Sunz
Member
Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: SE England
User status: Offline
|
I'm pretty lost when it comes to graphics cards, there seems to be a new one every week and I feel my current card is okay but not really on par with the rest of the system.
I want a physx enabled card and 1gb memory.
Currently I have a ATI asus 5670 512mb and run most games on a medium setting.
The rest of the computer.
AMD 1100t 3.2ghz, 4gb 1600mhz ddr3 ram, 700w Novatech Psu, windows 7 64bit, 128gb vertex 4 ssd.
What are the GTX 560 like?
Any suggestions?
|
chris_uk
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Jul 03
User status: Offline
|
If your gunna upgrade get the best your money can buy..
I got a gtx 680 direct cu top II, 2gb for just over £400 and there isnt a game it hasnt run fully maxed.
|
Dom
Member
Registered: 13th Sep 03
User status: Offline
|
If you go by Chris' advice then grab a Titan - £800 will get you an Asus.
In all serious though, it depends on your budget. A good starting point would be to look at either a GTX 660 or a 7850/7870 which are all, roughly, in the ~£150 price bracket.
Although personally i wouldn't go much lower than a 650 or a 7790.
|
Richie
Member
Registered: 3rd Dec 02
Location: Newport, Wales
User status: Offline
|
Now is a good time to buy as a big price war has just started with the release of the AMD 290x and the Nvidia GTX780Ti.
As a result you can pick up a GTX770 for £240 or a GTX760 for £180
However - you will hit a bottleneck pretty fast with your CPU playing beefier games. It's a 3yr old unit that wasnt the best when it came out.
|
ed
Member
Registered: 10th Sep 03
User status: Offline
|
What's it for? Gaming or Workstation use?
|
Sunz
Member
Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: SE England
User status: Offline
|
It's for gaming Ed.
I don't think any of the ATI cards can do Physx?
Yeah I know Richie, it's not an amazing set up but it's not too bad and feel it could be a bit better with a more powerful gpu, not really wanting to change cpu anytime soon.
Will see what this ends at.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zotac-NVIDIA-GTX-660TI-2GB-Graphics-card-/181257587816?pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_Graphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item2a33cb4c68&autorefresh=true
[Edited on 11-11-2013 by Sunz]
|
Aaron
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Cottingham, East Riding
User status: Offline
|
660Ti seems to be a good card. i've got one in my gaming PC...and i paid a lot more than that for it 9 months ago 
|
DannyB
Premium Member
Registered: 6th Feb 08
User status: Offline
|
I have this
http://gamingsquid.com/hardware/amd-radeon-hd-6970/
Had it about a year and a half, runs BF4 maxed out 1920X1080 at about 60fps with no problems, not had any issues with it tbh. I paid 240 for it at the time but I bet you could probably pick it up for about 160 now.
|
Dom
Member
Registered: 13th Sep 03
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by DannyB
I have this
http://gamingsquid.com/hardware/amd-radeon-hd-6970/
Had it about a year and a half, runs BF4 maxed out 1920X1080 at about 60fps with no problems, not had any issues with it tbh. I paid 240 for it at the time but I bet you could probably pick it up for about 160 now.
How come you went with the 6970 rather than getting a 6950 and unlocking the shaders + OC'ing (apart from warranty)?
Don't think you can pick them up any more though but they're cheap on eBay.
Sunz - Depends how much that goes for although if you do a quick Google you can pick it up for £190-200 (stock depending though).
|
DannyB
Premium Member
Registered: 6th Feb 08
User status: Offline
|
Don't know that much about them tbh mate I just read it had good reviews at the time so went with that 
|
Sunz
Member
Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: SE England
User status: Offline
|
Issue with the ATI is no Physx, although it's not needed it's pretty cool for games like borderlands 2 etc.
Going to try and get the Gtx 660 anyway, so thanks for the help.
|
Richie
Member
Registered: 3rd Dec 02
Location: Newport, Wales
User status: Offline
|
There were 8 games with PhysX released in 2013. It's no biggie unless you are playing a PhysX capable game, even then it doesnt do oodles.
|
Sunz
Member
Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: SE England
User status: Offline
|
But they will continue to make games with Physx so I believe it will become more common.
Dabs do the GTX 660 Asus for £145 new with Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and the new Assassins Creed game so gonna go for that. 
|
chris_uk
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Jul 03
User status: Offline
|
id suggest spending a little more and getting a better card.
|
Sunz
Member
Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: SE England
User status: Offline
|
Like ? 
I looked at the 760 cards but the difference is so minimal.
|
chris_uk
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Jul 03
User status: Offline
|
with nvidia cards you want to get the latest in the series..
http://www.cclonline.com/product/94212/90-C1CS20-S0UAY0BZ/Graphics-Cards/Asus-2GB-Graphics-Card-nVidia-GeForce-GTX-680/VGA0847/
although thats quite a bit more..
i never scrimp when buying GPU or CPU they always are top of the range and it just means i can use them for longer without having to upgrade..
sure the 660 is ok, if you get that one make sure you get a TI version, but they will soon be outdated and you wont be able to play the newer games.. well, you will play them but not at 60+fps maxed out.
|
Dom
Member
Registered: 13th Sep 03
User status: Offline
|
£400 on a (gaming) GPU is a bit 
Plus, if Danny can run BF4 maxed out on a 6970 then i think a 660 will be fine for a while 
Edit - Isn't it something like 25-30% difference between the 660 and 680? Spending roughly 170% more to get that Asus card (stupidly priced, considering you can get a 680 for £260) you mentioned doesn't seem worth it.
Best bet would be to get a 770, which is a similar price to a 680 but offers around 40% increase over the 660.
