Pc gaming upgrade path?

[That Silly Black Guy]

Okay i'm still a little new to pc gaming, so ill need a little assistance from those with a greater knowledge base than I. To give you a general idea of what your working with here is a rundown on my specs:

• Intel core i5-3570k
• gtx560(non ti) with 2 gig vram
• msi-gd45 z77 mobo
• 8gig ddr3 ram

I game on a 21' monitor at 1680x1050.Target framrate is ~40 fps. What i want to know is whats the best gpu for me to max out most of the upcoming games of this and next year? Should i just get another 560 and sli the two, or get one of nivida's kepler based gpu. If so should i get the 660ti? I heard it had a 192bit memory but i don't know what that means and how that will effect me. I dont want to spend more that $250 Please help.

[Tarvu]

You have that and you still feel the need to upgrade? Goddamn.

[That Silly Black Guy]

Wait till the 670 is cheaper. That set up will run everything fine. It's the same as mine but the ivy bridge i5.

Okay thanks.

[Arch649]

1. Why would you settle for ~40 FPS?
2. What game are you upgrading for?

As far as you video card, You really should be fine with that card. I have a GTX 460 and play BF3, Skyrim, Crysis on max settings, 1680x1050 @ 60 no problem.

[That Silly Black Guy]

1. Why would you settle for ~40 FPS?
2. What game are you upgrading for?

As far as you video card, You really should be fine with that card. I have a GTX 460 and play BF3, Skyrim, Crysis on max settings, 1680x1050 @ 60 no problem.

Im not looking at it in now terms.Im looking at in in the fact that next gen games are around the corner.(so future proofing if you will) I start graduate from hs this year. I want to get a high end card because when i start collage money will be tight and getting anything other than food will be an uphill battle with cripple people legs. Looking for the best option i can get. I got the 560 from an older q9300 build i had. Looking to keep the 560 for phsx processing until i can convert my old build into a htpc. And i use ~40fps because that's the min frame rate i can play out with out feeling "weird" i don't know its hard to explain. What i want to know is if i should get a 670 like that guy suggested or is there another option available that will let me max out my games and keep that framerate a few years down the line.

[Wedge]

A 670 is a $400 card and isn't going to be getting cheaper any time soon. If you're only trying to play at 1050, you realistically probably don't need an upgrade. If you did want to upgrade, getting a second 560 to run in SLI (assuming you have the mobo and PSU to support this), would by far be the cheapest and most effective path, as that is still a fairly powerful setup. I don't think there are really any affordable cards that would be a huge improvement over a 560, and certainly none that would beat two in SLI.

[Arch649]

I would also suggest getting a better CPU if you're trying to futureproof your rig.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116501

This may be a little out of your current budget, but you'll have far fewer issues with bottlenecking a high-end GPU.

[Wedge]

I would also suggest getting a better CPU if you're trying to futureproof your rig.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116501

This may be a little out of your current budget, but you'll have far fewer issues with bottlenecking a high-end GPU.

Please don't give out stupid advice like that. A i7 offers no tangible benefit over a comparable i5 with regards to gaming performance. All it adds is hyperthreading support, which only affects people who do tasks that specifically benefit from it, such as video encoding.

[Arch649]

Please don't give out stupid advice like that. A i7 offers no tangible benefit over a comparable i5 with regards to gaming performance. All it adds is hyperthreading support, which only affects people who do tasks that specifically benefit from it, such as video encoding.

The CPU in the above link is also faster and had a larger cache than his current one. All I'm suggesting is getting a better CPU instead of a better GPU will be getting more bang for his buck.

[Wedge]

The CPU in the above link is also faster and had a larger cache than his current one. All I'm suggesting is getting a better CPU instead of a better GPU will be getting more bang for his buck.

Considering he got a 3570k, an aftermarket heatsink (if he doesn't have one) would be an INFINITELY more useful investment, as that will let you overclock the processor properly. And it would also cost $30-40 instead of $300something.

