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GPU upgrade

snowdog

snowdog

snowdog

Soldato
Joined
27 Oct 2005
Posts
13,812
Location
Netherlands
Hello,



I would like to upgrade my gpu in not too long, say within 3 months...
atm I have a 8800GTS512, I thought of going 48701gb but now I'm thinking I need to look elsewhere.

I always thought the card would be a massive upgrade but according to reviews it's barely 20% faster on average, that is not a worthy change imo. A 20% fps increase would definitely not get the fps I want in games. Also in some games and at lower res I would even be going backwards in performance ( for example at 1280 res the card is not faster at all than mine on average and it varies per game which is faster ( for example in assasins creed my 8800 is faster), and games like gta iv, et:qw, FSX run poorer on the 4870 card)...

I want a proper upgrade, ESPECIALLY for gta iv. I don't want to be going backwards in any game and I want a noticeable boost, that means at least 50% boost and not a puny 20% which will not be noticeable realistically.

Will be coupled with a C2Q @ 3.2 ghz ( with headroom for oc-ing still I only picked that OC as it first sprang to mind and let my ram run at exactly native speeds, it's a Q6700 G0 revision so it should do 3.6 or 3.8 with good cooling...) and 6GB running at 400mhz/800effective 4-4-4-12. I play at 1920x1080 and I want to run 8x CSAA but 2x msaa is a MUST. Also I want to be able to run transparency multisampling in games like Bioshock and Fallout 3 but as it is atm in Bioshock my fps drop to 25 ish with transparency multisampling and in fallout 3 I also get drops to 25, at 1280x1024 it always used to be fine but at 1920x1080 my card doesn't have enough juice to pull off transparency aa like I want. And in GTA: SA I caný use supersampling anymore without the game being a slideshow, it used to be fine with 16QCSAA and transparency supersampling at 1280x1024, now it isn't at 1920x0180...
Finally, I would like to be able to play supreme commander forged alliance at 3200x1080, atm it runs fine at 1920x1080 but when enabling my 2nd monitor my fps are only 20-25 :(.

So, is the gtx 265 a fair upgrade? Or the GTX 280? Or do I need to wait till new actually decent cards come out, because frankly, an upgrade that gives below 50% boost is not an upgrade imo. From what I'm looking at in reviews, the 4870 is not a good upgrade from an 8800GTS 512. My budget is increasing, meaning I can add 150€ or so to the budget every month so I can get any card I want realistically. Oh and finally: Avoid dual gpu cards, I don't want to upgrade my psu.
 
Yup, right now there isn't anything available that will provide a significant boost over your current GPU, other than dual GPU cards, which are significantly faster and would provide the performance you're looking for.

If you're set on no new PSU and a single GPU card, you'd be best of waiting for the next-gen releases, but the timescale on those is unpredictable at the moment, although they should be out by the end of the year.
 
Hmmm :(.

What kind of psu would I need for a dual gpu card that provides a noticeable boost for me ?

Would this do for most dual gpu cards, it's my current psu :
550w_output.jpg

It has 2 native pci-e plugs...
 
Well it looks like the GTX285 is your only choice for a single card. You say you've looked at benchmarks already for the 4870. So it can't be that hard to look for youself at benchmarks for the GTX285.

Expecting a 50% increase in frame rates across the board might be a little optimistic, especially given your cpu isn't an i7 or running at stupid fast 4Ghz+ speeds.

I would beg to differ on your assumption that your Q6700 is good for 3.6-3.8Ghz. That is by no means a given on good cooling. Most of them on "good cooling" top out at 3.4Ghz. Some go to 3.6-3.8Ghz but it is less than 50% for sure.

Also, a little please and thank you at the end of your post wouldn't have hurt.:p
 
snowdog said:
Well since my last upgrade was a 400%+ boost I think 50% is a low condition. I don't think I'm cpu limited, the stock 2.66 and 3.2 ghz oc barely differ in performance, in fact except in GTA IV it's unnoticeable in reality.

The gtx285 isn't on the gfx charts yet on tomsh...
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/chart...8/Sum-of-FPS-Benchmarks-1920x1200-AA,801.html


Thanks for replying though.
Click to expand...

