Upgrade advice please!

[Stumben2]

So I just got the Witcher 2, first game in a long time that is begging for an upgrade ( although to my surprise it is fairly playable but not great on medium. ).

current system:
Athlon x2 4400
Geforce 8800 gt
2 gig ram
I run at 1680 x 1050

I am toying with the idea of just upgrading the video card. Looking at the gtx 550 ti.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133383

It might be overkill for my processor however I don't see a striking deal for anything less and this card overall seems to get the best feedback.

Opinions?

 

[Madcatatlas]

i belive the 6850 is a better card. can also be had for the same or abit less than the one you linked.


Your system memory is really limiting though. A tip would be to just play witcher 2 on medium for a few more months and save up a few more buck to do a complete system upgrade. Theres new GPU series and CPU series coming from AMD in the next few months if one is to belive the rumormill

 

[Madcatatlas]

Actually strike the "wait" tip. I doubt AMDs 7xxx series will be here before fall earliest.

 

[betasub]

^ Edit button FTW.

OP's system was well-balanced, but now looking pretty old. Getting a 460/6850-level card would be a good upgrade, and could be moved to a newer system if OP can save the funds to upgrade the rest later in the year.

Oh, & while I'm in a pedantic mood, it's "Athlon".

 

[RussianSensation]

First of all, GTX 550 is one of the worst GPUs out right now; so it should be discounted immediately as an option. Secondly, that CPU is way too slow. Any money spent on a GPU beyond an 8800GT is a waste imo. Also 2GBs of Ram is killer too.

But if you plan to purchase a more modern CPU and RAM sometime in the near future, I suppose you can get away with a GTX460 768mb for $100. It's pretty much the best videocard on a budget for your resolution.

The GTX460 cards themselves aren't really that fast for this game once you increase the visual quality. At high quality settings, they even get outperformed by the HD4890 and the HD5830 (a very rare occurrence). This game absolutely loves Core i3/i5/i7 architectures, in case you decide to get a new CPU. Here are some benchmarks.

 

[notty22]

I'd wait for more articles testing Witcher 2, that one is dated on the 17th. Nvidia released a new beta driver that day, and increased performance greatly for W2. Its also TWITBP game.
I'm not sure 4890 results matter, but that was the past ati fastest gpu. The 5830 also beat the 6850 there, so who knows whats going on.
I bet Techspot has a performance article on W2 this week.

 

[toyota]

very little reason to upgrade your 8800gt with that cpu. your cpu barely meets the minimum requirements for Witcher 2 and many other games. not only would your cpu severely bottleneck any decent gpu, it also is just too slow in general to handle some games smoothly on higher settings.

 

[RussianSensation]

I'd wait for more articles testing Witcher 2, that one is dated on the 17th. Nvidia released a new beta driver that day, and increased performance greatly for W2. Its also TWITBP game.
I'm not sure 4890 results matter, but that was the past ati fastest gpu. The 5830 also beat the 6850 there, so who knows whats going on.
I bet Techspot has a performance article on W2 this week.

Performance of NV's top cards is normal. GTX580 > GTX570 > HD6970 > GTX 560 TI > HD6950 > GTX470.

This isn't the first time where GTX460 is having a poor showing in modern games.

1. It loses to HD5830 (~ HD 4890) in Brink.
2. Its performance is lackluster compared to GTX470/560 TI in Crysis 2, which favours NV cards, yet GTX460 is barely faster than an HD4890/5830.

Also, if you look at their CPU testing, at 640x480 Lowest Graphics Quality, they needed at least a Core i3 2.93ghz to break 60 fps in Witcher 2. So you can just imagine an X2 4400 can probably only manage 20-30 fps maximum with the best single GPU at 640x480...

 

[notty22]

Performance of NV's top cards is normal. GTX580 > GTX570 > HD6970 > GTX 560 TI > HD6950 > GTX470.

This isn't the first time where GTX460 is having a poor showing in modern games.

1. It loses to HD5830 (~ HD 4890) in Brink.
2. Its performance is lackluster compared to GTX470/560 TI in Crysis 2, which favours NV cards, yet GTX460 is barely faster than an HD4890/5830.

Also, if you look at their CPU testing, at 640x480 Lowest Graphics Quality, they needed at least a Core i3 2.93ghz to break 60 fps in Witcher 2. So you can just imagine an X2 4400 can probably only manage 20-30 fps maximum with the best single GPU at 640x480...

Is any of that news to you ? Reference gtx 460's are tested at 675mhz. As far as crysis 2 performance, yes the gtx 560ti beats the 6950. You would not upgrade to AMD for that game.

 

[RussianSensation]

Is any of that news to you ? Reference gtx 460's are tested at 675mhz. As far as crysis 2 performance, yes the gtx 560ti beats the 6950. You would not upgrade to AMD for that game.

Yes, but the point is the 460 performs a lot worse in modern games than its specifications suggest when comparing it to either the 560 and the 470. Its performance should be about 20-25% slower, but instead the reference card is often 30-40% slower. Clearly some massive bottlenecks in the 460. Post #26 in this thread has more benchmarks of what I am talking about.

