Advice on Graphics Cards

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Originally Posted by Abriael

You're saving money because you won't need to buy another one for years. It's a fairly futureproof card. The 5770 was obsolete two years ago, and it's *discontinued* now. There's a reason for that.

A 5770 will bog down any modern PC. When she'll finally decide to change her other parts, and sooner or later she'll have to if she wants to continue playing on PCs, the 5770 would be a dead weight in it.

On the other hand a card like a 660 will be a good base for any upgrade. Hence, saving money.

Advising anyone to buy a discontinued card is honestly quite nearsighted. It does not save them money on the long run, and the performance they'll get will be sub-par anyway.

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And please keep in mind that Yoshi P is planning to scale up the quality of the graphics in the game over time based on a few of his interviews (Hmmmm PS Foooour....?) So plan your PC choices accordingly. o.o/

A 5770 is about the same performance as my 260gtx. I'm getting 3k with nearly max settings at 1080p, 5k on max settings at 720p, so it could work for the op. I do agree with Abriael that the card is way past it's prime. Even if the current system could bottleneck a newer GPU, if you plan to further upgrade your PC in the next years, getting a stronger GPU now is not a mistake. The difference between two generations of a same-class GPU is not big. For example, a 460gtx performs nearly the same on the benchmark as my 260gtx

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Originally Posted by Rannie

eh i run on two cpu's and scored high... my suggestion would be if you update the video card make sure that you read the wattage for the psu i upgraded mine and didn't realize i had to buy a new power supply and it kept shutting the computer down in grid when it rained because of drawing too much power.. also i'd probably recommend if you can upgrading your ram

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upgrading his ram wont do any good as he has 7 home premium which maxes out at 4gig

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Originally Posted by SinisterJoint

upgrading his ram wont do any good as he has 7 home premium which maxes out at 4gig

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Nope, 16GB

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Originally Posted by Abriael

Advising anyone to buy a discontinued card is honestly quite nearsighted. It does not save them money on the long run, and the performance they'll get will be sub-par anyway.

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The OP specifically said he/she was looking for a "cheap" GPU to run the game decently and if possible he/she would rather not upgrade the PSU. Hence the 6670, both 660 and 5770 require a new PSU. If the OP does decide to change PSU, then there are still better bang for buck options, assuming the OP still wants a cheap solution. Considering the OPs specs and the fact he/she runs at 1024 x 768, a 660 for $210+ is really not the best option.

If OP wants to future proof and is willing to spend extra, then i too would personally be recommending different stuff but to assume were being nearsighted simply because we were trying to meet OPs requirements only shows your own lack of comprehension on the issue.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

You're saving money because you won't need to buy another one for years. It's a fairly futureproof card. The 5770 was obsolete two years ago, and it's *discontinued* now. There's a reason for that.

A 5770 will bog down any modern PC. When she'll finally decide to change her other parts, and sooner or later she'll have to if she wants to continue playing on PCs, the 5770 would be a dead weight in it.

On the other hand a card like a 660 will be a good base for any upgrade. Hence, saving money.

Advising anyone to buy a discontinued card is honestly quite nearsighted. It does not save them money on the long run, and the performance they'll get will be sub-par anyway.

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That make me feel better about me getting a 660 around FFXIV release lol. Which version you talking about tho normal or TI

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Originally Posted by Shura

The OP specifically said he/she was looking for a "cheap" GPU to run the game decently and if possible he/she would rather not upgrade the PSU. Hence the 6670, both 660 and 5770 require a new PSU. If the OP does decide to change PSU, then there are still better bang for buck options, assuming the OP still wants a cheap solution. Considering the OPs specs and the fact he/she runs at 1024 x 768, a 660 for $210+ is really not the best option.

If OP wants to future proof and is willing to spend extra, then i too would personally be recommending different stuff but to assume were being nearsighted simply because we were trying to meet OPs requirements only shows your own lack of comprehension on the issue.

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What video card would you say is a worth upgrade for around 200$ i have a 450GTS. I was thinking of getting a 660 myself seem to be a good video card for 200ish.

