Thinking about a new GPU

[Termie]

Originally Posted by riversend

Thanks for all the inputs. Went with the MSI 660 TF for $215 AR. Wanted the quiet and I'm not likely to OC the GPU.

Nice. Let us know how it goes!

[TechAZ]

Originally Posted by Termie

Nice. Let us know how it goes!

The MSI Frrozr 660 is a sweet card. I just picked up the OC version and even with my old Athlon x4 640 cpu Battlefield 3 runs great on Ultra.

[riversend]

Just installed the new card. These results are by no means scientific, but an indication of initial improvements.

TW: Shogun 2, on Sekigahara, used an initial cavalry, infantry archer fight in woods (early move of the battle):
With XFX 5770 1GB (settings mixed between Ultra and High): framerates zoomed in on the fight were around 13-15fps
With MSI TF 660 (all settings maxed out): framerates zoomed in on the fight were 45-50 fps, very smooth

Skyrim, Labyrinthine with Ice Troll fight, flame atronach, Lydia
5770 (settings on ultra for the most part, a few were lower, very little AA/AF): framerates around 32-37
660 (settings on Ultra, 8x AA / 16x AF): framerates remained pegged at the Skyrim cap of 60fps. Looks great.

Overall, card seems to be no louder than the XFX (again, subjective, not scientific) as the 212+ CPU fan is the loudest component (fan speed is bottomed out, think it is running at 900 RPM).

Very pleased.

[Termie]

Originally Posted by riversend

Just installed the new card. These results are by no means scientific, but an indication of initial improvements.

TW: Shogun 2, on Sekigahara, used an initial cavalry, infantry archer fight in woods (early move of the battle):
With XFX 5770 1GB (settings mixed between Ultra and High): framerates zoomed in on the fight were around 13-15fps
With MSI TF 660 (all settings maxed out): framerates zoomed in on the fight were 45-50 fps, very smooth

Skyrim, Labyrinthine with Ice Troll fight, flame atronach, Lydia
5770 (settings on ultra for the most part, a few were lower, very little AA/AF): framerates around 32-37
660 (settings on Ultra, 8x AA / 16x AF): framerates remained pegged at the Skyrim cap of 60fps. Looks great.

Overall, card seems to be no louder than the XFX (again, subjective, not scientific) as the 212+ CPU fan is the loudest component (fan speed is bottomed out, think it is running at 900 RPM).

Very pleased.

Awesome results! Huge improvement there, looks like 2-3x.

BTW, if your 212+ is the loudest component in your case, you might consider switching out the stock fan for a higher-quality fan. I found it to have a pretty rough sound.

[riversend]

Hmmm... had not thought about swapping out the stock fan on the 212, any suggestions?

[Termie]

Originally Posted by riversend

Hmmm... had not thought about swapping out the stock fan on the 212, any suggestions?

There are many "favorites" out there. I use dual Scythe Kama Flow 2 fans, others like gentle typhoons, Noctua, and several others. No matter which one you go with, you'll probably want a fan controller, as these aren't pwm fans like the stock 212 fan, and your motherboard may not be able to control them.

I happened to have recently read two very positive fan reviews, one the Rosewill Hyperborea on Anandtech and one the Corsair SP120 on xbitlabs. The SP120 blew away the competition (no pun intended!): http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coo...roundup-3.html