I can relate to your situation. I'm in a similar one currently on an 8800GTX but it can't cut it for most games with 4xAA at 1920x1200. I desperately need the 4xAA as I have a 28 inch monitor but the res is only 1920x1200 so things look quite jaggy without it.

It's a tough one, I also don't want to touch SLI on a stick POS cards (just my opinion) I wouldn't waste £400+ on a duffer like that personally.

Your only option if you don't want to go SLI\Single card with 2GPUs is the GTX285 though.

I'm not exactly thrilled with it's performance and I have doubts that it can handle ALL games at the settings above without dropping below 30fps in heavy action...

Just the way it goes, I asked a similar question to yours a few days ago and the response was basically implying that your only choice is the GTX285 and new cards are a good 6 months off (new cards that are high end at least).

Hope that helps explain things...

Shame really :(
 
I dont agree with the reviews you've read Im afraid. My experience doing exactly what you mention except to a 512 netted average gains of about a third at 1920x1200, and Id expect the 1GB version to be better. Crysis was the least affected going from approx 25 to 35 fps, other games like conan and vegas2 were much more responsive (Crysis dragging the average down again) , and AA took less of a hit to enable. In light of this, one of the forthcoming 4890 or a gtx285 may be just what you want.

Im not sure how much this has changed with drivers but both sides have made tweaks since then.
 
I went from the 8800GTS to HD 4870 and it rocks :D, especially at higher resses, when playing Crysis I still feel that it is a Nvidia bias game however so I wouldnt base impressions on that game, something like ETW and CoH were a superb boost though.
 
CoH already runs at the settings I want though :p.
Crysis doesn't really interest me, although enjoyable once in a while it's nothing special imo.

I have upgraded to a 24'' monitor you see a while ago, while my gpu has coped quite well in a lot of games, It couldn't handle transparency AA any more in a lot of games and had to drop AA levels from 16x to 8x in others.

I want boost in the following games:

Fallout 3 ( want more AA, game dies ( framedrops when turning around) since monitor upgrade with transparency AA).
Bioshock ( want more AA, FPS very low ( 25 ish) since monitor upgrade with transparency AA).
Flatout: Ultimate Carnage ( drops to 25 fps with lots of smoke and cars in sight at some tracks).
GTA IV ( Used to run superbly at 1280x1024 with 40-60 fps at all times, fps died to 20-40 when I upped my res to 1920...)
Far Cry 2: Performance dropped a little bit too much when I upgraded my monitor, but this is luckily no biggie, it still manages 30+ fps at all times but I'd like a tad more, eg. 35/40+ fps at all times.
Mirrors Edge: Used to have solid 60 fps, not I get drops to 30 ish at places at 1920x1080.
Assasins Creed: Runs fine actually, 30-40 fps doesn't feel slow in that game, but it's at it's limits and I'm only using 2x AA.

I'd like those games to be fixed mostly, main problem is gta iv which is obviously biased to Nvidia cards.

thanks for the replies though, seems we need to bug amd and nv to get some decent cards out asap.
 
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I wouldn't base any opinions from Tom's they're rubbish. Check out the GPU charts they have 8800 Ultras SLI out scoring 280GTXs SLI :rolleyes:

I would suggest either getting another 8800GTS for SLI, or trying to track down a cheap GTX280.
 
They use old drivers...

And they have FSX in the list which is known to run poor on many cards.
Not too sure bout the results with CoD4 though.


I can't do sli on my mainboard unless you show me a hacked bios to do it.
Also I heard you can't use dual monitors with sli? Or is that fixed, I use 2 at all times and sometimes a 3rd ( tv).
 
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Sorry didn't realise it was a 16x & 4x mobo.

Well you say you have a high budget so why not just get a GTX280/GTX285, as they are about the only cards that'll give you the boost you're looking for.
 
300 quid is like 350 euros ? That's not too much tbh, I payed 330€ for my 8800GTS 512 at release... I'm wary of 2nd hand newish cards, last time I bought an 8800GT when it was reasonably new it was dud and caused BSOD's and black & red squares all over the screen in all games within 10 minutes.
 
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