GPU Help Required - Updated 3/29/2013

[Tsume Xiao]

Ok so I need a new graphics card to be able to play Planetside 2 with everyone again.

 

I know pretty much jack shit about graphics cards, but I do know that I don't need the latest and greatest card. I just want to be able to play the games I have. Chances are I may be completely re-building my computer in the future anyways.

 

 

---Computer Specs---

Motherboard: MSI P35 Neo 2 FR

Processor: Intel Core 3 Duo E4500

RAM: 6144MB DDR2

Power Supply: PC P&C Silencer 610

Current Card: ATI Radeon 3850 HD 256MB

 

I have one PCI-e x16 slot. My PSU has 2 of the little power plug things for GPU's if needed.

 

---Games---

Battlefield 3

War Thunder

World of Tanks

Second Life

Planetside 2

 

Planetside 2 is the only game I currently cannot run. My current card can run all the other games on lower graphical settings

 

---Cost & Options---

I am not looking to spend too much on a new card. The prior offers to send me spare cards ended in a DOA card, so unless anyone has any other spares I just need to buy a new one. My budget is around $50-$70 USD.

 

Currently the card I was suggested was a Radeon HD6770. This will meet the PS2 requirements and is about $65 before rebates.

 

Two options are here:

http://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GV-R667D3-1GI-Radeon-CrossFire-Graphics/dp/B005MED9X4/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102988

 

I have Amazon Prime so I get free 2-day shipping from Amazon. I also have a $5 Amazon Gift card so Amazon would be an ideal retailer.

 

I have no preference about AMD/Radeon vs nVidia. I just want something that works.

 

 

 

Edited March 30, 2013 by Tsume Xiao

[Guest Afevis]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130753

 

http://www.hwcompare.com/5708/geforce-gtx-280-vs-radeon-hd-6770-1gb/

[Tsume Xiao]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130753

 

http://www.hwcompare.com/5708/geforce-gtx-280-vs-radeon-hd-6770-1gb/

 

How is that physical size wise compared to the GTX 260? The GTX 260 that was DoA just barely fit... after I moved my HDD and even then it covered 2 SATA ports. :v

 

 

Also considering these two cards. I figure if it is worth the extra 20 bucks I'll be better off for the future!

 

http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-1024MB-Graphics-01G-P4-2650-KR/dp/B00966IU4M/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

http://www.amazon.com/Galaxy-GeForce-MINI-HDMI-Graphics-65NGH8DL7AXX/dp/B00965J8JY/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1364436284&sr=8-16&keywords=GTX+650

Edited March 28, 2013 by Tsume Xiao

[Guest Afevis]

260:

Standard Graphics Card Dimensions:
10.5 inches (267 mm)Length
 4.376 inches (111 mm)Height

280

Standard Graphics Card Dimensions:
10.5 inches (267 mm)Length
4.376 inches (111 mm)Height

650

Standard Graphics Card Dimensions:
5.70 inchesLength
4.38 inchesHeight

650 is your best bet. :]

Edited March 28, 2013 by Afevis

[Xoza]

I run GeForce myself, so it kinda depends on the amount you have to spend and preference of card company/build... I'd say anything with DDR3 1GB of current average releases and over $60 or so, would be enough for your objective... But again, all depends...

 

I run GTX 550? (I think) not the BEST and don't get superior FPS, but it does what I need at tolerable FPS with decent settings.

[Achtas]

Can you tell me how much space do you exactly have there for the card so that you can actually use your HDD?

[Inoue Katsu]

The nvidia's will give you less issues IMO.

Be sure to purge every bit of amd before installing it though.

I wouldn't recommend saving for a high end card unless you plan on upgrading everything in the somewhat near future, cpu will not be able to push a high end card to its limits.

[Achtas]

The nvidia's will give you less issues IMO.

Be sure to purge every bit of amd before installing it though.

I wouldn't recommend saving for a high end card unless you plan on upgrading everything in the somewhat near future, cpu will not be able to push a high end card to its limits.

 

That, and I don't think the PSU will be sufficient enough for a truly high end card. It will run, but along the lines of hardcore no lube. 

[Tsume Xiao]

I actually went and grabbed the GTX 650 last night. It was a bit higher than my stated price, but with DX11 it should last me longer and it will be able to play all my games with ease. It is also  smaller than the GTX 260 I had to try and shoe-horn into my computer by about half the length.

[Tsume Xiao]

New GPU Acquired!

 

EVGA GTX 650

 

Instaled fine, takes up less space than my old one.

