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Upgrading ideas (thinking GPU)

Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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My computer is starting to become a little bit dated. I got this machine built in fall 2008. What are the bottle necks of my machine gaming wise?

Right now im running the BFG nvidia gtx 285.
My mother board is the EVGA X58 SLI LE.
I have an Antec 850 watt power supply.
I have 6 gigs of Corsair Dominator Ram(TR3X3G11600C8D)
My Processor is the Intel i7 920 running @ 2.67 GHz

I want to upgrade my graphics, but im not sure how new of a graphics card my mother board can handle.

I was also thinking about my ram? is there a bottleneck with it at all? if so, what should i be looking at for an upgrade?

BF3 plays surprisingly well on my machine with all the settings on ultra. Inside of buildings there is little to no system lag. And in big open maps like Caspian Border theres some system lag, it get pretty choppy sometimes, but usually its playable.

There inst really a budget im trying to stay in, as long as it inst outrageously priced.

Thanks.

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Graphics card Master

It would be better to give a budget amount so we know what you consider outrageuos amount.
You have good components still and the x58 chipset is still good and you 6gb of ram is enough , the power supply is good and the cpu is good and the 920's do overclock good so there's room there to go higher and make sure there's no bottleneck.
Nvidia just released the GTX 670 and it's around $400 , it gives top notch performance and you would be in great shape with that card.

EVGA SuperClocked 02G-P4-2672-KR GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
$419.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

MSI N670GTX-PM2D2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
$399.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

If you decide that it's in your budget then you should act right away as these things are popular and some models are already selling out. iF your not in a hurry then you can wait and look at other models and jump in later.
Graphics card Master

Your system is fine more or less. From what you listed I'd upgrade the GPU just to get DX11 and better thermal/power numbers. GTX670 is the new "sweet spot" if you have enough $$$.

What size monitor? If you are still on a CRT or something other then 1080 I'd upgrade the monitor for sure.
Graphics card Master

Agree, depends on your budget , a good gpu uprgade will do wonders for your system , if you can afford it go with a 670 like the other guys suggested.
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I was thinking somewhere around 500. Is there a big enough performance difference between the 680 and the 670 to justify the price difference? Or is the 670, like you said, the sweet spot and I should just for that one.

Graphics card Expert

With your PSU and mobo, i'd suggest a pair of 480's. A single 480 gives you 90% of the performance of a 670, and costs $160 less. A pair of 480's will run you $480 and is huge bang for the buck.

They *were* on sale for $210 a while back, they may go on again if you're willing to wait. Even at $240, they're still a great deal.

I would have suggested a pair of 7850's if your mobo supported xfire. Same price and performance as the 480's, less power consumption.
Graphics card Master

In the benchmarks that I saw the 670 was only 10m to 15 fps behind the 680 in most of the newer games and for some reason in SLI they jump right up next to the 680 or within 3 to 5 fps. I don't know the reason for that but it means that the best buy right now is the 670 over the 680.
Graphics card Master

13urton said:
I was thinking somewhere around 500. Is there a big enough performance difference between the 680 and the 670 to justify the price difference? Or is the 670, like you said, the sweet spot and I should just for that one.



Grab the 670 and save yourself 100 bucks which you can put towards an SSD or something , the difference to the 680 in performance isnt that much.
Graphics card Master

Getting a 670 would be better for adding another later on as it wouldn't be so expensive , $800 for two 670's vs $1000 for two 680's and the strange thing is that two 670's give you the same performance as two 680's and I can't figure this out and I think Nvidia is losing its mind with this new card being the same as the 680 , UNLESS they have something up thier sleeve , it just doesn't make sense for the two cards to be so close in performance. Makes me think that a 685 is out there waiting to be released.
Graphics card Master

I agree with inzone , I believe there will be another card like a 685 , AMD is working an a 7970 1GHZ model , would make sense for Nvidia to compete with their new card.
Grab the 670 is a good deal , you can add another later if need be , but I believe the card will definately last you some time due to its good performance.
A pair of 480s is fast but not efficient, the 670 would give you much more , power, heat and noise savings over the 480 SLI.
Graphics card Expert

monsta said:
I agree with inzone , I believe there will be another card like a 685 , AMD is working an a 7970 1GHZ model , would make sense for Nvidia to compete with their new card.
Grab the 670 is a good deal , you can add another later if need be , but I believe the card will definately last you some time due to its good performance.
A pair of 480s is fast but not efficient, the 670 would give you much more , power, heat and noise savings over the 480 SLI.


People tend to make a bigger deal about power saving on video cards than it's worth.

If you leave your PC on 24/7, then I wholeheartedly agree with you that a 670 is better. However, If you're like me, I game about 10 hours a week on my PC and use my laptop for most work.

The 480 uses 237 watts at load, while the 670 uses 146. Where I am, electricity is $0.16 per kwh, so @10 hours of gaming per week, the 670 would save me a whopping $7.56 a year over a single 480, which won't cover the $160 price difference for over 20 years.

Like I said, a single 480 serves up 90% of the performance of a 670 for way cheaper.

A pair of 480's is obviously going to be a power hog, but at that point, you're doing it for pure performance. the 400 series scaled at about 90% for the second card, so a pair of 480's would be approx. 170% of the performance of a single 670, for only a bit more initial cost.
Graphics card Master

The price of electricity here has become rediculous , they are forcing people to go green and now they are rasing the price more and more beacuse of the reduction of power per household uses.
Saving approximately 100 Watts isnt a bad thing , I play a lot of games and to me it makes a difference to my wallet.
You arent just saving power on your bills but also on your system load , the 670 runs much cooler than a 480, and that to some is really important.
I know what you are saying tho and I agree , for some the power does not matter at all.
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