Best Graphics card for High End Games

[deepakece]

Hi Guys,

I own i3 540 processor with 4gb RAM, I wanted to play high end games with ultra settings. I planned to buy GTX 660 or GTX 750 ti. Could anyone confirm whether I can play Farcry 4 with this specs. I came to know 4gb ram is not sufficient to play Farcry 4. So kindly confirm which graphics card should i buy for these specs.

 

[BT14]

whats your budget for the GPU?

 

[quilciri]

Between those two cards, the 660 is stronger. However it will be held back a little by the CPU. You might consider looking for a used I7 960 as your next upgrade after the RAM.

one for $90 BIN on ebay right now
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-i7-960-3-2-GHz-8MB-Quad-Core-Processor-/151543478660?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2348b1f984

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

Between those two cards, the 660 is stronger. However it will be held back a little by the CPU. You might consider looking for a used I7 960 as your next upgrade after the RAM.

one for $90 BIN on ebay right now
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-i7-960-3-2-GHz-8MB-Quad-Core-Processor-/151543478660?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2348b1f984

The i7-960 is socket LGA 1366 and not compatible with his motherboard.

 

[quilciri]

The i7-960 is socket LGA 1366 and not compatible with his motherboard.

Whoops, make that 860, not 960.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-i7-860-2-8GHz-Quad-Core-SLBJJ-8MB-LGA1156-/251785177728?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a9f90ea80

also correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the lynfield xeon's would work, too. this would be essentially the same processor for cheaper:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-X3460-2-80-GHz-8M-SLBJK-Processor-/391024464137?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5b0adfd109

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

Playing high-end games on ultra settings will require much more than just upgrading the GPU. You'll need high-end hardware to run games like The Witcher 3 and Dragon Age: Inquisition on ultra. Example:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($318.75 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card ($329.00 @ NCIX US)
Total: $883.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-09 14:53 EST-0500

 

[Eggz]

The computer in my signature can't run Far Cry 4 on Ulra without dipping below 60 fps. It will stay around 60ish on custom settings between very high and ultra, but it won't max. Maxing out those games takes a lot. You'd probably need to SLI a pair of 970/980s, or else get an R9 295x2.

I don't really think it's worth building a computer to max things out like this completely, that is if you care about money at all. You can run pretty high settings for less than half the cost. A single 970 is a good 1080p card that will last a while if you have a CPU that can feed it, which your i3 will definitely struggle doing.

But if you don't mind turning things down (and there's nothing wrong with turning things down), then just get the game and see how it runs on low.

 

[Robertwhyte]

The computer in my signature can't run Far Cry 4 on Ulra without dipping below 60 fps. It will stay around 60ish on custom settings between very high and ultra, but it won't max. Maxing out those games takes a lot. You'd probably need to SLI a pair of 970/980s, or else get an R9 295x2.

I don't really think it's worth building a computer to max things out like this completely, that is if you care about money at all. You can run pretty high settings for less than half the cost. A single 970 is a good 1080p card that will last a while if you have a CPU that can feed it, which your i3 will definitely struggle doing.

But if you don't mind turning things down (and there's nothing wrong with turning things down), then just get the game and see how it runs on low.

You dont need 970s or 980s in sli to max out games at 1080p lol! for 1440p to 4K sure. My 970 and 4790k maxed out FC4 with over 60fps at 1080p, completely maxed out i was able to get 50.8 fps in dragon age inquisition, thats with 4xMSAA, 2xMSAA nets me around 65fps. The witcher 3s recommended gpu is a 770!

 

[Eggz]

@Robertwhyte

Yeah, I admit that would be overkill most almost everything, but I was being literal about "maxed out." Go into your settings and literally turn everything as high as it will go, and you'll dip down below 60. I promise. TXAAx4 alone is crazily inefficient and meant for SLI setups. Take a look a Nvidia's tweak guid for FC4: http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/guides/far-cry-4-graphics-performance-and-tweaking-guide

Anyway, that's why I advised against building to literally max out a game. It's better to just get decent hardware that will do a decent job with high details (or medium, depending on your circumstance), rather than literal max.

 

[quilciri]

I was being literal about "maxed out." Go into your settings and literally turn everything as high as it will go, and you'll dip down below 60. TXAAx4 alone is crazily inefficient...

My 970 and 4790k maxed out FC4 with over 60fps at 1080p

Haha, thanks for chiming in. I was gonna say, I can't even max out far cry 4 1080p over 60fps on SLI 670's, a single 970 would need Jesus.