Maybe—and that's a big maybe—I'll get the chance to pick up a GTX 1060. But honestly, I’m a bit worried about my power supply; it feels like it might be cutting it a little too close. Plus, I don't exactly have an extra $100 lying around to go out and buy a new unit right now. I'm currently running a Corsair CX 500 V2-80 Plus. I did a little digging online, and it looks like my current card (the 6950) pulls about 200W, while this one would add another 44W to the load...
What do you guys think—is an upgrade actually worth the hassle here? I’m thinking about selling my current card for $533 and tossing in another $200 on top of that to snag a $600 from someone on Craigslist. But honestly, the big question remains: does this move actually make sense? http://www.hwcompare.com/9021/geforc...n-hd-6950-2gb/
Benjamin King2 said:Just swap that GPU for an Nvidia card. 😁 You see similar issues with Radeon cards—take Civilization V, for example—since Radeon hardware and their drivers don't really play nice with DX11 multithreading. Instead of getting a performance boost, you actually end up with the opposite effect. In Civ5, the FPS difference can be nearly double in favor of Nvidia when comparing cards of equal power.
The CPU shouldn't be the issue here, since multi-core scaling isn't really providing much of a jump—honestly, even two cores are plenty.
Alright, thanks for the heads up—sounds like I've got myself a decent little bucket here. As for the graphics card, I'm aiming for a GTX 570. I'll sell my current one and maybe toss in a bit of extra cash if I need to... But wait, does the VRAM matter? Mine has 2GB. Is it true that having more gigabytes on the card helps when playing games at higher settings or resolutions? If that's not quite right, and if the GTX 570 isn't the best move, could you recommend something else? Just nothing from the Kepler architecture for now.😁
With games getting more demanding every single day, I hit a bit of a wall yesterday while trying to play Call of Duty 3. I can actually run it on max settings, but MSAA just absolutely kills my performance—without it, I’m seeing about 30-40 fps (tracked via Fraps), but once I toggle that option on, I drop down to a miserable 19-20. It isn't just about this one game, though; what really worries me is thinking about all the big titles coming our way in 2013. That’s where the real headache starts. 🙂
Here’s what my current rig looks like—any advice on what I should swap out first? Motherboard: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/...rd-dp55wb.html CPU: http://ark.intel.com/products/42915/...Cache-2_66-GHz GPU: http://xfxforce.com/en-us/Products/g...n-HD-6950.aspx PSU: http://www.corsair.com/power-supply-...er-supply.html RAM: 8GB DDR3 HDD: 750GB Monitor: Philips at 1680x1050 resolution
Exactly—you can't really pair a high-end card like an $667 with a weak CPU, because the processor just won't be able to keep up with the graphics... Besides, we're talking about a dedicated gaming card here, which obviously needs a rock-solid, high-quality power supply rather than some cheap budget unit you'd pick up at a 😁Walmart
boldgull8 said:But which AMD Radeon HD 7850 are we talking about? If I remember correctly, there are like 11 different versions out there—and they definitely don't all perform the same or carry the same price tag.
If I were you, I'd just grab the one with the beefier cooler and a longer warranty.
If you can scrape together another $50 or so in the near future, you should definitely grab this one. http://www.bestbuy.com/?item=graphics-card-example Even though that card doesn't require a specialized power supply, it would be better if you could let us know which one you're currently running—like the specific brand or model—just so we can be 100% sure it’ll handle the upgrade.
swiftdriver30 said:Which version of Windows 7 is best for gaming, browsing the web, and listening to some music? Nothing fancy—just that. I’ve got 4GB of RAM, an Intel quad 2 Core Q8400, an Nvidia GTX 260, and a 1.5 TB drive. Maybe even Windows 8?...
There isn't really a "best" version of Windows (at least not from what I've seen)—it all comes down to your hardware. It doesn't much matter if you're running Windows XP or any version of Windows 7; the main thing is having components that actually meet the requirements for whatever game or software you're trying to run. You have a pretty decent setup, but just a heads up—with that specific graphics card, don't expect much in terms of CUDA support in games. And of course, your resolution will make a huge difference too.
