Picking Out A New GFX

MarkJD

Hey All,

I would like to think i have a fairly decent PC for gaming but its about 2 years old now and id imagine its getting on in time. Ill probably only be playing FFXIV (Final Fantasy 14) for the forseable future and maybe the odd FPS.

Upon checking the current reccomended requirements (still in beta) for FF14 my PC seems to stand up just about to whats required.

[ PC Reccomended Requirepments: Windows XP/Vista/7, Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz or AMD Athlon X2 2GHz, 2GB of RAM, 15GB HDD space, NVIDIA GeForce 9600 512MB or ATI Radeon HD 2900 512MB and DirectX 9.]

My PC

Windows XP Pro (32bit), Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 @3.00 GHz, Corsair XMS2 4G PC 6400 800 MHz CL5, ATI Radeon Sapphire HD 4850 512 MB GDDR3 PCI-E

Im thinking if i can get a new GFX Card it will increase the performance by quite a bit! Any suggestions would be great

Im thinking of a price limit of about €200-€220! Something that will give me the possibility to run it on Medium - High settings.

Thanks

Lu Tze

What resolution is your monitor?

swirlser

Should change the "recommended" requirements to "minimum" in your post because they really are, infact with the listed parts you may not even be able to play, or at best struggle on low settings.

With your rig, Im sure your scoring close to the "unplayable" 1500 (on 1080p) score on the bench tool.

It'll run, but how much will you have to gimp the settings...

The prob is its both gpu and cpu intensive, so even though upgrading the gpu, u'll find then the cpu will hold you back. If you can only upgrade one, then I guess OC'ing the other could keep you going for the time being.

To see a decent improvement you would want to aim for a 5850 gpu, but the cpu will definitely be holding you back then.

MarkJD

Lu Tze wrote: »

What resolution is your monitor?

Its an old one by todays standards. 19" Widescreen 1440 x 900 2ms. Ill probably pick up a new one should i need it though so dont hold back on suggestions based on monitor.

#014917

Hey, was thinking about building a PC for FFXIV, been doing some research on the past few days. Here's a pretty good referance I've been using: http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/showthread.php?t=94743
Basicly it's people posting their benchmark results and their CPUs + GFX Cards. Also there's a charts in the OP but quite a few more results have been added since it was last updated.

As far as GFX cards these two look good for their price-
Radeon HD 5750:
http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/5998023/art/pixmania/radeon-hd-5750-1-gb-gddr5.html
Radeon HD 5770:
http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/4129647/art/pixmania/radeon-hd-5770-1-gb-gddr5.html

From looking at the link above they seem to do fairly well.
Pre-ordered the CE version from game.co.uk! Hopefully will get here in time and will prob wait until August to start getting parts for a PC. Got into the beta but having login problems, waiting on an e-mail atm. So will see if this laptop can run it on gimped settings, scored around 750 on the benchmark low settings so not very hopeful.
Edit: I'm using a Intel Core2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53GHz and ATI Radeon 4570 Mobility if you're wondering

MarkJD

swirlser wrote: »

Should change the "recommended" requirements to "minimum" in your post because they really are, infact with the listed parts you may not even be able to play, or at best struggle on low settings.

With your rig, Im sure your scoring close to the "unplayable" 1500 (on 1080p) score on the bench tool.

It'll run, but how much will you have to gimp the settings...

The prob is its both gpu and cpu intensive, so even though upgrading the gpu, u'll find then the cpu will hold you back. If you can only upgrade one, then I guess OC'ing the other could keep you going for the time being.

To see a decent improvement you would want to aim for a 5850 gpu, but the cpu will definitely be holding you back then.

Thanks for the info, How come the CPU is so bad? Even if the reccomended requirements are say 2.8 GHz mine is a 3.0 so would i not be covered? I could overclock the CPU though i dont imagine that being a problem.

