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Graphics/Video Card Upgrade Suggestions?
I have a Dell XPS 630 with 10GB Ram. My current video card is the Nvida GeForce GTS 240 with 256mb. I bought this a little over two years ago from Dell and I'm looking for some input. My pc uses DDR2 Ram just FYI I'm not sure if that even matters. I use Windows 7 64bit. I am looking for suggestions on a good quality and fast video card. I play Rift and will play SWTOR. I will probably buy from newegg.com and install myself. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
"God, please help us sinful children of Ivalice.."
Comments
Also since my pc uses DDR2 memory do I have to have a video card that's only DDR2?
"God, please help us sinful children of Ivalice.."
your machine is a core2 duo with a 750w powersupply. so you wont be hurting on the power side of the equation, now you just need to find a good match for the core2 duo. i'm not a gfx card person so i'm just gonna guess that a 6850 might be good for you? not sure how that matchs up to the core2 duo tho.
You can never go wrong with the 6850. I would suggest that.
OP, it would help to know more about your machine.
For instance, CNET lists the CPU on the XPS 630 as a Core 2 Quad Q6600. That will bottleneck a video card a lot faster than, say, a Core 2 Duo E8400. Also, if you have 10GB of RAM, then you may have a mis-matched memory channel. Memory works in powers of two, not five (unless it's 4+4+1+1? Maybe?). You might actually get a little more performance pulling memory out to knock yourself down to 8GB.
Once we know what precise CPU you have, then a decent recommendation would be possible. I don't think I'd recommend anything faster than a 6770 for a Q6600, and even that might be bottlenecked.
And Oh look at what we have here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/277073-33-will-bottleneck-hd5770
Here are multiple forum responses at Tom's Hardware suggesting that a Radeon HD 5770, which the 6770 is a rebadge of, might be bottlenecked on a Core 2 Quad Q6600. So either this is a legimate possibility, or the people at Tom's Hardware are just as stupid, and prone to "trash" posts as the people here. Now, gee, who would have thought?
I still echo my original recommendation. A 6770 is probably appropriate to that CPU, but I wouldn't go much higher, if at all, not if we're looking at a stock-clocked Q6600 (the OP doesn't sound like the type to overclock).
That said, I'm also reiterating that any advice is of little use until we get a confirmation on the OP's CPU.
Fair Enough
Radeon's current flagship GPU is the HD 6970, which arrived shortly after their very successful 6800 series. These cards fall slightly behind the GTX 570 on most benchmarks, although the 6970's 2 GB of memory can give it an edge at very high resolutions like 2560x1600. HD 6970 cards tend be very large at about 11 inches long, and they need both 8-pin and 6-pin auxiliary power. They're in the same price range as the GTX 570 and they offer a similar value in terms of game performance. If you use more than two displays, most people find AMD’s Eyefinity easier than the alternatives.
First check so there is plenty of room inside the case. Good graphics cards tend to be rather large and Dell sometimes have slightly unorthodox cases.
I would also check the wattage of my PSU (power supply) so it isn't seriously underpowered and just able to run the low end card it have right now. Chances are that you might have to change it as well.
Edit: Just get a 460 GTX card, it is a lot better than the one you have and your CPU can't handle more anyways. Cheap, reliable and should boost your computer as much as possible without you changing mothercoard, ram and CPU.
Darn some posts seem to have been deleted before I got to see the fireworks show. Shucks
Anyway,
Yes, you can get any CPU pretty much to become a bottleneck with available video cards now, but that doesn't always mean that more video card power is useless.
I would get the best card you can afford to do so - set a budget, and then pick the card. Then, if you decide to upgrade your computer later on, you have the option of transferring a decently nice video card into it, rather than throwing money at a mediocre card now that is perfectly matched to an older computer, but significantly slow for a new one.
Besides, with the computer you list, a few more upgrades are probably due sooner than later....
Bottom line - set a budget, it's easier to figure out what to get then. Too much GPU won't hurt you (so long as your PSU and ventilation can handle it, and it sounds like those aren't problems), but too little surely will be noticeable.
No.
with the price difference between 6770 and 6850, I'd still say 6850 simply because it'll age better:D
Ridelynn/Psychlum do make a fair point.
Two GPUs I've owned ended up being transfered to newer machines. My Geforce 8800 went from my A64 box to my C2D box, and when I got a 4870, it went from my C2D box to my Phenom II box.
Of course, that brings up another point that I haven't been thinking about. Isn't Southern Islands due out any time now? If they begin with mid-range cards instead of flagship cards, and they may (like the 5000 series), there might be way better deals once that happens. Even if it's a few months, the 6000 series is a year old now, so unless cards are kept on in lower-end niches, they could be obsoleted rather quickly.
The 6770 is actually a two year old card now almost, since it's just a rebadged 6770. When that GPU first came out, it's competitor was the GTX 260 Core216; that's pretty darn old. It's only still good because it's been bumped down the lineup, and dropped to barely more than 50% of its original price after rebate.
And yes, the fireworks were interesting. A few of us took less than kindly to being implicitly called ignorant
What is amazing is that even after two years, Nvidia still has no good competitor for it, and it still fills a critical spot in AMD's lineup. The 6770 completely destroys anything Nvidia offers in performance per watt, and is much faster than anything Nvidia has at the same price point. It is only at higher price points that Nvidia is competitive.
unfortunately release date on southern islands is even less solid then zambezi:( if they cant get their 28nm node figured out, we may see kepler before southern islands:( . on the other hand, if they get their yields up on the 28nm, i'm sure to buy a southern islands card. (money is already in the bank waiting for the release)
Southern Islands will launch when TSMC's 28 nm HPL node is ready. Unlike Zambezi, which was supposed to be out four months ago, it's not really fair to call SI delayed until 2012.
i'm just saying it's more likely they will prioritize zambezi chips then SI chips since there is more pressure on the intel side of the business with SB-E then with nvidia side of the business with kepler fairly far behind timing wise.
They're on different process nodes, at different fabs, so they're not competing with each other for capacity.
AMD has promised SI this year. Nvidia would be lucky to get Kepler out next March.
Thank you for all the suggestions! I am not too tech savy lingo so links to suggested cards would be great. Price isn't too much of an issue I would just really like to find the perfect fit for my machine. And someone had mentioned things I would need to upgrade before the video card? I would be interested to know what those were?
"God, please help us sinful children of Ivalice.."