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I think I may need a new graphics card

Secret_Window

Secret_Window

Secret_Window

Soldato
Joined
10 Aug 2006
Posts
5,207
Hi all,

Basically at the moment my 8800 GTS 512mb is really causing me a lot of aggro and it's mainly in games like Crysis/Crysis Warhead and Left 4 Dead 2.

The problem is my graphics card will not play at any decent graphical setting without giving me ridiculously low fps that severely interferes with being able to play the game properly. For example I can't have the resolution on anything like 1680x1050 (my native res) in Crysis otherwise the fps dips to like 12 and I can barely move the mouse in intense action. I have tried lowering the graphical settings too but it ends up looking like !@&£$!! which defeats the point of playing a game like Crysis. I'm having the exact same issues in Left 4 Dead 2 (but with dips to 25ish fps) which is odd because it plays the first game fine (but I am aware there have been some new minor graphical enhancements in this new game). For the record I'm not getting any other FPS issues in many other games like TF2 (I can play everything on high), COD MW2, etc.

I have noticed that my graphics card sounds (even with the fan speed set to 70-100%) as though it is really struggling in the games previously mentioned when it gets intense. I've checked the temps and it's reaching around 77C to 93C. I'm not sure if this is enough to be classed as overheating as I've had graphics cards in the past hit 70 odd with no problems before. I also cleaned the graphics card fan out and made sure there was no more dirt and junk in there, so I don't think that's a problem.

I'm using the Nvidia 195.55 beta drivers because in Left 4 Dead 2 I was getting crazy amounts of stuttering with and without the multicore option.

I think it's more than anything a likely sign my computer is showing its age. I just find it a bit odd people with 8800/9600 GT's don't have as much problems in these games as me.

So I'm thinking I need to get a card that's gonna give me a bit of a boost in these games because I can barely play them properly. I don't want to be spending a fortune because I don't have that much money to throw at a graphics card but my maximum budget is £130.

I've been looking at in particular the ATI 4870, 4890 and the new 5770. From what I could see from some of the benchmarks the 4890 seemed to the best in giving good results from all games. The 5770 is nice with the dx11 future proofing but I'm not sure if it's ideal in giving me the performance I need for the games I'm playing right now.

So I need some advice as I know you guys in this forum will be able to direct to the right path into getting my games playable again. :p

Thanks
 
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Tbh I think you know enough to choose the card yourself ;)

You seem to be after a card for out and out performance for ~<£130, so your choice is between the 4890 and GTX 260.
 
I've got a 4870 and am pleased with the performance at 1920 x 1200. Seems to handle most games well. But you can get a 4890 for a little extra. Depends exactly how much you want to spend really.
 
Owenb said:
Tbh I think you know enough to choose the card yourself ;)

You seem to be after a card for out and out performance for ~<£130, so your choice is between the 4890 and GTX 260.
Click to expand...

lol! well I know there is very knowledgeable people here, much more than me so I'd thought I'd just check with their opinion first. ;)

I checked out the GTX 260 and although I am always inclined to go the Nvidia route, I didn't think the performance it produced along with it's price tag made sense in comparison to ATI's offerings.

Phill4321 said:
I've got a 4870 and am pleased with the performance at 1920 x 1200. Seems to handle most games well. But you can get a 4890 for a little extra. Depends exactly how much you want to spend really.
Click to expand...

Yeah the 4870 looks like a lovely card and it's pretty cheap, but as you said the 4890 offers a little extra for a little bit more in price. So I may go with that but I'm still not sure if I should get that or go with something more future proof like the 5770.

Phill4321 said:
Actually, scrap what i said above. You can get a 4890 for £119 on this site, and a 4870 still costs £113.
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Yeah I saw that, which was one of the reasons why at the moment it seems the best for the money. The 5770 has a much lower power consumption (which would be more beneficial for my PSU) and has dx11 for future games. However the performance at times is below the 4870 in some of the charts which isn't really ideal.

I suppose I could always get the best card for my money now and worry about Direct X 11 later on but I'm still not sure. I need to hear some more opinions.
 
If crossfire is an option on your motherboard, you could buy one 5770 now and a second later, otherwise the £119 4890 is still a fantastic card for the price.
 
93c does sound pretty hot for that card, i have exactly the same and it never goes above 80c, but idles around 65c.

Whats the ventilation like on ur case?
 
4800s and GTX200s are old tech, not worth investing in them at the moment.

I'd recommend that you get a 5770.
 
bhavv said:
If crossfire is an option on your motherboard, you could buy one 5770 now and a second later, otherwise the £119 4890 is still a fantastic card for the price.
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Nah I can't unfortunately my motherboard's other PCIE slot is 4x speed only.

kylew said:
4800s and GTX200s are old tech, not worth investing in them at the moment.

I'd recommend that you get a 5770.
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See, I agree but the performance of it isn't all that great when compared to a 4870. So essentially all I'm doing is paying for the future proofing of DX11 games but not getting the performance increase that I desire for the games I'm playing right now. However, the opportunity of being future proof is really appealing to me still.