Ill check out that GPU thanks! I forget what PSU i have in there and with my komplett account & orders gone is there any utility or tool i can use that would let me know?

MarkJD

#014917 wrote: »

Hey, was thinking about building a PC for FFXIV, been doing some research on the past few days. Here's a pretty good referance I've been using: http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/showthread.php?t=94743
Basicly it's people posting their benchmark results and their CPUs + GFX Cards. Also there's a charts in the OP but quite a few more results have been added since it was last updated.

As far as GFX cards these two look good for their price-
Radeon HD 5750:
http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/5998023/art/pixmania/radeon-hd-5750-1-gb-gddr5.html
Radeon HD 5770:
http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/4129647/art/pixmania/radeon-hd-5770-1-gb-gddr5.html

From looking at the link above they seem to do fairly well.
Pre-ordered the CE version from game.co.uk! Hopefully will get here in time and will prob wait until August to start getting parts for a PC. Got into the beta but having login problems, waiting on an e-mail atm. So will see if this laptop can run it on gimped settings, scored around 750 on the benchmark so not very hopeful.

haha ye im a member on BG, been playing FFXI since 2004. Iv been in the Alpha a few weeks now and that ran the game fine with no problems even in crowded areas. Now with the Beta its running really choppy even on lower settings. From reading on BG and the beta forums there seems to be a problem with some of the ATI HD cards that they are working on but thats the main reason why its choppy.

Someone suggested 5750 on BG but they are also having the choppy problem while playing. I wanted to check here because there would be better suggestions closer to home price wise etc!

MarkJD

These are some screenshots of the Benchmark score and machine specs in responce to swilrser. That score was on the low setting not even on the 1080 setting.

I was led to beleive the Alpha version of the game would be more intensive on a system because it wouldnt be optimized aswell but obviously thats not the case. The Alpha ran so smooth. As mentioned there is an issue with some ATI HD cards where the game is very choppy and thats what im experiencing.

Lu Tze

Unless it is as badly coded as GTA4 i reckon you should be grand with the CPU you have.

Sell you 4850 and add that to the 220 you mentioned above and go for these





Looking at the chart posted above by #014917 it does seem to be clock speed > multi core, same graphics card for no.45 (q6600@2.4ghz) and no.38 (e6300@3.6 ghz) so i reckon you should be fine wi9th yours at stock clock speeds

#014917

MarkJD wrote: »

haha ye im a member on BG, been playing FFXI since 2004. Iv been in the Alpha a few weeks now and that ran the game fine with no problems even in crowded areas. Now with the Beta its running really choppy even on lower settings. From reading on BG and the beta forums there seems to be a problem with some of the ATI HD cards that they are working on but thats the main reason why its choppy.

Someone suggested 5750 on BG but they are also having the choppy problem while playing. I wanted to check here because there would be better suggestions closer to home price wise etc!

Ah, hopefully that will will patched soon and I'd imagine it will be fixed by the time retail rolls around! Also heard some problems the some nvidea cards so they must be working on a fix. Out of curiosity where do you plan on getting the retail version? From my experiances with FFXI there was never alot of copies of PC version on the shelves and it took me forever to find a 360 copy of the game..

swirlser

Could pop your case open and read the info on your psu

Your machine as-is should be just about enough to play it, you will be playing prob at lower res and settings however.

It just happens this game does like to use both the gpu and cpu (the cpu more so on low res).

In terms of playing at 1080p or higher, your gpu is definitely the one to upgrade tho and unfortunately the 5700 series wouldnt really change your world - so to actually see a decent increase you will want a 5800 series. (Fyi, ATI cards are beating nV's, even tho the game is sponsored by nV lol)

Lu Tze

swirlser wrote: »

Could pop your case open and read the info on your psu

Your machine as-is should be just about enough to play it, you will be playing prob at lower res and settings however.

It just happens this game does like to use both the gpu and cpu (the cpu more so on low res).

