Woodstock, on 15 June 2012 - 10:28 PM, said:
okay so what is wrong with the graphics card in this spec:
- AMD A6-3670K 2.7GHz CPU
- 4GB DDR3 Memory
- Motherboard
- AMD Radeon HD 6530D
And again ... how does the CPU compare to the recommended spec ...
My question is not ... what SHOULD I get ... but will this machine get the job done? (assuming I add another 4gb of ram.)
Long post incoming be warned.
A quick lesson in GPU nomenclature:
Nvidia uses 3 numbers. The first is the family, the second is the position within the family, the third is usually 0, if it's 5 it denotes an improvement to the base model. Some models also have TI after them which also denotes an improvement, usually more cuda cores. A GTX 550 TI is of the 5th family which again is confusing at first because there was no 1 series and the GTX 2XX was the first family of the current naming run.
At any rate with Nvidia X6X that middle number being a 6 is what you want to look for in a good mid range GPU. The X7X is a step up and X8X is above that. Beyond that you have to look at your own budget and search for benchmarks to determine which is the better value for you.
AMD cards have a similar naming system. HD XXXX is the current naming run. It's currently on the 7 series. The second number denotes the same thing as Nvidia's, and the third number denotes the same thing as Nvidia's third. The fourth number is pretty much a 0 at all times. Where they differ is that for AMD X850 and X870 are both mid range cards, however the X870 is a definite step up over the X850, like the Geforce 560TI is to the regular 560. X950 and X970 are more akin to the X70's and X80's for nvidia excluding things like overclocking and the differing performance in each family of cards.
Yeah it's confusing at first, but look through benchmarks and pricing, and you'll begin to see the pattern.
The overall point though is that for gaming you don't want to go lower than the X60 for Nvidia or the X850 for AMD unless you're on a budget, at which point there's usually a "king of the budget cards" that gives you the most bang for your buck for around or under $150.
Spending $200-250 or more on a good GPU makes your gaming experience better, and makes your overall system last much longer since almost all games are tied to the GPU. I bought my GTX 260 core 216 (more naming confusion) 4 years ago at this point for around $250, and it lasted me until just a couple weeks ago when I decided to take advantage of a good deal on newegg. By contrast a weaker card would have had to be upgraded long ago.
But as a testament to how different the power in cards is
DocBach, on 15 June 2012 - 10:12 PM, said:
Yeah, they don't bench GTX 260's anymore, but I'm sure it would still surpass anything in the 6500 series, even the 6600 series. Not bad for a 4+ year old card.
To answer your original question, it wouldn't, or I wouldn't risk it unless you plan on also getting a better GPU to switch out immediately, but then you have to make sure the PSU is adequate as well. The minimum 5770 is likely more powerful than the 6530 and 6570. You *might* be able to play on minimum settings at lower resolutions, but if you're going to spend money on a new computer you may as well make sure it has the parts to do more than the minimum.
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