Reasons why?
Video Card Advice Please
- Thread starter RoryBecker
- Start date
Reasons why?
Now that's useful information. I have 4 cores at 5ghz and my cpu load averages well under 50%. Sounds like a whole-lotta single threading going on here. Despite the earlier comment, this is not a CPU intensive game at all.
It doesn't appear to work for dual-gpu cards like the Titan-Z or the 295X2.
On that note, the 295X2 is the worlds fastest graphics card. It's at least 50% faster than a GTX 980, yet miles behind in this single benchmark.
All the high-end AMD cards are much further behind than they should be also. The 290X is easily faster than a 780 for example, yet far behind in this benchmark.
Edit - I should also say that it's very important to get benchmarks from a variety of sources instead of just trusting one. There is a lot of money changing hands with some of this stuff, so only trust the established industry press (and even then only if they are in consensus).
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_980/26.html
That's 20 or so games benchmarked over various resolutions. That is the true performance level of these cards while gaming.
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A fair point about the dual GPU issue and the fact that this is a synthetic benchmark, but the OP was asking about a value card rather than a high-end one. The benchmarks I linked to are collated from results submitted by people like you and me, running cards on a variety of real-world rigs rather than optimised bench-test builds, and with (for mid-range cards at least) thousands of results I would venture to suggest that they provide a pretty reliable idea of relative performance when assessing value for money. OK, limited sample sizes mean that high-end results should be treated with caution but then high-end is more likely to be throttled by other components anyway.
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Disclosure: I used these benchmarks when selecting my GPU for a mid-range build at the beginning of last year (I went for a factory overclocked GTX 760) and I'm very happy with it.
I would still just link to reliable sources instead of using that website, because others might not realise the entire top-end of their benchmark is deeply flawed. There are plenty of high quality review sites out there who benchmark each card under scientific conditions, showing the true performance level of the cards while gaming - outside data is just too easily influenced by other factors, for example overclocking appears to be really skewing some results as well.
You're getting <10-20FPS. Jesus.. How is that even playable?
Considering your CPU is coming up for its' eighth birthday next year [not a good thing], you might want to reconsider simply buying a new GPU and think about buying a new computer altogether.
Being perfectly honest - A new GPU won't make a lot of difference. Your CPU will bottleneck a GTX750Ti long before that runs out of grunt, and that's if your PSU can even power the thing.
Considering how old your CPU is, your LGA775 mobo will also most likely be sporting a retro and ill-equipped power supply. Chances are, you'll need to buy a new PSU as well. So, in stead of piecing parts together in your rig, like scaffolding held together with Blu Tack, you're better off going for the whole shebang:
The Shopping List:
NVIDIA GTX970 [4096GB].
Seasonic/Corsair PSU - 860W.
Intel Core i5 - 4960k [LGA1150] + Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU cooler + Arctic Cooling MX5 paste.
Asus/Gigabyte Z97 mobo [Spend around £120, you'll get a decent enough board].
8GB of DDR3 [minimum].
A case of your choosing - Preferably a full ATX tower.
That should keep you going and it should only cost about a grand - Enjoy!
Considering your CPU is coming up for its' eighth birthday next year [not a good thing], you might want to reconsider simply buying a new GPU and think about buying a new computer altogether.
Being perfectly honest - A new GPU won't make a lot of difference. Your CPU will bottleneck a GTX750Ti long before that runs out of grunt, and that's if your PSU can even power the thing.
Considering how old your CPU is, your LGA775 mobo will also most likely be sporting a retro and ill-equipped power supply. Chances are, you'll need to buy a new PSU as well. So, in stead of piecing parts together in your rig, like scaffolding held together with Blu Tack, you're better off going for the whole shebang:
The Shopping List:
NVIDIA GTX970 [4096GB].
Seasonic/Corsair PSU - 860W.
Intel Core i5 - 4960k [LGA1150] + Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU cooler + Arctic Cooling MX5 paste.
Asus/Gigabyte Z97 mobo [Spend around £120, you'll get a decent enough board].
8GB of DDR3 [minimum].
