Upgrading from a 470gtx

[Kirel_Redhand]

Hello,

Recently, I’ve been using my system for gaming more than anything else and I’ve run into an issue with what I think is the amount of VRAM that my video card has. For example; In Skyrim, when running mods increase the texture quality (HD textures), on occasion, the map begins to darken, turn black and either the system crashes or I experience lots of… It’s not so much a hard FPS loss as it is a lack of smoothness within the framerate that I do have. In games like Max Payne 3; whereas it’s a gorgeous game, I’ve had to turn some of the eyecandy off because the game actively tells me that I’m running out of vram.

I pretty much always play at 1900x1200 – I’ve noticed that for acceptable framerate, I’ve been needing to turn the eyecandy down/off and it’s bumming me out. 

My system:
Evga p55 FTW edition Motherboard
Evga 470gtx (1024mb vram)
Creative X-FI soundcard
6gb Ram
Couple of hard drives

I currently have an 470gtx and while I’m not adverse to AMD, I’ve grown to appreciate the responsiveness of the nvidia team (re: drivers). Based on what I’ve read here and elsewhere, AMD’s current generation of drivers aren’t bad; but they remain woefully unresponsive when it comes to updating drivers. That makes me lean toward sticking with Nvidia.

Budget is always a concern and I don’t want to spend $500+ on “the best” when it’s not that much of an improvement over the 2nd or 3rd best. I’ve done quite a bit of reading and I’m hopelessly undecided.

A few questions.

#1 question: Given how games are increasingly offering more and more eyecandy, is a card with 2gb vram enough?
#2 question: Given a budget of say $350, what would you recommend?
#2a – Why?

Thanks

 

[Termie]

What cpu do you have and is it overclocked? We'll need to know that to recommend an appropriate card.

No current game requires more than 2GB of RAM at 1920x1200, at least at playable settings on today's cards. Extreme levels of antialiasing might do it, but you'd be at an unplayable setting with available gpu power.

By the way, your video card should have 1.25GB of VRAM, not 1024MB.

 

[Kirel_Redhand]

Ooops.. I thought I had that in there.

I'm running an i5 and it's not overclocked. I'm at work and don't remember exactly which one, but if memory serves correctly, Its i5 (something) sandy bridge running at 3.3ghz

 

[tweakboy]

Nice CPU bottleneck there. Grab a 670 and your set for your next mobo CPU ram upgrade.....gl

 

[crisium]

The simple answer is to get a GTX 670. That's the best Nvidia card for $350.

 

[FalseChristian]

A GTX 660 about 40% faster than your card and is wallet-friendly.

 

[amenx]

While I think an upgrade would certainly improve your gaming experience, have you monitored actual mem usage in games? ie, in apps like GPU-z or MSI afterburner.

 

[Kirel_Redhand]

@amenx

GPU-z shows that I'm maxing out the GPU memory.

 

[netzz3d]

I have a gtx 660 it with a 24" monitor at 1920x1200, and the gfx card handles it great !!

 

[raghu78]

OP the really good GTX 670 cards are around USD 390 - 400. EVGA GTX 670 FTW, MSI GTX 670 PE and Gigabyte GTX 670.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130787
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125423
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127685

don't buy the reference GTX 670. the PCB quality is cheap and the power circuitry is not as good as the above mentioned cards.

Also AMD drivers are pretty good , especially single GPU. Nvidia has the edge in multi GPU. the HD 7950 is a very good card. get it with the game bundle.

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=AT-7950BST
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?p=GA-795WF3G

Gigabyte HD 7950 OC (900 mhz) / Sapphire HD 7950 boost (925 mhz) are both good options. matches GTX 670 at stock. with overclocking a HD 7950(1150 Mhz) is faster than GTX 670(1250 Mhz).

 

[brandon888]

i'd say wait ..... 700 series will come in March as i know so only few months left .... keep your 470 before ...

 

[Eureka]

Right now, 7950 might be a better choice for you, since you seem to like games and mods that like vram. 3GB with a 384-bit bus. It will last you a lot longer. GTX 670/680 is fine for games now, but with high vram usage you might run into trouble with the 2GB onboard. There are 4GB versions but you're still limited by the 256-bit bus.

If you can hold out, I would wait as well. Should see some interesting cards in the next few months, plus I'm sure nvidia cards will have 3GB onboard with faster buses in this next generation.

Also, at least towards late last year, you could pick up a non-reference 7950 for around 280 and a non-reference 670 for around 330. I wouldn't pay any more than that, especially now.

 

[Kirel_Redhand]

Hi folks....

So, another question relating to this.

Per some suggestions, I've been waiting for a good deal on a GTX670 4gb. While waiting, I've also been reading/learning about what is on the market today vs what was available when I built my current box.

Previously, I stated that I was using a I5 something. In specific, I'm using an I5 - 661.

I still want to purchase a better video card, but I'm also a tad worried about the cpu, given what I've read. Using this processor, do I need to worry about the CPU being a bottleneck?

 

[Termie]

Hi folks....

So, another question relating to this.

Per some suggestions, I've been waiting for a good deal on a GTX670 4gb. While waiting, I've also been reading/learning about what is on the market today vs what was available when I built my current box.

Previously, I stated that I was using a I5 something. In specific, I'm using an I5 - 661.

I still want to purchase a better video card, but I'm also a tad worried about the cpu, given what I've read. Using this processor, do I need to worry about the CPU being a bottleneck?

Paired with an i5-661, I would not get the GTX670, and I definitely would not buy the GTX670 4GB - it's almost always slower than a GTX670 2GB: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/01/08/asus_geforce_gtx_670_directcu_ii_4gb_gpu_review/

At most, I would go with an HD7870 or a GTX660, but neither is a huge jump from the 470. The problem is that with your dual-core CPU, you really won't see much benefit in a lot of games - the GTX470 was already a very powerful card to pair with a stock i5-661.

Here are some benchmarks, tested with an HD5870, just about equivalent to your card: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2901/13. The Dragon Age Origins bench is most similar to what modern games would perform like.

 

[RaistlinZ]

670 4GB seems like overkill for 1920x1200. I'd say go for a 660Ti or 7950 Boost.

There's a good deal right now for the ASUS 660Ti for $259.99 AR at Newegg.

Or, if you're really concerned with VRAM there's the Sapphire 7950 Boost for $289.99 AR.