New GPU

killdrums

Hey All!
I just wanted some input on if I should buy a new vid card or update my whole system.Im running a amd sempron 3100+ 1.5g ram geforce 9800 gt oc.I get good fps on certain tracks...others not so good.As far as the game running it loads and runs fine.Just wondering if I upgraded my card to like a newer ati one if it would get better fps. Thanks! Mark(Killdrums)
 
ATM your cpu would be choking your gfx card, You really need a high end dualcore or a quad core to get the most out of a 9800gt, you will probably find that your current card is only working at about 1/4 of it's potential. Getting a new gfx card won't necessarily do anything accept make the cpu work even harder.
Your best bet would be to upgrade the system, but that means new motherboard, new cpu, new ram and new psu. But there is no point in upgrading your gfx card with that cpu.
 
I'm running 3 screens off of a 250gts with no FPS problems anywhere. An expensive card isn't needed to run rFactor in all it's glory.
 
Ok I figured as much...I have a emachines w3115(i know) would I have to buy a case?I already got a new PS for it...Just wondering if I buy a gaming PC for 1600.00 if i will really need all that?(i7 950, 6gigs,ati 2 gig gpu)I would like to run 3 screens in my obutto eventually...but i stick with the 32in LCD for now..I just need to be able to race with a 40 car grid with all the eye candy on!!!Any suggestions other than posted I would appreciate!Mark
 
The new power supply would be for the 4pin cpu power plug. Older psu's don't have that plug.

Case, depends, if new stuff will fit then the case you have will do. Some newer graphics cards wont fit into small cases, but nothing an angle grinder can't fix :D But a new good case you can get for ~$50aud (dunno the prices in usd)

$1600 for an i7, 6gig of ram, ati(what model number?) I presume that comes with a decent sized SATA hard drive and a SATA dvd burner, at minimum get win7 64 pro for an operating system. If that comes with a monitor then grab it. sounds like a good deal.

[ED] re case, newer graphics cards get real hot, you need good ventilation. You might have to cut some holes around where the cpu and gpu fans take air from.
 
For 1600 you could build the computer, get those 3 monitors, and still have all the eye candy on.
 
A quick trip to newegg. You may be able to find better prices

Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128443 $109
CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103858 $200
Memory http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277 $50
Hard Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136514 $100
Video Card 1 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130538&cm_re=250_gts-_-14-130-538-_-Product $114, $75 after mail in rebate it says
Video Card 2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500118 $25

I think that's everything, assuming you dont need another keyboard, mouse, and OS. Or the PSU and case you mentioned. It comes out to $600...you now have $1000 left over to find 3 monitors :) or extra change for better parts.

This is basically the system I have. I have a better motherboard and I'm OC'd to 4ghz though. I rarely see FPS below 45 with all the eye candy on. With the extra cash it'd be easy to swap out video card 1 with something in the $200 range and be always pegged at 60FPS with VSYNC on.
 
Thanks CordellCahill!Me being kinda new to the PC gaming harware Lots of ?'s....Why the 2 vid cards?And I was looking at getting the 2gig ati card(one that just came out)yes i would need an OS so add another 100 bucks but thats beat 1600 by far.(i also know a guy to build it if its to complicated for me as I never did a build.I would probably go with a new case and PS.Another? is AMD better for rFactor?I was told an i7 is waaaay more than I need.I also heard AMD is better for gaming...true/false? Thanks for the help!!!!!
 
Yeh the i7 is more then you need. I don't want to get into a Intel vs AMD battle here...or a Nvidia vs ATI one either. But for the money I have to say the AMD is the better deal.

I use softth, which is free and allows 3 screens through software. So you need 1 primary card(the stronger one) and 1 cheap slave card(just to add the 3rd and\or 4th monitor connection). I found it to be a much cheaper alternative then buying a eyefinity card. All I play is rFactor so I don't need anything stronger. If rFactor2 needs more graphics power I'll just swap out the primary video card for something in the $200 range. I know someone running 3 screens off a 450gts, so I may see how their performance is with rFactor2 and decide from there.


Cool music btw. I'm more a hip hop guy myself, but I never get tired of the ladies dancing :)
 
OS, case, and PSU is about another $300. 23' montiors can be had for $180 each. That's a total of $1440.

Building a PC isn't hard, though I'd have the friend on hand to answer any questions if they arise.
 
