Advice on Graphics Cards

[SkyeWindbinder]

I'm going to upgrade my graphics card before FFXIV: ARR officially comes out. (Hopefully it won't come out before I get my income tax check) I was just wondering if anyone had any advice on an affordable graphics card for a struggling semi-poor gamer that will help to display the game in decent quality. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance!

[rina_inverse]

posting your current spec might help

[SkyeWindbinder]

posting your current spec might help

How do you do that?

(Me no understand 'puters. Me not too 'puter smart. lol)

[rina_inverse]

run => type dxdiag

[SinisterJoint]

is it a prebuilt system?

Dell? Acer? Etc.. if so just post what model it is and ill do the rest.

If not, see the above post.

once its done, click save all info

Open the text document it saved and copy whats in the system info section only, thats all we need

[SkyeWindbinder]

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.130104-1431)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Compaq-Presario
System Model: AY138AA-ABA CQ5320Y
BIOS: BIOS Date: 01/07/10 11:37:11 Ver: 5.17
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 240 Processor (2 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory: 3072MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3072MB RAM
Page File: 1885MB used, 4254MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

Card name: ATI Radeon HD 5450
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI display adapter (0x68F9)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Display Memory: 1784 MB
Dedicated Memory: 504 MB
Shared Memory: 1279 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: DELL E153FP

Yep, pretty bad, I know. And this is after I bought the initial version and upgraded it. lol

[Quesse]

Did you run the benchmark -- what was your score?

FFXIV is pretty CPU intensive so you probably won't see alot of performance increase by just upgrading your video card since you have an older dual core cpu.

So I would just recommend getting something that is a good boost but nothing that you'll be throwing money away with. Like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102988

A 6670 for ~$50 should give you a good boost but your CPU will be the bottleneck at that point so anything more powerful is just a waste.

[rina_inverse]

honestly your system (not just the graphic card) look pretty old
only changing the GPU will probably cause a bottleneck

[Pseudopsia]

If you have a PS3 I would suggest playing on that if you want to save money.

[Dhalmel]

Could you post your benchmark results and what resolution do you run?
A better gpu will net you better results from my testing.
Forcing the benchmark to only use 2 cores, only showed about a 10% decrease in performance compared to it being unlocked, mind you I'm used a Intel 3770k at 4.6Ghz but should give you a idea of cpu scaling.



CPU Thread scaling

Grabbed the weakest card I own which is a GTX 560 TI with a factory overclock of 950MHz
CPU again is a Intel Core i7 3770k @ 4.6GHz

CPU Thread use unlocked,GPU clocked at 950MHz
Score:15058
Average Framerate:139.815
Performance:Extremely High
-Easily capable of running the game on the highest settings.
Screen Size: 1280x720
Graphics Presets: Medium


CPU Thread use locked down to 2 cores,GPU clocked at 950MHz

Score:13284
Average Framerate:123.466
Performance:Extremely High
-Easily capable of running the game on the highest settings.

Screen Size: 1280x720
Graphics Presets: Medium

CPU Thread use locked down to 2 cores, GPU throttled down to 475MHZ

Score:6249
Average Framerate:50.437
Performance:Very High
-Easily capable of running the game. Should perform exceptionally well, even at higher resolutions.

Screen Size: 1280x720
Graphics Presets: Medium


CPU Thread use unlocked, GPU throttled down to 475MHZ
Score:5987
Average Framerate:48.108 (somehow the framerate is lower?)
Performance:Very High
-Easily capable of running the game. Should perform exceptionally well, even at higher resolutions.

Screen Size: 1280x720
Graphics Presets: Medium



As you can see ARR will benefit from a quad+ configuration but not by much, 10~15% difference in performance, it still benefits mostly from a good GPU, grab a GTX 650 or a Radeon HD 7770. It should do extremely well with 720p at max settings, and good enough at 1080p on medium settings.