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Help me upgrade

post #1 of 9
3/28/12 at 8:37am
Thread Starter 
Recently I have upgraded my monitor from a 1440 x 900 to a 1920 x 1080 resolution.

I am finding that my GeForce GTX 550 ti with 1 Gb Vram isn't able to play games with as high a fps as they did before (with previous monitor).

What sort of graphics card I should get to be able to play games (like battlefield 3, Witcher 2) comfortably at 60 fps (medium/high settings) at 1920 x 1080 resolution.

My budget is £100 - £300 (ideally below £250).
My specs are :

CPU: Phenom II x4 960T

Power Supply: OCZ ZS 650w PSU

Motherboard: M5A78L-M LX

RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit

Cooling: x2 White LED 120mm Fans
If someone could mention what sort of graphics card I should go for I would be very grateful smile.gif.
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post #2 of 9
3/28/12 at 8:42am
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I would look at a GTX480 or GTX570 (a GTX560ti 448 core might work) from Nvidia or I think a HD 6970 or 7950 would do the trick.

I have a GTX 470 overclocked to 800 core and I get ~ 40-50 fps in witcher 2 almost maxed out. It might be higher with the newer patch and GPU drivers but I have not played it in a few months. I was thinking of the complex scenes, idle scenes I hit 60 fps a lot.
My Q9550 is overclocked to 3.6 and shows %99 usage on the GPU, so I think it is fairly comparable estimate of performance level.
Edited by Aparition - 3/28/12 at 8:45am
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post #3 of 9
3/28/12 at 8:42am
Get this GTX 580 Lightening

One of the best cards at a crazy low price (in your higher budget), you will be happy
Edited by Chobbit - 3/28/12 at 8:45am
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post #4 of 9
3/28/12 at 8:44am
Thread Starter 
does the amount of VRAM matter when playing at a high resolution?
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post #5 of 9
3/28/12 at 8:54am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by icecreamcancer View Post

does the amount of VRAM matter when playing at a high resolution?

Not for 1080p resolution. Current V-ram amounts are fine ie: 1.5 for GTX 580 or 2 for 6950.
When you get higher than that or start using multiple displays V-ram does impact.
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post #6 of 9
3/28/12 at 8:57am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aparition View Post

Not for 1080p resolution. Current V-ram amounts are fine ie: 1.5 for GTX 580 or 2 for 6950.
When you get higher than that or start using multiple displays V-ram does impact.

Ah right thanks for the help biggrin.gif, I have looking at some of the suggestions and also looked up a 560 ti with 1Gb VRAM, would that be enough?
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post #7 of 9
3/28/12 at 9:01am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by icecreamcancer View Post

Ah right thanks for the help biggrin.gif, I have looking at some of the suggestions and also looked up a 560 ti with 1Gb VRAM, would that be enough?

I think you should look higher than a GTX 560ti honestly.
I dunno anything about this site but quick google search I found this
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1280mb-evga-gtx-570-hd-superclocked-40nm-3900mhz-gddr5-gpu-797mhz-shader-1594mhz-480-cores-plusfree-
Less than 250 pounds.
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post #8 of 9
3/28/12 at 9:23am
To play BF3 at constant 60FPS with a 560 your looking to play no more than medium settings, no AA (FXAA only) and no AO. A 570 would sort you out at medium to high settings with FXAA and SSAO, a 580 would sort you out at high to ultras with 2-4xAA and HBAO and you should see many 60fps drops. 570-580 is all I can reommend but that 580 lightening is well worth its and a steal!!
Blue Steel
(15 items)
 
£2500 (Dream) folding x3 farm
(8 items)
 
G650
(6 items)
 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsGraphics
i5 2500k @ 4.5 Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 Gigabyte GTX580 3gb Gigabyte GTX580 3gb 
RAMHard DriveCoolingOS
4gb G.Skill 1600 Corsair Force 3 120gb & WD 500gb + 320gb HDD's NH-U12P SE with 2x BitFenix LED Spectre's Windows 7 Professional Home 
MonitorPowerCaseMouse
yamakasi catleap 27" s-ips Corsair AX850 CM690 ii Advanced R.A.T 3 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
i5 2500k x3 GA-Z68X-UD3P x3 MSI GeForce GTX 560 Twin Frozr x3 4GB Exceleram Rippler 1600MHz x3 
Hard DriveCoolingPowerCase
Crucial m4 64GB SSD x3  Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus x3 Corsair CX430 430W x3 ARIANET Avenger Midi Tower x3 
View all
CPUGraphicsRAMHard Drive
i3-370M GMA HD 500 MHz 3GB DDR3 250GB 
Optical DriveOS
DL DVD RW Windows 7 Home Edition 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Blue Steel
(15 items)
 
£2500 (Dream) folding x3 farm
(8 items)
 
G650
(6 items)
 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsGraphics
i5 2500k @ 4.5 Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 Gigabyte GTX580 3gb Gigabyte GTX580 3gb 
RAMHard DriveCoolingOS
4gb G.Skill 1600 Corsair Force 3 120gb & WD 500gb + 320gb HDD's NH-U12P SE with 2x BitFenix LED Spectre's Windows 7 Professional Home 
MonitorPowerCaseMouse
yamakasi catleap 27" s-ips Corsair AX850 CM690 ii Advanced R.A.T 3 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
i5 2500k x3 GA-Z68X-UD3P x3 MSI GeForce GTX 560 Twin Frozr x3 4GB Exceleram Rippler 1600MHz x3 
Hard DriveCoolingPowerCase
Crucial m4 64GB SSD x3  Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus x3 Corsair CX430 430W x3 ARIANET Avenger Midi Tower x3 
View all
CPUGraphicsRAMHard Drive
i3-370M GMA HD 500 MHz 3GB DDR3 250GB 
Optical DriveOS
DL DVD RW Windows 7 Home Edition 
View all
  hide details  
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post #9 of 9
3/28/12 at 9:25am
Thread Starter 
ah right thank you so much for the help biggrin.gif
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