So couldnt I still use my 9800gt 0c'd??Or is that a lil on the low end?And I've seen that the ati cards can do 3 screens with 1 card.what about the phenom black?I def dont wanna buy stuff that wont run rfactor 2 well.but 900 is better than 1600.i will do the 3 screens in a few months I just got to get on track and help my team!
 
Your 9800gt may do the job just fine with 3 screens. I don't think theres much, but I don't know the difference between that and my card, but I'd give it a try with 3 screens. 1 screen and you should be good to go. If anything on the rig I mentioned won't fly with rFactor2 it's probably the graphics card, and that's yet to be seen. That ATi card will do 3 screens by itself, but it requires a display port monitor, which adds to the price.
 
AMD v's Intel is like GM v's Ford, it's a personal preference, they both do the job.

Normally, I'd say build it yourself but that gaming pc is really good value, the water cooling is a bonus, the video card I'd go the 6970 and if possible upgrade to win7 64 pro.

The worst component is the motherboard, I'd prefer gigabyte these days, asus have slacked off a bit, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Which makes this system worthwhile.

The cost in it is the ssd, water cooling and video card. The ssd, depending on the size, ~$200aud for a 60gig to ~$300aud for a 128g, the video card ~$400-500aud

there is about a grand in that, plus the cpu ~$400aud its almost up to $1600

The aud and the usd are close atm, that would estimate to about $1400usd.
It will last you for at least 2 years with all new release games and will kick on for about another 3 years till it desperately needs replacing, $1600 for 5 years is good value :)

You will see fps's over 200 90% of the time.
With 40 ai cars on a track on my system with the best quality graphics settings, I average ~90-140fps. My system is pretty average, amd phenom II quad 965 be and an nvidia gtx260.

[ed] one more thing, please don't overclock. you void your warranty and unless your a IT pro, you will probably damage something, leave it as it is, pc parts and performance are cheap enough these days to not have to worry about overclocking.
 
Yeh, I'm sure that would work. Cept for the video card(s) the one I spec'ed has better components like the 6 core CPU. I'm always weary of pre-built computer companies, never know what kind of crappy memory, psu, and motherboard theyre gonna throw in there to make their bottom line. I couldn't find the actually specs of that system on their page. If you friend will build it for free I'd buy the components seperatly if I were you.
 
Yeah my friend will help me and everything(hes an old hardware geek)Just have to get him up to snuff on the new stuff.lololol
 
A $400-500 video card is way overkill if all you play is rFactor.
 
Well rF2 is a directX9 game, so I doubt the system requirements will be much higher then what they are now.
 
its says on my rfactor config that my 9800 gt is 1gig but in my comp system information its says 512mg....I thought my card was a 1 gig vid card.(how do I find out)
 
with no cars on the track and everything but shadows and special effects turned to max i get well over 110fps.But add in cars and a diff track(yas marina for example)and fps goes to almost nill.:(
 
Operating system allocates some part of RAM memory as video memory. That's why rf shows 1GB.
You can change it using some tweaking software
 
killdrums said:
with no cars on the track and everything but shadows and special effects turned to max i get well over 110fps.But add in cars and a diff track(yas marina for example)and fps goes to almost nill.:(
Click to expand...
That's your cpu causing that.
 
if you do buy a new system dont waste money on the i7 get the i5 2500k it as good as the i7 and cheaper. i got a new system yesterday with one and got all on max with a gtx460 (dont need anything more powerful at moment) and getting 600fps
 
Yes, those new sandy bridge cpus do you like for the price. Again though no need to go over board if all you do is play rFactor.
 
CordellCahill said:
Yes, those new sandy bridge cpus do you like for the price. Again though no need to go over board if all you do is play rFactor.
Click to expand...

They will be useful for rF2, by the way: ISI said it will take advantage from a multicore CPU, so it would definitely be a good choice. :)
 
CordellCahill said:
Well rF2 is a directX9 game, so I doubt the system requirements will be much higher then what they are now.
Click to expand...

Thats not true!
I can render 1 triangles with 2 million fps in dx9.
or i can render 2 billion triangles with 2 fps in dx9.

rf1 is not using all features of dx9, rf2 will use some more.
I agree that dx10/11 is modern and nice, but that would also close the doors for a lot of possible good racers out there.
The focus is still on the realism i think, and yeah rf2 will look much better than rf1, even without dx10/11.
 
