graphics card/processor help!

[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.

[ispano]

Man, that's kind of awesome and not at the same time. I had planned to swap out the 5970s in my beast to 6990s, but then I lost my job. Looking now like it will be the 7xxx version of the dual GPU card that goes in this thing.

[ispano]

Wait.... some people must have some really poor settings or staring at some walls when they get these 60 fps claims. I've run the game on a Phenom II 940+ATI 5970 @ 1680x1060, i7 980X+2x nVidia GTX480M @ 1920x1080 and 2x Xeon X5680+2x AMD 5970 @ 1920x1200 and 2560x1600, I think the only time I could get stable 60.... was never. It would always dip at some point. And Sandy Bridge will have a performance boost over any of those listed.

[Zorlin]

Wait.... some people must have some really poor settings or staring at some walls when they get these 60 fps claims. I've run the game on a Phenom II 940+ATI 5970 @ 1680x1060, i7 980X+2x nVidia GTX480M @ 1920x1080 and 2x Xeon X5680+2x AMD 5970 @ 1920x1200 and 2560x1600, I think the only time I could get stable 60.... was never. It would always dip at some point. And Sandy Bridge will have a performance boost over any of those listed.

couldnt agree more.

[Aenarion]

Wait.... some people must have some really poor settings or staring at some walls when they get these 60 fps claims. I've run the game on a Phenom II 940+ATI 5970 @ 1680x1060, i7 980X+2x nVidia GTX480M @ 1920x1080 and 2x Xeon X5680+2x AMD 5970 @ 1920x1200 and 2560x1600, I think the only time I could get stable 60.... was never. It would always dip at some point. And Sandy Bridge will have a performance boost over any of those listed.

eh, I pretty much get stable 60fps everywhere except in the cities(namely uldah), where I would go between 45-55 for the most part.

this is on a i7 920@4.0ghz w/ gtx580 @ 1920x1200, windowed, 8x csaa, general draw @ 8, background @ 5, shadow on high, texture on high, tex. filter on highest, no AO/DoF as I dislike those effects.

[Vanguard319]

I woul suggest checking for driver updates if you haven't already. That can help improve your gpu's performance.

[Zorlin]

No release date yet but its already in the works, they mentioned Q4 2011(fiscal year).

[ispano]

Stable 60 fps means stable 60 fps everywhere. The chokehold in cities is the CPU. Almost all MMOs have the same issue. When I OC those Xeons from 3.33Ghz to 4.3Ghz(high as they'll go :/) my min fps goes up. But a Sandy Bridge chip can easily out do them.