Would the 78xx work with this rig?

[Kenmitch]

I'm kinda interesting in taking advantage of the Never Settle reloaded bundle and going with the 78xx series of cards. I'm thinking I could most likely get into playing Tomb Raider as I liked the games back in the day!

The system:
i3-3225
MSI Z77MA-G45
8gb Samsung Super Ram
830 128gb SSD
1TB Hitachi
Asus Blu-Ray Burner
PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 400w
Lian Li PC-A04B

Would the power supply be enough for the rig?

Would the i3-3225 be enough to drive the game at playable framerates?

Would be playing @ 1080P

Kinda thinking the Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT with Boost.

Thanks

Wound up ordering the HIS IceQ H787Q2G2M Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition from Amazon while it was still $219 before rebate. Should get here on Thursday it looks like. Hoping it's as quiet as they say. Most likely I'll run stock but might play around with a little bit of overclocking to see....Noise dependant tho as I want my rig as quiet as possible.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Power supply is enough.

CPU should do fine and will play the game smoothly.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Psu is okay. CPU and gpu are not enough to max out at 1080p even without AA.

 

[vampirr]

i3 3225 is good and can handle Radeon HD 7850/7870 GPU's, you can play all games at 1080p with great details and framerate even thought its only a Dual Core and HT won't really help you. It is an outdated CPU, left in the dust... forever.

Why outdated? By 2014 it will have trouble running some games eg Battlefield 4(?)

Anyway when did you bought it? If you bought it like more than 6-8 months ago I can't blame you, but if you bought it earlier... Dude, you could have bought an FX 6300!

 

[Kenmitch]

i3 3225 is good and can handle Radeon HD 7850/7870 GPU's, you can play all games at 1080p with great details and framerate even thought its only a Dual Core and HT won't really help you. It is an outdated CPU, left in the dust... forever.

Why outdated? By 2014 it will have trouble running some games eg Battlefield 4(?)

Anyway when did you bought it? If you bought it like more than 6-8 months ago I can't blame you, but if you bought it earlier... Dude, you could have bought an FX 6300!

I picked the i3-3225 as I had no intention of gaming on the rig and wanted the HD4000 video. I picked a z77 motherboard just in case something changed in the future. I figured at least I'd have the option of throwing in a K chip or standard quad and bumping the speed up a little bit if needed.

I'm not much into gaming anymore but the Tomb Raider game does look interesting to me now. Watching a couple of videos of the gameplay and hearing feedback from my son playing on XBOX makes me want to jump in and take the plunge. I'm kinda getting to be an old fart as I'll turn 50 on the 21st. In the past I liked games like Tomb Raider, Unreal Tournament, but never got into online gaming as I don't like to waste 100's of hours on practicing.

I wasn't expecting the i3 and a 78xx series of cards to max the game out. I'm just wondering if it would be playable with decent graphics/fps. It's kinda hard to tell by the GPU/CPU benchmarks that have been linked already. I don't have massive hours to invest into game playing so I doubt I'll be getting into any of the hard hitting massive multi-player games.

My other rig that I'm gonna sell has a water cooled 2550k that'll do 5ghz with 1.43v's and a HD 5850 @ 1000/1300 with a full water block. The rig is total overkill for me as most of the time I'm just surfing the web, checking email, etc. anyways.

 

[Termie]

Ok, a few things.

First, that PSU is great...but it's not ideal for the HD7870 XT, which uses as much power as an HD7970. Definitely do not buy that card if you're running with that PSU. While the CPU is very low-power, the GPU will pull 200w under high load even before you overclock it:

Tom's: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/tahiti-le-7870-7930-benchmark,3401-6.html
HardOCP: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013...n_hd_7870_myst_edition_review/10#.UTy8qxypzzw

And then there's the other issue...

With a lot of games, that CPU will be barely enough to keep up with a standard HD7870. Take a look at how it does in Crysis 3 with a GTX680: http://www.techspot.com/review/642-crysis-3-performance/page6.html

Actually performs worse than a 3960x with an HD7850: http://www.techspot.com/review/642-crysis-3-performance/page3.html

My advice is to pick up the 7850 - there are 2GB models at ~$180 currently. You'll get the games you want, you won't stress the PSU, and you'll have a very nicely-balanced system.

HIS HD7850 with Basic cooler ($180): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161406
MSI HD7850 with aftermarket cooler ($190AR): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127663

Now, if Tomb Raider is really the only game you're interested in, things are a bit different. It's not particularly CPU-limited, so I'd consider stepping up to the Sapphire HD7870 for $205AR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202025

It won't have as much overclocking headroom as the 7850 (and I know you like OC'ing), but out-of-the-box, its performance will be much better (on the order of 20%). Plus it will easily fit within your PSU power envelope - I know, I have one, hooked to my 400w PSU and a much more power-hungry CPU.

Happy birthday in advance, by the way!

 

[Kenmitch]

@ Termie....Thanks

Those power under loads always gets me. When I view the rig config's they always show with a monster overclocked quad core or hex core cpu.

Didn't know that card pulled the same wattage as the 7970's.

I was leaning toward the 7870's as viewing the benchmarks for Tomb Raider they do get a decent fps increase comparing stock to stock.

Stock standard GE HD7870 would pull about the same power as a 7850 overclocked to match the performance?

Maybe this one running stock speeds? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161404

If needed a quad is only a microcenter trip away I guess. Think I'd rather try with the 3225 first to see if it'll hang or not.

 

[Termie]

@ Termie....Thanks

...

Stock standard GE HD7870 would pull about the same power as a 7850 overclocked to match the performance?

Maybe this one running stock speeds? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161404

If needed a quad is only a microcenter trip away I guess. Think I'd rather try with the 3225 first to see if it'll hang or not.

That 7870 is a nice one - just make sure you have space for it, as it's about 12" long. Based on pictures of your case on Newegg, you're going to have to remove the middle hard drive caddy.

 

[Kenmitch]

That 7870 is a nice one - just make sure you have space for it, as it's about 12" long. Based on pictures of your case on Newegg, you're going to have to remove the middle hard drive caddy.

I figure that one running stock will be fine for Tomb Raider anyways. Might as well spend the xtra $20 or so for a 7870 over a 7850.

I already removed it when I built the rig. I only need 1 SSD and 1 HDD anyways. Will measure before I deside on which one I'm gonna order anyways.

Just got back from Best Buy with a 1TB WD Black that I gotta throw in my soon to be x water cooled rig. Price matched staples.com $89.99 as I hate buying HDD's online. Need to yank my 1TB Hitachi out of there and put it into my new rig anyways....Gonna have to make sure there's room to fit the card without any cooling issues anyways.

Thanks again!

PS....I do like to overclock but it seems like Intel is taking all the fun out of it. IB's kinda ruined it for me due to the heat they generate.