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Please recommend a better NVidia GeForce card
When I had my computer built back in November 09, Windows 7 just came out. I got a NVidia GeForce 9800 GT with 6GB of RAM. It's worked well but it's getting obsolete. Features like game optimization and such won't work because of developments in technology. I'd like to stick with a NVidia GeForce because I figure it would keep things simple and the series has earned my repeat business. I'm not sure which one to get because they changed their numbering system and I don't know which one is more current. My monitor can handle 1920x1080 60Hz and while I wouldn't mind some future-proofing it's not necessary. If a new card can handle two monitors that's great but not necessary as my workspace doesn't have room for two. (Of course getting a bigger monitor isn't out of the question one day.)
What can you recommend for about $200 or less?
Thank you in advance!
Comments
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500312
I'd like to see the rest of your rig before I'd endorse actually buying that, though. You don't want to buy a higher power card that the rest of your system can't handle and immediately fry everything. So, what else do you have? In particular, what power supply and what case? And while we're at it, what CPU, since you don't want to upgrade the video card if the CPU is the problem.
That, sir, is impressive. Quizzical has good recommendations though.
Edit: That also happens to be the exact same card i use, and i've played lots of stuff with it.
The only thing i will add is that your CPU absolutely will not be able to pump out enough to supply that card with all the frames it can render, etc. Basically im saying you are future proofing yourself, but don't expect it to perform as well as it could because you're limiting it on the backend.
Realistically with a 5, approaching 6 year old PC, you really should consider trying to scrap 700 or 800 bucks together and rebuild the computer. You can reuse the keyboard, monitor, mouse, etc.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Intel i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz 64 bit
6GB RAM
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
Realtek High Def Audio
2 1.5 TB SATA drives
I'd have to look up the power supply but when I had it built, I wanted something that would last. So far it's done a great job. I'm only considering upgrading the graphics card for Dragon Age Inquisition. While my card can handle that technically I think it would be on the low end of the options. I did go for a full tower for space and stability (so I can put it on the floor and not trip over it). The case does have a side fan on it and I clean it out for dust every couple months on the inside and brush off the dust on the outside whenever it gets bad.
ETA I do have one question about the graphics cards. If you have the option to use HDMI should you? The Zotac you linked to has HDMI output and my monitor has an HDMI input so would it be a good idea to use it or stick with DVI?
Thank you! I gave Quizzical the tech specs I could find. My rig has served me well. I haven't had to replace a part yet. I'd like to wait until the next version of Windows to get a new one (it's sort of a tradition I follow because every other version of Windows seems to have major issues).
When I do get a new computer, I'd like to keep this one around and functional. Like I may try turning it into a home server or something. In any case that's not going to happen for a few years.
Your CPU looks hearty enough. It wil bottleneck, but not so badly that you won't still get a very nice upgrade out of that video card.
Power supply - if your on a budget I can understand wanting to keep on trucking with what you got, but really you should think about replacing it as well. An extra $40 or so, and it's insurance against blowing up your new video card (and the rest of your computer). But budgets are budgets, and if there is no money for it, I can understand that. Even if that power supply was top of the line best there is when that computer was new - it's probably several years old and due to be replaced (cooling fans and large capacitors in particular don't last forever, and the components in power supplies see a good bit of heat stress)
That being said, pretty much all modern gaming cards can run multiple monitors, usually on the order of 3-6 before you have to start looking at exotic solutions.
In order of preference, you'd like to use:
DisplayPort
HDMI
DVI
Analog VGA
whatever else there may be
At 1080p60Hz - everything digital (the top 3 options) will all pretty much be the same - it isn't until you try to do some large (4k+) resolutions, high frequencies, or 3D that you start to see the bandwidth restrictions on the digital links.
I'd also say, the new 960s are due out "any day now" - they will probably start just at the top of your budget (I'd guess around $200-$275, depending on how many variations they do end up releasing - i.e. a Standard and a Ti edition, rumors are saying up to 3 different SKUs with this release). That may be something worth sniffing around for. Maxwell in general (the 900 series cards) has been a resounding upgrade over Keplar (the 600 and 700 series cards).
