[humpmasterflex1]

Hello gents,

My current build is over 3 years old now, and my long anticipated game of the century (rome total war 2) is coming out. Currently have GTX470's SLI, but as you know, they only have 1280Mb vram. Knowing this, i can pretty much assume this will not be enough for a game of such magnitude as i cannot even max shogun2. Looking at a GTX780, is this a worthwhile upgrade? and will the i7-930 bottleneck the card?

 

[ZealotKi11er]

A stock 930 for sure. You will need ~ 4.0GHz. For 1080p even 1.25GB is enough. If you are running out of vRAM then yes GTX780 will help but if you are running out of GPU power you will need stronger setup. If you are running your CPU @ stock like your sig rig suggest you are lacking in CPU power for most new games especially Shogun 2 which need CPU more then GPU first.

 

[humpmasterflex1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZealotKi11er

A stock 930 for sure. You will need ~ 4.0GHz. For 1080p even 1.25GB is enough. If you are running out of vRAM then yes GTX780 will help but if you are running out of GPU power you will need stronger setup. If you are running your CPU @ stock like your sig rig suggest you are lacking in CPU power for most new games especially Shogun 2 which need CPU more then GPU first.

I ran an OC for some time, but for some reason the Mobo resets itself about a month or two back to stock, and I just gave up on re doing the OC process over and over again. Just thought its about time to get a single GPU with more juice than both my GTX470's

 

[xquisit]

I was in the same boat as yourself, but I took a risk and sent in both of my GTX470s (because the three year warranty was a month from expiration) and they sent me two 660s in return (the 470s were working, but hey I got lucky).

I figured two 660s (overclocked to 1245MHz/XXXX) is on par with a GTX780 stock @ 1600x1200 gaming (for me).

So if I gave you an idea, give it a shot.. it might save you some cash until the new Nvidias drop (I'm hoping to pick up an 880, if such a thing will exist in the future).

 

[pharcycle]

The GTX780 is a beautiful card, haven't updated my sig yet but I got one shortly after release and it runs like a charm. Plays most games at 1440p with max settings if AA is off which you don't really need at 1440p anyway

 

[ZealotKi11er]

Upgrade CPU/MB first if 2.8GHz is all you got to work with. 2 x GTX470 are more then enough for 1080p gaming.

 

[humpmasterflex1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZealotKi11er

Upgrade CPU/MB first if 2.8GHz is all you got to work with. 2 x GTX470 are more then enough for 1080p gaming.

Well, their fine for REGULAR 1080p gaming... sure i get 60+ fps on high setting on MOST games. But this is total war we are talking about here, not your typical game to run in 1080p if you catch my drift.

 

[PontiacGTX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZealotKi11er

Upgrade CPU/MB first if 2.8GHz is all you got to work with. 2 x GTX470 are more then enough for 1080p gaming.

this

 

[ZealotKi11er]

Just to have an idea about the game you play. Look @ Core i7 920 and add 1-2 fps.

 

[CassidyEward]

If you are running your CPU @ stock like your sig rig suggest you are lacking in CPU power for most new games especially Shogun 2 which need CPU more then GPU first.

 

[covert ash]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZealotKi11er

Just to have an idea about the game you play. Look @ Core i7 920 and add 1-2 fps.

Agreed.

Typically strategy games are more reliant on CPU power to provide smooth, consistent performance. Having a faster GPU may help with turning up some graphics settings, but it's less likely to be your performance bottleneck.

OP, I would say to flash your current motherboard's BIOS to the newest revision possible and try your hand at overclocking again. Perhaps your BIOS settings may stuck around this time with the newer revision, especially if your OC wasn't absolutely stable before. Otherwise, it sounds like either the PSU is not able to supply steady power to the motherboard when turned off, and/or the motherboard's battery may need to be changed, which could explain why your OC settings do not stick. It really is the cheapest way to determine whether an upgrade truly is needed or not.

With that said, sometimes if you feel the (upgrade) itch, it might just need some scratching regardless if it is logical or not.