New Video Card for Old System

[Revolution]

Hi,
I want to upgrade my video card for upcoming games.
Sadly I don't have full budget for changing whole system.

My current old system:
Intel E4500 2.2GHz C2D(No OC)
2x2GB DDR2 800MHz RAM
HD5670 512MB DDR5
500GB Seagete HDD
Corsair 450W PSU
Dell S2240L Monitor

Now I have currently Rs.12K.
Available card in my area as follows:
SAPPHIRE GRAPHICS CARD R7 260X 2GB DDR5 OC @Rs.10.5K
ZOTAC GRAPHICS CARD GTX 750 TI 2GB DDR5 @Rs.11.5K
SAPPHIRE GRAPHICS CARD HD 7790 2GB DDR5 OC @Rs.11.5K
ZOTAC GRAPHICS CARD GTX 650 TI 2GB DDR5 BOOST @Rs.12K
ASUS GRAPHICS CARD GTX 650 TI 2GB DDR5 BOOST OC @12.5K
ZOTAC GRAPHICS CARD GTX 660 2GB DDR5 @Rs.13K
ASUS GRAPHICS CARD GTX 750 TI 2GB DDR5 OC EDITION @Rs.13.5K
R7 265 currently not available but will be available sooner or later.



I know CPU will be bottleneck.
Still I want to know
How much bottleneck ?
Now new Intel i3 4130+Gigabyte B85M-D3H+8GB RAM will cost total 20K(8K+6K+6K) which is currently not possible for me.
May be a year later.

 

[96Firebird]

Out of those listed, the fastest is the 660 with the 650 Ti Boost coming in second.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_750_Ti_OC/25.html

I'd say the Zotac 650 Ti Boost for 12K is the best bang for the buck.

With all that said, you will be severely CPU bottlenecked with any of the cards. Is it possible to find a higher end C2D, like an E8400?

 

[Techhog]

Out of those listed, the fastest is the 660 with the 650 Ti Boost coming in second.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_750_Ti_OC/25.html

I'd say the Zotac 650 Ti Boost for 12K is the best bang for the buck.

With all that said, you will be severely CPU bottlenecked with any of the cards. Is it possible to find a higher end C2D, like an E8400?

He said that he'd try to upgrade everything else later.

OP, just go with the cheapest one because the CPU will hold you back by a huge amount either way. In all honesty however, you might be better off just keeping what you have and saving up for a full upgrade.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I have an older computer with an E4500. I went through several gpu upgrades, and finally stopped at a 9800GT. I was simply becoming too cpu limited to upgrade the gpu further.

What resolution are you playing at? Unfortunately, any of those cards will be held back severely by your cpu. Sorry to say, I dont really think it is worth upgrading to any of those cards with your current cpu. You could however, get a card, use it to play at higher image quality now, and make full use of it later when you upgrade the entire system. In that case, I would go with the GTX660, since is the most powerful card and would be more powerful for a future build.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Get the R7 260X, as anything higher would be a waste with that CPU. I wouldn't get the 660, because by the time that you are ready for a platform upgrade, Nvidia should have a top-to-bottom Maxwell refresh. Hopefully.

 

[Hitman928]

Personally, my advice would be to just wait. Like others have said, the CPU will prevent you from playing a lot of modern games any way. If you wait until you have the money for a full upgrade, not only will you get a better cpu/gpu balance, but the GPU's in your price range should be an upgrade over what's available today.

I think if you upgrade the gpu now, it won't benefit you a lot but if you wait, you'll get a better gpu when you can actually make use of it. Is there a particular game you're trying to play now that you feel you need to upgrade for?

 

[Revolution]

Thank u all for replies.

So,upgrading only GPU for now is no brainer ?
Better upgrade all 4 components a year later ?

With my current system getting avg 15fps at Thief benchmark.
While playing 15-30fps with frap.
Fps drop to 10 in big map.
1080P res no vsyns and ssao and all other at normal except the texture and anisotropic set to max.
Strange things is can't find any fps difference between 720p or 1080p res with same setting.
Only problem some texture gone missing(now and then) may be due to low VRAM.
All new games comes with higher res texture.

 

[CuriousMike]

I'm in a similar situation as you - I have a E2200 ( slightly slower CPU ), and upgraded from an AMD 5570 to an AMD 7770.

The few benchmarks I did showed that the GPU upgrade only helped in Tomb Raider, and did nothing for Dirt or Starcraft 2.

I don't know about Thief, but I'd guess you're not going to see much of a boost.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2373477

 

[Hitman928]

Thank u all for replies.

