Current rig good for new games??

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rage4order

Gawd
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
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My current pc is in my sig. I just got the new COD 3 and while it does play, the video does stutter intermittently. I'm wondering if there's any settings I should mess with to improve the video, or would I be better off upgrading my gpu?
 
Upgrade the GPU. even everything at low settings you will have troubles with any semi modern game.
 
What would be some good recommendations? I haven't bought a gpu in quite a while so I'm out of the loop.
 
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rage4order said:
What would be some good recommendations? I haven't bought a gpu in quite a while so I'm out of the loop.
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What is your budget? If around $200, the 960 from Nvidia is a nice card as is the 280x or 290 (used) from AMD.
 
Radeon R9 380X is coming out around the 15th....should be a decent jump in performance even compared to what i have...the downside your cpu platform will be a bit bottlenecked at some point no matter what new card you have. New card will still help..just not as much as someone with a high end intel rig
 
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MrC4 said:
What is your budget? If around $200, the 960 from Nvidia is a nice card as is the 280x or 290 (used) from AMD.
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I'm good with around $200. I think that would be my max if I could get a good boost in performance.
primetime said:
Radeon R9 380X is coming out around the 15th....should be a decent jump in performance even compared to what i have...the downside your cpu platform will be a bit bottlenecked at some point no matter what new card you have. New card will still help..just not as much as someone with a high end intel rig
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Yeah, I really have the itch to just build myself a whole new setup. Maybe even try out an I5 or I7. I've always been an AMD guy. :)
EDIT: how good are the onboard graphics on the I5 and I7's?
 
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950 is better bang for buck than 960 if you really want go under the $200 mark while still giving you close performance, but a little more could get you much better on the AMD side (and used).
 
noobthegreat said:
950 is better bang for buck than 960 if you really want go under the $200 mark while still giving you close performance, but a little more could get you much better on the AMD side (and used).
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wrong. you can already find GTX 960 below 200$.

GTX 960@150AR at the EGG

That's just unbeatable.. Most GTX 960 range in the 170$ actually.
 
Yeah, the 2GB GTX 960 cards are so close in price it's just not a good deal to get the 950.

Get a Core i5 and a GTX 960, and you should eb set for awhile. Probably as long as that sweet Phenom II and 6850 did :D
 
Two Titan X cards in SLI. It can handle most of the games in 4k in the next 1-2 years. It is the only future-proof option since 4k monitors will dominate the market in the next few years.
 
Look for evga's b-stock as they have a 960 4gb ftw on sale at about 170$.

If you have money to spare, go for a 970 or even better, a 980. No need to get a Titan as it's way overkill.

As for the cpu/mobo/ram, if you really want to upgrade, go for any Z170/6600k/8 gb ram (no need for more).

Cheers
 
Sweet! Thanks for all the input. Amazing the huge changes in gpu and cpu's in such a short time. I've been really happy with this Phenom II so far and I really don't do much gaming, but I thought I'd try the new COD 3 and that sure showed me how out of date my rig is! Thanks all. Feel free to toss any more suggestions my way.
 
Quick question- that gtx960 is a pcie 3.0 x16 card but my mobo supports the 2.0 x16, is it even compatible with my board?
 
Remon said:
No, the 2GB 960 is in the 170% range. The 4GB ranges from 200 to 240.
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why you have to be so freaking annoying boy?. you have to discuss every shit you want to shit any thread in the forum? damn, boy we are helping here not discussing.. and fuck, the GTX 960 doesn't even have the power to fully utilize those extra 2GB. its a waste of money to go with the 4GB version.

rage4order said:
Quick question- that gtx960 is a pcie 3.0 x16 card but my mobo supports the 2.0 x16, is it even compatible with my board?
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Yes, PCI-E are backward compatible... only issue you could face are related to some manufacturers and models that only have UEFI BIOS and not legacy. however that will not prevent you to fully use the card.
 
rage4order said:
Looks that way. I may start off with the gpu and look for a good price on a cpu/motherboard combo with an i5 or i7. Right now, newegg has the EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4Gb for $170.
EDIT: Also looking at this i5-6600 6M 3.3 Ghz Skylake cpu. Just need a motherboard to pair with it.
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If you're going with Skylake you will need new RAM also.

Try the new GPU first, at 1080p the jump from a 6850 to a 960 is stupid large. Below is the 6850 to 760 comparison. It's even more pronounced for the 960.
uoeI0lD.jpg


I have a Phenom II x4 955 at 3.6 and a GTX660 and at 1080p am perfectly happy running most things on high.

Last point to think about. You can get a 4GB 960 for under $200.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127898
While it won't make much difference now I'm willing to bet it will extend the life of the card quite a bit down the track.
 
^^ Yea, my plan was to upgrade my gpu and see where that gets me. I was looking at the GeForce 4gb GTX 960. Newegg has it for $180 right now. I really don't want to go over the $200 mark. As I said in my first post, I really don't game a lot. COD 3 is the first game I've got for my pc in a couple of years.
 