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Originally Posted by Zenaku

That make me feel better about me getting a 660 around FFXIV release lol. Which version you talking about tho normal or TI

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They're both very good cards. Get the normal if you want to save some money, or the TI if you want to go the extra mile for a bit more juice. Remember that the Ti requires two power connectors instead of one, but that shouldn't be a problem.

Mind you, with a good processor (AMD 965 black edition for instance) and 4 gigs of ram even just the 660 holds the benchmark at over 6000 at maximum settings, so it's just a matter of how much you wanna spend and how futureproof you wanna be.

Ultimately the TI is the best card between the two, but the normal is probably slightly better bang-for-buck.

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Originally Posted by SkyeWindbinder

Yeah, with no problems! Weird. lol

Also, how can you tell which graphics cards are more powerful? I wish I could do that...

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remember 1.0 taking down all grafics runs perfect on my old 9800gtx lol now i have serie 2 SLI 295gtx at 896bits and when i think back on the pass i was using a 128bits card and game run on 1g memory shared on the sistem and now i have 2g memory core and share 4g video memory dedicated runing a core 2 quad 9550 and on 1.0 i was using a dual core on less then 5.4hrz lol also now im using 8gmemory dd3 and back then i was using only 2g memory dd2


soo realy the game specs was not soo high back then on 1.0

and now my score on maximum on the benchamark only give a farly high sooo i ausume the benchmark dont read my SLI sistem

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Originally Posted by Abriael

They're both very good cards. Get the normal if you want to save some money, or the TI if you want to go the extra mile for a bit more juice. Remember that the Ti requires two power connectors instead of one, but that shouldn't be a problem.

Mind you, with a good processor (AMD 965 black edition for instance) and 4 gigs of ram even just the 660 holds the benchmark at over 6000 at maximum settings, so it's just a matter of how much you wanna spend and how futureproof you wanna be.

Ultimately the TI is the best card between the two, but the normal is probably slightly better bang-for-buck.

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Ya i be getting the normal 660 one and then upgrading my CPU to something better i have AMD 925 was thinking of getting 1055t. But it seem the 965 black edition may be better overall.

I think I'm gonna go with gtx, and upgrade my system over time when I get the cash. It's kind of hard, what with having so little spare cash to play with, but I just want something for my PC that will show the game decently. You all have given awesome advice on the subject and I do appreciate it. Just one question: Would it be cheaper to upgrade the system or buy a new computer decent for gaming? Keep in mind, I have NO IDEA how to upgrade a system myself, so I'd likely have to pay someone to do it for me. ^^;

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Originally Posted by Zenaku

Ya i be getting the normal 660 one and then upgrading my CPU to something better i have AMD 925 was thinking of getting 1055t. But it seem the 965 black edition may be better overall.

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The 965 be is slightly old by now, but processors didn't have much of a generational launch lately, meaning that it's still one of the best bang-for-buck processors out there, especially if you get slightly daring and overclock it a 3.8 ghz.

For reference here's my latest benchmark run with a 965 be paired with a gtx 660 (ignore the VRAM 3786 MB thing, it's obviously a misreport, as it has only 2048).

FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Official Benchmark (Exploration)
Tested on:24/02/2013 14:14:29
Score:6300
Average Framerate:52.307
Performance:Very High
-Easily capable of running the game. Should perform exceptionally well, even at higher resolutions.

Screen Size: 1920x1080
Graphics Presets: Custom
General
-Improve overall graphic quality. : Enabled
-Disable rendering of objects when not visible. (Occlusion Culling) : Enabled
-Use low-detail models on distant objects to increase performance. (LOD) : Enabled
-Cache LOD data only when necessary. (LOD Streaming) : Enabled
-Smooth edges. (Anti-aliasing) : Enabled
-Increase transparent lighting quality. : Enabled
-Grass Quality : High
Shadows
-Use low-detail models on shadows to increase performance. (LOD) : Disabled
-Display : All
-Shadow Resolution : High: 2048 pixels
-Shadow Cascading : High
-Shadow Softening : High
Texture Detail
-Texture Filtering : High
-Anisotropic Filtering : High
Effects
-Naturally darken the edges of the screen. (Limb Darkening) : Enabled
-Blur the graphics around an object in motion. (Radial Blur) : Enabled
-Effects While in Motion : Display All
-Screen Space Ambient Occlusion : High
-Glare : Normal
Cinematic Cutscenes
-Enable depth of field. : Enabled

System:
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit (6.1, build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.120830-0333)
AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 965 Processor
4095.176MB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 (VRAM 3786 MB) 9.18.0013.1090

And this is in windowed mode. It'll probably perform even better in full screen.