There's been a lot of leaked info and benchmarks, which is usually the sign of an imminent release. But if your rig is broke and your wanting to get it up ASAP, I wouldn't hold my breath too long.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
The 920 is SUPPOSEDLY to be the better o/c card but that can vary greatly as no two cpu are identical.Supposedly the 870 is faster if not o/c again specs are almost always skewed and not accurate,you would have to simply use judgement and try it for yourself in different games.
My opinion,way overkill,i have an I7 4790 and it is plenty good.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
I highly, highly, recommend getting also a SSD disk and throw out any mechnical disks you have other than storage/archive disks. You woulnd´t know that most framerate drops actually come also from slowish harddisk, not only the graphics card. Also your overall loading times will decrease a lot.
SSD is the best boost for the money you can get.
For graphics I run aNvidia GTX 780 and it does everything I throw at it at 2560x1600 at ultra and great framerates
The 9xx series is overpriced and only slightly faster than GTX 780
If finding out what power supply has requires you to open up the case and read the label, then do it. Find the exact brand name and model, not just the nominal wattage.
For a case, what really matters is airflow. How many case fans do you have, and how big are they? 120 mm and 80 mm are the most common sizes.
No current card in existence needs more than PCIe 2.0 x8 to run properly, heck even using PCIe 3.0 x4 you're utilizing more than 95% of the card almost all the and will experience no slowdown, so upgrading to PCIe 3.0 just for the sake of having the ability is just a bad idea and a waste of money currently.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GTX_980_PCI-Express_Scaling/21.html
Scaling on medium-tier cards is even less, 980 is just the most extreme example.
You could reuse a lot probably.
Assuming the case is large enough, can reuse that.
I would buy the I7 4790 processor. ($450 with motherboard- cheaper if you go lower end motherboard down to $370)
Can likely keep your hd unless you just want to purchase new 1s...
Maybe buy a SSD drive. Can be very cheap to somewhat expensive depending on how large you go.
At this point you might as well just buy the gtx970 ($340-$370). Add $200 if you want the 980 to see minimal increase in performance.
If your PSU is 6yrs old... i'd just spend the $100 or so and buy a new 1.
Cooling I always see all sorts of expensive suggestions but... but it seems overkill to me, if I am going to pay as much. Add whatever it takes to keep it cool and your good. You do not need $150 water cooling kits and hundreds of fans.
Ram if you use DDR3 you can likely reuse... or spend the $100 for decent 8g or $200 for 16g.
But overall... I would not save $100 buying the 760.. I would buy the 970 that is significantly better. But I would not waste a dime to just keep upgrading video cards... and really never seeing an increase in performance because you have reused obsolete parts.
The 970 is the same price or cheaper than the 780. For very similar performance.
It held its price tag too long. If your the type that has to have the x80 videocard, up until a few months ago the 980 would of been the similarly priced better card.
It held its price tag too long. If your the type that has to have the x80 videocard, up until a few months ago the 980 would of been the similarly priced better card.
Irrelevent because they are all over the stated budget.
The reason why I gave a $200 budget for a graphics card has less to do with available cash and more to do with not spending too much money on something I may not need. My current card handles all of the games I play. But if I want to get DA:I I'll need a beefier card. Actually I think my current card can handle the game, it just won't look great. Anyway, I don't want to spend a lot of money just for one game. If there would be a noticeable improvement in the performance of other games I play (Civ 5, Blackguards, X-com) then I'd be more willing to spend the green. As it stands, spending effectively $400+ on a single game ($60 game + graphics card) doesn't make sense to me.
If I choose to I could go out and get a whole new rig with current gen technology. That's not the issue. I want to wait for Windows 10 to do that. Hopefully by then the SSD drives will come down enough in price to justify buying one and getting SATA drives for storage and the game will come down in price. I'm patient.
Do not use that game as a benchmark, the game is horribly coded and optimized.
Also, it does run fine on low end, dated hardware. It isn't really much demanding.