If there is some chart that could show me I'm wrong about the 5770 performance in the games I play when compared to the 4870, I'm SOLD! But until then, I'm gonna have to keep weighing it up.

sturmtruppe said:
93c does sound pretty hot for that card, i have exactly the same and it never goes above 80c, but idles around 65c.

Whats the ventilation like on ur case?
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My case ventilation is very good at the moment. I've just spent a fortune on new fans and ventilation and my CPU temp is something like 36C while overclocked and only 47 to 55ish on load. I think my card might just be getting worn out I'm not sure. I think it's time for something new now anyway.
 
Secret_Window said:
Nah I can't unfortunately my motherboard's other PCIE slot is 4x speed only.
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If you've got a PCI-E 2.0 board, a 4x slot won't be much of a performance hit for crossfire.

I see what you mean performance wise though. Ideally, I'd suggest you wait until 5850 availability increases and the price gouging/yields improve and the price is sub £200.

I don't blame you for being indecisive though, it can't be helped in such a situation.

The best cards for price are old technology, the new tech that is much faster is also disproportionately expensive as well as having very limited availability and the new tech cards in the more reasonable price range don't quite match the performance of the old tech, but have better features.
 
kylew said:
If you've got a PCI-E 2.0 board, a 4x slot won't be much of a performance hit for crossfire.

I see what you mean performance wise though. Ideally, I'd suggest you wait until 5850 availability increases and the price gouging/yields improve and the price is sub £200.

I don't blame you for being indecisive though, it can't be helped in such a situation.

The best cards for price are old technology, the new tech that is much faster is also disproportionately expensive as well as having very limited availability and the new tech cards in the more reasonable price range don't quite match the performance of the old tech, but have better features.
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No unfortunately it isn't a 2.0 slot either. :(

I keep looking at the benchmarks and while the 5770 is between the performance of the 4850 and 4870 it's the same price as the 4890 which is faster than all of them by quite a bit.

The problem is as well that I totally cannot enjoy Crysis or L4D2 without serious fps dips and to wait until one of the 5850's becomes cheaper or to see what Nvidia will bring out is too long of a wait. I want to play these games now, as I bought them recently. Maybe I am being impatient but I just want to play these games and it really £@#*!!! me off that my pc won't play them smoothly enough. :(

asoxedri said:
i think its between a 4890 or a 5770. i own a 4890 personally and if it were my choice i'd go for a 5770 but thats just my opinion.

check out some reviews.

heres one i found.

http://guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5770-review-test/
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I agree the 5770 is new tech and future proof but I still don't think compared to the other reviews I've read it's going to offer what I want out of the games I am playing right now. However still, the ability to play DX11 games is very appealing. Then again, we still don't know what Nvidia's offerings are in this regard, they may make all the ATI cards look silly yet. How do we also know whether these lower end DX11 cards by ATI will even play the DX11 games well anyway? It just asks far too many questions to which nobody has the answers to. I think it's going to have to be a bit of a gamble really - which isn't what I wanted.
 
if you're sure the bfg is on its way out, id get a replacement through the warranty. Some have been getting far superior cards back apparantly. The least you can do is sell the replacement and get a little cash for it to buy a different card, or keep it until nvidia reveal what they are going to be releasing.

^That is, if you signed up for the warranty!
 
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I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, my 9800GT 512MB is starting feel dated and although it still plays games well, I'm not so sure it's going to be so great when I decide to get a pair of 1920x1080 22" monitors as apposed to my current 1440x900 19" and 1024x768 17".

I've been diving through loads of reviews for the 5770, 4890 and 4870 and as prices currently stand the 4890 is winning for me. People will probably disagree with me but the reality is the 5770, although runs better etc etc and has good DX11 capabilities, it is practically the lowest card for doing so, so it is not really future-proofing, you'll have the chance to use Dx11, but it won't perform amazingly well.

The "old-tech" is still top game to be fair, both these 48xx cards perform great and the price-per-frame ratios are good on many reviews and fps tests are pretty good at most resolutions.
That is another factor you need to consider, what resolution would you be playing at? If it's nothing massive then to be frank there's little point spending a lot of money on the newer cards, which I gather you're not planning to do anyway?

TLDR: 4890 wins at the moment due to price :)
 
5770 , with once the new drivers come out i dont think there will be much of a noticable gap between it and the 4870, dont know what the exact power consumption figures are but i can imagine the 5770 is somewhat massively better.
 
the 5xxx series are a lot better on power consumption; it wins in that department, but seriously I think buying the 57xx cards is like entering the grand national with a three-legged horse, you can still race but you won't win. (For those that don't get my pretty poor analogy; you will get DX11, but you're at the bottom of the table :E)
 
Little odd because my brother gets very respectable fps on L4D2 with an ageing x1950 pro and an E6600, and your card should be at least ~50% faster. Suggests either driver problems or the beginings of a dieing card. 4870 and 4890 are probably the best bang for the buck but they run quite loud. 260 GTX is a good compromise and the slightly less brilliant value for money 5770 runs nice and cold and overclocks really well.
 
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