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need rig for bioshock at full settings

M

mike420

Member
My nephew is all ticked off that he can't run Bioshock at full settings on his new 22.6" lcd. He has a 8800gt, c2duo@2.5 and 2gb of ram. He wants to upgrade but isn't sure how much he needs to spend.


>>I figured that hd4870s with 512mb ram, in SLI [edit: Crosssfire] are the best bang for the buck ($150 each at Canada Computers).

A side note here... is it worth it to step up to the 4870 with 1gb? They cost $184.

Or would the hd4890 with hdmi do the trick at $224?


>>Also, I'm not sure if he should upgrade the cpu. He wants to but I'm not sure that he will see any noticeable improvement. (He isn't overclocking and neither of us know how to.)

I was debating the Core2Quad Q9550@2.83 for $259 and the Phenom II X4 955 @3.2 for $234. Or even the E8500@3.16 for $234.


>>>Is 2gb enough ram?


Thanks for any help that you can give Anandtech Gods
 
is that a 1920x1080 screen? something is wrong if he cant play Bioshock smoothly on that system. with a mid range core 2 duo and 8800gt he should easily average 50fps+ at 1920x1080. I hope he plays other games if he is going to plop down money for all the upgrading. yes if he went with a 4870 or better a little faster cpu would help some but woulnt be 100% necessary. if this is the only game he cares about then dont buy anything faster than a 4870 and just stick with that cpu.
 
I thought so too!?! I'm heading over there in the morning to check it out... before he goes to the store.

Thanks for the benchmarks for Bioshock, nitromullet. I'll show those to him!
 
Originally posted by: mike420
Scholzpdx:

Ah... Yeah. I meant Crossfire. That's doable right? With the proper motherboard.
Click to expand...

you certainly dont need a 4870 crossfire setup for Bioshock. also going with a set up like that would mean you would really want the 1gb versions at 1920 for other games. you would certainly need to oc that cpu or get a new one(since you dont oc) with a gpu setup like that. anyway all this is silly if Bioshock is only game he is doing this for.
 
Hey guys this is the nephew speaking. I just need to point out that I'm not running an 8800GT, I'm running an ENGTS250 1G, and I'm running bioshock at full settings with vertical sync on 2048x1152 with massive lag issues anytime I run into a lot of textures.
 
A GTS 250 1GB is actually a better card than an 8800GT. It's basically a rebadged 9800GTX+. It should run Bioshock at 2048x1152. That being said, I have found a few complaints about NVIDIA drivers for the GTS 250 and stuttering issues with Bioshock. Perhaps you need a driver upgrade and not a hardware upgrade.

It seems that setting "Maximum pre-rendered frames" - 0 in the NVIDIA control panel has helped some people running the 190.38 driver. More info: http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41887

I would try grabbing the latest NVIDIA drivers and setting the "Maximum pre-rendered frames" - 0 in the global driver settings. If you installed Bioshock via Steam it won't show up in the 'installed' games section of the NV control panel, plus there are some known issues with game profiles and the current NV drivers. So, I'd test this potential solution by applying it globally.
 
so... he just upgraded. Turns out that he had a micro atx mobo so that had to go. Got the Asus P5Q socket 775 and kept his c2duo @ 2.5 gb. Added 2gb of budget ram (Kingston DDR 800) to match the old ram for a total of 4 gb (running window xp). Now the fun stuff. We got an Asus hd4870 Dark Knight (over clocked chip speed from 750 to 900 mhz i think) with 1 gb of onboard ram. Currently running Bioshock at 1920x1080 with full settings and vertical sync to avoid tearing issues. She runs like a dream.

Approx cost:$360

Next fps test is going to be Crysis Warhed at full settings... We my go Crossfire tomorrow!!! Fun!!!

Crysis verdict= 23fps at 1920x1080 with no anti-lising, no v-sync everything else at full settings.
I will update the thread if we go Crossfire, which I suspect we will.
 
Originally posted by: mike420
so... he just upgraded. Turns out that he had a micro atx mobo so that had to go. Got the Asus P5Q socket 775 and kept his c2duo @ 2.5 gb. Added 2gb of budget ram (Kingston DDR 800) to match the old ram for a total of 4 gb (running window xp). Now the fun stuff. We got an Asus hd4870 Dark Knight (over clocked chip speed from 750 to 900 mhz i think) with 1 gb of onboard ram. Currently running Bioshock at 1920x1080 with full settings and vertical sync to avoid tearing issues. She runs like a dream.

Approx cost:$360

Next fps test is going to be Crysis Warhed at full settings... We my go Crossfire tomorrow!!! Fun!!!

Crysis verdict= 23fps at 1920x1080 with no anti-lising, no v-sync everything else at full settings.
I will update the thread if we go Crossfire, which I suspect we will.
Click to expand...

that cpu is already slightly holding back a single 4870. crossfire setup will be severely bottleneck by that 2.5 core 2. btw what is the exact model of cpu?
 
Originally posted by: mike420
toyota:
His cpu is a c2duo e7200 @2.53g. Sorry I haven' posted that yet, I didn't actually know...
Click to expand...

yeah that cpu is fine for a single 4870 although overclocking it will help a little in some games. with 4870 crossfire though you certainly want to oc that cpu to at least around 3.0 or so if possible.
 
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