Do I need to upgrade?

Rooster_86

Hey guys,

I have a custom built PC for gaming which cost me €900 Euro about 2 years ago. Obviously with some top games coming out soon (namely Skyrim & Old Republic), I'd love some advice on whether you think my system will stand up ok?

Skyrim Recommended Requirements:

• Intel CPU -Celeron E3300 Dual-Core 2.5GHz
• AMD CPU -Athlon II X2 240
• Nvidia GFX Card -GeForce GT 420
• ATI GFX Card-Radeon HD 5670 512MB
• RAM (Memory)-4 GB
• Hard Disk Space-10GB
• Direct X-9

Old Republic Recommended Requirements:

OS Windows XP, Vista/7
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ or better
• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 2.0GHz or better
Windows XP: 1.5GB RAM • Windows Vista and Windows 7: 2GB RAM
• PCs using a built-in graphical chipset, 2GB RAM recommended.
ATI X1800 or better*
• nVidia 7800 or better* • Intel 4100 Integrated Graphics or better*
8x or better DVD-ROM
*Minimum of 256MB of on-board RAM and Shader 3.0 or better support.

My Computer Details:

Windows Vista Basic
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16Ghz
Memory: 4GB RAM
System Type: 64-bit
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250

Any advice would be most welcome.

Thx,

Ru

deconduo

Should be able to handle medium settings but don't expect too much more than that.

Solitaire

What is the resolution of your monitor? And what model is your PSU?

Both CPU and graphics will do for low settings, but I suspect trying to run Skyrim at decent settings at a high resolution will slaughter them

Rooster_86

Thx for the feedback!

@Solitaire: My screen resolution is 1280 x 1024 on a 17 inch. The motherboard is X48T-DQ6, Memory 4GB DDR2 C5, Hard Drive 500GB Caviar. Not sure about the PSU voltage, it's pretty standard.

If there was one thing you'd recommend that I upgrade about my system for these games what would it be? What's letting me down - the graphics card?

Thanks guys,

Ru

Shiminay

Definitely graphics, but we'd want to know a bit more about the PSU to make sure it'll be suitable - there's a 99.9999% likelihood that it is, but just in case...

deconduo

Rooster_86 wrote: »

Thx for the feedback!

@Solitaire: My screen resolution is 1280 x 1024 on a 17 inch. The motherboard is X48T-DQ6, Memory 4GB DDR2 C5, Hard Drive 500GB Caviar. Not sure about the PSU voltage, it's pretty standard.

If there was one thing you'd recommend that I upgrade about my system for these games what would it be? What's letting me down - the graphics card?

Thanks guys,

Ru

Both CPU and graphics card are fairly evenly matched so even if you upgrade one the other will hold you back somewhat.

If you could only afford to upgrade one it would be the graphics card as skyrim seems to be a gpu intensive game more than anything. Not having a quadcore will hurt a bit though.

Serephucus

Pop the door off your case, you should see your PSU at either the bottom/top back corner. It'll have writing on it like this. If you can get a similar shot and post it, we'll be able to tell you if it'll handle a new graphics card.

Rooster_86

Really appreciate the feedback. I took a few pictures of the inside of my machine as requested, I hope I managed to get the right snaps!

Here is the link: http://s159.photobucket.com/albums/t152/Peritus_2007/

Since you feel the best investment would be a graphics card update, I'd love to know which one you would recommend. I'm running 25mb fiber optic broadband & I'm sure that will be enough to fend off any LAG in the OLD REPUBLIC.

Cheers,

Ru

Serephucus

Ah. Your PSU is actually quite a good one, you'll be able to run pretty much any card on the market with that.

Deconduo was right; your specs are quite evenly matched, so your CPU will bottleneck a new (and good) graphics card a little, but nothing to write home about.

What're you budget for a new graphics card? (Bearing in mind that you could probably sell that one on Adverts for €40-50)

Rooster_86

My budget for a new card would be €200 (excluding anything I get for selling the current card - NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250). If it's possible to sell that for €50 then my budget would be €250.

I know that's not much of an investment but I'd still appreciate any advice on an upgraded graphics card. I'll be looking to purchase it in early November.

Cheers

Serephucus

If it's that far off I'd wait until the end of the month before thinking too hard on it, to be honest.

Rooster_86

hey guys,

looking to upgrade my Graphics Card now.

I was thinking of using www.komplett.ie unless anyone has a better suggestion?

Does anyone know the best graphics card for between €200-€300.

All my specs are already posted.

Thanks

Jaafa

Rooster_86 wrote: »

hey guys,

looking to upgrade my Graphics Card now.

I was thinking of using www.komplett.ie unless anyone has a better suggestion?

Does anyone know the best graphics card for between €200-€300.

All my specs are already posted.

Thanks

A Nividia 560ti will do you very nicely for around 200.

