Can my PC run these games on ultra?

[Jupz]

Hello, Im planning on getting building my first PC in a couple of weeks and wanted to know if my set up can run games like Skyrim, Battlefield and future games like Black ops 2 and Bioshock on ultra settings (oh and is everything compatible?)

My Setup is:

Case: Casecom 6788 All Black Case

CPU: Intel I5 3570K Processor

Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LX Motherboard

RAM: 8GB DDR3 (2 x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance LP Blue Memory

CPU Cooler: Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo AMD Socket AM2 AM2 AM3 AM3 FM1 Intel 775 1155 1156 1366 Processor Cooler

PSU: Antec VP 550W PSU

HDD: Toshiba 1TB Hard Drive

GPU: Asus GTX 660 Ti DirectCU II OC Edition 2GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card

Monitor: ACER V223HQVb 21.5'' LCD VGA Monitor

Mouse: Gigabyte M6800 Gaming Mouse

Keyboard: Gigabyte K6800 Keyboard

(hope Im not missing anything)

 

[sponchie]

Looks very good only thing that stands out is your PSU looks a little underpowered.

 

[jay2tall]

Looks like a good build to me. Your memory speed is not listed, but I would assume it's DDR3 1600 or higher. The cooler is probably the cheapest best cooler you can get right now. I just helpded a coworker build a machine and used this. It was a little clumsy to install, but cools great and is a top quality fan. If you plan to OC it will allow for a decent increase.

I would not say the 660TI will run everything on Ultra. It will depend what resolution you are running at, but assuming 1920x1080, I think it will run everything pretty darn well.

The only other thing I could recommend is an SSD for OS and Apps. A 120GB drive is $100 anymore and is WELL worth it. HDD's are great for data storage, but with new builds it's just a shame to slow down a nice system with Windows and Apps running off a slow drive when SSD's are readily available. Just my 2 cents. I just picked up an Intel 330 240GB drive for $140 off Newegg the other day and am just thrilled with it. Even though it's running off SATA2 it runs circles around my previous RAID 0 of 2 HDDs. You just have to be a little smart with storage since it's a smaller drive, but worth it.

Looks very good only thing that stands out is your PSU looks a little underpowered.

That PSU is perfectly fine for his system. 550W and has (2) 30A rails rated at 444W (444w/12v=37A). That is on par with his system with some overhead for OC. You could go with a 600 or 650W, but I wouldn't go much more or your efficiency would drop. Unless he is planning on a dual video card system or running 20 harddrives, he is perfectly fine with the Antec 550.

 

[Jupz]

thanks, and I was wondering if there is a better graphics card than the GTX660Ti that I could get for approximately $500

 

[photonboy]

First of all:
1) the GTX660Ti is your bottleneck (not saying it's a bad card)
2) the 550W PSU is adequate but it will be noisier than a 750W of similar specs (noise on most PSU's stays low until 50% load then ramps up). Recommend at least a 650W quality PSU.

3) The "BEST" card (arguably) is the Asus GTX680 TOP edition (1137MHz version). I have this card. http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/55064-asus-gtx-680-directcu-ii-top-review.html

This graphics card is three slots (large) but is also the best forming AND quietest GTX680 at the same time.

$540 (includes Borderlands 2 coupon.) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121634

GAME PERFORMANCE (660Ti vs 680):
1) Bioshock 1 and 2 (either on full quality)
2) BF3 (680 for MAX quality)
3) Skyrim (either card in general, 680 with HD texture pack won't drop below 60FPS but 660TI will)
4) Diablo 3 (either card for max quality)
5) Witcher 2 (close to max quality with 680)

SUMMARY:
- plenty of games look great on 660Ti but if you have the money, definitely get the 680
- recommond a 750W PSU for the 680 to help minimize PSU noise (don't worry about "efficiency"; difference is incredibly small. Better to optimize for noise.)
- If a 3-slot graphics card doesn't work for you there is a good MSI version. Keep in mind the following:
a) Borderlands 2 included?
b) GPU Speed? (stock card is significantly slower)
c) noise?
d) quality brand? (Asus, MSI,Gigabyte)

- TAKE YOUR TIME reading through that Asus 680 article I linked. I won't get into AMD vs NVidia here except to state that TXAA alone for Kepler is a pretty big deal and the anti-aliasing of choice for the upcoming UNREAL 4 engine. (see Tim Sweeny, Unreal 4, TXAA). No TXAA on AMD yet AFAIK.

 

[jay2tall]

If you are looking to spend $500 on a card, the GTX680 is the way to go. Granted it is not the best valued card, as in most benchmarks a GTX670 clocked at the same speed as any GTX680 will perform almost equally. So to each there own. The GTX660Ti is a great card at the $300 price point. The GTX670 is a great card at the $400 price point. The GTX680 isn't such a great deal at $500+ based on the cost of the two lower cards. However, you pay for the best.

I bought the GTX680 the day it came out and sold out in 20 minutes on Newegg. I've loved it ever since and it's the plane vanilla OEM ASUS card. However, if I would be in the market right now, I'd just get a highly overclockable GTX670 with better than OEM parts. The Asus cards with the DirectCUII coolers are really nice, as are some others.

As far as Power supply. The 550Antec you chose would power any of these cards. If you do not intend to overclock. Once you start getting into CPU and GPU overclocking you may want something like a 650W just to give yourself a little play room. A 750w isn't necessary and doesn't mean it will be quieter. It all has to do how efficient your PSU is, how much heat it puts off, and what kind of fan it uses. Wattage has nothing to do with how noisy a PSU is. In my experience here are other fans in your system that will be noiser than any PSU fan on a decent unit.