So,upgrading only GPU for now is no brainer ?
Better upgrade all 4 components a year later ?

With my current system getting avg 15fps at Thief benchmark.
While playing 15-30fps with frap.
Fps drop to 10 in big map.
1080P res no vsyns and ssao and all other at normal except the texture and anisotropic set to max.
Strange things is can't find any fps difference between 720p or 1080p res with same setting.
Only problem some texture gone missing(now and then) may be due to low VRAM.
All new games comes with higher res texture.

You're not seeing any performance difference between 720p and 1080p because your CPU is what's holding you back in Thief. I believe Thief basically requires a CPU with 4 threads to run smoothly. If you got an AMD card, you could use the mantle renderer for Thief and that would definitely give you a big boost in your situation.

Would it be enough to make it playable? I don't know, I would ask someone with an AMD card and Thief to try and downclock/disable cores on their CPU to try and match yours and see if it becomes playable. My guess is that you would go from 15-30 fps on average to 30-45 fps on average with dips to 23 fps, maybe a little bit higher minimums, just a guess though. However, mantle is only out right now for Thief (and BF4) and so other modern games you'd still be stuck with a huge CPU bottleneck.

So, unless Thief is the only modern technology game you plan on playing in the next year or so, I'd say it's just better to wait a year and upgrade your whole system. You should ultimately get a better system for the same money. Besides, Thief will still be there to play a year from now. Until then, just pick up some older games you never played. They'll be super cheap and just as fun as when they were new. If you fell you must get a card now, get an AMD because then at least you have a chance at having a good experience playing Thief.

 

[SPBHM]

5670 is fast enough for very low quality gaming (probably as fast as a Richland APU or more), the 2.2GHz C2D is pretty slow... just wait until you can upgrade both at the same time...

 

[nwo]

A 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo is really slow for today's gaming standards... Unless you are playing 5-6 year old games, your performance will struggle. And if you are playing old games, then the GPU you have now (5670) should be sufficient.

I agree with SPBHM, stick with what you have now and just save money for a complete system upgrade. If you get a GTX 650Ti boost now, I doubt you will see a huge performance increase because the C2D at only 2.2GHz is going to be an overwhelming bottleneck.

 

[toyota]

yeah no point in getting a gpu with a cpu so slow that it does not meet minimum requirements for even most 5 year old games.

 

[Revolution]

Thanks guys!
I get it.
I have to wait until I save enough money to buy all CPU+Mobo+RAm+GPU at the same time.
Though I'm not buying now still can u guys answer one more question ?
Do new games run better with more cores ?
In short AMD FX-6300 Vs Intel i3 4130 ?

If you got an AMD card, you could use the mantle renderer for Thief and that would definitely give you a big boost in your situation.

Hold on!
AFAIK Mantle is only for new AMD cards(from HD7XXX series I guess).
Mine is HD5670.

 

[MongGrel]

You're not seeing any performance difference between 720p and 1080p because your CPU is what's holding you back in Thief. I believe Thief basically requires a CPU with 4 threads to run smoothly. If you got an AMD card, you could use the mantle renderer for Thief and that would definitely give you a big boost in your situation.

Would it be enough to make it playable? I don't know, I would ask someone with an AMD card and Thief to try and downclock/disable cores on their CPU to try and match yours and see if it becomes playable. My guess is that you would go from 15-30 fps on average to 30-45 fps on average with dips to 23 fps, maybe a little bit higher minimums, just a guess though. However, mantle is only out right now for Thief (and BF4) and so other modern games you'd still be stuck with a huge CPU bottleneck.

So, unless Thief is the only modern technology game you plan on playing in the next year or so, I'd say it's just better to wait a year and upgrade your whole system. You should ultimately get a better system for the same money. Besides, Thief will still be there to play a year from now. Until then, just pick up some older games you never played. They'll be super cheap and just as fun as when they were new. If you fell you must get a card now, get an AMD because then at least you have a chance at having a good experience playing Thief.

What he said.

+1

As far as cores go depends on the game, but some are starting to utilize more cores. Just plunked a X5650 in here a couple days ago on a 5 year old X58 chipset and it's working very well.

6 core and have it up to 4.3G, at this point I'd say a complete rebuild on that system would be the best bet in your situation, you're CPU is bottlenecking you more than the graphics I'd think.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I think what he meant was if the op bought a new amd card that supports mantle. Problem is, that would only help in two games, and the CPU would still hold you back in all the rest.