Dell XPS 720 for BF3, what card?

TrevS · 22 May 2012 at 22:26

Hi all

I've had my Dell XPS 720 with a Nvidia 8800GTX for a good few years now and it recently decided to die playing BF3. I think it was a little too much for the old card.

So I need a new card and really it's just for BF3 as that's the only PC game I play a lot of. I've read on a few places that BF3 needs quite a lot of VRAM and also I want to future proof the system as I will be upgrading my monitor to probably a 24" running 1920x1200 or 27" running 2560x1440.

I don't want to spend a fortune on a new card and have budgeted around £200-250. The card I been looking at mostly is the Asus GTX560ti 900mhz TOP II 2gb card as it's got plenty of VRAM.

This will work with my system fine currently as I only run 1280x1024 resolution but not sure if it would be underpowered for running higher resolutions in future. The other card I looked at was a Gainward GTX 580 Good edition 1536mb which has less RAM but is a newer series card so I thought it might be a faster card.

Could someone recommend either one of these or suggest some better alternatives in my price range? Any help would be much appreciated

Trev

TrevS · 22 May 2012 at 22:27

Also the specs for my PC are as follows. Really I don't want to have to spend loads of money upgrading other parts of the computer if I don't need to

Dell XPS 720
Intel Core2 Quad CPU @ 2.66GHz
5.5gb Ram
Windows 64bit ultimate

Trev

Cleeecooo · 22 May 2012 at 22:35

GPU power is more important than VRAM.

For example, a GTX 680 with 2gb VRAm is still better than a GTX 580 with 3GB

You will not run into serious VRAM limitations unless you have 3 or more GTX 680's or similar.

May I have the specs of your PSU please?

Gregster · 22 May 2012 at 22:35

The hardest part for you is bottlenecking. A 560ti will be fine though but ultra will prove too much for it.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
Total : £210.79 (includes shipping : £9.00).

or for future proofing a little more (needs an K processor to get the full benefit)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
Total : £210.79 (includes shipping : £9.00).

You can OC your Quad quite easily with a good heatsink. This will give your new GPU a good boost

Also what PSU make and model bud please.

TrevS · 22 May 2012 at 22:44

It should be the standard PSU which is a Dell PM480. It's a 1000kw supply

Trev

Cleeecooo · 22 May 2012 at 22:51

1000KW?!

That's 1 million watts!!!

My card choice will be an MSI 7850 twin frozr II for £216

Gregster · 22 May 2012 at 23:09

Cleeecooo said:
1000KW?!

That's 1 million watts!!!

My card choice will be an MSI 7850 twin frozr II for £216

I would go with this, just for the warranty

and man, that is one powerfull PSU

TrevS · 22 May 2012 at 23:23

Sorry guys I must be a bit tired I meant 1000w

Cleeecooo do you mean the Frozr III not II? I could only see this one on
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-154-MS

Also my motherboard is SLI compatible so would the Asus GTX560ti TOP 2gb be better to allow SLI in the future and how would this compare with the Frozr III?

If I did want reduce any chance of bottlenecking would I just need to upgrade the CPU and could this be done on my XPS720 without changing loads of components? Changing a CPU isn't something I've ever done.

Trev

Gregster · 22 May 2012 at 23:25

To upgrade the CPU would require a new MOBO sadly

No point in SLI being honest Trev.

Cleeecooo · 22 May 2012 at 23:26

That's the card, my bad.

Does your mobo allow crossfire?

To chane the CPU you new to replace the mobo with one compatible with the socket of the CPU.

whether it'll fit into the sell case is something else.

BTW, have you checked the 7850 will fit into the dell case?

muon · 22 May 2012 at 23:28

I'm guessing you have a Q9450 and the XPS system will come with a bios which won't allow overclocking.

There's no real value in trying to drop in a Q9650 unless you can make the upgrade for £20-£30.