Just got some new components but still waiting for some more to put my new rig together.

i7-2700k which I will clock to 4.8-5ghz
EK HF nickel plexi cpu block
Asus P8Z68 deluxe/gene3
16gb corsair dominator 1600mhz 7-8-8-24
Corsair HX850w psu
Corsair 600T case

Gonna get 2 corsair 120GB Force Series 3 SATA 6Gb/s SSD's in Raid0 for OS, progs and games.

In the process of getting the parts for my external water loop at the moment.

Gonna wait for Kepler cards as the word is hopefully march so will get 1 or maybe 2 670ti's as 1 is supposed to outperform a gxt580 so should be nice upgrade from my current EVGA GTX280hc16 :)

Regarding graphics cards I'd advise everyone entertaining getting something now to wait a few weeks for Kepler.
 
I5 2500K and the I7 2600K are the best CPUs on the market for gaming value (the fastest being one of the 6 core 3000 series sandy bridge beasts). But going for one of the 3000 series is really not worth it for the small boost over their 4 core brothers.

Intel is the way to go for gaming as the CPU is concerned, and there may be argument from the AMD boys, but AMD will stop making Consumer CPU's and focus on mobile and server CPUS (Which they are very good at), because AMD Bulldozer made some huge losses for the company (Good at the very scarce multi threaded programs but bad at few threaded things like gaming etc.)

But the main thing for gaming is the GPU, you could have an amazing system with a terrible GPU and the game would lag like crazy.
For GPU's you REALLY don't need to wait for Kepler as they are for hardcore bench-marking gamers and will cost a lot of money, output a load of noise and draw a lot of power. All you need for a GPU is a GTX 560ti or a HD6870/6950 and you will be able to play all games on the market on full settings and it won't hurt your wallet as much.

As for RAM, 4gb is sufficient for gaming, but you may want to get 8 if you video edit or use 3D design programes.

For storage: Get an SSD for an OS drive with space for your favourite games if you want, and a HDD for your large files and programmes.

Cooling: I'd stay on air with the I5 2500K and I7 2600K unless you want to extreme overclock it!
 
Keplers launch card is supposed to be the 670ti, set to replace the 570 in price and outperform a 580 so I think it is well worth the wait. Why buy a card when it's on the verge of being completely outclassed.

They are not just for hardcore benchers, they are just the new line of cards from nvidia. That's like saying the 5 series was just for hardcore users when the 4 series was the current card.
The launch kepler card is actually the midrange priced one, the top end ones will prob be q3 of this year and will replace the 580 and 590 price wise, maybe more.

They should draw less power and create less heat as they are on a lower nanometer process, 28nm down from 40nm on the current 5 series cards. Smaller nm = less power draw and less heat.

Regarding noise, They shouldn't make anymore noise than the current series cards, maybe even less as lower nm. If they are too loud for you then just watercool them and they are silent and never go above 50-60 degrees, depending on your cooling setup :)

All depends on what settings you are happy to settle for in games.
Personally I like to max everything and run@1080 with a reasonable amount of AA, so a 560 just won't cut it.

If it's just rfactor you're playing and are happy to leave some settings off then fine, if you play other games and want the latest pretties on maximum then I'd advise waiting a month. Kepler seems like best bang for the price really.

If 1 of them outperforms a gtx580 for 300-400 euros, then it's a no brainer.
Then if you want even more bang just get 2 and sli them :)
 
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Why pay 300 euros on a release date on a card with no consumer benchmarks or reviews which for all we know could be terrible, when you could buy a fully working card which can keep modern games at bay for at least 2 years for a third of the price? You know how many people waited for bulldozer and regret it? Anway its just my opinion :p
 
You are right about seeing some benches first of course.

I'll wait to see some reviews for sure before I buy, but 300 for card is not a problem really.
I usually buy the pre watercooled ones that set me back 700-800 each, so 300 is fine.

I'd normally get whatever the evga prewatercooled one is but they only watercool the flagship cards which will be sept/oct release, so don't wanna wait that long, so will get 2 midrange ones and hope EK or XPSC get some full cover waterblocks out soon after release.
 
For those of you wanting to buy or wait for the next gen cards from AMD and NVIDIA, look hard at this one spec: PCIe 3.0. You may be looking at a new PC or motherboard to support it.
 
No they are backwardly compatible, you can run 3 on a 2 etc. Also you need ivybridge to use the full 3.0 bandwidth.
The 3.0 cards though will work on any current 2.0 board. Anyway no cards out yet even use the full 2.0 bandwidth.
 
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Yap, no need to worry for PCIe 3.0 bandwidth ATM. Maybe in a couple of years.
 
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