20 replies to this topic

[Mieli]

So, as I'm a founder, and I'm in the beta, I have started to consider getting a new graphics card due to not being satisfied with my geforce gt 520 performance (its a terrible card, i know).

Here's my main system spec:
OS - Windows Vista Business 32-bit
CPU - AMD FX 4100 @ 4.2 GHz
MB - Asus M5A78L Le
RAM - 8 GB (Only 3 GB in use because of my 32 bit OS)
GPU - Nvidia Geforce GT 520

After spending some time looking at GPUs at 150-200 euro price range (around 170-230$), I started to think about these GPUs: (If you have some other suggestions feel free to post)

-(XFX) Radeon HD 6950 2GB (would cost 200e/230$) http://www.newegg.co...eon%20HD%206950
-Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 1GB (Pretty much the same cost as the radeon above) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814121446

Then some slightly cheaper cards would be either Radeon HD 7770 series or Geforce GTX 550 series. (Both costing around 150e/170$, or less)

Then I have got a question about PCI-E Slots, as my motherboard (Asus M5A78L LE) has got following slots:
- 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16
- 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1
- 3 x PCI

However most of these cards are something like PCI-E 2.1, so can i use them in my motherboard's 2.0 slots?

Then, lastly, I'm slightly worried if I can actually fit those bigger cards (HD 6950, GTX 560) into my Antec Three Hundred.


EDIT: Forgot to mention, my budget is at 200 euros.

Edited by Lemme Engage, 29 July 2012 - 10:39 AM.

[Aznpersuasion89]

I have the 7770 and get between 40-60 fps max settings

[Oderint dum Metuant]

6950 Out of those options for me personally which should be fine in a PCI-E 2.0 slot.
And it will fit into the Antec 300 you may need to do some cable re-routing and general tidying but it will fit.

After that get a 64bit OS...i mean why would you purchase 8GB knowing you cant use it .

[Mieli]

DV McKenna, on 29 July 2012 - 09:45 AM, said:

After that get a 64bit OS...i mean why would you purchase 8GB knowing you cant use it .

Well, at the time I bought it I, erm, didn't know too much about computers... Trying to definitely get myself a 64-bit in the future, but i have got pretty tight budget and for now I'll rather just get a new gpu, as my old one isn't very good.

[WaddeHaddeDudeda]

What McKenna said. Get Win7 x64!

Apart from that: length of current GPU's.
You gotta google up the second part for yourself in order to find out what the three hundered can take and whatnot.

And yes, any of the above cards would work with your PCIe 2.0 x 16 slot without any problems.

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Lemme Engage, on 29 July 2012 - 09:50 AM, said:

Well, at the time I bought it I, erm, didn't know too much about computers... Trying to definitely get myself a 64-bit in the future, but i have got pretty tight budget and for now I'll rather just get a new gpu, as my old one isn't very good.

Someone here posted a link to the trial version of windows 7 64 bit, i've seen reviews online that say its possible turn this from a 30 day trial to a 120 day trial weather it still works is another question.
If you could save like 30Euro a month those 3 months would pay for it.

(i just cant find the thread here it was linked)

[Marillion551]

I have an nvidia geforce 430 or somewhere in the 400 range (sorry) and i find that it works absolutely gorgeously. Ive found that vista sometimes messes with the graphics and gaming compatibility. My friend had vista and the computer wouldnt even let him play the simplest games. Don't know if that helps but it might be brought into consideration.

[Nils]

This site is a decent place to check out benchmarks on various hardwares. http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/


your PCIe 2.0x16 will take any of those cards.

[Mieli]

Oh damn, looks like no hd 6950 for me, just took a look at my PSU (Modecom Premium 530 W), and it has only got one 6-pin connector, well, looks like HD 7770 or GTX 550 are the way to go then (i'd rather not get a new PSU now)

[Vulpesveritas]

Lemme Engage, on 29 July 2012 - 11:00 PM, said:

Oh damn, looks like no hd 6950 for me, just took a look at my PSU (Modecom Premium 530 W), and it has only got one 6-pin connector, well, looks like HD 7770 or GTX 550 are the way to go then (i'd rather not get a new PSU now)

The HD 7770 is the faster of the two cards, and the more energy efficient.
There is the Radeon HD 7850 which is slightly more expensive, but still within your budget, and is slightly faster than the 6950 as well. It is also more energy efficient, and only uses 1 PCI-e connector.
http://www.amazon.co...43632052&sr=1-7
http://www.amazon.co...43632052&sr=1-2

Edited by Vulpesveritas, 29 July 2012 - 11:13 PM.

[chomeop]

I wouldn't be purchasing a previous generation video card. They go out of date so quick, your best bet is to decide on the max amount you can afford and do some research on the specific cards in your price range.

There are metric **** tonnes of video card performance comparisons for just about every card available, As a bare minimum i'd go a 7850 or 570 this should be the entry point for any 'gaming' machine.