How can you be so indecisive about playing at such a low resolution? If you actually tried running anything at Full HD, there isn't a single modern game that card could handle.
swiftowl5 said:I'm looking for a graphics card for a buddy of mine—something that can handle games on max settings. I have an HD6770 that I tested in his rig, and it ran everything at ultra, but I can't find anything with those exact specs available for purchase anymore. He's running an AMD X2 3.0 MgH 4 processor with 4GB of RAM, and he currently has an hd5450, but man, it's struggling—especially since he's still using a CRT monitor. Would this one be good enough for him to play on max settings? http://www.amazon.com/Graphics-Card...GB-254139.aspx Or do you guys have a better suggestion? URGENT!!!!🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂🙂
http://www.amazon.com/search?q=HD6770 What do you mean they aren't available?
Jesse Brown90 said:Honestly, who cares about 800x600? I’m playing at 1280x1024—I'm not blind, you know? It fits perfectly within my field of vision on these seventeen inches anyway. Let's not get carried away... just yesterday everyone was thrilled if they could even hit 800x600 just to get the game running..
Man, just grab a 22-inch 1080p monitor and then you'll actually see what a real difference in image quality looks like.
swiftdriver30 said:I've got the latest drivers installed—plus I actually turned on automatic updates in my Nvidia settings—and other games are running perfectly fine, like WoW, CSS, and this new Medal of Honor.
Have you tried dropping the resolution down at all?
swiftdriver30 said:Hey everyone—back again after a bit with what might be an even stupider question, lol. 😁 So, here’s the deal: I’m running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 right now and everything seems fine, but I just installed all the Assassin's Creed games and they’re all stuttering—just constant lag. I have no idea why. I actually checked my specs on a site to see if my rig could handle them—I've got an Intel quad 2 Core Q8400, an Asus Nvidia GTX260, and some Kingston 2 x2 DDR2 400 RAM—and the site gave me a 100% rating, basically saying I should be able to crank everything up to Ultra settings without a hitch. Man, maybe that’s not the issue? If I'm wrong, please set me straight—could this be a Windows thing? Should I be using a different version, like Pro or Home Premium? Honestly, I'm stumped. I just downloaded the whole series and I'm waiting on the last one, which I also tested and got a 100% score on. It's so weird that even the first game from 2008 is lagging. Just to be clear, these are all pirated versions I grabbed from Pirate Bay via torrent. If anyone has a solution or some tips, I'd really appreciate it.
Maybe try reinstalling your graphics card drivers? You could also try dropping the resolution just to see if the stuttering stops—and of course, try running a different game to see if it's just these titles.
I'm currently running an 8800 GTS 512 MB and I'm looking to swap it out—maybe for a 7750, a 7770, or something along those lines. For anything higher than that, though, I'm worried my CPU might be a bottleneck (running an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 at 3.6 GHz). My usual resolution is 1650x1050.
Looking at this benchmark, it seems the 7770 scores more than twice as high as my current card. Does that mean I can expect a noticeable jump in actual gaming performance? I doubt it'll literally be double the speed, but there should be a pretty significant leap, right?
For instance, I'm playing Borderlands 2 right now with most settings on high—AA and AF turned off, plus a few other things I can't quite recall. It runs pretty well at 35-45 FPS, though it dips below 30 when things get really chaotic on screen, but it's definitely playable.
I got burned once a long time ago when I upgraded my rig with a new card, only to find the performance boost was almost nonexistent. It left a bad taste in my mouth, especially since I'd already dropped the cash...
If you guys know of any better benchmarks, please let me know. Thanks.
Just tell us what your maximum budget is and we'll go from there.
Jeffrey Adams11 said:Can anyone help me out here? Every time I try to launch Diablo II on Windows 7, I just get this black screen with a tiny little arrow sitting in the corner—not even my actual mouse cursor—and then everything freezes up. I can't really do anything except hit Alt+F4 to force the game to close... any idea how to fix this?
Jerry Long32 said:Should I go with the MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr or the ASUS DC2T? I've heard that the ASUS version has quite a few issues—apparently, the copper heat pipes are soldered directly to the GPU, causing it to run way too hot.
Honestly, just grab whichever one comes with the longer warranty.
Walter Bennett32 said:I reached out to this Matt Matt guy—who actually gave me his full name, by the way—to see if he could guarantee the key won't end up blacklisted. He said he could, but then added he couldn't promise there wouldn't be an expiration date on it. Honestly, that sounds just like a release preview to me. It all feels a bit too sketchy, and I really don't want to go looking for trouble where there shouldn't be any, so I think I'll pass on buying it.
You could have at least asked him if anyone else had run into issues with it—and if they did, whether he offers any kind of refund.