Rooster_86

Interesting that this article is in relation to the Nividia 560ti, however, the overall verdict is that AMD's Radeon HD 6950 is a better card for the same price- http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/graphics-cards/nvidia-geforce-gtx-560-ti-923655/review?artc_pg=5

I've never had an AMD card before, but it may be what I need to play the next wave of games: Skyrim, Battlefield, Old Republic, Diablo 3, etc

Lu Tze

Rooster_86 wrote: »

Thx for the feedback!

@Solitaire: My screen resolution is 1280 x 1024 on a 17 inch. The motherboard is X48T-DQ6, Memory 4GB DDR2 C5, Hard Drive 500GB Caviar. Not sure about the PSU voltage, it's pretty standard.

If there was one thing you'd recommend that I upgrade about my system for these games what would it be? What's letting me down - the graphics card?

Thanks guys,

Ru

I dont think you will see much benefit upgrading your graphics card if you are playing at that resolution - certainly not €200 worth!

Serephucus

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_560_Ti/27.html

It's double the performance of a GTS 450, which is about 15% faster than a GTS 250. He'll see quite a jump. Whether it's worth €200...

Lu Tze

Serephucus wrote: »

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_560_Ti/27.html

It's double the performance of a GTS 450, which is about 15% faster than a GTS 250. He'll see quite a jump. Whether it's worth €200...

He will see feck all jump at that resolution. I had 4670 playing at that resolution and everything was on high with no noticeable slow down. I went to a 4870 eventually, no real difference - until i got a new monitor.

Just pointing out if he is sticking with the monitor i dont think there is any VALUE in spending €200+ on a graphics card.

Serephucus

Did you even look at the link? They test games at specific resolutions. If you have a look at the chart marked 1280x1024...

Getting a new monitor and playing the same games with nothing changed but a higher resolution, is not going to give you higher framerates. I don't know why people keep thinking you need a certain size monitor for a certain card...

deconduo

Serephucus wrote: »

Did you even look at the link? They test games at specific resolutions. If you have a look at the chart marked 1280x1024...

Getting a new monitor and playing the same games with nothing changed but a higher resolution, is not going to give you higher framerates. I don't know why people keep thinking you need a certain size monitor for a certain card...

I think the point is that higher framerates doesn't mean a noticeable visual improvement. If you can max out all current games at 50+ fps then getting a better graphics card won't do anything. For a monitor with a 60Hz refresh rate you can't really see the difference between 60fps and 600fps. The extra performance is wasted.

For the situation at hand, the GTS 250 will be fine for anything up to BF3 really. Getting a better monitor first would be a more practical use of the money, as most games will look better at higher resolutions with lower graphics settings than at low resolutions with high graphic settings.

Serephucus

deconduo wrote: »

I think the point is that higher framerates doesn't mean a noticeable visual improvement. If you can max out all current games at 50+ fps then getting a better graphics card won't do anything. For a monitor with a 60Hz refresh rate you can't really see the difference between 60fps and 600fps. The extra performance is wasted.

Point taken, though I think you might be giving the 250 a bit too much credit. Even with a relatively easy game like BF:BC2, you're only looking at 40FPS or so at 12x10.

deconduo wrote: »

For the situation at hand, the GTS 250 will be fine for anything up to BF3 really. Getting a better monitor first would be a more practical use of the money, as most games will look better at higher resolutions with lower graphics settings than at low resolutions with high graphic settings.

This might be just me, but I tend to sacrifice resolution first in a lot of cases. Depends on the game, and where the bottlenecks lie, etc. but it's mostly the case.

Rooster_86

Cheers guys, some really Solid feedback.

I didn't realise the Monitor has such an imporant impact on visuals (that sounds really stupid I know but), would of thought inside the hood was 100% of the end product.

Can't really afford a complete overhall of monitor, graphics card, and moving to Quad Core at the moment, but maybe I'll try upgrading my monitor and take it from there.

Lu Tze

Look i aint going to argue on it anymore - if i had €200+ to spend on your machine i would try and stretch to a better monitor and graphics card instead of just spending all the €200+ on the graphics card.

HD6850 for €129
LG 22" at 1920x1080 for €129

So €260 in total which is a tenner beyond budget. Its not that the monitor will improve your visuals, you will just have more screen space. If you are happy with the monitor you have hold onto it, but i still wouldnt spend €200 on a graphics card, something a bit more modest like the above would easily do

Blowfish

tbh, if it's a case that you'll play Skyrim, but after that most of the time you'll be playing SWTOR, I'd almost say an SSD would be your best upgrade if your mobo supports SATA3.

MMO's are deliberately designed not to be particularly GPU or CPU intensive and will run on lower specs easily. Because of the size of the worlds and sheer number of different textures though, an SSD can actually make a serious difference in load times. For a lot of people, the 'lag' they get in loading high population areas isn't actually anything to do with graphics or network as this shows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47dt-y27eYk