Upgrade path from an 8600GT?

[drnickriviera]

I think it's about time for an upgrade. I'm still running on an old Core2Duo and my mobo only has a PCI E x16 1.0 slot. I'm running world of tanks on minimum graphics and a little lower res than stock. So i'd like something that can run WoT at 1680x1050 high detail. I'm not a heavy gamer anymore about the only other new game out that I may try is the Civ Beyond Earth, but doesn't look like the requirements are too high.

I was looking at something like a GT 720. I know it's not a very good card, but it looks to be faster than what I have. Question I have is whether the newer PCI E 3.0 and 2.0 cards will work in my board and if they do will they be bottle necked? I also don't think I can use a super high power card because I have a Seasonic 380w supply. says it has 10A on one 12v rail and 15A on the second rail.

Budget would be around $100

 

[Insert_Nickname]

You may want to move up a notch or two. The GT720 is only half a GK208.

I'd say a GT730 or GT740 (both with GDDR5) would be a good fit for a system such as yours. The AMD equivalents would be the R7-240 and R7-250.

 

[Cerb]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131604

Do the rebate. Edit: aaarrgh, it was supposed to be in stock! This one is, though:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121898

Yes, newer cards will work, and yes, your PC will be a bottleneck for them. However, your CPU/RAM will also be a bottleneck for the games themselves, and a ~$100 video card is a lot cheaper than a CPU upgrade.

 

[drnickriviera]

Wow, that r7-260 seems like a lot of card for the money, but i'm concerned about the power. The powercolor said min 500w supply, but didn't list any amperage. The Asus says nothing, not even their website list power reqs. Think I may step down a little the R7 240 seems have a low TDP. Cool and quiet are also a priority for me.

Thanks for the recommendations, i'll start researching them

 

[Magic Carpet]

OP, with that PSU, any card with one 6 pin PCI-E connector should run fine. 260 or 270, worry not. 240 is a bit older tech, GCN 1.0. 260 is GCN 1.1 (AMD TrueAudio and a revised version of AMD's Powertune technology) though, so I'd rather pick that one.

2) Geforce 750 Ti is one of the best "performance per watt" cards out there. But it's a bit pricey.

 

[Leyawiin]

http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-NVIDIA-G...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Temporarily out of stock, but you can order it at this price. $104.99 for a GTX 750 Ti 2GB is pretty good. You'd not have to worry about your power supply either - no six pin require and very low power usage. Its 10-15% faster than a R7 260X too.

 

[Cerb]

Wow, that r7-260 seems like a lot of card for the money, but i'm concerned about the power. The powercolor said min 500w supply, but didn't list any amperage. The Asus says nothing, not even their website list power reqs. Think I may step down a little the R7 240 seems have a low TDP. Cool and quiet are also a priority for me.

Thanks for the recommendations, i'll start researching them

The PSU recommendations are always bunk. You'll have 80-100W headroom with the card and CPU under full load, and your PSU was a bit under-rated from the beginning, so it should be fine, even given use/age (Seasonic didn't make many 380Ws--any of them w/ a PCIe connector will be just fine, though you might want to replace it when you finally do a CPU upgrade).

If you want lower power consumption, go with the GTX 750 or 750 Ti (at most, by 40W, but factory-OC models of the 750 Ti are relatively hotter than factiry-OC models of the R7s).

 

[AtenRa]

Sell the Core 2 duo + Mobo + Ram + 8600GT

get a new FM2+ A78 motherboard + AMD A8 7600 with 2400MHz memory.

MSI A78M-E45 = $37,99 AR
AMD A8-7600 = $97,99 + free game
Gskill 2x4GB 2400MHz = $63,99

total = 199,97

OC the iGPU to 960MHz and you will be more than fine at 1050p for that games.

 

[Headfoot]

Wow, that r7-260 seems like a lot of card for the money, but i'm concerned about the power. The powercolor said min 500w supply, but didn't list any amperage. The Asus says nothing, not even their website list power reqs. Think I may step down a little the R7 240 seems have a low TDP. Cool and quiet are also a priority for me.

Thanks for the recommendations, i'll start researching them

Don't waste your time and money with crap like the 240. If you're going to upgrade-- upgrade.