In terms of playing at 1080p or higher, your gpu is definitely the one to upgrade tho and unfortunately the 5700 series wouldnt really change your world - so to actually see a decent increase you will want a 5800 series. (Fyi, ATI cards are beating nV's, even tho the game is sponsored by nV lol)

The GTX 460 has been getting excellent reviews, beating the 5830 in performance, and its cheaper!

Edit: But yeah in every other price category you are better off with ATI

swirlser

In FFXIV, ATI cards are getting better results than their nV competition...

5870> GTX480
5850> GTX470

MarkJD

Lu Tze wrote: »

Unless it is as badly coded as GTA4 i reckon you should be grand with the CPU you have.

Sell you 4850 and add that to the 220 you mentioned above and go for these





Looking at the chart posted above by #014917 it does seem to be clock speed > multi core, same graphics card for no.45 (q6600@2.4ghz) and no.38 (e6300@3.6 ghz) so i reckon you should be fine wi9th yours at stock clock speeds

Thanks for the suggestions, i like the look of that Monitor although iv always been a fan of Samsung LG really have some nice stuff. Im probably going to stick with ATI as iv always been with ATI and beleive they run better.

Would the 5850 suggested by swirlser be better than the card you suggested in terms of performance?

What website are those prices from?

MarkJD

#014917 wrote: »

Ah, hopefully that will will patched soon and I'd imagine it will be fixed by the time retail rolls around! Also heard some problems the some nvidea cards so they must be working on a fix. Out of curiosity where do you plan on getting the retail version? From my experiances with FFXI there was never alot of copies of PC version on the shelves and it took me forever to find a 360 copy of the game..

Well ill probably pre order it on Game.co.uk because they seem the cheapest at the moment. The only thing is im not sure if we will get them on release day or if they will just be shipped out on that day? Getting the collectors edition gives you 8 days early access and if it takes 3/4 days for it to ship it seems pointless.

Ye i picked up a copy of FFXI back in the day, COP was just released. Had to buy TOAU / WOTG as additional expansions. Shame to see FF14 not being released on 360 anymore. PS3 has been pushed back months now!

Lu Tze

They are from ebuyer.com

If you do go all out though and go for a 5850 or such, then your CPU will start to bottleneck it i reckon. Whereas it would still be a relatively balanced system with a gtx460 or 5770/5830. You might in that case think about investing in a fast core2quad (Q9450, or Q9550) if your motherboard supports them.

The monitor is nice, i have the same one, though selling it now (as well as my PC)

MarkJD

swirlser wrote: »

Could pop your case open and read the info on your psu

Your machine as-is should be just about enough to play it, you will be playing prob at lower res and settings however.

It just happens this game does like to use both the gpu and cpu (the cpu more so on low res).

In terms of playing at 1080p or higher, your gpu is definitely the one to upgrade tho and unfortunately the 5700 series wouldnt really change your world - so to actually see a decent increase you will want a 5800 series. (Fyi, ATI cards are beating nV's, even tho the game is sponsored by nV lol)

Haha ye im not at home at the moment just wanted to start pricing up parts and have a better idea of what i can and cant use. I know i stuck in a good one at the time though, pretty sure its an OCZ 700W or close to that.

Ill probably go for the 5850! Hoping everything else holds up ok though!

Anyone ever ordered a whole machine from Over Clockers UK before? I can put a machine together with little trouble but if i was getting a new machine this time around id rather just buy it ready to go and pay that bit extra. Anyone know of a place in Dublin that would throw a gaming machine together given all the parts? Properly with good wiring etc for maximum airflow?

MarkJD

Lu Tze wrote: »

They are from ebuyer.com

If you do go all out though and go for a 5850 or such, then your CPU will start to bottleneck it i reckon. Whereas it would still be a relatively balanced system with a gtx460 or 5770/5830. You might in that case think about investing in a fast core2quad (Q9450, or Q9550) if your motherboard supports them.

