should I upgrade GPU?

ojgbrown

ojgbrown

ojgbrown

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29 May 2011
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Hey, I have been thinking about a GPU upgrade for months now and have almost pulled the trigger on more than one occasion.

My current spec:

ASRock Z68 Pro3 (new upgrade)
I5-2500k @stock (new upgrade)
8gb DDR3 (new upgrade)
1TB Samsung Spinpoint 7200rpm 32mb cache (new upgrade)
1gb 5770
550w unbranded PSU


The pc was originally a mesh built one (never again) but I recently upgraded the mobo, CPU and Ram as well as getting a new HDD (old one was slowww) and putting it all into a new case (coolermaster elite 430).


I have a 1080p monitor and game at this resolution. Whilst the 5770 had served me well, it was starting to really struggle with more visually demanding games with my old setup (AM2+ mobo, 550BE, 4GB DDR2). I upgraded the components listed above (minus the HDD which has only just arrived and yet to be installed) and gaming performance has gone through the roof.

People talk constantly about needing this or that to max games out at reasonable FPS but I am currently playing Deus EX: HR with everything on max settings (inc AA, DX11, tesselation- everything) at a solid 30fps. Obviously this isn't a demanding game, but performance in Crysis has improved hugely also and I can play at 30fps with everything maxed other than AA which is at 4x.

The witcher 2 runs with just about everything maxed other than the obvious setting at a solid 20-25fps.



The point is I was surprised how much upgrading the rest of the components would increase performance as people always say with gaming the GPU is the most important part. Now I am sure that this is true, but looking at the performance I am getting is a significant upgrade really necessary? I want to be able to play Witcher 2 at 30fps+ with everything maxed (minus ubersampling of course) as well as BF3 and Skyrim.

Obviously the 5770 will not quite achieve this. I have been looking into cards like a 6950 2gb or even a 570, then decided to wait until the 7000 series cards later this year or early next but I am wondering if the expense and wait will be worth it? OCUK are selling a 6870 for £120 and if I get, say, 60-70 for my 5770 I am paying 50 quid for a significant upgrade that, with my other components, will surely enable me to max the above games.


Advice on the upgrade is greatly appreciated, and also interested to hear peoples thoughts on what I perceive to be peoples exaggeration of how much GPU power you need to run the latest games at the highest settings.
 
yes yes, goes without saying that the PSU needs replaced. Most likely an antec true power 650w modular. I am waiting until my next GPU to get the PSU though.
 
stulid, with respect, that doesnt really answer my questions. I know that it is a good improvement for a nominal outlay, what I am asking is whether I will need anything more powerful than a 6870 given that I am getting good performance with my 5770. I want to be able to max BF3/Skyrim but why pay a big wedge for a 7000 series cards (or a 6950/570 for that matter) at a time when my 5770 will also be worth less when I can get what I need for a fraction of the price.

It's like I said, I think people are really snobbish with GPU's and act like you need a lot more power than you do. I saw on another thread that one guy said a 460 (with a z68 pro4 extreme, i5-2500k, 8gb ram) would run crysis but not max it, and that not even two 460's in SLI would max it which is, quite frankly, a load of **** at 1080p.

one 460 would max crysis with that setup.
 
Well most of the tests in that link are above 1080P res, the 6870 is clearly pulling in playable frame rates and is over the magic 30fps rate except for Crysis Warhead (but its close)
 
with GPU Bench 11 though, what are they running in terms of specs? and is that with or without overclocking?

It says 25.3 FPS for crysis at gamer quality. My rig runs it faster than that with everything maxed out with 4x AA. This is what I am saying, people grossly exagerrate the new for massive GPU power. Either that or they underestimate the influence of a powerful Mobo/CPU/Ram combo on gaming.
 
Just seen the specs. My 2500k is faster than the i7-920 they are using, so this will be making a difference. 8GB vs their 6gb also but I doubt that has much of an impact.
 
I'd say hold off - wait until Nvidia and ATI release their next gen cards. As long as you're happy with the frame rates you're getting now, it's not worth jumping the gun.
 
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