Need video card suggestion for friends PC

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NTAC

Senior member
May 21, 2003
391
1
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Hi guys,

My friend is currently on the BF3 sidelines because his video card is a piece of dog poop, so he is now finally ready to join the battle!

He has $200 to spend and would prefer not to do something like $230 + $30 MIR, so I think $200 is his absolute ceiling, but feel free to make suggestions as high as $230, maybe I can talk him into it :)

Anyway, this is what I know of his HW at this stage:

CPU: Intel core 2 duo 2.33
RAM: 4GB DDR2 6400 @ 800mhz
RES: 1680 x 1050
MOBO: Gigabyte ga-ep35-ds3r

Ok that's all I have. PSU is not important because I have one he can use if what he currently has is not good enough, and I know mine is fine.

But the goal is simple, get the most out of BF3 with a $200 video card.

Oh and he strongly prefers NVIDIA, he was actually looking at this 560:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130660

Thoughts?
 
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toyota

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
1
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a gtx560 would be a pretty huge waste on an old 2.33 Core 2 duo. not only would the cpu be a massive bottleneck for that card, its a bottleneck just in general. it does not even meet the minimum requirements for most newer games. so he will still be on the sidelines for multi player in BF 3.

and does he even have Vista or 7 on that old pc? if not then he will not be playing BF 3 anyway.
 
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NTAC

Senior member
May 21, 2003
391
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Yes he has Win7, I had not considered the Proc to be that much of a bottle neck. I think I've seen mixed reports where some say dual core is enough and some don't... do we have any good evidence to suggest this?
 
toyota

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
1
0
NTAC said:
Yes he has Win7, I had not considered the Proc to be that much of a bottle neck. I think I've seen mixed reports where some say dual core is enough and some don't... do we have any good evidence to suggest this?
Click to expand...
it would get by in single player but he would stand no chance in multi player. even in single player it would not be all that great in some spots and any decent card would be massively bottlenecked.
 
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NTAC

Senior member
May 21, 2003
391
1
0
Hmmm... ok I think what we'll do is I'll take one of my 6950s over and plug it in to his system. That will tap out his CPU and we can see exactly how far that CPU can take him... if he is happy with it then we'll get a video card that will be a better match.
 
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skipsneeky2

Diamond Member
May 21, 2011
5,035
1
71
NTAC said:
Hmmm... ok I think what we'll do is I'll take one of my 6950s over and plug it in to his system. That will tap out his CPU and we can see exactly how far that CPU can take him... if he is happy with it then we'll get a video card that will be a better match.
Click to expand...

I put a gtx560 into a core 2 duo e8200 oced @3.2ghz in BF3 it was so bottlenecked i ended up putting a radeon 6750 in there.

The 6750 was still bottlenecked cause of the dual core in BF3 but performance wasn't to bad just stuttered a lot cause of the processor.

I wouldn't get anything over a 6770 or gtx550 ti if it was my system until i dropped a quad core in.
 
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NTAC

Senior member
May 21, 2003
391
1
0
skipsneeky2 said:
I put a gtx560 into a core 2 duo e8200 oced @3.2ghz in BF3 it was so bottlenecked i ended up putting a radeon 6750 in there.

The 6750 was still bottlenecked cause of the dual core in BF3 but performance wasn't to bad just stuttered a lot cause of the processor.

I wouldn't get anything over a 6770 or gtx550 ti if it was my system until i dropped a quad core in.
Click to expand...

Yeah my 6950 will basically show him how far that proc can go in BF3, then he can make an educated decision, is he ok with the proc limitation and just drop $100 on a card or does he want to save up and upgrade proc / mobo / gpu.
 
4

4ghz

Member
Sep 11, 2010
165
1
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I would sell the chip for $30 or $40. Buy a used q6600 for $80. Overclock the q6600. Buy a gtx 560 or gtx 460 for $150 or less.
 
Arkaign

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,379
126
4ghz said:
I would sell the chip for $30 or $40. Buy a used q6600 for $80. Overclock the q6600. Buy a gtx 560 or gtx 460 for $150 or less.
Click to expand...

this is the truth. I hesitate to spend money on s775, but as he already has a decent board and an otherwise working system, this is the cheapest route to playable BF3 performance. And yes, it will play. I have a buddy who plays on an Athlon II X3 445, Geforce 550 (much weaker than 560 and even 460), and 4GB of ram. And that X3 is a good bit weaker than a Q6600 clocked at 3ghz or higher.
 
mrjoltcola

mrjoltcola

Senior member
Sep 19, 2011
534
1
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Having a weak processor that will bottleneck a video card still isn't a reason not to buy the right video card. Buy as much video card as you can afford, and you can bring it forward when you change the motherboard + chip eventually.

The challenge is how to use your $200 budget to get playable BF3. You are better off spending 2/3 of the budget on video card. Don't make the mistake of buying a slower clocked quad over a fast dual core. The minimum I'd consider would be a Wolfdale E8400 (6MB cache) Core 2. They can be had for as low as $75 if you keep your eye out, but if you want one fast, look to pay $80-$90 on eBay. That should leave $120-$130 for a video card.

The max he will get for that 2.33 C2D is probably going to be $20 in the current market, if it sells at all. Noone wants the slower Core 2s, except for the third world markets, which are still buying P4 from what I can see.

