Older System -- Upgrade Video Card or Build New

[cfzum1]

Current System:

Gigabyte P35 Mobo
Intel Q6600 Processor
4GM Corsair RAM
ATI Radeon 4650
Antec 450W PSU

I am playing Guild Wars 2 at 15 FPS at 1900x1080. Would upgrading to a beefier video card really help my FPS? Or should I just bite the bullett and build new?

If you think it is worth upgrading should I go for a an ATI 7870? Or something lesser e.g. cheaper.

 

[Durvelle27]

I suggest just upgrading your whole pc and get an i3 and HD 7850 keep the psu and get some nice DDR3 ram if you don't have any

 

[aaksheytalwar]

I5 2500k plus 7850

 

[SPBHM]

if you can overclock the q6600, I think it would be valid to upgrade first just the VGA,

the 4650 is a lot more inadequate for current games than your CPU...
so try something like a 7850, later you can also upgrade the CPU if you see the need....

 

[DaveSimmons]

Try changing the screen resolution to 1024 x 768. What is the FPS then?

Use that as a guide to the best that you can hope for from just a video card upgrade.

You can also try the overclocking suggestion together with the low screen resolution.

 

[Termie]

Current System:

Gigabyte P35 Mobo
Intel Q6600 Processor
4GM Corsair RAM
ATI Radeon 4650
Antec 450W PSU

I am playing Guild Wars 2 at 15 FPS at 1900x1080. Would upgrading to a beefier video card really help my FPS? Or should I just bite the bullett and build new?

If you think it is worth upgrading should I go for a an ATI 7870? Or something lesser e.g. cheaper.

Welcome to the forums!

While most of the people above suggest spending $500 on a new system, if your only need it to play Guild Wars, you could get a huge upgrade from a card like the HD7770, which is just over $100. Honestly, unless you have other uses for your computer that are causing you trouble, you absolutely DO NOT have to upgrade the entire system.

Here's one for $115 after rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161402

 

[cfzum1]

I am not doing any really taxing twitchy bleeding edge gaming. Mainly just playing old school RPGs and Guild Wars 2 these days.

In Guild Wars 2 using "best performance" settings under light load I get around 45fps at high resolution(1900x1080) and 70fps at low resolution(1024x768).

The main issue is that during heavy loads, where there are tons of animations, players, etc moving around like crazy, I get bogged down to around 15fps at high resolution and 25fps at low resolution.

It sounds like upgrading the video card to the ATI 7770 will result in a significant improvement to my game experience with my existing hardware. My main objective is to bump all of my visual settings a bit and get a solid 50fps at high resolution during heavy loads. If I can do that with out going springing for a new build I will be a happy dude.

 

[Termie]

I am not doing any really taxing twitchy bleeding edge gaming. Mainly just playing old school RPGs and Guild Wars 2 these days.

In Guild Wars 2 using "best performance" settings under light load I get around 45fps at high resolution(1900x1080) and 70fps at low resolution(1024x768).

The main issue is that during heavy loads, where there are tons of animations, players, etc moving around like crazy, I get bogged down to around 15fps at high resolution and 25fps at low resolution.

It sounds like upgrading the video card to the ATI 7770 will result in a significant improvement to my game experience with my existing hardware. My main objective is to bump all of my visual settings a bit and get a solid 50fps at high resolution during heavy loads. If I can do that with out going springing for a new build I will be a happy dude.

Your card can be compared to the 6450 in this test: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/guild-wars-2-performance-benchmark,3268-5.html

Notice that at 1080p, this level of card provides around 40fps using the best performance preset. A 7750, which is about 20-30% slower than the 7770 I recommended, would hit 125fps.

Now assume you want to take advantage of your new card by using the best appearance preset. This is how you'd end up: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/guild-wars-2-performance-benchmark,3268-6.html

A 7750 would achieve 30fps, and the 7770 would achieve 40fps. While your CPU might actually become the bottleneck at the lower performance setting, it won't be a problem if you are going for the best quality settings on the graphics card.

 

[cfzum1]

I appreciate all of the responses. I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the Radeon 7770.

 

[2is]

Q6600, if overclocker to 3+ GHz is still a good enough processor for nearly any game out there. The 4650 isn't.