A less expensive Graphics Card for ED?

Greetings,

I recently purchased an Acer Predator Z35P curved 35" WQHD (3440x1440 - 2k) 100hz monitor. The PC has an Intel i7-3930k Six-Core CPU with Corsair H80i liquid cooling, ASUS Rampage IV Extreme X79 gaming motherboard, 48Gb RAM and currently a MSI GeForge GTX 680 4Gb graphics card. Not that anyone cares with these specs other than showing that an older computer build works well playing the game. ED runs great on high settings with good frame rate, no stuttering, loss of color or detail...other than waiting for an ED server to open up a mission page etc. That is their problem. :)

I used to have two 680 cards in SLI mode but one finally failed which I suspect from overheating playing ED. The remaining 680 card is hitting up to 79-84C temp (fans manually set at 100 percent) when playing ED and 40-45C doing anything else including editing HD videos in Adobe products for commercial business the PC was designed for. Maybe time for a cooler running graphics card.

How are the temperatures on the cards you are using? That would be an interesting chart. For me ED high settings are fine.

I found this PGGames Review for the NVidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6Gb card which suggests that it has the turning shader features of the more expensive 20 series cards without the real time ray tracing. If ED ever applies this feature I'll probably need a new computer to pull it off...so will a lot of other ED players especially going to 4K widescreen monitors in the future. I think that we are safe for now.

Is anyone else using this card or even the GTX 1660? My goal is to lower the temp using this monitor with the same ED settings. I'm not going VR as I only have one good eye (the other has problems focusing on a spot) so do I REALLY need up to a $1300.00 graphics card?

Looks like I'll also need a 6-pin PCIe to 8-pin PCIe adapter to plug it in. My overrated PC power supply has been idling for years so no worries. Purchasing on Amazon I could buy it, try it out and return it if it doesn't do the job but that seems a little dishonest. Maybe put it in another office PC but they are not as powerful as this one.

Acer Predator Z35P
MSI GTX 1660 ti
PCIe Adapter

UPDATE: I purchased the MSI GTX 1660 TI VENTUS XS, downloaded the drivers and we're off and running...in an SRV. I tested ED at high and ultra settings with a solid 100 FPS at all times and a temp of 62-67C. In space the temp drops to 54C. I'm also happy saving $1000.00 not purchasing a high end card! Thanks for the replies.

148646

WQHD (3440x1440 borderless) is pretty fantastic adding usable width while keeping the stretching to a minimum especially after dialing in your desired FOV in ED. Still it is more of a 1920x1080 expansion on a wide screen making things bigger. So much for the Devs lacking somewhat in the resolution department. Lower windowed settings also work great if a player wants to connect to the Forum or other 3rd party support sites and see both. Playing the game the other half is reading the Forum while I'm 8000 clicks out from a station! If I'm on the Forum I'm probably in the game. Meet you there.

Regards
 
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1660ti smokes the 680.

Strongly recommend you go that route if you're looking for a modern upgrade that won't break the bank.

Its even mostly sufficient for vr and is faster than my old 700 series titan.
 
The fact is, that you don't need to spend that much money to match or exceed the GTX 680 in terms of performance. A GTX 1050 or GTX 1650 will do it

The fact is however, the 1660-Ti costs from £240 ($308) so if you are spending $1300 then you are really being ripped off, not even the 2080-Ti super costs that much.
 
$1300 for a NVidia RTX 2080 ti was the average cost on Amazon. It doesn't mean that I am going to buy one. So many worry about getting the best and greatest. The less we know about the hardware the more we spend thinking we made the right choice even if we didn't. This post is to consider what is actually needed versus all the hype getting us to purchase more than we need. I don't have the answers but maybe others do.
 
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Forget RTX especially for ED. The 1660 series lack memory and underperforms for the money they costs. This will haunt you with future games < 8Gb is a bad idea


I use a RX590 on 3440x1440 and this is a little bit to short to run ED at max settings. Since ED is also on all the consoles and AMD is in all the consoles I would take the 5700 or XT version. Nvidia is still just a money grab at these price levels.

Really want to go Nvidia? Get the 2070 super. Do not fall for the 1600 series
 
Forget RTX especially for ED. The 1660 series lack memory and underperforms for the money they costs. This will haunt you with future games < 8Gb is a bad idea


I use a RX590 on 3440x1440 and this is a little bit to short to run ED at max settings. Since ED is also on all the consoles and AMD is in all the consoles I would take the 5700 or XT version. Nvidia is still just a money grab at these price levels.

Really want to go Nvidia? Get the 2070 super. Do not fall for the 1600 series
I play no other games on the PC other than ED so I have no haunting issues. Well, I did No Man's Sky and a few others but I'm past that now. I'm missing your point with the consoles (I have the PS4 and Hooplahpro on ED). What does this have to do with a graphics card on the PC?
 
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Anyone using using the NVidia GTX 1660 Ti to play ED? That is what I was looking for. Being the Forum those who have no clue will give their opinions. Oh well.
 
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Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
You might find this useful to estimate the relative performance of the options available:
 
You might find this useful to estimate the relative performance of the options available:
Thanks as that helps a lot. Maybe not so much me but for many others. It is not always about the best graphics card but dialing what works for ED.
 
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Anyone using using the NVidia GTX 1660 Ti to play ED? That is what I was looking for. Being the Forum those who have no clue will give their opinions. Oh well.
Yes, my laptop has the GTX 1660 ti and it works great for ED - Ultra settings 1080p display. I'm not sure it would do as well with a 4K display, since 2x supersampling bogged it down a bit (disclaimer, I don't fully understand all the nuances of supersampling vs. native display).

IIRC, laptop components are different (I would assume a bit weaker) than their make / model desktop counterparts.
 
Yes, my laptop has the GTX 1660 ti and it works great for ED - Ultra settings 1080p display. I'm not sure it would do as well with a 4K display, since 2x supersampling bogged it down a bit (disclaimer, I don't fully understand all the nuances of supersampling vs. native display).

IIRC, laptop components are different (I would assume a bit weaker) than their make / model desktop counterparts.
But it is worth noting that your laptop plays ED with this card. A 35" curved widescreen monitor doing the same? We'll see...
 

Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
Great video. But they didn't do an example of ED. They showcased other games I have no interest in but still this card worked most of them.Maybe not as great as other cards but not something to dismiss.
I haven't seen any hardware reviewer use E: D - not helped by the fact that there's no built-in benchmark.
 
I haven't seen any hardware reviewer use E: D - not helped by the fact that there's no built-in benchmark.
We all look at numbers for the best results. Companies who sell graphic cards provide us with numbers to emotionally excite us with their product spending a fortune. This thread started with others using a specific graphics card looking for replies but maybe it is moving to we don't need the latest greatest graphics card to enjoy playing ED. I welcome more comments.
 
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But it is worth noting that your laptop plays ED with this card. A 35" curved widescreen monitor doing the same? We'll see...
That extra resolution would make me a wee bit nervous, especially if you're interested at a solid 60 fps or better. If I knew somebody with a similar display, I could try it with my laptop, but all my friends are still using 1080p monitors or TVs.
 
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