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Originally Posted by SkyeWindbinder

I think I'm gonna go with gtx, and upgrade my system over time when I get the cash. It's kind of hard, what with having so little spare cash to play with, but I just want something for my PC that will show the game decently. You all have given awesome advice on the subject and I do appreciate it. Just one question: Would it be cheaper to upgrade the system or buy a new computer decent for gaming? Keep in mind, I have NO IDEA how to upgrade a system myself, so I'd likely have to pay someone to do it for me. ^^;

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If you're dead set against learning (It's not THAT difficult, you just have to actually try to learn it, most people won't) do you have a friend that knows? Typically building it will get you a better system for the money, mainly because you can pick and choose the exact components, hit sales, etc.

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Originally Posted by SkyeWindbinder

I think I'm gonna go with gtx, and upgrade my system over time when I get the cash. It's kind of hard, what with having so little spare cash to play with, but I just want something for my PC that will show the game decently. You all have given awesome advice on the subject and I do appreciate it. Just one question: Would it be cheaper to upgrade the system or buy a new computer decent for gaming? Keep in mind, I have NO IDEA how to upgrade a system myself, so I'd likely have to pay someone to do it for me. ^^;

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Looking at your system, it's probably better to start with the video card and buy the rest of the pieces when you can afford them.

Though the only thing you need to be careful about is that the gtx 660 requires a 450W Power source. I actually have a friend that managed to have it run on a 400, but I can't guarantee it'll work on less than 450 (luckily a good 450 PSU is rather cheap, and if you find yourself changing it, I'd advise to go slightly higher for fodder's sake).

Once you have the video card, that is actually VERY easy to install on your PC (uninstall the drivers completely, turn everything off, unplug everything, open case, unplug power connector on GPU, if it even has one, remove screw or screws attached from side of GPU at the back of the case, then lift the little lever at the right of your old GPU where's attacked to the mainboard to unseat it. Being VERY careful not to touch the mainboard too much, as you could damage some component, especially if it's a cheap that came with a pre-built comp, seat the new video card, operate the lever to push it in nicely (be delicate), put the screw(s) back in place, attach the power connector from the power source, close case, replug everything, turn PC on, install drivers, reboot. Though if you have to change the whole power source as well, it gets more complex), you can buy the rest of the components when you can afford it.

Count that with your current obsolete system you'll probably have to buy the Motherboard/CPU/RAM all in one go to make sure that they are compatible.

You may be able to salvage the case (even if i normally advise to get a new one if the old case is from a pre-built PC, because they suck. The Antec 300 has WONDERFUL ventilation and is dirt cheap. Doesn't have pretty lights, but pretty lights don't play games) most probably the DVD reader, hard disk and such.

On the other end the GTX 660 will fit nicely with anything you will buy and won't bog it down for at least another couple years and possibly more if you're not much of a stickler for top performance.

To build your computer, if you don't wanna follow tutorials online (there are plenty on youtube, and they're very well done), the best way is to go to the usual techie friend that will build it for you. Upgrading the video card is really a matter of 10 minutes, building a whole PC can be done in a hour and it's fun, so most techies worth their salt will jump to the chance with a smile and even come with their own thermal paste :D

Ultimately, I always advice building parts and then assemble them yourself or have someone that will do it for you, as you have control over the quality of the components you buy, especially the less publicized ones like PSU, RAM and Motherboard. Many pre-built PC manufacturers will use low-quality no-brand bulk components and horribad Asrok motherboards to keep the price low, but then you'll find yourself with a sub par kit despite the fact that the specs look good on paper.

A final personal piece of advice: for the love of god do not go too cheap on the Power source. It's the single most underestimated piece of a PC because it doesn't directly contribute to its "raw power", but a low quality no-brand PSU will very possibly fail under stress, and a PSU failure can *burn your whole system* or almost if you're unlucky, and even if you aren't and your motherboard doesn't fry, saving your components, replacing a PSU is a pain in the rear. Go Antec or Corsair for safety and great warranties. Maybe go a little smaller in wattage if you want to save, as their output is great and normally over their specs, but don't save on the brand.

