Is a GPU upgrade always the first choice?

corblimey

So I play exactly one game on my PC these days, Cities Skylines. At a certain city size, things start to crawl, saving takes longer, even rotating the camera gets a bit finicky. I've dropped the prefs quite significantly, but it's still pretty bad. My spec is (if I believe the shopping list I made 3 years ago):

• Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155
• 8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz PC3-12800U CL9
• ASUS EAH7770-DC-1GD5 V2, AMD Radeon HD 7770, 1GB, PCI-Express

Now to my eyes, the weak point there is probably the gfx card, the specs for Cities Skylines suggests 2gb (nVIDIA GeForce GTX 660, 2 GB / AMD Radeon HD 7870, 2 GB) but should I be looking at something else first? Since this is the only thing I use my PC for these days, I don't want to spend too much, but that's not to say I'm not willing to fork out some cash to future proof it at least.

So if the gfx card upgrade is the way to go, are the listed cards the best option, or should I be looking at other options?

Lu Tze

corblimey wrote: »

So I play exactly one game on my PC these days, Cities Skylines. At a certain city size, things start to crawl, saving takes longer, even rotating the camera gets a bit finicky. I've dropped the prefs quite significantly, but it's still pretty bad. My spec is (if I believe the shopping list I made 3 years ago):

• Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155
• 8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz PC3-12800U CL9
• ASUS EAH7770-DC-1GD5 V2, AMD Radeon HD 7770, 1GB, PCI-Express

Now to my eyes, the weak point there is probably the gfx card, the specs for Cities Skylines suggests 2gb (nVIDIA GeForce GTX 660, 2 GB / AMD Radeon HD 7870, 2 GB) but should I be looking at something else first? Since this is the only thing I use my PC for these days, I don't want to spend too much, but that's not to say I'm not willing to fork out some cash to future proof it at least.

So if the gfx card upgrade is the way to go, are the listed cards the best option, or should I be looking at other options?

Whats your budget? And whats the resolution of your monitor? And what is your power supply?

Those cards are a couple of generations old now, but there are equivalent cards from both manufacturers. Have a look at the GTX950 or GTX960 from Nvidia or the 270x from AMD.

Even a GTX750 ti would be a big step up, can be got second hand for ~€110 and new from ~€130

Tails142

I only played cities skylines briefly when it came out but for these SIM games a lot of the time the actual game engine just has problems staying efficient once the city gets above a certain size.

Your RAM probably isn't an issue at 8gb, it could be an issue with the memory size on the video card and swapping textures onto the video card is causing issues so if you are thinking of upgrading get a model with at least 2gb memory onboard as this is something often overlooked.

It might also be issues with the processor becoming a bottleneck, you could check for this by using the performance tab in the Windows task manager while playing the game and see if the cpu is running at 100%

Mostly gpu is the bottle neck but on a big SIM game like that cpu could come into play or even loading textures in which case a better gpu, faster ram and even a ssd would all help improve performance.

corblimey

Lu Tze wrote: »

Whats your budget? And whats the resolution of your monitor? And what is your power supply?

Those cards are a couple of generations old now, but there are equivalent cards from both manufacturers. Have a look at the GTX950 or GTX960 from Nvidia or the 270x from AMD.

Even a GTX750 ti would be a big step up, can be got second hand for ~€110 and new from ~€130

No budget to speak of, really. I don't want to go too overboard in case in 3 months time, I'm no longer playing CS and nothing has come along in the meantime, but I'm willing to spend what it needs. My monitor is 1920x1080, connected via HDMI. Power supply is this one.

Tails142 wrote: »

Your RAM probably isn't an issue at 8gb, it could be an issue with the memory size on the video card and swapping textures onto the video card is causing issues so if you are thinking of upgrading get a model with at least 2gb memory onboard as this is something often overlooked.

It might also be issues with the processor becoming a bottleneck, you could check for this by using the performance tab in the Windows task manager while playing the game and see if the cpu is running at 100%.

Good point on the performance tab, will check that when I get home, but I'm guessing an upgrade to at least a 2gb card wouldn't go astray anyway, even if it turns out to be a weakness of the game itself (I've been checking reddit and other places, and there doesn't seem to be too much talk of slowdown, outside of dodgy mods for larger cities than mine).

So does my choice come down to GTX950 2gb vs GTX960 vs AMD 270. Of those 3, the 960 seems to fare the best on gpuboss?

ETA: I sorta kinda wanta play GTA V maybe perhaps, if that changes the tune.

TerrorFirmer

Everything else is perfectly fine in your system, the 7770 is a massive bottleneck from a spec point of view. The GTX660 or 7870 would both be a lot faster than that card.

I think the GTX950 would be sufficient for your uses, it'll also play GTA V at high settings at 1080p at a decent level. It's a decent card and a huge upgrade from a 7770.

corblimey

The 960 is only a little more expensive, any reason not to go for it with my setup?

corblimey

Adding my mb just to sanity check that any choices I make will fit in it:

ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, Sockel 1155, mATX

TerrorFirmer

There's no reason not to, only suggested the 950 because you are only playing one game and potentially a second. The sky's the limit really, your system is excellent other than the video card, so a €350 GTX970 or €300 R9 390 would be the ideal match

Your board is fine, the only limitations would be that you physically have the space inside whatever case you have, and assuming you have a decent power supply.

Lu Tze

corblimey wrote: »

The 960 is only a little more expensive, any reason not to go for it with my setup?

It depends if you are comparing like with like, the cheapest 960s may not be that much more expensive than the most expensive 950s, but there will likely be a big difference in cooling, noise levels etc.

960s tend to be about 10-15% faster, whether its worth the price difference is up to yourself

corblimey

Well I was looking at

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-Nvidia-Windforce-PCI-E-Graphics/dp/B00SKTF83W/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1445431262&sr=1-2&keywords=GTX960

vs

http://www.amazon.co.uk/GIGABYTE-128-Bit-Dl-DVI-I-Windforce-Graphics/dp/B0146YLBTO/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1445441917&sr=1-1&keywords=GTX950

so less than 30 quid in it, but from what you're saying, lu tze, the 950 is a better 950, and the 960 (which I see can go up to 200 quid plus) is a worse 960.

Lu Tze

corblimey wrote: »

Well I was looking at

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-Nvidia-Windforce-PCI-E-Graphics/dp/B00SKTF83W/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1445431262&sr=1-2&keywords=GTX960

vs

http://www.amazon.co.uk/GIGABYTE-128-Bit-Dl-DVI-I-Windforce-Graphics/dp/B0146YLBTO/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1445441917&sr=1-1&keywords=GTX950

so less than 30 quid in it, but from what you're saying, lu tze, the 950 is a better 950, and the 960 (which I see can go up to 200 quid plus) is a worse 960.

In fairness they are similar models, likely very similar coolers on them its just a question of budget and how much you are going to be using it and if its worth it to you.

corblimey

Ok, so it sounds like a 950 is my best bet in terms of increase on the current card vs not overspending for my needs right now.

Now the question is which one? How does one go about comparing different brands of cards like this?

grindle

corblimey wrote: »

Now the question is which one? How does one go about comparing different brands of cards like this?

MSI's is the best of the bunch.

Eoinmc97

Look for an R9 280 or a GTX 950 and bob's your uncle. Obviously, the 280 is more powerful, but is also €15 more expensive.
I don't recommend going upto the R9 390/GTX 970/R9 290X levels just because the price wouldn't justify it for one game.
In terms of power, your supply will be more than capable.