Just do ya research and you'll be fine.

[Apocalypse4987]

Just buy the Win 7. It's very stable system, and trust me, it is worth every peny. After all, it's a long term investment

[Shivus]

chomeop, on 29 July 2012 - 11:33 PM, said:

I wouldn't be purchasing a previous generation video card. They go out of date so quick, your best bet is to decide on the max amount you can afford and do some research on the specific cards in your price range.

There are metric **** tonnes of video card performance comparisons for just about every card available, As a bare minimum i'd go a 7850 or 570 this should be the entry point for any 'gaming' machine.

Just do ya research and you'll be fine.

Speaking of doing research...

Previous generation cards are fine to purchase. The old 5870 still holds its own in every benchmark, part of the time outpacing the 6870 and even the 560 TI, but mostly remaining on par with them. Then the 6850 is more powerful than the 7770. Generation isn't everything.

Lemme Engage, on 29 July 2012 - 11:00 PM, said:

Oh damn, looks like no hd 6950 for me, just took a look at my PSU (Modecom Premium 530 W), and it has only got one 6-pin connector, well, looks like HD 7770 or GTX 550 are the way to go then (i'd rather not get a new PSU now)

Vulpe's already said it, but the 7850 should work fine with even a lesser brand PSU as long as its above 500W and has the amperage for it. Hint: Check the amperage requirements against the amperage on your 12v rail.

[Mieli]

After all your nice replies, i've decided to get either HD 6850 or HD 7770 (7850 is very tempting but just cant find a good price here in finland, and I cant buy it from abroad because i dont have a credit card (my parents wont let me have one until im 18).

Looking at the Tom's hardware benchmarks from crysis 2, 6850 gets better fps with DirectX 9, and 7770 with DirectX 11. Which one of those is more important when considering gpu's performance in MWO?

[Vulpesveritas]

Lemme Engage, on 30 July 2012 - 08:20 AM, said:

After all your nice replies, i've decided to get either HD 6850 or HD 7770 (7850 is very tempting but just cant find a good price here in finland, and I cant buy it from abroad because i dont have a credit card (my parents wont let me have one until im 18).

Looking at the Tom's hardware benchmarks from crysis 2, 6850 gets better fps with DirectX 9, and 7770 with DirectX 11. Which one of those is more important when considering gpu's performance in MWO?

Depends. Do you plan to play MWO in DX9 or DX11?

[Mieli]

Vulpesveritas, on 30 July 2012 - 10:22 AM, said:

Depends. Do you plan to play MWO in DX9 or DX11?

Currently i think I have DX9, however do these 2 (DX9 and DX10) have some kind of difference in the way they make games look?

[Vulpesveritas]

Lemme Engage, on 30 July 2012 - 10:44 AM, said:

Currently i think I have DX9, however do these 2 (DX9 and DX10) have some kind of difference in the way they make games look?

DX11 has the following advantages over DX9;
- Integrated Physics computation for better rendering of physics effects
- Active reflections and light bouncing from objects
- tessellation allowing for more polygons to be fit within an object, increasing detail levels
- Better 64bit implementations and multithreaded CPU performance
- Able to use GPU compute in the game engine itself, taking off the load from the CPU and instead implementing it on the GPU

Also, keep in mind that the Radeon HD 7770 is more energy efficient than the 6850 too.

Edited by Vulpesveritas, 30 July 2012 - 09:53 PM.

[silentD11]

PCIE 1.0 2.0 3.0 et all are revisions. For PCIE the x16 or x4 can mean physical (the size of the slot) and electrical (what it's actual bandwidth is). You can have a physical x16 slot that's only x4 electrical, you can't have an x4 physical that's x16 electrical though. It's not only the bandwidth it has but the power it can supply, just won't have the juice so to speak.

1.0 vs 2.0 is that 2.0 has 2x the bandwidth of 1.0, 3.0 ups it again. Using a faster card in a slower slot will work, it just might not perform as well. PCIE 2.0 at x8 is just as fast as 1.0 at x16.

And keep in mind the lanes are split by the chipset/or PCIE controller on the CPU. So if you have 16 lanes that's one x16 slot at full speed, or two at x8, and if you add in another card it will lose the bandwidth. That's one of the reasons x79 costs more than p67 or x58 costs more than p55, they have the PCIE lanes to actually run all the slots, the cheaper chipsets can't.

[Shivus]

If a game has directx 11 support, then 11 is the way to go. DX10 was a single generation flop because while it did result in better lighting effects, it came at the cost of significant performance so wasn't worth using over 9, other than for eye candy with an already powerful card. DirectX 11 however is fully worth using over 9 since it can actually enhance both performance and appearance.

[Mieli]

Thanks for all your replies, looks like 7770 is the way to go for me, as I also got some windows 7 installation discs from my father who didnt use them.