Edit: For an alternative solution, I've done some research on your motherboard and it's actually not as old as I thought (why would the manufacturer put a dual core on it, I don't know, but oh well). If you never saw it, here's the baby if you're curious to see it.

After you get the new video card (this is the best quality/price ratio you can get considering the rebate, and it has awesome cooling) you could get this processor to work with it, and upgrade the RAM to 4 GB with this memory , and get a very workable gaming PC with no real bottlenecks.

If you do this, though, I'd advise getting at least a 500-550 Watt power source of a good brand, like this one (that has a 20 bucks rebate on top of it, making it super cheap).

The system that would come out of it would only have one flaw, besides the cooling on the motherboard itself that is a little sad (i could almost hear it scream when the PC is under load), the MOBO doesn't support PCI Express 3.0 or even 2.0 (it has a paltry 1.0 slot). While modern video cards will still be compatible, it's a further bottleneck. It isn't too bad, so don't overworry about it. It's just not optimal.

Memory, Processor and power source are a grand total of 155 bucks, which isn't too bad at all.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1207486

309 for this combo and that is CHEAP.

and this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139005

all in total about 400 including shipping.

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Originally Posted by SinisterJoint

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1207486

309 for this combo and that is CHEAP.

and this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139005

all in total about 400 including shipping.

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Her motherboard will *not* support a zambezi CPU. There is no chance that it would. Her PC has a Socket AM3 MoBo, and the zambezi requires a Socket AM3+. Socket AM3 and Socket AM3+ are NOT compatible.

Careful with this kind of rushed advice.

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Originally Posted by Zenaku

What video card would you say is a worth upgrade for around 200$ i have a 450GTS. I was thinking of getting a 660 myself seem to be a good video card for 200ish.

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for $200 660 is your best bet, but if your considering spending $300 on the TI and are not bound to one brand name, then i would recommend the Sapphire 7950 Dual-X, best bang for buck card out there imo, and overclocks like a beast.

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Originally Posted by Shura

for $200 660 is your best bet, but if your considering spending $300 on the TI and are not bound to one brand name, then i would recommend the Sapphire 7950 Dual-X, best bang for buck card out there imo, and overclocks like a beast.

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ya i'm not crazy about overclocking :) and 660 is ok for 200$ then if i get the 7950 or the 660ti i wont have enough to upgrade my CPU. Once i have more money to waste i'm just going to upgrade everything for now i just want something to last me a few years too then.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

On the other end the GTX 660 will fit nicely with anything you will buy and won't bog it down for at least another couple years and possibly more if you're not much of a stickler for top performance.

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You do know her CPU is only a Athlon(tm) II X2 240. Pairing a GTX 660 with that is a complete waste of money.

Spend $50 on a 6670 for a quick boost and save your money for a new PC. Anything else is a waste.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

Her motherboard will *not* support a zambezi CPU. There is no chance that it would. Her PC has a Socket AM3 MoBo, and the zambezi requires a Socket AM3+. Socket AM3 and Socket AM3+ are NOT compatible.

Careful with this kind of rushed advice.

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snarky comments need not apply..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103727
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102999
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139005

u happy now??

Cheaper than my first suggestion (not much)

If you're willing to spend 300 on a gpu, this will prolly be a better upgrade in the long run since it will be less of a bottleneck cpu wise.

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Originally Posted by Quesse

You do know her CPU is only a Athlon(tm) II X2 240. Pairing a GTX 660 with that is a complete waste of money.

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Wooo hyperbole. Completely untrue, there'll be a bit of bottlenecking, but not much at all considering that most games nowadays are GPU intensive and not CPU intensive. the $50 on a 6670 are just wasted money since she wants to upgrade her PC anyway afterwards, and having a good card already is a good base for it.

Buy 660 -> Buy rest = less money than Buy obsolete 6670 - > buy rest + new video card & throw obsolete 6670 into the recycle bin.

And she'll have much better performance from the get go instead of just a paltry upgrade until she updates the full system.

