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Thread ID: 135821	2013-12-15 21:17:00	Graphics card upgrade (finally)	the_bogan (9949)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1362703	2013-12-15 21:17:00	Currently have an 8600gt (from memory, I keep forgetting to check when I'm at home), which I figure is time for an upgrade. Not after something flash and expensive, after all I'm running an older PC with XP home on it (Which Wainui built for me years ago) Any ideas?	the_bogan (9949)
1362704	2013-12-15 21:28:00	Why you wanting to upgrade? Are you playing a lot of new games? What's your budget, and what's the rest of your system specs?	Chilling_Silence (9)
1362705	2013-12-15 21:31:00	Playing newer (not necessarily the newest) where the minimum requirement is an 8800, and the 512mb could be more. I can't recall the rest of the specs exactly. um... p5k-se motherboard, 2gb ram, 450 volt power supply. Budget wise, $150 or less	the_bogan (9949)
1362706	2013-12-15 22:10:00	For around $150 you should be able to find a 650/7770/7790. IMO you're better off saving up another $100.	icow (15313)
1362707	2013-12-15 22:15:00	Something like www.pp.co.nz or if you want to stick with Nvidia www.pp.co.nz but it's a bit slower. Both are a lot faster than an 8600 but we are still talking low end of current gaming hardware so don't expect too much, also your system might be the bottleneck in some games. For example I tested World of warcraft on a dual core pentium D 3.0 ghz machine with 2 gigs of RAM, with both an ancient 5450 and a slightly newer 9600GT. The power difference between those cards is huge but the game played the same no matter what settings because it was the CPU limiting it.	dugimodo (138)
1362708	2013-12-16 01:34:00	Thanks for the feedback. I think I'll go with the 630, but may change my mind by the time I can afford it Wednesday. I'll get round to replacing the entire machine maybe mid next year (depending on how much of the budget I drink), so I'm just after a "placeholder" till then.	the_bogan (9949)
1362709	2013-12-16 06:44:00	I wouldnt worry too much about the bottle neck problem... it seems everything I read nowadays shows that bottlenecking is a bit of a myth. Using incredibly low end cpu's with high end gpu's results in next to no fps drop in demanding games that are gpu intensive. The only decreses in some games are caused by the games high cpu utilisation that isnt being satisfied by a low end cpu but is not bottlenecking the gpu, and to make it better newer games are using less and less cpu resources.	Slankydudl (16687)
1362710	2013-12-16 12:59:00	Lolwut?! You drunk mate?? You're disagreeing but then agreeing with it? Going from my dual-core 3.2Ghz with a 6870 to a 7970 resulted in approx a 25% FPS increase in LOTRO (From 80FPS -> 100FPS). Then, upgrading to a 6-core 3.2Ghz was a further increase by around 20% (to 120FPS). Yeah, the CPU and GPU definitely have an effect on each other.	Chilling_Silence (9)
1362711	2013-12-16 22:10:00	I wouldnt worry too much about the bottle neck problem... it seems everything I read nowadays shows that bottlenecking is a bit of a myth. Using incredibly low end cpu's with high end gpu's results in next to no fps drop in demanding games that are gpu intensive. The only decreses in some games are caused by the games high cpu utilisation that isnt being satisfied by a low end cpu but is not bottlenecking the gpu, and to make it better newer games are using less and less cpu resources. I would argue the opposite is happening.	icow (15313)
1362712	2013-12-16 23:21:00	Yeah you won't get much support on that one. Tom's hardware have even stopped reccomending Dual core CPU's on their monthly "best CPU for the money" articles due to the increasing number of games utilising 4 cores now. I think it's more a case of a CPU or GPU bottlenecking a particular game more often than they do each other if that makes sense. In any case there's not much point putting a high end modern graphics card with too old of a CPU & Vice versa. Chill and & I both posted examples of how CPU's can indeed be the bottleneck in some cases. It's not that a graphics card upgrade isn't worth doing, just that it's value is limited and the suggested budget seems about appropriate to me in this case and I wanted to point out that it may not help in all games.	dugimodo (138)
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