Honestly man, just buy a 760, or wait a couple months for a 960 and call it a day. You can swap that into your new PC when you build it in a year or so. Hell, you could even get a second 760/960 (at the point you build a whole new comp) and SLI them and then you would be better off than any 970.
I would look into trying to do a minor overclock of your processor though. That really is gonna be your bottleneck, and you should be able to pull even a 10% OC safely out of that even with the stock heatsink/fan etc.
This is a few year old article, but it still shows you what we're talking about:
http://techreport.com/review/23246/inside-the-second-gaming-performance-with-today-cpus/3
the i7-875k is a very close approximation of your i7-920 (they're within 5% of each other in speed).
With Skyrim, @1920x1080, no AA, 16x anisotropic, all detail settings maxed.
Your proc: ~85 fps:
The *modern* equivalent of yours (i.e. based on price when new ~$300 range) (Also as of time of this article):
i7 3770k: 104fps.
So, just a few generations newer and you see a ~22% benefit in fps with the same video card.
Now, again mileage may vary depending on game and settings, i just wanted to set the expectation that your CPU is going to be a limiting factor until you can upgrade.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
That's about bang on with my 760, I also get about 85+ with an OC AMD X2 @ 3.5 (runs at max 2c below tolerance on sustained 100% test load)
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
...do you actually notice the difference between 85 and 104 FPS?
smooth 60 is golden as far as i'm concerned, even 40-50 is smooth. I aim for the cheapest card that can give me 60 at top settings on a new title, which is usually around the 150$ - 200ish mark.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
Seriously? Like i said, this is ONE game with ONE particular set of settings. The important thing to take from this is its a 22% difference.
If we scale that to where he turns on AA, or plays a more graphically intensive, more modern game (skyrim is ~3 years old), then the difference between 25fps and 30fps is absolutely noticeable. That also is an average. CPU limitations play a lot more havoc on the minimum fps (i.e. when things get really bad and you get that dip). Those charts don't show it but that difference could be huge, i.e. 50% or more.
Also, the ENTIRE point of the post was for him to understand that he isn't going to get the best out of his new video card because his CPU is a limiting factor. It wasn't to try to convince him to upgrade, its to set expectations.
A lot of times people go read card reviews and see that "oh hey, this card got XX FPS on my favorite game!" And then they go buy the card, slap it into their computer which has 5 year old processor, memory, motherboard, etc. And then get a shitload less FPS, and then go onto message boards, like these, and bitch that the card isnt performing right and something is wrong, etc etc etc.
Its like buying a 600 gallon per hour water pump, and attaching it to a hose that only can pass 450 gallons per hour through it, and the complaining something is wrong with the pump. Its not the pump.
All that being said, i get the impression the OP is intelligent, so i don't expect he would be one of those people. I just like to set expectations.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Seriously? Like i said, this is ONE game with ONE particular set of settings. The important thing to take from this is its a 22% difference.
If we scale that to where he turns on AA, or plays a more graphically intensive, more modern game (skyrim is ~3 years old), then the difference between 25fps and 30fps is absolutely noticeable. That also is an average. CPU limitations play a lot more havoc on the minimum fps (i.e. when things get really bad and you get that dip). Those charts don't show it but that difference could be huge, i.e. 50% or more.
Also, the ENTIRE point of the post was for him to understand that he isn't going to get the best out of his new video card because his CPU is a limiting factor. It wasn't to try to convince him to upgrade, its to set expectations.
A lot of times people go read card reviews and see that "oh hey, this card got XX FPS on my favorite game!" And then they go buy the card, slap it into their computer which has 5 year old processor, memory, motherboard, etc. And then get a shitload less FPS, and then go onto message boards, like these, and bitch that the card isnt performing right and something is wrong, etc etc etc.
Its like buying a 600 gallon per hour water pump, and attaching it to a hose that only can pass 450 gallons per hour through it, and the complaining something is wrong with the pump. Its not the pump.
All that being said, i get the impression the OP is intelligent, so i don't expect he would be one of those people. I just like to set expectations.
Good post. Thank you for posting.