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Originally Posted by Zenaku

ya i'm not crazy about overclocking :) and 660 is ok for 200$ then if i get the 7950 or the 660ti i wont have enough to upgrade my CPU. Once i have more money to waste i'm just going to upgrade everything for now i just want something to last me a few years too then.

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Zenaku what kind of motherboard do you have? i noticed in a earlier post you said you were thinking up upgrading to a 1055t from a 925. while the 1055t is a better cpu, its not much of an upgrade. The extra 2 cores will help you with multitasking but not much difference in gaming compared to what you have now; I would recommend the 1075t or 1090t, those 2 would be more of an upgrade with more noticeable difference in gaming compared to 1055t.

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Originally Posted by SinisterJoint

snarky comments need not apply..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103727
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102999
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139005

u happy now??

Cheaper than my first suggestion (not much)

If you're willing to spend 300 on a gpu, this will prolly be a better upgrade in the long run since it will be less of a bottleneck cpu wise.

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The 7850 GPU is overally way weaker than the GTX 660 and doesn't have Physix. This is better value considering the rebate, and gigabyte is a way better and more reliable brand than sapphire. It also has it beat by a long shot in its cooling solution, which is crucial for a GPU, especially considering that her case isn't exactly a wind tunnel.

The 650 power source is way overkill for that kind of system. A 500 is enough.

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Originally Posted by Shura

Zenaku what kind of motherboard do you have? i noticed in a earlier post you said you were thinking up upgrading to a 1055t from a 925. while the 1055t is a better cpu, its not much of an upgrade. The extra 2 cores will help you with multitasking but not much difference in gaming compared to what you have now; I would recommend the 1075t or 1090t, those 2 would be more of an upgrade with more noticeable difference in gaming compared to 1055t.

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I build my computer around the time FFXIV is about to release so i don't have support for AMD3+ so i can get any CPU as long as it's AMD3 :(. Once i have enough money i will upgrade my mobo and my cpu but for now i just want something to last me longer.

From the benchmark i seen the 1055 and the 1075 are only 326 in score but i guess that don't matter to much. I guess i get myself a 660 video card and save enough to get myself a 1090T or just use that money to upgrade my mobo with a AMD3+ cpu i guess i also have to get myself DDR3 ram to go with it :)

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Originally Posted by Zenaku

I build my computer around the time FFXIV is about to release so i don't have support for AMD3+ so i can get any CPU as long as it's AMD3 :(. Once i have enough money i will upgrade my mobo and my cpu but for now i just want something to last me longer.

From the benchmark i seen the 1055 and the 1075 are only 326 in score but i guess that don't matter to much. I guess i get myself a 660 video card and save enough to get myself a 1090T or just use that money to upgrade my mobo with a AMD3+ cpu.

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If your really looking to upgrade, then go with the 660, and save up for an AM3+ mobo. Then save up for a FX-6300 or any of the FX-8000 series chips. The ASRock 970 EXTREME3 or EXTREME4 are some nice boards for value.

On the 965 BE, the CPU performance is good, the TDP isn't. It has a max specified temperature of 60°C and is running at 70+ with the boxed cooler once you put enough load on it (e.g. running 1.0). I had to buy a (large) aftermarket cooler to get it to barely under 60°C under load. High temps decrease component lifetime, and overclocking would push the temps even further. I don't think it's a good upgrade choice, better go for the X6 series because I heard the later models got the temps under control.

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Originally Posted by Shura

If your really looking to upgrade, then go with the 660, and save up for an AM3+ mobo. Then save up for a FX-6300 or any of the FX-8000 series chips.

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Agreed on this. Didn't notice he had a 925. Not worth upgrading from that to another AM3.

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

On the 965 BE, the CPU performance is good, the TDP isn't. It has a max specified temperature of 60°C and is running at 70+ with the boxed cooler once you put enough load on it (e.g. running 1.0). I had to buy a (large) aftermarket cooler to get it to barely under 60°C under load. High temps decrease component lifetime, and overclocking would push the temps even further. I don't think it's a good upgrade choice, better go for the X6 series because I heard the later models got the temps under control.

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My 965 BE runs at 45C under full load with a quite cheap Schythe cooler while overclocked at 3.8 ghz with the vcore upped at 1.5375V. On idle it sits cutely at 29.5C.