Will a 960 allow me to play Battlefront on 1080p at max?
I have i5-2500K (Sandy), 8GB RAM, 27inch monitor.
 
mattchapman said:
Will a 960 allow me to play Battlefront on 1080p at max?
I have i5-2500K (Sandy), 8GB RAM, 27inch monitor.
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hardly believable... I think, yes probably you will max out (without resolution scales and/or truly AA) but you will be nowhere near playable FPS.
 
mattchapman said:
Will a 960 allow me to play Battlefront on 1080p at max?
I have i5-2500K (Sandy), 8GB RAM, 27inch monitor.
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Based on the beta, yes it will, not sure on the retail. I played the beta on my 3770K rig (see signature) on both a 670 and 970, even the 670 hardly struggled at 1920x1200 near-max and the 970 no problem at all everything maxed, so a 960 should be fine.
 
rage4order said:
Any opinions on this setup---AMD Quad core combo. Plus the GTX 960 gpu?
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Im way confused as to what your doing....i think it was already mentioned in the post above the 960 is not a great investment for people looking to do serious gaming..although i do recommend it for non gamer's since its not a bad all around gpu. Also if putting money into cpu or motherboards...for goodness sake don't waste it on amd these days...shit even dollar for dollar intel is way better idea
 
primetime said:
Im way confused as to what your doing....i think it was already mentioned in the post above the 960 is not a great investment for people looking to do serious gaming..although i do recommend it for non gamer's since its not a bad all around gpu. Also if putting money into cpu or motherboards...for goodness sake don't waste it on amd these days...shit even dollar for dollar intel is way better idea
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Yeah, I wasn't really looking to build a whole new rig but saw that deal in a Tiger Direct email. I don't know a whole lot about AMD any more. The last I really knew about them was the Phenom's and I've been out of the loop ever since. I'm a bit confused also because a few of the previous comments gave the 960 a thumbs up.:confused: I wouldn't consider myself a serious gamer. I just played COD 3 and it made me realize how outdated my current gpu is. This will probably be the only game I play any time soon. So then for a gpu upgrade that should last a few years, I should look at a 970 or above?
 
Thats correct tbh...970 or better nvidia, or a 390 or better amd side. The 960 is good for very light gamers, or non games really:)
 
rage4order said:
Yeah, I wasn't really looking to build a whole new rig but saw that deal in a Tiger Direct email. I don't know a whole lot about AMD any more. The last I really knew about them was the Phenom's and I've been out of the loop ever since. I'm a bit confused also because a few of the previous comments gave the 960 a thumbs up.:confused: I wouldn't consider myself a serious gamer. I just played COD 3 and it made me realize how outdated my current gpu is. This will probably be the only game I play any time soon. So then for a gpu upgrade that should last a few years, I should look at a 970 or above?
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Look at it this way, your interest is peaked, don't skimp too much or you might regret it. As most people state, get the best you can get. I am not big on used unless it has a transferable warranty, like the XFX 290s, not sure if Nvidia has a similar warranty transfer option. If buying new now is a good time as there will be deals to get 970/290(X)/390(X) for close to 200, the 2XX series AMD far more likely.
 
Everything is relative to expectations. The 960 is a big leap from the 6850 and you will be fine at 1080p. It won't be 90fps but will be very playable. In the past 6 months I played through Crysis 2, Crysis 3 and Bioshock Infinite and have no complaints. Half the guys in this thread probably would have wept because it wasn't in ultra. Many of the people on here have higher end systems and are happy to spend the money and that's great. Others have to watch the budget a bit more.

Is a 970/290 etc going to have a longer shelf life and is probably better value for money long term? Absolutely. But we all have to make judgement calls on what we can justify at any given moment. The cheapest 970 at the moment is $270, it's going to be 6 months before they get close to $200 unless you get really lucky on Black Friday. The 290 is a better chance, a couple of them are at $220 or so after rebate at the moment.(They tend to have noise/heat issues at this price thou)

The bundle you linked to, while cheap, would be a terrible choice in the long run. If you are going to change out your MB and CPU, go Intel.

Take some time, do some research of your own and don't just rely on half a dozen opinions in this thread. There are plenty of benchmarks out there on all of these cards. It's always going to be a case of "if I spend $40 more I could get this much better thing". At least wait until black Friday, who knows you might get lucky. Just be aware many of the best deals are going to be on cards that have one issue or another so don't get caught out and regret it later.
 
@OP

hold off on a whole new system upgrade until next year, get a new gpu to tide you over, like the 960, and no more.

Save up for next year and replace the entire core system.

you should be able to get a much more capable amd cpu next year (flying spaghetti monster willing) and have much better gpu options across the board. Do not, I repeat, do NOT go all out this year.
 
tybert7 said:
Your recommendations remind me of my grandmother whenever someone asked her what medicine to use for an ailment.

Headache?

TAKE excedrin!

Cut on my arm?

TAKE EXCEDRIN!
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but he is basically right.. the performance/prive that a single 980TI offer its just unbeatable even if its at +600$.. the only other card near the price/performance ratio of the 980TI its the GTX 970 and well.. 2 of this cards perform just like a single 980TI...
 
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