graphics card/processor help!

[neorei]

another questions!!! what is the difference between GDDR3 and GDDR5?

[nasomi]

the same difference between ddr1, ddr2, ddr3 memory in your computer. one is faster than the other.

[Lucifer]

This game is NOT heavily relying on the processor and AMD is fine. Especially a highend quadcore.

And I don't recommend a HD6850 as it is far inferior to the HD6950 :P

Sorry but you're wrong.
Phenom 2 is garbage compared to the i5.
I upgraded not too long ago myself and now I can safely say that the i5 2500 is a monster.

[Zorlin]

Atm there really is no question sandy bridge trounces amd even the new bulldozers get easily pwn. But for gaming phenoms are just fine. My brother has a phenom X4 965 we both do alot of video editing you have no idea how fast the 2600k is against his phenom specialy if you OC. Sometimes he even asks me to render video for him so it doesnt take all day. The 2500k are just like the 2600k without HT, actualy its easier to get higher OCs on the 2500k since HT is vcore hungry i always end up disabling it to achieve max OC.

[neorei]

oh so DDR = the ram of a cpU?

[Zorlin]

DDR is RAM memory so is GDDR but GDDR was built for graphic cards and its alot faster. DDR is also used in graphic cards but thesedays only budget cards have DDR memory on the otherside CPU's can only use DDR not GDDR.

For current generation cards the best ram is GDDR5 so if yr looking for one get one that has this.

[neorei]

DDR is RAM memory so is GDDR but GDDR was built for graphic cards and its alot faster. DDR is also used in graphic cards but thesedays only budget cards have DDR memory on the otherside CPU's can only use DDR not GDDR.

For current generation cards the best ram is GDDR5 so if yr looking for one get one that has this.

I understand now, thank you very much for the information.

[Bahn]

To the OP -

You can see why looking for advice on the Internet about computer parts can be a pain. People mostly speak from personal experiences with the setup they have because most of us aren't rich enough to have multiple setups. For example, my current setup is an i7 965 Nehalem (one I was lucky enough to get used!) with an EVGA GTX 460. Clocks are 800/1600/1850 (Core, Shader, Memory) with 1050 mV core voltage. I cannot get this game to run at a fluid 60 FPS in 1280 x 720 windowed mode. Gen Drawing Quality 8, Background Drawing Quality 3, Highest Shadow Detail, no AA. AO off, Depth of Field off, Standard Texture and Filtering Quality.

From your budget of $500, I think you have two options, as I think running a dual SLI GTX 580 setup is overkill for this game - that's already $1000 which I think is absolutely insane unless you're going to use that setup for some other crazy combo like running a game at 2560 x 1440p with everything maxed out. You can either go the single GTX 580 setup, which will probably allow you to run this game at 60 FPS if you turn down a few options, or a dual GTX 560 Ti setup if there's room on your motherboard for it. I've heard Fermi-based cards scale well (meaning if you run the thing in SLI, the second card will actually be able utilized correctly). Both will cost you about $500. A single GTX 560 Ti will be sufficient for most other games but if you really want to run this game at max settings, I think that's the route you should take.

If you only run in windowed mode like me, you'll have to go the single GPU route, as Crossfire and SLI do not work in windowed mode.

[neorei]

To the OP -

You can see why looking for advice on the Internet about computer parts can be a pain. People mostly speak from personal experiences with the setup they have because most of us aren't rich enough to have multiple setups. For example, my current setup is an i7 965 Nehalem (one I was lucky enough to get used!) with an EVGA GTX 460. Clocks are 800/1600/1850 (Core, Shader, Memory) with 1050 mV core voltage. I cannot get this game to run at a fluid 60 FPS in 1280 x 720 windowed mode. Gen Drawing Quality 8, Background Drawing Quality 3, Highest Shadow Detail, no AA. AO off, Depth of Field off, Standard Texture and Filtering Quality.

From your budget of $500, I think you have two options, as I think running a dual SLI GTX 580 setup is overkill for this game - that's already $1000 which I think is absolutely insane unless you're going to use that setup for some other crazy combo like running a game at 2560 x 1440p with everything maxed out. You can either go the single GTX 580 setup, which will probably allow you to run this game at 60 FPS if you turn down a few options, or a dual GTX 560 Ti setup if there's room on your motherboard for it. I've heard Fermi-based cards scale well (meaning if you run the thing in SLI, the second card will actually be able utilized correctly). Both will cost you about $500. A single GTX 560 Ti will be sufficient for most other games but if you really want to run this game at max settings, I think that's the route you should take.

If you only run in windowed mode like me, you'll have to go the single GPU route, as Crossfire and SLI do not work in windowed mode.

yes actually this honestly helping me out seeing other point of view on how the they set up their computers. But yes I may go for a GTX580 right now, i'm still looking at a radeon because I have never played with a radeon, so that is still an option, but when it comes to overclocking and understanding how CPU optimization help me play this game better.


I really do want to push for 60 FPS at least on high. so seeing people set up is helping me understand my own setup.

[Davern]

It really boils down to what's your budget? Keep in mind that after 2.0 it won't take as much to max the game @60fps.