There's a reason why the 965BE is still one of the most loved processors between overclockers. It runs pretty cool and it's one of the most durable chips ever made by AMD.

If not overclocked it will run without a hitch for years even with the stock cooler, that, by the way, is *very* good.

I'm sorry, but your temperatures are way over spec, and you probably should have returned it as soon as you noticed they were that high.

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Originally Posted by Shura

If your really looking to upgrade, then go with the 660, and save up for an AM3+ mobo. Then save up for a FX-6300 or any of the FX-8000 series chips. The ASRock 970 EXTREME3 or EXTREME4 are some nice boards for value.

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Thanks for the help i'll do just that :) going to take me a while to get everything tho which sucks but w/e good upgrade.

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Originally Posted by Zenaku

Thanks for the help i'll do just that :) going to take me a while to get everything tho which sucks but w/e good upgrade.

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NP hit me up anytime if you need more advice.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

My 965 BE runs at 45C under full load with a quite cheap Schythe cooler while overclocked at 3.8 ghz with the vcore upped at 1.5375V. On idle it sits cutely at 29.5C.

There's a reason why the 965BE is still one of the most loved processors between overclockers. It runs pretty cool and it's one of the most durable chips ever made by AMD.

If not overclocked it will run without a hitch for years even with the stock cooler, that, by the way, is *very* good.

I'm sorry, but your temperatures are way over spec, and you probably should have returned it as soon as you noticed they were that high.

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When I first saw the temps, I searched the net and everyone was reporting similar temps. ~45°C idle, ~60°C full load. Searching now, the results are still the same.

Besides, if it was faulty, then I'd get errors on Prime95 or crashes. Here's an example 5m run with OCCT, could you maybe humor me and do the same? I'm using a scythe mugen2 btw.

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

When I first saw the temps, I searched the net and everyone was reporting similar temps. ~45°C idle, ~60°C full load. Searching now, the results are still the same.

Besides, if it was faulty, then I'd get errors on Prime95 or crashes. Here's an example 5m run with OCCT, could you maybe humor me and do the same? I'm using a scythe mugen2 btw.

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you talking about a box coolers which are always shit. My 925 is at 40-45c while on the internet and such. While playing game it max out at 52C which should be fine even if it's running a little hot.

but once i build a new pc i'm so getting a cooler and not using the one that come with it.

But i do agree that pretty high

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Originally Posted by Abriael

Wooo hyperbole. Completely untrue, there'll be a bit of bottlenecking, but not much at all considering that most games nowadays are GPU intensive and not CPU intensive. the $50 on a 6670 are just wasted money since she wants to upgrade her PC anyway afterwards, and having a good card already is a good base for it.

Buy 660 -> Buy rest = less money than Buy obsolete 6670 - > buy rest + new video card & throw obsolete 6670 into the recycle bin.

And she'll have much better performance from the get go instead of just a paltry upgrade until she updates the full system.

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Main reason for her to get the 6670 is due to her 400W PSU. A 660 is a much better card, but if her budget comes into play she would have to spend 150$ more on the 660, and buy a new PSU for about 100-150$ maybe more.

And from the looks of it, her PC looks like it is not a custom build, most likely a generic PC bought from the store, that being said her case must be very small, with low cooling, so I'm not even sure if she could fit a 660 into her current case. A 6670 is a pretty small card and should fit into most cases (best buy brand PC's).

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Originally Posted by AdorraEloom

Main reason for her to get the 6670 is due to her 400W PSU. A 660 is a much better card, but if her budget comes into play she would have to spend 150$ more on the 660, and buy a new PSU for about 100-150$ maybe more.

And from the looks of it, her PC looks like it is not a custom build, most likely a generic PC bought from the store, that being said her case must be very small, with low cooling, so I'm not even sure if she could fit a 660 into her current case. A 6670 is a pretty small card and should fit into most cases (best buy brand PC's).