The monitor is nice, i have the same one, though selling it now (as well as my PC)

Whats their price like for shipping? Is your PC a gaming machine? Any particular reason your selling? Whats the spec and how much would you be looking for?

swirlser

Ah dont be afraid to get your hands dirty I havent ordered from OCUK myself and its been awhile since I read these forums, but iirc they charge irish vat when you get to the checkout making them not as competitive as they first appear - just be aware of that (EDIT: erm just realised how little that matters now.... >_<)

Also I actually made a FF14 thread in the MMO section. Im unsure where to order the CE myself, since Im also concerned about the delivery time virtually cancelling the benefits of the CE ^_^;;

Think ill just ring around and find a shop to order it in for me maybe

#014917

MarkJD wrote: »

Well ill probably pre order it on Game.co.uk because they seem the cheapest at the moment. The only thing is im not sure if we will get them on release day or if they will just be shipped out on that day? Getting the collectors edition gives you 8 days early access and if it takes 3/4 days for it to ship it seems pointless.

Ye i picked up a copy of FFXI back in the day, COP was just released. Had to buy TOAU / WOTG as additional expansions. Shame to see FF14 not being released on 360 anymore. PS3 has been pushed back months now!

In the past few minutes I just got an email from game saying the CE was pushed back to September 30th in Europe but havn't heard of this anywhere else... Also think they ship a few days early so I'm expecting to get it maybe 2 days after release.

Yeah I got FFXI back then as well! just over 5 years ago now. What server were you on?

swirlser

#014917 wrote: »

In the past few minutes I just got an email from game saying the CE was pushed back to September 30th in Europe ...

>_<

What! ^^; Some other sites are starting to change the date to the 30th also for the CE balls.... does that mean the regular version is being pushed back - coz the main selling point of the CE was definitely the early access

#014917

Went to the official site and it's still listed as 30th for SE and 22nd for CE. The SE on game is still 30th. Gamestation changed their date as well but the others are still listing 22nd as of now.

MarkJD

swirlser wrote: »

Ah dont be afraid to get your hands dirty I havent ordered from OCUK myself and its been awhile since I read these forums, but iirc they charge irish vat when you get to the checkout making them not as competitive as they first appear - just be aware of that (EDIT: erm just realised how little that matters now.... >_<)

Also I actually made a FF14 thread in the MMO section. Im unsure where to order the CE myself, since Im also concerned about the delivery time virtually cancelling the benefits of the CE ^_^;;

Think ill just ring around and find a shop to order it in for me maybe

haha i know but i made a balls of a stock cooler recently and snapped one of the push in pins, person had to wait 4 days for a new cooler to come out! Id rather pay someone €50.00 to throw one together knowing it was done well and properly, not that im not capable but it would be nice haha!

Nice to see there will be hopefully some Irish based FF14 players, was very hard to find any FFXI players for ages.

Thats not a bad idea actually, would they get it in for you on release day for you do you think?

I think it was #014917 who said he was invited to the beta, but if your interested yourself i could get you logged into the Beta if you wanted to give it a try?

#014917 wrote: »

In the past few minutes I just got an email from game saying the CE was pushed back to September 30th in Europe but havn't heard of this anywhere else... Also think they ship a few days early so I'm expecting to get it maybe 2 days after release.

Yeah I got FFXI back then as well! just over 5 years ago now. What server were you on?

Havnt heard of that but on BG i heard of people saying they received emails from Amazon that it was pushed back, was with most games id imagine it will be pushed back, wouldnt be surpised if its late November before its out. Apparently quite a few bugs and problems with the Beta.

Was on Fairy then got moved to Sylph recently. The June update just came out and incrased the level cap, was pretty pissed off all the HQ armor i had and end game armor i spent years getting was poinltess so lost interest and gave some of the sellable gears to some friends. Not sure ill be going back

marco_polo

If it is stuttering at only 1440 X 900 then I really doubt that the HD 4850 is the main culprit. After all this is a card that can still pretty well max out nearly anything at 1680 X 1050.

swirlser

MarkJD wrote: »

Thats not a bad idea actually, would they get it in for you on release day for you do you think?

