Need GPU advice

Smooth_J

Junior Member
Nov 28, 2009
7
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Recently (11/13) my desktop (XPS 730) ran into some trouble with my dog and water (don't ask). Needless to say it doesn't work right anymore, so Dell agreed to replace it under complete care.

New specs:

Overclocked Intel Core i7 975 Extreme (3.6GHz, 8MB Cache)
Cosmic Black, Alienware Aurora Chassis, 875W PSU
Single 1.8GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260

Now the quote, "Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth", comes to mind cause of the nice upgrade in CPU. However the PSU (1000w on the XPS) and the GPU (GTX280 on the XPS) are "lacking" from the last machine. To be perfectly honestly when I saw these specs I jumped out my chair to do a dance (mainly cause of the CPU). However after looking at my GPU (not really PSU that much) I notice besides the VRAM upgrade (maybe cores), its not as powerful as my GTX 280.

What does everyone think I should do? Should I bug Dell, or should I just wait till next year and get a better DX11 card?
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Wait wait... a 1.8GB vram GTX 260? I think not. More like 896MB right?

Anyway no I would not worry about it. What resolution do you play at? If it's anything 1920x1200 or below you'll be fine for just about anything. Even crysis is playable. Before everyone jumps on that last sentence read it again. I said playable.

You can easily pop out that card and put a 5870 or a Fermi card next year. The GTX 260 is not a bad card by any means at this point. The PSU? Well, I don't know if it's proprietary and the quality but going by the wattage ratings, I would say you're fine with 875watts.
 

Smooth_J

Junior Member
Nov 28, 2009
7
0
0
Wait wait... a 1.8GB vram GTX 260? I think not. More like 896MB right?

Anyway no I would not worry about it. What resolution do you play at? If it's anything 1920x1200 or below you'll be fine for just about anything. Even crysis is playable. Before everyone jumps on that last sentence read it again. I said playable.

No, its a 1.8 GB. I thought the same, but I guess there is.

http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/desktops/alienware-aurora/pd.aspx?refid=alienware-aurora&s=dhs&cs=19 (click on Tech Specs, then scroll down to "Video Card Options")

I usually play 1680x1050 which is max for my LCD so I doubt I will kill the card, but the 280 seemed so "fluid" so I hope I am not disappointed by the 260.

EDIT: its a 192 core... :(

You can easily pop out that card and put a 5870 or a Fermi card next year. The GTX 260 is not a bad card by any means at this point. The PSU? Well, I don't know if it's proprietary and the quality but going by the wattage ratings, I would say you're fine with 875watts.

Heck, by next year there will be a new "King of the Hill". So the 5870 will possibly be a 5970 and the Fermi would be a GTX 320 or whatever :p
 
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betasub

Platinum Member
Mar 22, 2006
2,677
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Selling that 975X could fund an entirely new build.

But I would enjoy OCing it, and testing how well the GTX260 handles your favourite games, while waiting for the right gfx card at the right price in 2010.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Selling that 975X could fund an entirely new build.

But I would enjoy OCing it, and testing how well the GTX260 handles your favourite games, while waiting for the right gfx card at the right price in 2010.

He got a Dell replacement system (alienware) it might have a proprietary BIOS & no overclocking options. I don't know for certain but I've seen that a lot.

As for the amount of memory on the card I see one card on newegg that has 1792 MB memory and it's a Sparkle branded card. I guess that's what they used? I'm sure the core 192 vs 216 won't make a difference at your resolution. If you were at 1920x1200 and trying to do AA etc then I would worry.
 

Smooth_J

Junior Member
Nov 28, 2009
7
0
0
He got a Dell replacement system (alienware) it might have a proprietary BIOS & no overclocking options. I don't know for certain but I've seen that a lot.

As for the amount of memory on the card I see one card on newegg that has 1792 MB memory and it's a Sparkle branded card. I guess that's what they used? I'm sure the core 192 vs 216 won't make a difference at your resolution. If you were at 1920x1200 and trying to do AA etc then I would worry.

Well, according to a few people on the dell forums, it is capable of overclocking but people are having issues with it. So this is already OC'd maybe to the max, I dunno though. Need to wait and see till I get it.

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19301925.aspx

I was trying to convince dell that I should get the area-51 since I had a xps 730 with a full atx MB, not a mini like the aurora, however they didn't give in and the aurora will be shipped out with the 260 video card. I will upgrade the card next year when I have some cash, and maybe the memory since it ships with 1067, not 1333. However it should be fine for now.

The bad thing about the mb is that if you put two video cards, you can't put anything else in the system - no sound card, no nothing. So as long as I want better sound, I could only stick with one video card. So something like a 5970, or a GTX 295 would be best (dual gpu cards). I just hope they fit in the case...
 
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vj8usa

Senior member
Dec 19, 2005
975
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As was mentioned earlier, I'd just sell the CPU and GTX260 and then buy a stronger GPU + cheaper CPU. The 975 is incredibly overpriced, so it isn't worth it to use one if you're budget conscious. You might even be able to get something like a 5970 depending on what you get back from your CPU.
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,379
126
As was mentioned earlier, I'd just sell the CPU and GTX260 and then buy a stronger GPU + cheaper CPU. The 975 is incredibly overpriced, so it isn't worth it to use one if you're budget conscious. You might even be able to get something like a 5970 depending on what you get back from your CPU.

Win.
 

Smooth_J

Junior Member
Nov 28, 2009
7
0
0
Thanks all for the advice! Now I need to get the darn PC...

There is nothing currently on the site...

Estimated Delivery Date: Data Temporarily Unavailable
Carrier: Not Shipped
Tracking Number: Not Shipped

I should build my own and get it over with...
 

Smooth_J

Junior Member
Nov 28, 2009
7
0
0
Anyway, I am finally getting my AW today! I have decided to keep the GTX 280 and send back the GTX 260 (Dell said that would be ok).