And if you get a 660ti then similar cash gets you a 760 which offers a bit more grunt.
[Edited on 13-11-2013 by Dom]
|
Richie
Member
Registered: 3rd Dec 02
Location: Newport, Wales
User status: Offline
|
Jesus fuck why are people giving links to overpriced shit.
The 680 is about £270 now. How the fuck CCL want to charge that much is beyond me.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-asus-gtx-680-directcu-ii-oc-28nm-pcie-30-(x16)-6008mhz-gddr5-gpu-1019mhz-boost-1084mhz
The GTX770 is the best pickup at the moment for £240 and is about 20% faster than the 680.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-scanfx-gtx-770-overclocked-28nm-pcie-30-(x16)-7010mhz-gddr5-gpu-1072mhz-boost-1124mhz-cores-1536
[Edited on 13-11-2013 by Richie]
|
chris_uk
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Jul 03
User status: Offline
|
Yea, ok so buy a card now for £270 which will play games maxed for about a year, then spend another couple hundred in a year or two.. Or just buy a card for £400 that will last much longer.
Just my opinion, ive been doing this for nearly 20 years never been an issue.. Just make sure you get a card with directx 11 as games now (cod:ghosts) are only working in dx11, all dx10 or below cards are fucked.
I paid £400 for a gtx 680 direct top Ii 1201mhz version.
Also bf4/cod as a benchmark is a bit dodgy as they are so well optimised they run really well at higher settings, try using 3dmark to get abetter idea of performance.
|
John
Member
Registered: 30th Jun 03
User status: Offline
|
Surely if the game you want runs at high settings, that's a far better benchmark than 3dmark.
|
chris_uk
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Jul 03
User status: Offline
|
The whole idea is future proofing the machine..
Just because 1 game runs well doesnt mean all games will run the same.. Some games are optimized really well and can really put out some nice visuals without too much strain on the pc, bf3, bf4 and the cod series (although not so much on the last one) are all really well optimized games but you try play an older game like say arma2 and it will run ok even in medium settings and thats because the game is poorly optimized.. Crysis 1 was another culprit for awful optimization, even now some 10 years on people struggle to run it maxed in 1920x1080.
Also they put emphasis on either fully allocating the gpu or cpu, for example.. In arma2 if you choose to turn shadows on low it may say run ay 40fps, but put them on high and all of a sudden the game runs at 50fps, makes no sence right? Well whats happening is certain aspects of the game are run by either the cpu or the gpu so putting shadows on takes some of the strain away from the cpu and allows the game to run better..
Not all games are like this tho, now pc's are getting flooded with console ported shite the amount of options you have are much much lower..
Having a good 3dmark score gives you a good idea of how your card will cope with the next gen visuals. Basing it on a game is silly, unless the game is a pure resource hog.
|
John
Member
Registered: 30th Jun 03
User status: Offline
|
I agree partly but as usual, there is the cost/performance question. Your example above of a £200 card that can play everything for 2 years, or a £400 card that can play everything for 4 years, I'd lean to the former. When you have to renew in 2 years time, that £200 card will probably be better than your 2 year old £400 one.
3dmark scores are nice, but if your game runs well on a card and that's what you mainly play, and it was good value for money, that was a good choice.
|
Dom
Member
Registered: 13th Sep 03
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by chris_uk
Yea, ok so buy a card now for £270 which will play games maxed for about a year, then spend another couple hundred in a year or two.. Or just buy a card for £400 that will last much longer.
Or you just pick up secondhand cards that'll play latest games without issue and save money in the long run.
quote:
Originally posted by chris_uk
...try using 3dmark to get abetter idea of performance.
Only reason to spunk £400 on a GPU, so you brag about 3DMark scores on a forum
|
chris_uk
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Jul 03
User status: Offline
|
I dont use 3dmark so dont even try make yourself look clever, 3dmark is just a global benchmark tool, i wouldnt even know what mine was tbh.
Buying 2nd hand is a perfectly viable option, its just the same as buying everything 2nd hand, warrentys, use, been o/c'd etc.... I wasnt telling him to buy that card, i was showing him the link as thats the kinda card level he wants to look at atm, its not top of the range titan material but neither on the lower end of the scale.. But whatever card he does get it has to be a dx11 card.
If, you only play one game (which i know he doesnt) then sure, get a gpu which will play it and jobs a good'un but this isnt case..
Also, the 2 years, 4 years argument, its not really that easy to put a cost and time limit on cards..
I had 2 gtx460 cyclone's in sli before i got the gtx680, my bro still uses these after 5 years and everything still runs pretty well now on medium / high settings, there are a couple slowdowns but nothing major, these were £200 each 5 years ago.. I have my 2 still sat here and only because games dont really support sli otherwise id still have them in now.
Thats another point, although sli looks like a good idea 2 cheap cards for higher priced performance its only good if the game suppoets sli propperly, ive seen some games run worse in sli than with just 1 card and thats because it takes a while until support is released.. That was probably my main reason for swapping out to the 680, otherwise like i say, id still be using them.
|
Sunz
Member
Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: SE England
User status: Offline
|
So I guess the Gtx 660 isn't really that future proof, so gave up on that idea after reading what you guys have written.
So now I guess the 770 looks like a good bet, dabs do it for £244 with The new assassins creed, new batman and new splinter cell game. (not sure how long this deal will last and these are all games that use physx)
Zotac GeForce GTX 770 2GB GDDR5 PCI-Express 3.0 HDMI is the model.
Or look for one second hand on ebay but they aren't very commonly up for grabs and seem to go for about £215+ Hardly a big saving.
|