I think it was #014917 who said he was invited to the beta, but if your interested yourself i could get you logged into the Beta if you wanted to give it a try?

Well a shop should get it in with their shipment prior to the release date, so that would prob be a good bet - question now tho is just when is it out ^^;

Ouuuuuu, really tempted by beta :O But I think ..... that ... I should wait til its out and ready to be played :S MMOs always start a bit buggy as it is, starting to play before its even out with even more bugs present, hmmm

Btw, Sylph was my server ;p but I stopped playing a long time ago (for reasons outlined in the other thread)

MarkJD

marco_polo wrote: »

If it is stuttering at only 1440 X 900 then I really doubt that the HD 4850 is the main culprit. After all this is a card that can still pretty well max out nearly anything at 1680 X 1050.

Do you think the cause of the problem may be the CPU then? I mean you can see the specs i posted i know its not top of the range but it isnt that bad is it? I ran BF BC2 on medium settings fine with no lag or problems

MarkJD

swirlser wrote: »

Well a shop should get it in with their shipment prior to the release date, so that would prob be a good bet - question now tho is just when is it out ^^;

Ouuuuuu, really tempted by beta :O But I think ..... that ... I should wait til its out and ready to be played :S MMOs always start a bit buggy as it is, starting to play before its even out with even more bugs present, hmmm

Btw, Sylph was my server ;p but I stopped playing a long time ago (for reasons outlined in the other thread)

Link me to the thread you started, or was that the one i posted in already?

Well let me know if you want to try, just need to download the Client, i mean its pretty stable apart from the jumpy problems people are having with some ATI cards.

#014917

MarkJD wrote: »

Nice to see there will be hopefully some Irish based FF14 players, was very hard to find any FFXI players for ages.

Was on Fairy then got moved to Sylph recently. The June update just came out and incrased the level cap, was pretty pissed off all the HQ armor i had and end game armor i spent years getting was poinltess so lost interest and gave some of the sellable gears to some friends. Not sure ill be going back

I didn't know any Irish players :P Linkshell I was in was very global. Wasn't very big but there was a few USA players and people scattered around Europe. LS leader was in Estonia! I was on Remora but quit last year, stuff was taking forever to do and I was just starting college.

Will see in time about the date, guess it's out of our hands anyway.

And yep I got into Beta (got an e-mail on Monday) but having log in issues and waiting on a e-mail reply so we'll see!

Lu Tze

MarkJD wrote: »

Whats their price like for shipping? Is your PC a gaming machine? Any particular reason your selling? Whats the spec and how much would you be looking for?

Its a low to medium spec gaming machine, haven't had much problems at 1080p. there is a link to it in my sig with a benchmark for just cause 2 up on it if you are interested in how the 5770 performs? Not for you though, as its a step down in the processor from the rig you already have! And because of the type of dell it is it doesn't support quad cores

Selling as i am leaving the country. Haven't put up the screen for sale yet though.

marco_polo

MarkJD wrote: »

Do you think the cause of the problem may be the CPU then? I mean you can see the specs i posted i know its not top of the range but it isnt that bad is it? I ran BF BC2 on medium settings fine with no lag or problems

I'd bet money that it either it is heavily multithreaded and would benefit greatly from a quad core or else much optimization remains to be done on the beta. Either way a HD4850 should not be the botttleneck at 1440X900.

Wouldn't make any definate decisions on the back of a beta version tbh, would wait and see what the release version is like first and only then then identify the source of the the problem if it remains.

MarkJD

Well there are some ongoing issues with some of the ATI HD series, the 5750 has also been tagged as one with the same problem im experiencing. I guess ill wait to see how thats resolved and see how it runs!