Good motherboard to gpu fit. Want to boost performance on a budget.

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dev79

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Apr 22, 2012
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Hi,

had a pc built quite a few years back, q6600 over clocked to a safe 3ghz on a Asus Maximus motherboard with 4gb of ddr2 corsair dominator ram with a BFG 8800gt.

I've never had a BSD or any crashes, its been solid but playing games is what i enjoy and my fps kind of sucks so i'm thinking of getting a new gpu. Even a 2 year old card would give me a nice boost to my fps im guessing.

My question would be my motherboard the maximus. Would the majority of GPU's out now or older series cards work OK on this MB? I'm not in a position to buy a new rig out right so i thought a new GPU would be my best low budget solution for some more frames. I dont over clock myself and i run fan cooling with a corsair 620w PSU.

I've looked at the gtx 460 and the 560 ti. With this MB is nvidia or ATi my best bet? I thought maybe the newest cards wouldn't be the best idea simply because my motherboard isn't capable enough to take advantage of the more powerful cards. Am i wrong in this thinking? (bottlenecks and all that)

I figured a decent mid range or a bottom of the pile high end card would do the trick. I guess im looking for some guidance on which cards would run stable on my MB and give me enough performance to run Diablo 3 which is out soon and is another reason i thought i might as well get it sorted now. 1650x1050 is what i play at on a 22inch screen and i get about 30 fps atm or maybe 15 if there is alot going on within the game though my settings are all on low.

I'm not interested in SLi and i still think my q6600 is good enough for what i use my pc for, online gaming and general entertainment stuff like watching online tv etc.

My motherboard is capable of running 8gb. I'm currently running 4x1. Would the new gpu be good enough or do i need to run win7 64 bit and 4 more gb? DDR2 is so expensive compared to ddr3. My gpu budget is ~£150.

Appreciate any help on this. I know i threw alot of different things out.

Main points id like help on are the best cards for my motherboard without extra cooling. What one thing should i change for the most fps increase. I tihnk i know its the GPU but you guys know more than I :).

Will the prices of GPU's be coming down any time soon thus worth waiting or should i buy something in the next few weeks. I dont know if there is any plan to introduce new cards which might push the price of solid cards down that i could take advantage of.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Regards

Dev
 
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Sunius

Sunius

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Dec 19, 2010
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Hey! Your motherboard is perfectly capable of taking full advantage of GTX 460 or GTX 560 Ti. Both are very nice choices - the best quality per price Nvidia has to offer. If you can accord GTX 560 Ti, I'd go for it - AMD has nothing in that price range to compete with it. Also, what is your power supply unit?
 
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mactronix

mactronix

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Sep 17, 2006
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Totally agree the 560 Ti is great value at the moment, AMD are not in the hunt at that price point.

Couple of things though, first one has been asked but do please check your PSU can power the card first.
Second and this is a little counter intuitive but bear with me here.
Your Resolution 1650x1050, is that the highest the screen goes ? 1920 X 1080 would be better for the new card. not essential, just better. Please don't mind me asking but are you running with all the settings on low because you think you will get better FPS ? have you tried running with higher settings ?

The reason I ask is because I have known some people to just assume that lower Graphics settings mean faster game play.
This is not always the case and sometimes you can actually choke your system by running it at too low a resolution and settings.

Just wanted to check you were aware of this.

Mactronix :)
 
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G

Guest

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the down and dirty; your mobo, corsair 620w PSU and cpu can handle ANY single graphics card solution. :)

EDIT:
it seems that it is AMD that is dropping prices in response to the 680 being released not nVidia. as stated above, the 560ti is in your sweet spot for your budget.
 
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dev79

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Apr 22, 2012
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Hi , thanks for the quick replies. @ mactronix i go with that res because its the largest one available to me when i play. ATM thats wow and im not offered any higher resolutions so i assumed that's as high as the GPU or the screen would let me have it.

Does that mean the 560ti is a better card than the 460 and what would you say is the general fps difference on average between them if its even possible to figure out assuming its not drastically different game to game.

Using a corsair 620 PSU. I'm from the UK and the prices here for the 560 and 460 are pretty high above £150 but i would stretch my budget if they are the best choices for my MB.
 
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mactronix

mactronix

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Sep 17, 2006
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A 22" Monitor can be max 1650x1050 so if that's what you have then that's fine, just wanted to be sure you were getting the best out of your system and not restricting it on the basis of the assumption I mentioned earlier.

As you are on a budget this card might suit better ?

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_7770/1.html

Some times it wins some times it looses check out the games reviewed and see what you think.

The cards go for a little less than the 460.

Mactronix :)
 
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dev79

Honorable
Apr 22, 2012
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great, thank you very much :) i'll now go and hunt down which of the 560ti is best for me. Quite a few companies make them, some over clocked some not. I tihnk i will go for the 560ti :D especially if i can find an over clocked one.

thanks again! :)
 
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dev79

Honorable
Apr 22, 2012
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10,510
thanks again. Going from my 8800gt performance to what i will get on a 560 ti 384 will be enough for me i think. I wont be greedy and there dont see to be many 448 core cards anyway. I wont be greedy

The hunt continues!
 
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dev79

Honorable
Apr 22, 2012
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Great! i was just thinking going to a new GPU did you need to update the drives on your bios and or chip set at all? i haven't bothered with either as i haven't had any issue as of yet.

@ Sunius which company 560 did you go for? Im still trying to figure out which one to go for.
 
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