Until you want a system overhaul, it's best to just buy a HD 6850 in my opinion. Will be about equal to your 8800GTX.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-163-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866

When you want to power a 2560x1440 system, you can consider your options then.

edit:

actually Q6700/QX6700 is more likely to be in your system, again no real viable upgrade path

TrevS · 22 May 2012 at 23:32

Cleeecooo said:
That's the card, my bad.

Does your mobo allow crossfire?

To chane the CPU you new to replace the mobo with one compatible with the socket of the CPU.

whether it'll fit into the sell case is something else.

BTW, have you checked the 7850 will fit into the dell case?

The 7850 should fit fine. For some reason Dell added a bracket to the back of the 8800GTX that came with the machine to help support it in the case. It makes the card about 35cm long

Cleeecooo · 22 May 2012 at 23:33

TrevS said:
It should be the standard PSU which is a Dell PM480. It's a 1000kw supply

Trev

TrevS said:
The 7850 should fit fine. For some reason Dell added a bracket to the back of the 8800GTX that came with the machine to help support it in the case. It makes the card about 35cm long

Same with my 420. Have no idea why lol

TrevS · 22 May 2012 at 23:40

So what do we think Frozr III 7850 or Asus GTX 560ti TOP?

They both are 2gib cards with same 900mhz clock speed. I can get the Asus for £179.99 on **** or the Frozr III for £215.99 on overclockers

muon · 22 May 2012 at 23:43

TrevS said:
So what do we think Frozr III 7850 or Asus GTX 560ti TOP?

They both are 2gib cards with same 900mhz clock speed. I can get the Asus for £179.99 on **** or the Frozr III for £215.99 on overclockers

7850 is a bit better than a 560Ti, so up to you.

Why not go for the HIS 7850 IceQ or the Sapphire above?

TrevS · 22 May 2012 at 23:48

anyon said:
7850 is a bit better than a 560Ti, so up to you.

Why not go for the HIS 7850 IceQ or the Sapphire above?

Am I right in thinking that those 2 cards have a slightly slower clock speed? Also someone mentioned that the Frozr III might be worth getting for the warranty.

muon · 22 May 2012 at 23:50

TrevS said:
Am I right in thinking that those 2 cards have a slightly slower clock speed? Also someone mentioned that the Frozr III might be worth getting for the warranty.

Yes about 40mhz lower. The MSI does seem to have an additional year of warranty.

The clock difference shouldn't be a problem as you will likely overclock them anyway?

TrevS · 22 May 2012 at 23:52

OK cool, warming to the the 7850, always been an Nvidia man so maybe time for a change. Last point with the 7850 vs 560ti is that I just saw these benchmarks on comparison review. Seems the 560ti is slightly ahead and remember its £40 cheaper

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1437/pg5/sapphire-radeon-hd-7850-overclock-edition-graphics-card-review-battlefield-3.html

Trev

muon · 22 May 2012 at 23:56

TrevS said:
OK cool, warming to the the 7850, always been an Nvidia man so maybe time for a change. Last point with the 7850 vs 560ti is that I just saw these benchmarks on comparison review. Seems the 560ti is slightly ahead and remember its £40 cheaper

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1437/pg5/sapphire-radeon-hd-7850-overclock-edition-graphics-card-review-battlefield-3.html

Trev

The 560 Ti 448 card is better. It's possible the 560Ti is better in BF3. Not sure which they are using.

edit:

I think they are using the 384 shader card and so yes the 560Ti is better in BF3.

edit2:

But then I see something like this.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7850_HD_7870/8.html

TrevS · 23 May 2012 at 07:21

anyon said:
The 560 Ti 448 card is better. It's possible the 560Ti is better in BF3. Not sure which they are using.

edit:

I think they are using the 384 shader card and so yes the 560Ti is better in BF3.

edit2:

But then I see something like this.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7850_HD_7870/8.html

Some interesting stats its a shame they didn't use a 2gb 560ti as the one they used is only a 1gb card. Would have been a better comparison.