Nvidia GTX 285 questions

[madindehead]

Hey guys,

I am looking into upgrading my old Nvidia 8800GT to a Nvidia GTX 285. I am hoping this upgrade can last me another year or so (the same length of time I have owned my 8800GT). First however, I have a few questions.

1) Is it a worth while upgrade? I play a wide variety of games, for example WoW, Left 4 Dead, GRID, FEAR 2 and Far Cry 2.

2) Will my processor be a bottleneck for the card at any point. I am running an Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 at 3.2Ghz.

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[rewindlabs]

I'm not seeing a resolution there....news alert....resolution MATTERS!

 

[madindehead]

Edit: Resolution I play at is 1680 x 1050.

 

[madindehead]

For some reason, I was unable to edit the original message. Forgot to add resolution in original post.

 

[rewindlabs]

Either go with a GTX 260 or Xfire 4770's orrr a 4870 1GB....or GTX 275....

 

[madindehead]

Why would you recomend these cards rewindlabs? Just out of interest =)

 

[swifty_morgan]

I don't play all of those games, but at that resolution the new card would be one nice upgrade for FarCry2. You"ll be able to crank to the highest settings ( ultra-high I think it is ?? ) and turn on the AA..... maybe to maximum. If anybody tells you you don't need that beefy a card to run at that res., tell them to F.O. ! The extra power will smoothen out everything and make the game look better.

As far as the processor goes........ hate to say it, but yes......... it's a bottleneck even with the card you have now. One of my processors is a dual 6850 and it starts to shine around 3.4-3.6. Wish the manufacturers would quit with the "low end" ( haha ) processors and put out some 5m jobs.... ( stock ) Then there wouldn't be any "bottlenecks".

Better mention it's not going to hold you back "badly". Games will still play good.

Are you going to get the 2gig model by any chance ?

 

[rewindlabs]

Unless you think you need to MAX out aa and af/sampling etc and all of the time the extra 100/250$ isn't worth it.....you can throw all of farcry 2's settings to the highest and turn AA up to a decent level and get great performance.....i would rather keep 100/250$ in my pocket towards a cpu upgrade tbh....

 

[madindehead]

That's quit depressing to hear that my processor is a bottleneck =(

Will it cause huge performance lapses, or not? Also, what would be a good processor to get, without having to upgrade my mobo at the same time.

@ rewindlabs

I have to admit, I am the type of person who likes to max everything on my games.

 

[rewindlabs]

Well if you think the difference between having some increased performance with HIGH levels of AA enabled situations is worth it and you have the cash to splash on it be my guest....you don't have that much of a cpu bottleneck...only in gta iv and soon to be quad core titles

 

[madindehead]

Thanks. Well, I would be looking into upgrading my CPU later on in the year anyway. I can only really do one thing at once sadly. It is always a tough decision trying to figure out what is best ^^

 

[coozie7]

@ madindehead: Which motherboard do you have? Some support Crossfire, some SLI, some support neither.
As Swifty_morgan says, the CPU is going to be a *emphasises* 'small' restriction, I would not worry too much about it, besides, for a gaming system it is usually better to have a small bias towards GPU rather than CPU power.
Depending on budget: GTX275/HD4890: More than a small bias or GTX260/1 Gb HD4870: A small bias. It really depends on how much AA you want, the faster cards handle it better, and have a longer service life, but at a price.
Me, I'd get one of the cheaper pair.

 

[rewindlabs]

If i where you i would get either the EVGA or cheapest GTX 260....i would than spend the rest on a quad core cpu...either used or new however you would like to go...if you spend your money right you are set until DX 11 cards comeout and are ready to start being utilized...

By than you will still have a more than powerful enough cpu to game on...keep in mind you save around 150$ or more by going with the 260 and think about how much you can get for selling your 6850...you will most likely have more than enough for a new quad core off newegg.....

 

[madindehead]

@ coozie7

I have a nForce 680i motherboard. I really want the card to hold out on me as long as possible, while still maintaining good performance for around a year plus. Why do things like this always need to be complex. Haha. Just wish there could be a high end card, and a low end card.

 

[erdinger]

Ehm I think that you 3.25 gigaherz Dual core is not a bottleneck, maybe in GtaIV which uses 4 cores but most other games dont so your processor should give better performance than a crappy quad core with only 2.6 ghz or so...

 

[coozie7]

Problem solved: Get the GTX260, as rewindlabs said, it's a fine card for the resoloution you use and, if the motherboard supports SLI and Quad processors you will have a viable upgrade path for later. Even if your MB does not support SLI or Quad processors you could do a lot worse than a GTX260.

You still here?

Get on the 'net and start looking, sucker!

 

[madindehead]

@ coozie7

Hehe. Thanks mate ^^

Seems like I might go down that GTX 260 route after all. Will see what I can find.

 

[coozie7]

@ madindehead: sounds like you could be in the UK.
Have a look at these sites to start: Overclockers, CCL, Novatech, Microdirect, Scan and E-buyer.
If you are not in the UK: WHY ARE YOU POSTING IN THE UK FORUM FOOL?

 

[madindehead]

Haha. Yeah, I'm in the UK. Thanks for the sites ^^

 

[swifty_morgan]

Crysis will play good with a GTX260 but............... If you get a stock clocked one it won't. I have/had an XFX GTX260 640/2300......... plays crysis ok @ 16x10 even in the snow... weather the quad core I'm using now makes a difference i can't remember. . Not with AA though.

I have been working on the MSI Lightning in the last few days. the card came clocked 6?/999......... crysis tanked at 16x10 with these settings. Tossing the MSI set up for over clocking and going to RivaTuner, Crysis came alive at 665/2200.... and this was with AA@8x. leaving the AA out of the equation you can see that the higher clock speeds help a lot. I try to tell people to get higher clocked cards and many posters say get a stock and over clock it. What some people don't realize is that cards come clocked higher for a reason....... memory that can actually handle it vs something that might not.

I have to add two things. I think your first choice is the wisest, getting the "bigger" card. Secondly, when I asked if you were getting the 2gig model........... the lightning has double the memory of the standard card ( 1792 vs 896 )......... this made a big difference in how much AA you could apply. In Crysis and FarCry2 the games really benefited from being able to "crispen" up what you could see while playing. Food for thought. Let us know what you do...Good Luck.

check this one out http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130476

 

[madindehead]

I'm still deciding currently. I think either a GTX 275 or a GTX 285 is the way to go.

The bigger card will let me keep the card for longer I suppose. Always with the option to SLi it with another card in the future.

 

[coozie7]

I still think the GTX285 is too expensive compared with the GTX275.

 

[madindehead]

I managed to find a Zotac GTX 285 AMP Edition for £311 on the internet. The GTX 275 are however around £100 cheaper overall. Including the Zotac GTX 275 AMP Edition which has the highest clock speeds on both GTX 275 and GTX 285.

 

[coozie7]

Check out few reviews, mate.
Here's one someone prepared earlier:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_275_Amp_Edition/1.html

For others just type "GTX'XXX' review" into your browser.

 

[madindehead]

Wow. That's a nice looking card. Seems to be outperforming the stock GTX 285 fairly well for around £100 less.