Graphic card update

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » March 26th, 2011, 14:29

I want more FPS with my games, especially in preparation for Beef3. I think the rest of my setup is fine, i7 910 CPU and 6GB DDR3, but wondering whether a new gfx card will make a significant difference. Currently I have one of these: BFG GeForce GTX 275 OC 896MB

I'm looking at something in the GTX 4xx or 5xx range and want to spend below £200. Any ideas what'd be good and if it's actually worth it?

(I'm getting a bonus at the end of the month and I don't even work in banking!)

Thompy · Post by **Thompy** » March 26th, 2011, 14:35

I did a bit of research on this just this week actually and I got settled on a GTX 560 ti 1GB

I'm no expert, but I know how to scour the web for every review and comment to make an informed decision (I hope).

I also decided EVGA would be the best make to go for with thei upgrade program, but the only place I could find it was Scan. I don't like Scan.

I then decided I can't afford it

Oh and as for if it's worth it, see above no expert comment. I'd imagine DX11 is though?

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » March 26th, 2011, 14:41

Yeah I've just been looking at the 560Tis. They're around the not outrageously expensive £200 mark. Lots of people seem to have the 460, which seem cost-effective, but I don't know whether it'd be a worth while update from what I have now.

Perhaps a 480 at £200 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... ubcat=1750

Thompy · Post by **Thompy** » March 26th, 2011, 14:55

I guess my informed decision broke down when I chose to just focus on the latest generations. Guess that comes off the back of buying the most basic i7 when it was just as good as the hyper-expensive Core 2 ones.

Anyway, having looked at the 480, the low power draw and cool/quiet reference cooler on the 560 is still appealing. I'm not a performance freak, so as long as it can handle the latest stuff and will last for a few years it's fine.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » March 26th, 2011, 15:09

I'd suggest having a good nose around hardocp and suchlike, that'll give you an idea of best bang:buck.

I don't bother keeping up to date right now, the 4870x2 in the gonk handles everything I chuck at it currently.

Post by **deject** » March 26th, 2011, 21:17

The 460 1GB is what I have and it's not bad, but I'd second the 560 TI if you can. It's about the best sweet spot card out there at the moment.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » March 27th, 2011, 10:26

To be sensible I'll wait until I need the extra power I think. Just before BF3 comes out. Hopefully the 560 (or maybe even the 570) would have come down in price by then.

I was also reading about using an older gfx card as a dedicated PhysX card, although it doesn't sound like it's worth doing. There's few games that make proper use of Physx so it's not worth the bother.

Akiakaiu · Post by **Akiakaiu** » April 27th, 2011, 19:38

Here's a question, if your motherboard runs the pci slot at 16x but only 8x in sli, would that still be 8x if you were just using the 2nd as a dedicated PhysX card? Just ordered a new card and was thinking about slapping my 9800 in for that since I have it.

Thompy · Post by **Thompy** » April 27th, 2011, 20:45

Akiakaiu wrote:Here's a question, if your motherboard runs the pci slot at 16x but only 8x in sli, would that still be 8x if you were just using the 2nd as a dedicated PhysX card? Just ordered a new card and was thinking about slapping my 9800 in for that since I have it.

I hope I'm understanding the question right here but - it'll only go down to 8x on both in SLI mode so no, you will still get the independent speeds i.e. 16x for the new card + whatever the other slot operates at for the old one for physx.

Post by **deject** » April 27th, 2011, 21:12

Akiakaiu wrote:Here's a question, if your motherboard runs the pci slot at 16x but only 8x in sli, would that still be 8x if you were just using the 2nd as a dedicated PhysX card? Just ordered a new card and was thinking about slapping my 9800 in for that since I have it.

I think that depends on the motherboard. I doubt you need the full x8 bandwidth for PhysX, so you'd probably be better off with the x16 for the GPU and the x4 (typically, could also be x1)

Akiakaiu · Post by **Akiakaiu** » April 27th, 2011, 21:32

WereRabbit wrote:
I hope I'm understanding the question right here but - it'll only go down to 8x on both in SLI mode so no, you will still get the independent speeds i.e. 16x for the new card + whatever the other slot operates at for the old one for physx.

Yeah you got it right, that's what I was asking and I kinda thought. I'll have to poke about a bit to see if I can set it or if it goes "hey he's got a card in each slot" and automatically sets them both to 8x. Never really mucked about in dual video card land.

Post by **FatherJack** » April 30th, 2011, 0:48

I was worried my factory-OC GTX280 was going this week and looked at alternatives, but it turned out to be a power issue and swapping some cables around has fixed it for now. It's been great and copes with everything I chuck at it, so the exercise was only academic for finding out what would be roughly equivalent, albeit at half the price I paid for the card at the time.

I decided that a high-end GTX480 worked out better than a low-end GTX560, the x8- being part of the premium range on release with the x6- usually being a tuned-down cousin. Anything less than £200 didn't even compete with my current card, so I'd question whether an upgrade from a GTX275 at that price level was even worth it at all.

~£400 spent on a GTX580 would give you something that would piss all over everything for a couple of years, and cope admirably for several years after that, but you're better off "coping" with the solid card you have and getting that 580 for 200 notes in a year or two.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » April 30th, 2011, 10:02

That makes sense, thanks for that. I think it was DA2 that got me thinking about this, but I think the inconsistent FPS is the games fault, not my hardware. Most other games are fine with high-ish settings, that one chugs along whatever settings I use.