Get that GTX 750 Ti listed. Maxwell and very low power so you dont have to worry about heat

 

[frozentundra123456]

I would vote for the 750/750Ti. What clockspeed is your core 2 duo, and have/can you overclock it? WoT needs a pretty fast cpu I believe, so ultimately even with a new gpu that might limit you. If you sell your current system, definitely upgrade to intel, WoT definitely favors fast single core performance. benchmarks

 

[SlickR12345]

Depending how much money you got, I'd go for AMD r5 250 or 260.

 

[Majcric]

Which core duo do you have?? I'd be careful upgrading a gpu much beyond what you already have. it will be a waste of money

 

[tweakboy]

You need to upgrade your CPU to a quadcore...and call it a day. gb

 

[Headfoot]

any core 2 duo would benefit up to a GTX 750 Ti. His budget is only $100 so hes not gonna go nuts here

 

[tweakboy]

Yes 100 to 130 for a HD 5 series

 

[toyota]

any core 2 duo would benefit up to a GTX 750 Ti. His budget is only $100 so hes not gonna go nuts here

well he may have an an old 1.86 E6300 for all we know. it really would not matter much if the gpu was an upgrade or not if rocking a cpu that cant even deliver playable framerates.

 

[Headfoot]

even a e6300 would gain a respectable number of FPS going from 8600 gt to 750 Ti

 

[frozentundra123456]

I have a backup computer running an E4500 stock, and a 750Ti would definitely be cpu limited in most games with that processor. In fact, it was a pretty good match for the 8800GT that I was running with it. That said, if he got the 750Ti it would definitely run on the current power supply and deliver decent performance even if he upgrades the cpu at some point.

 

[toyota]

even a e6300 would gain a respectable number of FPS going from 8600 gt to 750 Ti

lol ok if you say so

 

[cbn]

I was looking at something like a GT 720. I know it's not a very good card, but it looks to be faster than what I have. Question I have is whether the newer PCI E 3.0 and 2.0 cards will work in my board and if they do will they be bottle necked? I also don't think I can use a super high power card because I have a Seasonic 380w supply. says it has 10A on one 12v rail and 15A on the second rail.

Budget would be around $100

Take a look at the cards listed on the following page (with the exception of the nvidia 210) , all of them will be faster and cheaper than the going US price for a Gt 720 DDR3:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2403091&page=4

P.S. Don't worry about your board only being pci-e 1.0, newer entry level pci-e 2.0 and 3.0 cards will still work without being limited.

 

[Erenhardt]

Sell the Core 2 duo + Mobo + Ram + 8600GT

get a new FM2+ A78 motherboard + AMD A8 7600 with 2400MHz memory.

MSI A78M-E45 = $37,99 AR
AMD A8-7600 = $97,99 + free game
Gskill 2x4GB 2400MHz = $63,99

total = 199,97

OC the iGPU to 960MHz and you will be more than fine at 1050p for that games.

I second that. Games like WoT and Civ will run on high and very high settings on this igp and will benefit from new CPU. Will help with those turn times a lot!

 

[drnickriviera]

Thanks for all the help. Now I remember why I stopped following hardware, the choices are dizzying. I went ahead and ordered the GTX 750 Ti.

I have an E7400 and 8Gb. So far WoT runs fine. I know this C2D is getting long in the teeth and i'll upgrade it later. At least I can take this vid card and move it to the next system. What would a CPU bottleneck look like in a game?

 

[AtenRa]

I second that. Games like WoT and Civ will run on high and very high settings on this igp and will benefit from new CPU. Will help with those turn times a lot!

Yea he could sell all the hardware for $60-$80 and upgrade to a new platform with a quad core for almost the same cost he will buy the GTX750Ti alone.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Thanks for all the help. Now I remember why I stopped following hardware, the choices are dizzying. I went ahead and ordered the GTX 750 Ti.

Good choice. You won't regret it. The performance increase is phenomenal, even if the C2D will hold it back a bit.

 

[Headfoot]

lol ok if you say so

what an utterly useless comment. Of course it will. Are you daft? You think he's going to get exactly the same FPS going from an 8600 GT to a 750 ti? Lol.