Do i REALLY NEED a GPU upgrade?

[UglyDuckling]

Using UE4 as my argument, do i actually need to upgrade? what you will see below is a modified version of the Elemental demo running on my 1GB HD7770, it is using more graphics than normal, and is maxed in DX11, when it is not halting and stuttering this runs around 15-34FPS, plus in DX12 mode i get none of the light source glitching you see in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0cSmPmZY4I

In DX12 my Phenom II runs at under half the load it does in DX11 but there was no observed increase in FPS.

 

[Despoiler]

The UE4 DX12 demo is a hot mess from what I've been reading. At this point I wouldn't use it to gauge anything.

 

[bystander36]

You really do not need to upgrade until you run into a game which you are playing and cannot play at what you consider acceptable settings and get the performance you desire.

 

[tential]

You really do not need to upgrade until you run into a game which you are playing and cannot play at what you consider acceptable settings and get the performance you desire.

This. I coil hold onto my hd7950 for a long time. My backlog is huge. However I don't want to play unless it's 4k downsampled now.... So now I don't play anything since my vcg won't support it. Trying to decide between fury and gtx 970 now... And neither are worth the cash for what I want to do.

 

[DaveSimmons]

You really do not need to upgrade until you run into a game which you are playing and cannot play at what you consider acceptable settings and get the performance you desire.

Thirded. I'm still using an i5-2500 and GTX 680 because there hasn't been anything I want to play yet that needs more power.

DX12 games will need less power for the same image quality so at this rate I might keep using the above until they die.

 

[RussianSensation]

Using UE4 as my argument, do i actually need to upgrade? what you will see below is a modified version of the Elemental demo running on my 1GB HD7770, it is using more graphics than normal, and is maxed in DX11, when it is not halting and stuttering this runs around 15-34FPS, plus in DX12 mode i get none of the light source glitching you see in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0cSmPmZY4I

In DX12 my Phenom II runs at under half the load it does in DX11 but there was no observed increase in FPS.

It depends on what settings and FPS you are happy with. If you are happy with the current performance of your system for the games/resolution/settings you play at, just keep waiting until you are unhappy. GPUs will continue to get cheaper in terms of aggregate performance through their evolution. In other words, the longer you wait, the more performance you'll be able to purchase for X$.

However, since you do have a Phenom II, I wouldn't recommend anything higher than a GTX960/R9 280. Perhaps you can do a full system rebuild around late 2016 with 16nm HBM2 GPU + AMD Zen/Kaby Lake.

 

[lyssword]

Yeah, hd7770 is garbage unless u plan to play 720p medium settings only

 

[UglyDuckling]

Yeah, hd7770 is garbage unless u plan to play 720p medium settings only

Played Deus EX HR maxed at 1080p with tess.
Played every game i own with great results, some games i can't add all filters, but textures etc can be ramped up with no issues.

 

[UglyDuckling]

Even Crysis 2 runs in DX11 mode with 30FPS lol.
I don't know anyone who needs higher than that in such a game, and don't get me started with multiplayer.. it's a casual fest much like BF/COD, i mean i can happily tap 200FPs in CS.. so i'm all good.

But i will definitely need to upgrade when a new game finds my interests such as Dishonored 2... which looks amazing, also Fallout 4.

 

[RussianSensation]

Even Crysis 2 runs in DX11 mode with 30FPS lol.
I don't know anyone who needs higher than that in such a game, and don't get me started with multiplayer.. it's a casual fest much like BF/COD, i mean i can happily tap 200FPs in CS.. so i'm all good.

But i will definitely need to upgrade when a new game finds my interests such as Dishonored 2... which looks amazing, also Fallout 4.

Dishonored was not a very demanding game. Even an HD7770 could play it well. Now cards like GTX750/750Ti could play it even better for < $100.

Even a dual-core Phenom II X550 could max it out.

Dishonored 2 is probably going to be more demanding since Dishonored 1 was just so forgiving that it's hard to imagine Dishonored 2 not upping the graphical demands.

Fallout 4 is probably going to be more demanding than Skyrim Dragonborn but that in itself isn't very demanding without mods.

Phenom II / 4 had little issues approaching 60 fps which is doable with a mild overclock > 4Ghz.

I would say wait for both games but I have a feeling both should be playable easily on an HD7950/7970/GTX960 level of hardware which shouldn't be hard to acquire for $100-120 by the time Fallout 4 launches.

Just be on the lookout for some deals closer starting around October, close enough to Fallout 4's launch. Personally I probably wouldn't even upgrade until that game launches just to get an idea of where things stand GPU/CPU wise.

 

[Nhirlathothep]

my old 3970x is good (mine is @5ghz too), but skyrim is not so demanding in cpu side too

for cpu perfomance i prefer using Crysis 3 bench

 

[SPBHM]

if you want to waste less money, do as the others have said, upgrade your card once you try to run a game and you are not happy with the way it runs, be it because it's unplayable or because you have to sacrifice to much image quality... but not because of benchmarks/demos like this

a 7770 is still fine for most games IMO, but not for all.

 

[tweakboy]

Its time to upgrade my friend.