A case of your choosing - Preferably a full ATX tower.
That should keep you going and it should only cost about a grand - Enjoy!
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Tbh anyone looking for a high-end card is going to be aware of the issues and won't use this site anyway - they'll probably be running triple-screen, Rift or 4k displays where dual gpu and 6-8Gb memory comes into its own. As regards the overclocking that's true, but with the mid-range cards the sheer numbers take care of that through averaging. My card's performance is about 12% higher than the 760 benchmark quoted.
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I think we'll just have to agree to disagree on the utility of simple benchmark figures
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I am using a QX6850 and get excellent framerates at 2560 X 1080p (UWHD 21:9 monitor), with a GTX 460 1 GB RAM and 4GB RAM at medium detail and things like shadows set to low. Max I see is about 60 and minimum (bugs aside) is about 45. I have a mild overclock of 3.33GHz from 3 but the rest is stock.
OP: your CPU is OK, its slightly slower than mine but the real problem you have is your GFX card. A 750Ti is an excellent choice, it uses very little power (it does not even need extra power connectors and will not tax your PSU unless it is really old / cheap) and would compelment your PC well. If your motherboard bios can do it, why not buy a new 775 CPU too? I can buy my CPU for about £50 now (seven years ago it cost £1k!). Update the bios and pop the chap in. Job done!
OP: your CPU is OK, its slightly slower than mine but the real problem you have is your GFX card. A 750Ti is an excellent choice, it uses very little power (it does not even need extra power connectors and will not tax your PSU unless it is really old / cheap) and would compelment your PC well. If your motherboard bios can do it, why not buy a new 775 CPU too? I can buy my CPU for about £50 now (seven years ago it cost £1k!). Update the bios and pop the chap in. Job done!
hello there
Im also playing on a "legacy" system (i7 930 @2.8) and can understand that not everyone has spare cash to throw around, but one thing is important to remember (as I believe an earlier poster may have touched upon) is that some more modern GFX cards require power of their own from separate PSU cables so you may have to replace yours dependent on the card.
Or, if you have to just up your PSU output please, please, please dont try to save cash by getting a dirt cheap unbranded PSU. Ive made this mistake before and it's cost me dearly. Its a bain in the bum and another walletty bite but it doesnt have to break the bank either.
Go for a named "known" brand, you wont have to get the best of the best and can still do it cheaply.
PSU's are often the forgotten part of a system but its also a damn important one. You dont want to order that new shiny card and then realise you dont have the correct PSU cables, then buy a cheap PSU which blows and takes half your kit with it.
Rgds
LoK
Im also playing on a "legacy" system (i7 930 @2.8) and can understand that not everyone has spare cash to throw around, but one thing is important to remember (as I believe an earlier poster may have touched upon) is that some more modern GFX cards require power of their own from separate PSU cables so you may have to replace yours dependent on the card.
Or, if you have to just up your PSU output please, please, please dont try to save cash by getting a dirt cheap unbranded PSU. Ive made this mistake before and it's cost me dearly. Its a bain in the bum and another walletty bite but it doesnt have to break the bank either.
Go for a named "known" brand, you wont have to get the best of the best and can still do it cheaply.
PSU's are often the forgotten part of a system but its also a damn important one. You dont want to order that new shiny card and then realise you dont have the correct PSU cables, then buy a cheap PSU which blows and takes half your kit with it.
Rgds
LoK
I have a 2600K @4.5Ghz, HD7970 @1200 Mhz, 8 Gig Ram, SSD drive....
.......and there are plenty situations where I find myself at sub 30 FPS yet none of my system resources ever go above 35%.
I don't think it really matters what you have. ED isn't a very demanding game and/or/but is poorly optimised.
I run a 2600K @ 4.6GHz, the CPU utilisation is generally quite low - yes - but you forget that our CPUs are running 2GHz faster than his - Not to mention we also have HyperThreading - but single-core speed is king, as always. Lets not even explore advantages of improved and efficient CPU architecture.
This is a demanding game, regardless of what you say. My GTX Titan gets maxed out inside stations or at resource extraction sites w/ a lot of CMDR traffic. I run the game maxed out at 2560x1440.