 

[notty22]

Yes, but the point is the 460 performs a lot worse in modern games than its specifications suggest when comparing it to either the 560 and the 470. Its performance should be about 20-25% slower, but instead the reference card is often 30-40% slower. Clearly some massive bottlenecks in the 460. Post #26 in this thread has more benchmarks of what I am talking about.

Yawn, there is no mysterious bottleneck besides low clock speeds when testing reference models. You are pointing out cherry picked examples. Here Anand tests o/c 460's on Core only, the Zotac is tested at 835mhz and is a tick beneath a stock gtx 470 a card that msrp for 50% more when it launched 4 months prior to it.

edit: Since the OP is not interested in o/c, stock clock speeds are obviously important.
Especially if deciding on a particular gtx 460, which do come clocked any where from 675mhz-900mhz.

 

[LagunaX]

Buy a used 5850 or 5870 and you'll be fine if you are around $150 give or take.
A better card would be a 2gb 6950 reference card that you could unlock the shaders but you are then in the $200 range for a used one.

 

[toyota]

Buy a used 5850 or 5870 and you'll be fine if you are around $150 give or take.
A better card would be a 2gb 6950 reference card that you could unlock the shaders but you are then in the $200 range for a used one.

a 6950? really? do you not have any idea how slow a 4400 X2 is? he would be wasting his money getting anything faster than what he already has.

 

[RussianSensation]

Yawn, there is no mysterious bottleneck besides low clock speeds when testing reference models. You are pointing out cherry picked examples.

That's why I mentioned in my post "in the latest modern games". The games you linked are more than 1 year old. Why is the GTX460 so slow compared to the GTX470 in the Witcher 2 and Crysis 2?

 

[timma]

6850 OC>GTX 550 Ti OC edition~

 

[toyota]

please pay attention to his cpu and stop making silly suggestions of cards he should buy. it would be an absolute waste of money for him to get a higher card like those being mentioned. really he will need a better cpu if he wants to actually utilize a better card than what he has.

 

[Madcatatlas]

please pay attention to his cpu and stop making silly suggestions of cards he should buy. it would be an absolute waste of money for him to get a higher card like those being mentioned. really he will need a better cpu if he wants to actually utilize a better card than what he has.

Or what?




Really, theres nothing wrong in suggesting a card as one step of an upgrade path.
As long as one also points out the weak components that should be replaced or are under par.

I see no reason why you consistently reiterate the same old "look at his cpu and stop making silly suggestions about what new gpu he needs".
Granted your not targetting me but its such a general comment from you. How about you suggest him a viable upgrade path which will benefit him more than a new GPU can alone?

 

[toyota]

am I supposed to suggest a new build for him piece by piece? all I am saying is its silly to keep recommending these cards when his cpu is a massive limiting factor. he is going to at least have to get a new cpu and more ram(if not on XP) to go along with a new card for playing more demanding games.

 

[Arachnotronic]

OP: the system you have is pretty non-conducive to a new graphics card if you really wanna get your money's worth. I suggest the following (inexpensive) upgrade:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-808-_-Product)

Memory: Corsair 4GB DDR3-1600 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-260-_-Product)

GPU: AMD Radeon 6950 1GB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150523) OR NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604&cm_re=560_ti-_-14-130-604-_-Product)

Motherboard: ASRock M3A770DE (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...6&Tpk=m3a770de)

This comes out to $473 on Newegg (+5 shipping) so $478 to turn your rig from low end and outdated to ready-to-rock. Personally, I'd go with the AMD, but either is amazingly, blazingly fast. Also, I think you will enjoy the 4gb of memory -- it really smooths out everything.

 

[RussianSensation]

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-808-_-Product)

I find it impossible to recommend the current Phenom II system for 3 reasons:

1) The 955 gets beaten by a $115 i3-2100 in games. Add overclocking and power consumption into the equation, and the 955 becomes even worse.

2) Bulldozer is coming out very soon. Therefore, it makes sense to see how things pan out in the next 1.5 months (possible price drops from both camps perhaps).

3) The OP still has an X2 4400+. This means he keeps his rig for a long time before upgrading. Therefore, for someone with these characteristics, it makes no sense to get a Phenom II architecture which is outdated already. Might as well spend $225 and get something that will last --> i5 2500k overclocked. An extra $100 translated over 4-5 years wll be about $20-25 per year for the OP. The Phenom II, however, will need to be upgraded in 1.5-2 years, AGAIN!

 

[Stumben2]

Thanks for all the replies.

I knew it probably was not worth upgrading just the video card but thought I would check. It is tempting, gone are the days of the must-have $500 video card upgrade. ( GOOD RIDDANCE BTW ) I appreciate the new rig advice but I don't want the thread to turn into something it isn't.

Basically wanted to see if I was wasting money on the video card I listed and I think the answer is probably yes.

This one as someone replied... maybe since it is only a 100 bucks and might allow me to play at medium settings. GTX460 768mb for $100. Hard call. Slightly tempting but it wouldn't get me very far. Maybe I can find someone with a used one who wants to part with it for cheap.

Wise decision would be to just sit tight and convince the wife to let me buy/build a new rig. But that is another thread.

If I do buy the GTX460 ( or some other card ) I will let you know how it performs on this rig - I am curious. But that might be an expensive and foolhardy curiosity. Otherwise I will take it from here.

thanks guys, I Love AT