If he does sell the old proc, he can afford a used 560, but if not, he should be able to pick up a 460 with 1GB for $110-$120. Like the other guys mentioned, a used Radeon is going to bring the best performance for the money.

That is the only math I see that would work for BF3. It really likes a third core, but would be better served with the fastest 2 cores you can put in the LGA775 socket with 1333Mhz FSB. The onlly reasonable quad in your price range that would compete starts at 2.66Ghz, which will break the budget.
 
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Pacman4

Senior member
Nov 7, 2011
251
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0
Arkadrel said:
A 139$ 5870.... dang.

That seems like a pretty buy.
Click to expand...

Don't buy those old hot and heavy hunks of junk....get a 6850, especially with a lowly C2D 2.3.....6850 is quiet, not much slower than a 5870, and only one 6pin plug.
 
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Arkadrel

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2010
3,681
2
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I have a 5870, I like it.
And yes the 6850 is slower, even the 6870 is.

Plus they overclock like mad, which a 6870 wont.
A 5870 + tiny overclock, and hes probably around 480-570 performance.
thats pretty damn good for 139$.
 
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Pacman4

Senior member
Nov 7, 2011
251
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Arkadrel said:
I have a 5870, I like it.
And yes the 6850 is slower, even the 6870 is.

Plus they overclock like mad, which a 6870 wont.
A 5870 + tiny overclock, and hes probably around 480-570 performance.
thats pretty damn good for 139$.
Click to expand...

With a 2.3mhz cpu?????????????
 
blckgrffn

blckgrffn

Diamond Member
May 1, 2003
9,683
4,326
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www.teamjuchems.com
Pacman4 said:
With a 2.3mhz cpu?????????????
Click to expand...

Damn, that is slow... :p

What is his current video card?

It is fairly well known that an i3-2100 holds its own very well in BF3. He might do a lot better by having the right CPU and living with low settings for a while rather than being able turn on all the eye candy and not move... That's just my assessment.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1647756

+

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...506&CatId=3670 ($30 GTS 250 512MB)

+ i3 2100 + H61 + 8GB DDR3 = happy (pretty happy, anwyay) camper. It should be close to doable with that budget. Very close. With the next year being full of video card launches, if he can deal with that GTS250 for a few months he should be able to get a helluva deal on a much better card if he is opportunistic.

I am not trying to say that GTS 250 is awesome but I don't think you can do much better with out spending nearly three times as much. I did buy that card for GPU F@H and it comes with all the nice accessories and the fan is completely controllable, etc. which can be an also be an issue with cards south of the $75 border.

Especially when you take into account that he can likely get $35 after shipping (or maybe better?) on the DDR2 and should be able to get the same at least for the mobo/CPU combo. That 2.33 isn't a barn burner but is far from useless.

I am a little surprised no one has said "turn that baby up to 3GHZ!!!" , we must be in the VGA forum ;)
 
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lavaheadache

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2005
6,893
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Pacman4 said:
Don't buy those old hot and heavy hunks of junk....get a 6850, especially with a lowly C2D 2.3.....6850 is quiet, not much slower than a 5870, and only one 6pin plug.
Click to expand...

I was reading your post in the 7970 thread and it didn't seem like you knew what you were talking about. Now that I read this post, my suspicions are confirmed. How about you take a long hard look at your tactics and see where you are going wrong.

Your opinion is your opinion alone and skewed at that.

A 6870 isn't comparable to a 5870 let alone a 6850.

I don't know where you are getting your results from but it may do you well to wipe your screen off with tp before you read anymore
 
monkeydelmagico

monkeydelmagico

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2011
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blckgrffn

blckgrffn

Diamond Member
May 1, 2003
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www.teamjuchems.com
lavaheadache said:
I was reading your post in the 7970 thread and it didn't seem like you knew what you were talking about. Now that I read this post, my suspicions are confirmed. How about you take a long hard look at your tactics and see where you are going wrong.

Your opinion is your opinion alone and skewed at that.

A 6870 isn't comparable to a 5870 let alone a 6850.

I don't know where you are getting your results from but it may do you well to wipe your screen off with tp before you read anymore
Click to expand...

I do a agree to an extent with you, but I think these numbers say to me:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/294?vs=291

That if our buddy is playing at 1080p (or no AA) or lower the differences between in the 5870 and the 6850 aren't going to be terribly obvious.

I really wish that Bench had a minimum frames only view, I think minimum frames can often be more useful than the simple average frames.

Anyway, I'd agree getting a brand new name brand 6850 for ~$130 as can be done from time to time is better than getting a no-name 5870 card that may or may not have a functioning warranty. You can also worry that much less about your PSU situation.

Obviously I love my 5870 though :)

wtf, is the 6870 really this much faster than the 6850:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/294?vs=290 (6870 vs 5870) - trade blows, probably a 6870 win

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/291?vs=290 (6850 vs 6870) - 6850 has half the performance in that "Luxball" benchmark?

Or is there something screwy with the numbers?
 
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lavaheadache

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2005
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The problem with Barts and Cypress is that the performance varies wildly depending on how inefficient they were in a given title.
 
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NTAC

Senior member
May 21, 2003
391
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His current card is 4670... I think he'll pick up BF3 this Friday with the 50% off that Origin advertised, and then we'll do some tests.

Thanks for all the suggestions, some great advice here, minus the gtx 580 post :)
 
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