GPU recommendation?

[Jimbo89]

Hi all,

After a very long absence from PC gaming, i am looking to get back into it for a select few games such as DayZ and some strategy games.

The system i have is not upto much by todays standards but i am hoping it will do a decent job, if the bug bites again then i will invest in a more upto date machine.

Spec wise its running...

Intel C2D E7300 O/C To 3.0GHz
Asus P5QEM Mobo
EZCool PSU
4GB OCZ Reaper memory (Have another 4GB to go in)
No GPU

I was thinking an Nvidia GTX650 or GTX660 but i am not sure they will have enough grunt to run at 1920x1080p.

I am reluctant to spend more at the moment so i am open to suggestions.

Thanks!

 

[Jimbo89]

Anyone?

Thanks

 

[Jimbo89]

Under £200 if possible.

 

[Jimbo89]

Sell the included free games (Crysis 3, Bioshock and farcry 3 blood dragon) and you will pick up this card up for under £200. Nothing else, no matter which brand, will get any where near it on price vs performance.

Thank you, i've been reading up on Dayz/Arma 2 and i've heard that it practically runs off of the CPU, is this true? If so my system is probably going to bottleneck any potentially good gains i get from this card.

Not sure if the standalone will address these issues.

I wouldn't go any higher than a 7850 or a 660 and they will be quite heavily bottlenecked in modern games to be honest. Maybe a second hand 6950 or 560Ti would suffice and could save you a few quid.

Yeah this was my thinking, its not the money as such, its just i am reluctant to spend more. I've been a console whore for 5 years

 

[Jimbo89]

The only problem upgrading the CPU, is that there isn't anything i can really go to, its a socket 775 mobo, i mean would an O/C Q6600 be any better as i have one lying around somewhere?

I am guessing not as the architecture has completely changed as you would expect...Looks like a new build is the only way forward.

 

[Jimbo89]

The thing is, i only really want to play a few games on the PC. The main one is DayZ and i would like to play a few strategy games such as Company of Heroes, which plays at max on my Laptop (HP DV6) but its a Laptop and its not built ergonomically for gaming.

I am not really interested in playing the graphical powerhouses such as Crysis, Battlefield, Far Cry etc

I would also like to play the Stalker games again which are quite dated now. Decisions decisions

 

[Jimbo89]

I think what i'll do now is bring the E7300 upto 3.4 and go for a 560ti second hand and see what happens.

If it can't run what i want well enough then at least i will know for sure without having put too much of a dent in the wallet, and i can at least carry the 560ti over to a new build with a better CPU.

 

[Jimbo89]

I have a Q6600 sitting somewhere which i'll dig out, and there is currently a decent Zalman sitting on the E7300 so i should be able to get the Q6600 to at least 3.0GHz.

Wish i still had my Reserator.

 

[Jimbo89]

Thanks for the advice buddy (And everyone else) I'll be ordering the bits i need over the next week or so and i'll update the thread with the results.

Would you still recommend the 7850? I used to be a mega Nvidia fanboy so i am still dubious about moving to ATi. Even though they were the best bang for buck cards yonks ago.

Cheers