070Ti requires 550W+).

So, at the end of the day, picking this and that part, it starts to increase costs beyond what you may find acceptable for that old system based on discontinued/obsolete parts.
Only you can find if it's worth going for.

Edited September 2, 2022 by LucShep

[BitMaster]

no 32GB on 870 !

copied & pasted:

The DDR3 standard permits DRAM chip capacities of up to 8 gigabits (Gbit), and up to four ranks of 64 bits each for a total maximum of 16 gigabytes (GB) per DDR3 DIMM. Because of a hardware limitation not fixed until Ivy Bridge-E in 2013, most older Intel CPUs only support up to 4-Gbit chips for 8 GB DIMMs (Intel's Core 2 DDR3 chipsets only support up to 2 Gbit). All AMD CPUs correctly support the full specification for 16 GB DDR3 DIMMs.^[1]

Intel says same, i7-870 max 16GB

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/de/de/ark/products/41315/intel-core-i7870-processor-8m-cache-2-93-ghz.html

 

 

Edited September 2, 2022 by BitMaster

[LucShep]

1 hour ago, BitMaster said:

no 32GB on 870 !

copied & pasted:

The DDR3 standard permits DRAM chip capacities of up to 8 gigabits (Gbit), and up to four ranks of 64 bits each for a total maximum of 16 gigabytes (GB) per DDR3 DIMM. Because of a hardware limitation not fixed until Ivy Bridge-E in 2013, most older Intel CPUs only support up to 4-Gbit chips for 8 GB DIMMs (Intel's Core 2 DDR3 chipsets only support up to 2 Gbit). All AMD CPUs correctly support the full specification for 16 GB DDR3 DIMMs.^[1]

Intel says same, i7-870 max 16GB

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/de/de/ark/products/41315/intel-core-i7870-processor-8m-cache-2-93-ghz.html

 

Yes, and it's always been tricky info.
Quick google search gives some interesting forum threads, and I suspect Xoxen had already ran into those - for example, this one.  

You see, that's the "official" Intel info on launch, that LGA1156 i5 and i7 are limited to 16GB.
However, the "unofficial" info is that all Lynnfield Core processors (i7 870, i5 750, long etc) can run upto 32GB DDR3 2000Mhz CL7 (1600Mhz CL9 considered "best value").
Back at the time when those were launched, there were no invididual RAM modules available to the public with more than 4GB (4x sticks of 4GB = 16GB). Which may explain it.

In any case, unless 32GB DDR3 can be found at really cheap price, I'd rather just get another 8GB of same mem that is there already, pair both kits for 16GB total and call it a day. 

Edited September 2, 2022 by LucShep
added link

[xoxen]

Thanks for all the valuable input. I will think of it and once I take the decision I will let you know.

[Laurreth]

On 9/2/2022 at 9:50 PM, LucShep said:

You see, that's the "official" Intel info on launch, that LGA1156 i5 and i7 are limited to 16GB.
However, the "unofficial" info is that all Lynnfield Core processors (i7 870, i5 750, long etc) can run upto 32GB DDR3 2000Mhz CL7 (1600Mhz CL9 considered "best value").

And then you still need to pray that the mainboard manages to run that stuff anywhere near stable without severe underclocking or overvolting; no, Asus is not a sign of stability in that area, during the DDR3 era I've had several Asus boards that straight up refused to run stable with 8GB sticks without best guess manual adjustments. And you do not want to fill up all RAM sockets because that will make things even slower and worse.

The 1050Ti may even be fine for that though; DCS quickly becomes CPU intensive, and that CPU won't be able to throw enough data at it to make it sweat.

If at all possible, I'd try to find a cheap DDR4 system with a moderately recent CPU (even a first-gen Ryzen 5 will run circles around the 870!) and throw the graphics card in there. That'll give you much more room to play with.

[xoxen]

Thanks Laurreth,

as I got fooled on ebay and threw away 60 bucks for RAM I never received your idea became smarter. Used stuff is only interesting if I can pick it up personally. Again I learned this lesson the hard way.

Regarding the Asus board I need to mention that i had never ever issues with it. The whole idea is on hold for now but I take your input into consideration.

Thanks.