27 replies to this topic

[bikerbass77]

RAM, on 10 September 2012 - 10:10 PM, said:

First there are hardware support forums just for this reason. Next, the 640 is a terrible card… yes it is marginally better than the minimum, but it is significantly worse than the recommended.

The GTX 460 is much better and the 560 Ti/570 cards significantly better still. The 550 Ti is probably closest to your budget and even it would be a massive improvement.


RAM
ELH

I have a GTX 460 1gb card and I would advise buying something more powerful. I can not go into detail because I would be breaking the NDA, but it is fair to say that if you get a copy of Crysis 2 and find that you can run it on high detail without issue on your chosen resolution, then you will be OK. On the Nvidia side, I would look towards a GT560 Ti and for AMD cards I would look for a higher end model such as the 6870 (last generation but still powerful) or the 7850.

With graphics cards you need to be careful of the naming convention as certain points mean the series of the chip and others mean its place in the series. Saying the higher the number, the better would be a gross oversimplification and hugely incorrect as a high end GPU from the last generation usually over-powers a mid range GPU from this one. A tool that is useful for choosing one is the Bench utility at Anandtech.com.

http://www.anandtech...duct/612?vs=542

Edited by Hans Davion, 11 September 2012 - 04:03 PM.

[bikerbass77]

Coaxill, on 10 September 2012 - 10:00 PM, said:

A 640 would definetely do it. I run it just fine on a 560. I recommend you look at a wikipedia article regarding video card versions, that will let you know what the numbers mean.

This is wrong. According to benchmarks, the 640 has less than half the power of a 460 1gb. There is no way this chip would stand the strain. As I mentioned in my earlier post the numbers are not the higher the better. In this case, 640, the 6 is the series number with the 4 showing its place in the market. At this point, it is a low - mid end card and underpowered for games based on engines like Cryengine2.

For clarification, chips like the 640 are made for uses such as HTPC's where their biggest strain will be decoding blue-ray movies to alleviate strain from the CPU. The gaming units start from the x60 point. Sometimes you can get away with the x50 and x50 Ti units but quickly find yourself underpowered as new games come out.

Similarly for AMD anything up to and including x570 range points are for HTPC's. x650 is where gaming starts to be possible although I wouldn't buy a lower denomination for gaming than a x770 unit.

Edited by Hans Davion, 11 September 2012 - 03:49 PM.

[bikerbass77]

Proximo, on 11 September 2012 - 01:21 PM, said:

I'm running a GTX 460 with a Phenom II x4 945 and it runs fine on High. Runs even better at Low and there isnt even that much of an appreciable difference in graphics.

If this is accurate, then I will have to upgrade my CPU. I have a GTX 460 1gb with an over-clocked Core2Duo and have had performance issues. It's looking like this might just be the first game that you really do want to have a quad core CPU.

[light487]

I really like this site for comparisons:

http://www.videocard...h_end_gpus.html

You can search for individual cards as well.. and then get a comparison against the top 10 to see how it stacks up.. for example.. my old card was a 5770:

http://www.videocard...=Radeon+HD+5770

Really handy site..

[Spaceman Spiff]

hey thanks to all i really appreciate the info from each of you guys. hopefully a better card and smoother gameplay drastically improves my aim lol

[CSHubert]

The GT640 is a waste of money. At roughly the same price you can get a GTX550ti. Not the best card but a heck of a lot better than GT640. 550ti will run this, 560 does it better and 660ti is a monster, but the pricetag is a monster too if you are on a budget. Avoid the GT620 and 640...

[80sGlamRockSensation David Bowie]

Another good competitor (although, you need a beast PSU to back it up) is the GTX 480. I can currently run the game on High at 60fps, without any overclocking (meaning no heat issues). Downside is you need a very good psu (minimum is a 600w, 80+ certified).

Last I checked, an EVGA GTX480 was at $190.

[Spaceman Spiff]

okay went with a xfx hd 6770. my buddy has a spare one and so im going to try it out. thanks for all the intel everyone.