 

Now my main bottleneck is my CPU. :x

 

BUT AT LEAST I CAN PLAY PLANETSIDE WITH YOU ALL AGAIN

 

>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yqgoEAzDns

[Akara]

I don't know if this has been mentioned before but since CPU will definitely be your bottleneck in PS2, don't rule out high settings and go straight for low on everything. Some (I don't know the specifics, you will have to google) settings use your GPU more on high and your CPU less which will result in higher FPS.

[Guest Afevis]

(Ultra tends to shift things from CPU to GPU too.)

[Tsume Xiao]

Well this was a Ffffing waste.

 

I get about 10 FPS tops when there are other people around. I have followed all the tips, I have downloaded the CPU unpark thing, I have downloaded Razer GameBooster.

 

Nothing.

 

It is even worse than my laptop.

 

Quite frankly I kinda feel like I have wasted money on this, and wasted three Ffffing months waiting to get a new card, which arrived DoA so I had to go buy one. At least I have some solace in the fact that other games that aren't programed like CPU whoring shit will run better.

 

 

At this point it seems if I want to play Planetside 2 with everyone I need to either:

 

A: Go back to the tedious method of switching to my laptop (assuming it runs) and dealing with about 20FPS (except for massive battles)

B: Buy a new CPU too, which I don't even know if I can because of how old my motherboard / socket is. So I'd probably have to get a new motherboard which would probably mean I'd have to reformat or some shit.

 

So basically after spending more money with hopes of trying to be able to play with everyone, My options are going back to the slightly less shittier performance I had before or spending even more money.

Edited March 30, 2013 by Tsume Xiao

[Riff Petrov]

At least now you have a new card for when you do finally upgrade your CPU/motherboard.

[Hollowmenphobia]

You should all feel Ffffing stupid, as none of you actually looked at his motherboard specifications before rattling off some GPU reccomendations.

 

From a simple Google search, I found this out about his motherboard:

 

 

PCI-Ex16 2 PCI-E Gen Gen1 (1x16, 1x4) PCI-Ex1 2

What's that mean? His PCI-Express, the place where you slap the card in, is 1.0.

 

The 650 is a 3.0 card.

 

3.0 hardware is back compatible, yeah. But for every difference in type, you loose at minimum half of your performance by default.

 

That 650? It's running at 25%, estimated, of it's maximum capacity.

 

--

 

Tsume, save up cash or get a loan for 1000$ and buy a pre-built comp and slap the GPU in when it arrives.

Edited March 30, 2013 by Hollowmenphobia

[Tsume Xiao]

That 650? It's running at 25%, estimated, of it's maximum capacity.

 

--

 

Tsume, save up cash or get a loan for 1000$ and buy a pre-built comp and slap the GPU in when it arrives.

 

25% would still probably be more powerful than my old GPU. Plus with the CPU being the issue anyways that doesn't seem to matter.

 

Also: $1000 isn't happening.

Why would I buy a whole new pre-built computer when I can use my current PSU, Case, and HDD at least? Probably be able to use my CPU cooler with a new unit as well.

RAM depends on Motherboard which in turn depends on CPU, so probably not depending on CPU.

[Hollowmenphobia]

1000 was an overstatement. But, look at this

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229362

 

That's 500, everything new, with warranty.

 

Your CPU is pretty shitty, I won't lie; especially when quad core+ CPUs are the norm, now.

 

DDR3 is also the new standard for RAM, so..

 

edit: buying a new GPU and not using it to it's full-potential is p. dumb.

Edited March 30, 2013 by Hollowmenphobia

[Riff Petrov]

GTX 650 Core Clock: 1058 MHz

 

1058 MHz x 25% = 264.5 MHz

 

Core clock of your old card: 666 MHz

 

GTX 650 Effective Memory Clock: 5000 MHz

 

5000 MHz x 25% = 1250 MHz

 

Effective memory clock of your old card: 1650 MHz

[Tsume Xiao]

1000 was an overstatement. But, look at this

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229362

 

That's 500, everything new, with warranty.

 

Your CPU is pretty shitty, I won't lie; especially when quad core+ CPUs are the norm, now.

 

DDR3 is also the new standard for RAM, so..

 

edit: buying a new GPU and not using it to it's full-potential is p. dumb.

 

Well With that I get a a lot of parts I kinda don't need. How much would it be just to get a new motherboard, CPU, and RAM?

