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GPU Upgrade advice

D

Drizrysn

n00b
Joined
May 18, 2012
Messages
3
Hey guys & gals. I've been a lurker for years, and I've always found the best advice on [H]. This time though, i'm really stumped.

What I want to do is be able to play games on mid/high (AA / AF is of no concern to me, this can be left off if needed.) with at least over 40fps. I'm playing almost every game in my native res (1920x1080) because everything else looks squished. Diablo 3, TERA, COD3, BF3, sniper Elite V2 and occasionally, even league of legends studder & lag while playing on low(est) settings. The kicker is though, I livestream a lot @ 720p. So here is my setup, I think my issue is coming from the graphics card but I'm not sure what to look for in a newer card. I had two XFX HD4770 cards but they both died within 6 months. They still function, but I get random bluescreen / noscreen issues and my computer would turn off within 3 minutes of launching skyrim.


OS: windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Tower: Chieftec Mesh series CA-01B-B-SL
Mobo: Gigabyte X58-usb3 (Socket 1366)
CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Bloomfield @ 2.67ghz (I've tried to OC it to 3.6-4.0ghz and always failed.)
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-U12DX
Ram: 6144 mbytes of Patriot DDR3 Triple channel 7-7-7-20
HDD: Intel 60gb SSD (housing windows and Diablo 3)
HDD2: 3TB External WD
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTS 450 (296.10 drivers)
PSU: Rocketfish 900w
Monitor: Samsung Syncmaster SA350 and I use an LG Television as my second monitor w/ the mini hd cable.
Aircooled, side panel removed.

If it is the GPU, I'm looking to play whatever games I can get my hands on (Most anticipated for 2012: COUNTER-STRIKE: GLOBAL OFFENSIVE! BioShock Infinite, Diablo III, GTA V, WoW: MoP, Max Payne 3, Borderlands 2, Hitman: Absolution & Farcry III.)

I'd like it to look the best I can for my streamers while not lagging around like a little bi*ch. Pricerange is about $350Cdn, and I'd rather save up and build a new system in a few months than buy a soon-to-be-obsolete card. I realise this is the PC market, and your PC is out of date by the time you press the checkout button, but you guys know what I'm talking about. I'm a student who is trying to make gaming his living so currently money is an issue :p.


TL;DR I'm trying to find out what my biggest bottleneck in my system is, I'm tired of lagging on low graphics!
 
latest release version 1.0 raped my 955 and my fps were at 20~..People complained about this issue.

Went back to beta6 and everyting ran fine aabove 50-60fps..
 
TBH now is a shitty time to buy at $250-350 (US, CDN all the same, although I'm from Canada too :p), since nVidia has not released any current-generation competition at this price range.

At $350, you are looking at: A 7870, hopefully with a nice non-reference cooler for about $300 but I haven't seen any sales like that in a while, or a 7950 on a good sale (or used).

From Nvidia, if you can find a 580 at about $330 then you are in business (similar performance to a 7870, a hair ahead more games than not, but uses more power, runs hotter blah blah blah. Also Nvidia if that is what you are into :)

If you could bump the budget up, you will get a LOT of $400 670 recommendations (for good reason) but I understand, student and all.

As a saver's option, finding a 560Ti 448Core (must be 448 Core) or a 7850 for ~$200-220 would really still run all your games fine since you seem to accept "Good enough" settings, not max. I'm not sure those sales are still on for the 560 though :p. And the US seems to get better sales than us on the 7850 too.

And any OC at all on that proc, even to say 3.2GHz would probably help the streaming aspect :)

My $0.02

Also, for those that are interested, stream link? :D
 
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I have a friend that streams using his 6870. if you're okay lowering some settings, it is okay. One streamer I know has a 5770 as well. For your range, a 560 Ti or 7850 will be fine.
 
ATI has media encode acceleration. An entire package that is downloaded separately. This makes my 6950 perfectly capable for encoding. I assume streaming may be able to use it as well.

Strongly recommending a 2GB card, whatever you get. I don't know if streaming leverages GPU mem, but I do know that future ti will really hurt 1 GB cards from anyone.
 
Def agree with Ocing that processor, especially with that cooler you have, that thing is just being wasted. That would be my first order of business. What stepping is it? You should be able to at least get 3.6ghz out of it just fine. And then I would try to stretch and get a 7950, and then OC that, they have a good amount of headroom. Newegg has a deal on a nice sapphire right now for $380 I believe. Check the Hot Deals section

If you follow this guide, you shouldn't have any problems OCing.
 
Thanks for all the tips and advice. I'm running version 1.0 right now, still using the free version. I've followed a similar guide to the one posted on OCing, but I guess I did something wrong. I'll try it again, i'm still really noob when it comes to overclocking. The stream link since it was asked for is Twitch.tv/Drizrysn. I've been reading a lot about the 670 and it does look very nice, with my current build would it be wise to drop all my money into one GPU or get a lesser GPU and more ram? I'm not a fanboy, so ATI / nvidia doesn't matter to me, but I am concerned about ever buying from XFX again. I normally stream at -nothing- for graphics but i'll hunt around for some deals.
 
Alright I just read over your build again.

First, and this is kinda mean, but you may want to skim This [H] review on Rocketfish power supplies. A bad PSU is the fastest way to, say, failed overclocks on your CPU... (and much much worse things)

Re: RAM. I don't think you really need more than your current 6GB, but I'm not an experienced streamer so I don't know what kind of tax that puts on your system. If you really feel the need, 8GB (2x4 is preferred) of quality DDR3 ram should run you $50-55. If you bought a $200 7850 (assuming one goes on sale), and $50 worth of RAM (still not convinced you need this) that would leave you some budget room for a quality PSU.

It really is true a 7850 (or 560Ti) would run what you need fine, although their expiration date is obviously sooner than if you ponied up for a 670 or similar.

Thx for stream link btw I'll check it out :)
 
I did not see that :p I'll read that over. For my current setup (And let's say factor in a 670 if my wife says it's okay :p) how many watts should I look at? I *had* a 1200w that I ordered with this PC 3 years ago, but it exploded (with the cards I might add) a few months in. All in all, I've been very unlucky with this build lol.
 
If you are worried, the General Hardware forum is a good place to ask (and I think there is a power supply forum on here too?), but as long as the power supply is quality, 650w should be plenty for your needs. I think. Check the other sub-forums really.

670's and 7850's as current gen cards are quite power efficient. It gets worse if you use a 560Ti but not terrible, I still think 650w would be fine.
 
Man if you are running version 1.0, i highly recommend uninstalling it and using previous version beta6 here. http://www.xsplit.com/download/...

a lot of people have had issues with it.. I promise you will see a HUGE difference going from unplayabble to great fps...
 
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