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If you talking about wasting 150$ overall to buy a 660 and the PSU ok but if you talking about 150$ to buy a PSU o.o that little overkill on PSU but i thinking you talking about overall lol.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

The 7850 GPU is overally way weaker than the GTX 660 and doesn't have Physix. This is better value considering the rebate, and gigabyte is a way better and more reliable brand than sapphire. It also has it beat by a long shot in its cooling solution, which is crucial for a GPU, especially considering that her case isn't exactly a wind tunnel.

The 650 power source is way overkill for that kind of system. A 500 is enough.

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ever heard of planning ahead (in regards to the PSU)

Also i stuck to AMD because that is what is in his/her current system...

Fact is the whole system is pretty outdated and planning ahead should be in the OP's mind. While I agree that the 660 is a better choice (i have 2 of them, but evga > gigabyte ) I know how crucial cooling is for a gpu.

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Originally Posted by AdorraEloom

Main reason for her to get the 6670 is due to her 400W PSU. A 660 is a much better card, but if her budget comes into play she would have to spend 150$ more on the 660, and buy a new PSU for about 100-150$ maybe more.

And from the looks of it, her PC looks like it is not a custom build, most likely a generic PC bought from the store, that being said her case must be very small, with low cooling, so I'm not even sure if she could fit a 660 into her current case. A 6670 is a pretty small card and should fit into most cases (best buy brand PC's).

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1: she can get a Corsair 500 PSU which is plenty for any non SLI/crossfire system nowadays for $29 with the rebate, which I linked.
2: If you read my posts, I researched her PC rather throughly. It's a 16.89 inches case and Yes, it can fit a 660 (they aren't really big anyway, less than two inches of difference with the 6670) and considering that the 660 is VERY heat efficient (and the gigabyte one is one with the best heat dissipating solution out there between every card on the market), it's a much better solution than an old 6670 with it's obsolete heat dissipating solution.
For added safety all she has to do is to measure from the base of her current GPU at the back of the case and see if she has 10.3 inches of space to the HD bay, but it's almost impossible that she doesn't.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 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.

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Best damn comment I have seen all week. Very nicely put. Thank you Very Much.

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

When I first saw the temps, I searched the net and everyone was reporting similar temps. ~45°C idle, ~60°C full load. Searching now, the results are still the same.

Besides, if it was faulty, then I'd get errors on Prime95 or crashes. Here's an example 5m run with OCCT, could you maybe humor me and do the same? I'm using a scythe mugen2 btw.

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Stock multiplier and vCore.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8241/8...62198a35_o.jpg

Overclocked to 3.8 Ghz. vCore upped to 1.5375V. Today's the room heating is maxxed up, so it actually climbed to 50C tops, which is still WAY under what you report and entirely on the safe side.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8511/8...d9868fe2_o.jpg

Coincidentally, I have a scythe mugen 2 too. Faulty processors don't necessarily crash, some just heat up way too much. It may also be a case of badly applied thermal paste (or a very bad thermal paste I guess).

Mine is a custom rig from the case up...built about 2 years ago, with no changes since then. I'm thinking my best upgrade option would be a new vid card considering I'm on a budget atm..

System Overview:

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
System Manufacturer: MSI
Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 955 Processor (4 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4096MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

Display:

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Display Memory: 2287 MB
Dedicated Memory: 495 MB
Shared Memory: 1791 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: ViewSonic VA2431 Series
Native Mode: 1920 x 1080(p) (60.000Hz)
Output Type: HD15

Benchmark results

Medium Setting @1920x1080 Resolution:

Score:4202
Average Framerate:34.865
Performance:High

On High @1920x1080:

Score:2572
Average Framerate:20.906
Performance:Fairly High

High Settings @1920x1080 Overall Improved Graphics -OFF-: (Not sure what that does anyway...lol someone care to fill me in?)

Score:3476
Average Framerate:28.501
Performance:Fairly High

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RowanLauron

Mine is a custom rig from the case up...built about 2 years ago, with no changes since then. I'm thinking my best upgrade option would be a new vid card considering I'm on a budget atm..

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This card (gigabyte gtx 660 OC). Need nothing else.

By the way, it can be very easily bumped up to 1083/1148 mhz GPU clock and 6308 mhz Memory clock with a 110% power target using the provided software if you want a little extra boost (do it at your own risk, not that there's any, but I have to say it).

PS: Whoever advised for a GeForce GTS 250 two years ago needs hanged.