[Riff Petrov]

Really depends on how much you're willing to spend. You would need to buy a new copy of Windows as well. I went looking around at parts for myself last night, just out of curiosity, and it came out to about $600 total for a new third generation i7, a new motherboard, 8 GB of memory, and a new copy of Windows 8 Pro at the student discount.

 

$519.19 for the parts:

 

CPU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116502

 

Motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130645

 

Memory:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

Edited March 30, 2013 by Riff Petrov

[Tsume Xiao]

Ok. Your performance calculations for the card are obviously wrong because in use it can go higher than my other one could.

 

Secondly: Neither of those computer options are really that valid cost wise at the moment. The whole point of this GPU thing was to extend the life of my current computer / allow me to keep playing Planetside 2 with everyone.

 

Thirdly: Why would I need a new copy of Windows when I already have an OEM disc? Can't I just transfer the key since it is for one computers? Also why would I want Windows 8?

 

Lastly: If you guy know so  much about this, why didn't you actually post in this thread BEFOREHAND.

[Riff Petrov]

Didn't feel like it. Those calculations were just calculations. I have no idea how the card actually runs and what sort of speeds you actually get.

 

I suppose you wouldn't need Windows 8. It was just what came to mind. You could get Windows 7, or XP, or whatever you want. You would need a new copy of some sort of operating system though because each license is registered to your specific motherboard. So if you get a new motherboard, you have to get a new copy of Windows. Yeah, it sucks, but it's an anti-piracy measure. Pretty sure that's how it works, anyway.

[Akara]

I did a bit of testing on PlanetSide 2, to see if I could boost my frame rate at all, heres a bit of data I gathered:

 

PlanetSide 2 is a very CPU heavy game, but not only is it CPU heavy, it doesn't work well with multi-core processors. Most of the processing seems to be done on one core, which means even if you buy a quad core or something, unless its at like 3~ ghz PS2 is going to have a hard time running. This is why a lot of people on high end gaming rigs are having problems. Even at 3ghz, FPS is heavily limited by your CPU, especially in large battles, but it's playable. Other games like Battlefield 3 utilize more CPU cores and your GPU much more, which is why they will likely run a lot better than PS2 on your new setup. It can utilize a maximum of 3gb ram, because it's old as Ffff, but if background apps aren't allowing it that 3gb ram, then performance may be effected. SOE have done an absolutely horrible job of optomising it for, well, any computers.

 

Unparking cores only helps people on a few types of CPUs because windows had some bug or something and wasn't unparking them properly in games, I don't really recall many of the details regarding that, but it didn't do anything for me either. Windows automatically unparks cores when they are required, I have tested this myself. A lot of people saying "it boosted my FPS by 5-10!!" are just not testing shit right, FPS varies in games, in all likelyhood the exact same things werent going on in the second test, placebo effect sort of thing made them happy because they changed something.

 

So in some games, your computers life is extended with a new GPU, because they don't heavily utilize the CPU or utilize it efficienctly, but PlanetSide 2 is not one of those games. Looking at the CPU you listed, it's like 2.2ghz from what a quick google search is telling me. The one listed in the PS2 minimum requirements is an Intel Core 2 Duo E6850, which is 3ghz stock from another quick google search. You could try overclocking your current CPU, but overclocking is a risky business if you don't have the correct cooling or know what you're doing, it can drasticly shorten the life of your CPU if done incorrectly. Otherwise you need to upgrade your CPU, which means a new mobo, at which point you may aswell grab 12gb of ram because its dirt cheap.

 

Here is a link with the PS2 reccomended and minimum system requirements: [Link]

 

Hope this helps.

 

PS: I haven't read everyone's replies on this thread because i'm tired.

 

EDIT: Also I wasn't reccomending you overclock your CPU, it's just an option if you deem it viable for your hardware. I have done zero research on your hardware so i've no idea if it will work, or explode, or something.

Edited March 30, 2013 by Akara

[Lanny Ansar]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130679 - $70

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727 - $95

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148543 - $55

 

Grand total: $220 without shipping. This is basically the same setup as I'm running right now (Except I'm running a Phenom II x6 CPU and a GeForce GTS250 1GB) and I can run PS2 at a playably-smooth 30-50FPS even in large firefights.

[Tsume Xiao]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130679 - $70

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727 - $95

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148543 - $55

 

Grand total: $220 without shipping. This is basically the same setup as I'm running right now (Except I'm running a Phenom II x6 CPU and a GeForce GTS250 1GB) and I can run PS2 at a playably-smooth 30-50FPS even in large firefights.

 

 

Thanks Larry, but right now my budget is zero. I will keep these links in mind though.