[Arch649]

Considering he got a 3570k, an aftermarket heatsink (if he doesn't have one) would be an INFINITELY more useful investment, as that will let you overclock the processor properly. And it would also cost $30-40 instead of $300something.

True. But lot of folks tend to be intimidated by aftermarket changes. If you know what you're doing than that's absolutely the way to go.

[That Silly Black Guy]

I got an after market heat sink. and a second 560 may be my best option huh?my mobo supports sli and my psu is a 1000wat ocz zx.(way more than I need butI built it with future proofing in mind) so sli is no problem , but I heard frame rate and stability issues come with that. Was hoping to upgrade to Kepler and eventually move the 560 into a mid range htpc(converting the q9300 build (was my dad's before he died) into one) . Do you think the 660ti would be good enough for this? Or should I just man up, and save more cash and get me a 670?

[Wedge]

Yeah, SLI has always been a bit hit and miss, and if you have a use for the old 560, then getting a new card is more practical. How good of a value the 660's will be depends on their prices, which nobody has still seen yet as far as I know. There's rumors about them coming out this week, but nothing is up yet. At the resolution you're talking about though, a 670 is probably going to be overkill for anything coming out ever until technology sees some major shift, certainly for anything from the alleged next console generation, which is going to be based on lower spec hardware than that. A 660 will probably be just as good, but it's a matter of if the price difference is enough to be worth it.


Aaaaaand they did just release today. They're nothing magical it seems, just on par competitors with the AMD 7870 they've been priced against. Both of which still beat out last gens high end 580 card though. But yeah, GPU's just ain't having the huge jumps in performance with newer models these days, since there doesn't seem to be any easy way up anymore. I might get a 660ti now just so I can play with PhysX stuff in the games that support it and it comes with a free copy of Borderlands 2.

[PanaMusica]

OK need help with GPU and power supply selection. Here are the other pieces of the puzzle.
Just ordered:
-ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 mobo
-Intel Core i7-3770S cpu
-Corsair Vengeance Blue 16 GB DDR3 SDRAM
I'm planning to recycle my case/optical drive/1TB sata hdd, but I don't think the 600w power supply i have will be enough. How many watts should i get for the new ps? In addition to the sata hdd, I think i will add a solid state hdd. Do y'all think it is worthwhile to add a solid state hdd for the OS? If I use the sata hdd will it slow everything else down?

GPU recommendations?

[noobspoon]

As long as the 600w power supply is a decent brand it will be more than enough for a single card setup, in terms of GPU if depends entirely on your budget. You definitely want the most you can get for your money.
I'm not sure about US prices but you're going to want atleast a 560ti to not get too much GPU bottleneck.
What's your budget and it'll be easier to choose a card out for you.

[Mighty Hatman]

600W is definitely enough. Also like ol' noobspoon said a sense of the budget you have would help a lot.

[noobspoon]

http://tinyurl.com/falconguide
This is a nice basis for building a current gen PC for anyone that isn't already aware of it, check your current parts and see what the guide recomends.

[PanaMusica]

Well, if I don't have to shell out for a new PSU, I would go a little higher on the GPU, maybe 250-350. I'm looking at the 660s, such as this one: EVGA GeForce GTX 660Ti+ 3072MB GDDR5. Any recommendation on 2GB vs 3GB GPUs?

My main goal is to play Hawken, but they have not put out system requirements. Also Planetside 2 was wicked fun at PAX, but maybe a bit less demanding than Hawken.

I'm trying to build a good balanced system and keep things around 1k. $640 so far on CPU-mobo-RAM, so maybe 300 on GPU? Feels like the 670 would be overkill..

[noobspoon]

Having a large amount of vram is only necessary when gaming at higher than 1080p resolutions so don't worry too much about that and 670 wouldn't really be overkill in terms of future proofing your build. But it's a little pricey then definitely get a 660Ti.

[Tarvu]

Gotta be ready for 2160p.