Advice on Graphics Cards

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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.

Quote:

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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

Quote:

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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.

Quote:

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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.

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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.

Quote:

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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.