Horizons MSI GTX 960 4GB on the way

Astronut57

Astronut57
Horizons has highlighted a problem with my Asus R9 270 card which is heavy artifacting on planet surfaces - huge spikes jutting out of the ground making most planets look like spikey balls from orbit. I've had this artifacting problem ever since I first installed it playing ED since February 2015. The artifacts just showed up as random lines running from the orbit lines in supercruise but I just put up with it thinking it may have been a problem with ED itself. It didn't impact gameplay greatly so I carried on.
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This artifacting is more prevalent with Horizons so I've since switched down to my backup card - an OEM 1GB R7 200 series which has resulted in a dramatic framerate drop (around 16fps on surface). Although I've had to turn down graphics settings to high I don't have any artifacting and planet surfaces look reasonably good but the framerate drop is making things a little jerky.
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I've done some research and have ordered a 4GB MSI GTX 960 as this seems to be a good match for my system which is an Asus M5A78L-M USB3 mobo running a 6-core AMD 6350 CPU. PSU is a gold standard Seasonic 550w.
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I'm expecting a significant increase in fps but I'd like to know roughly what fps I can expect after I've installed the Nvidia card. I'll probably be running it at stock speed and may overclock it later if it seems stable.
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Also I've been running Raptr for video capture with the R9 270. Will this software be compatible with the GTX 960 or is it specifically for AMD cards?
 

Dubber

Dubber
It'll do the job, personally I think you would have been better off paying a little more and getting the 970.
 

Astronut57

Astronut57
Dubber said:
It'll do the job, personally I think you would have been better off paying a little more and getting the 970.
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I didn't go for the 970 because a couple of review sites for the 960 seemed to indicate that my CPU would be a good match. Actually they mentioned one of the Intel CPU's - I forget which one but a quick google showed a few comparison reviews with that Intel CPU and my AMD FX6350.
The 970 draws more power too and I'm unsure that my 550W PSU would be able to handle it.
Also, I'm on a tight budget (can't spend more that £200 at the moment).
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I'd still like a rough idea of expected framerates and I'm still not sure whether do keep Raptr for video capture or go with something else.
 
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Turbosnowy

T
I got a 960 afew days ago which replaced a twinfrozr 660 card which was very very powerful at the time but saddy suffered from BEING VERY NOISY! Yes THIS Does need two power connections, and yes it is is normal not to hear yourself over the computerl. However I bought an new video card (960) for myself this Xmas and now I can hear myself play (ie it doesnot seem to heat up to woooOOOOooOOOMMMMM heat as the 660 used to) so now all I ear playing E:D is the fans of the PC which are pretty quiet - can only imagine a 970 only more awesome...
 

Jon flint

Jon flint
You would have been fine for power with the 970, even with overclocking mine draws <160W from the psu under full load. Maxwell cards are crazy efficient!

That being said the 4gb 960 is a fine card. Depending on your resolution you should be able to achieve good results. As an educated guess you should expect around 40-50fps planetside at 1080p/ultra settings. Drop a few settings and you should be good for a locked 60.

+not sure on your capture software. But nvidia cards do have shadowplay via the geforce experience app that will do some basic gameplay recording.
 
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Turbosnowy

T
Got a GTX 960 Strix a couple of days ago and not even sure E:D makes the fans turn on it is so quiet - everything at max etc... So yeah, good card :D
 

Rigmor

Rigmor
4GB MSI GTX 960 as this seems to be a good match for my system which is an Asus M5A78L-M USB3 mobo running a 6-core AMD 6350 CPU
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This is the exact same system I have, msi make awesome gpu's havent had a problem with it, over a year now, runs everything I throw at it :)
 
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gazzareth

G
This was the difference between my old AMD and a MSI GTX970 - guess you would get similar quality out of the GTX960 (seen people say that it let's them run the game on Ultra, guess slower framerate though). You can always use MSI Afterburner to do the capturing (which is what I used), that works with either variety of card (and it doesn't have to be MSI)....

[video=youtube;SO2wyIhvCVg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO2wyIhvCVg[/video]

G
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Dubber said:
It'll do the job, personally I think you would have been better off paying a little more and getting the 970.
Click to expand...

It's not "a little more", it's more than twice as much.

Don't worry, OP, I've got 4GB 960 and it can run the game on Ultra in 1080p just fine. :)
(It drops under 60FPS near planets, but never under 40)
 
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Jigsaw

Jigsaw
Agrar Therenus said:
Budget video cards with lots of VRAM is an analogue to buying a Reliant Robin with a Ferarri engine.
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And paying much more money for an overly expensive high end graphics card when the extra performance isn't needed for another 2-4 years is analogue to buying caviar as dog food. It may make you feel rich but is essentially pointless.

I rather only pay 250 Euros for 40-80 fps than 800 Euros for 60-120 fps, and let the saved money pay dividends that I could put in another budget card that will run everything fine in a few years.

I assure you, even a GTX 960 requires that much video ram for high res textures and runs everything perfectly fine.
 
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Agrar Therenus

Agrar Therenus
Jigsaw said:
And paying much more money for an overly expensive high end graphics card when the extra performance isn't needed for another 2-4 years is analogue to buying caviar as dog food. It may make you feel rich but is essentially pointless.

I rather only pay 250 Euros for 40-80 fps than 800 Euros for 60-120 fps, and let the saved money pay dividends that I could put in another budget card that will run everything fine in a few years.


I assure you, even a GTX 960 requires that much video ram for high res textures and runs everything perfectly fine.
Click to expand...


I like to play in 4k.

Because visually it absolutely, completely and utterly exterminates 1080p, which now looks like step-o-vision

It is most certainly not pointless going high-end.


You have grossly misread the situation, friend. I did not at all imply that low-end cards are not useful-- so where does that leave your comment, outside of a jab at high-end buyers?

I said excessive video ram on low-end cards is pointless, not low-end cards are pointless. The texture resolution on this game is pretty poor, even in ship interiors.
 

Astronut57

Astronut57
GTX 960 arrived today.
This MSI card is amazingly good to look at and it smacks of top quality manufacturing. The MSI logo on it lights up and it's configurable from the NVidia controls panel to vary in brightness with various gpu sensors such as temperature, fan speed, etc. Really cool to see that through the side of the case :) It's so quiet too. The fans don't even spin up until the temperature goes over 60C.
I've done a quick run in ED and I'm getting around 90fps in space and around 40fps on planets - 1680x1050, ultra settings with the terrain slider all the way to the right. Very happy with that :)
Why didn't I get this last year instead of the Asus R9 270!?! (which is now going in the bin - can't sell it with bad vram causing severe artifacting)
 
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