This is a demanding game, regardless of what you say. My GTX Titan gets maxed out inside stations or at resource extraction sites w/ a lot of CMDR traffic. I run the game maxed out at 2560x1440.
This I really don't understand....unless you are running that 1440p at 120 fps?
I run at 1080p, 60Hz, and my gfx card from late 2011 is never stressed, yet sub 30FPS and even sub 20 FPS is a common occurrence for me. Inside stations is never an issue, but resource extraction sites can be a bit jagged with supercruise mode (when there are practically no gfx to mention) being the worst.
When things get 'laggy' for me, is generally when there is a lot of CMDR and NPC traffic and this has nothing to do with the GPU, and everything to do with CPU/RAM work. And as you say the CPU (and the RAM) never even comes close to being fully utilised. That is poor optimisation and it used to be standard back in the 'golden age' of PC gaming and is still common with games that don't come from the big monster publishing houses.
In a game like Elite Dangerous, i can handle sub 60 FPS (although my eyes do get more tired than normal), but I would of course prefer a smooth 60fps, especially when I see the game struggling and my desktop still having loads of horsepower not being used.
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EVGA 750 Ti SC.
Beautiful thing, decent price, small, quiet, cold, only consumes 60 watts on load, and runs Elite with everything maxed at 1080p 60fps most of the time. Inside the station it dips to 30-40ish, unless you lower the shadows, then it stays at constant 60fps. Doesn't require 6 pin connector
Beautiful thing, decent price, small, quiet, cold, only consumes 60 watts on load, and runs Elite with everything maxed at 1080p 60fps most of the time. Inside the station it dips to 30-40ish, unless you lower the shadows, then it stays at constant 60fps. Doesn't require 6 pin connector
That 9500 card is most likely a AGPX4 or X8 Slot, his motherboard may not even support a PCIE type card.
Hopefully it does but your still going to have to get a better power supply, just be prepared to include one in your budget. Those older 9500 cards ran on 350-400 watt power supplies.
Newer gen cards go 500 watt and above easily, specialy mulriple dongle power input cards.
Hopefully it does but your still going to have to get a better power supply, just be prepared to include one in your budget. Those older 9500 cards ran on 350-400 watt power supplies.
Newer gen cards go 500 watt and above easily, specialy mulriple dongle power input cards.
I thought AGP was getting rare before the 9500GT era? I had SLI GTX 8800 Ultras and AGP was fading fast even then. The only way to know would be for the OP to confirm.
Sorry for the delay in replying chaps
Thanks so much for all of your contributions.
I typically ah and erm over this sort of this for quite a while, so I might not be actually purchasing for a little while yet, but you've all given me a lot to think about.
For those that are interested, here are the full specs of my pc such as it was when I bought it.
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9400 (2.66GHz) 1333MHz FSB/6MB Cache
Memory (RAM) 2GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz
Motherboard ASUS® P5QL: DDR2, SATAII, PCI-e x16, 3 PCI, 2 x PCI-e x1
Storage - 1st Hard Disk 500GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
Graphics Card 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE 9500GT PCI EXPRESS
Network Facilities ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Power Supply & Case Cooling 350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
FWIW the memory was since upgraded to 6Gb and the HDs have all been replaced with much larger capacity , but similar speed.
Thanks so much for all of your contributions.
I typically ah and erm over this sort of this for quite a while, so I might not be actually purchasing for a little while yet, but you've all given me a lot to think about.
For those that are interested, here are the full specs of my pc such as it was when I bought it.
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9400 (2.66GHz) 1333MHz FSB/6MB Cache
Memory (RAM) 2GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz
Motherboard ASUS® P5QL: DDR2, SATAII, PCI-e x16, 3 PCI, 2 x PCI-e x1
Storage - 1st Hard Disk 500GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
Graphics Card 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE 9500GT PCI EXPRESS
Network Facilities ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Power Supply & Case Cooling 350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
FWIW the memory was since upgraded to 6Gb and the HDs have all been replaced with much larger capacity , but similar speed.