Dell u2711

[fastestlouigie]

Noob here, 'hoping that my question can be answered by someone on these forums.
My basic questions are twofold:should I save up for a new p.c., or will my current setup plus maybe a new gpu be enough for my needs?
In a moment of weakness, I ordered a U2711 27" monitor (IPS, 2560x1440 resolution) direct from Dell (uk). With an additional voucher online, this came to £505 delivered and so I just couldn't resist (784usd-we always get stitched this side of the pond!). I plan to use this for games like Dragon Age Origins and Fallout 3 plus lots of old RPG's, my favourite genre, plus some basic photo editing/viewing-I'm a keen amatuer photographer and so colour accuracy is important to me. When I can, I'll get Skyrim and maybe the new Xcom game (if they make the necessary "adjustments"!). I don't do FPS but I might try one or two in the future, depending on what the U2711 looks like when it's delivered....
My system comprises of the following in a Fractal Design Refine R3 midi tower case (plus one extra silent 120mm fan), which can accomodate up to 290mm length GPU's:
PSU Corsair Enthusiast 650tx mkII
GPU Palit 9800 GT 512mb with Arctic Cooling Accelero L2 Pro cooler
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-965-DS3 v1.0 (socket LGA775)
CPU Intel E6300 Core 2 Duo (2mb cache) with Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
RAM 4 Gb of Corsair "fast"/yellow heatsink ram (can't remember the name!)
H.D. Seagate 1 T.B. 7200
DVD drive Pioneer slotloader.
So, should I save up for a new GPU to add to my current system (I have read rumours of new lines by NVidia and ATI coming out next year?), would what I've got now be enough (specifically the 9800gt) to run the games I've already got (D.A. Origins, F.O.3 and older RPG's like NWN1 and 2), or should I start saving for a new motherboard/cpu/gpu?
Ideally, I want to play in the U2711's native 2560x1440 resolution. Many thanks for any replies in advance.

 

[fastestlouigie]

I forgot to mention that I'm looking at a £200-300 (450usd) budget if people advise me to purchase a Gpu straight away, otherwise it's going to be a case of waiting for a few months whilst I save some money.....if I need to of course!

 

[fuzzynuts11]

Noob here, 'hoping that my question can be answered by someone on these forums.
My basic questions are twofold:should I save up for a new p.c., or will my current setup plus maybe a new gpu be enough for my needs?
In a moment of weakness, I ordered a U2711 27" monitor (IPS, 2560x1440 resolution) direct from Dell (uk). With an additional voucher online, this came to £505 delivered and so I just couldn't resist (784usd-we always get stitched this side of the pond!). I plan to use this for games like Dragon Age Origins and Fallout 3 plus lots of old RPG's, my favourite genre, plus some basic photo editing/viewing-I'm a keen amatuer photographer and so colour accuracy is important to me. When I can, I'll get Skyrim and maybe the new Xcom game (if they make the necessary "adjustments"!). I don't do FPS but I might try one or two in the future, depending on what the U2711 looks like when it's delivered....
My system comprises of the following in a Fractal Design Refine R3 midi tower case (plus one extra silent 120mm fan), which can accomodate up to 290mm length GPU's:
PSU Corsair Enthusiast 650tx mkII
GPU Palit 9800 GT 512mb with Arctic Cooling Accelero L2 Pro cooler
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-965-DS3 v1.0 (socket LGA775)
CPU Intel E6300 Core 2 Duo (2mb cache) with Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
RAM 4 Gb of Corsair "fast"/yellow heatsink ram (can't remember the name!)
H.D. Seagate 1 T.B. 7200
DVD drive Pioneer slotloader.
So, should I save up for a new GPU to add to my current system (I have read rumours of new lines by NVidia and ATI coming out next year?), would what I've got now be enough (specifically the 9800gt) to run the games I've already got (D.A. Origins, F.O.3 and older RPG's like NWN1 and 2), or should I start saving for a new motherboard/cpu/gpu?
Ideally, I want to play in the U2711's native 2560x1440 resolution. Many thanks for any replies in advance.

Correct, the new AMD and nVidia GPUs are released later this year. If you don't want to wait until then, an AMD 6870/6950 or nVidia 560 Ti/570 would do well in RPGs, although Skyrim is heavily CPU-dependent, and will require at least a 2500K to achieve full performance regardless of GPU (Implying you play at your monitor's native resolution).

 

[fastestlouigie]

Correct, the new AMD and nVidia GPUs are released later this year. If you don't want to wait until then, an AMD 6870/6950 or nVidia 560 Ti/570 would do well in RPGs, although Skyrim is heavily CPU-dependent, and will require at least a 2500K to achieve full performance regardless of GPU (Implying you play at your monitor's native resolution).

Well I guess that I could get a 560ti or 570 now, as I can't afford an extra £330+ for a 2500k+motherboard+ram on top. If I did, wouldn't a 570 with 2gb be better given the high resolution of the u2711? Bearing in mind that I might lay off getting Skyrim as the rest of my system won't cope with it, should I also hang-fire getting a new GPU, as again, will my current 9800gt cope with F.O.3 and D.A.Origins at 2560 x 1440?

 

[fuzzynuts11]

With the 9800GT, you should be good for now, though playing at a lower resolution might be advisable.

The 9800GT seems to do fine with Fallout 3 according to these benchmarks, and I've heard that Dragon Age: Origins works fine with the 9800GT.

Those benchmarks were done with a Core2Extreme, so performance may differ, but probably not drastically.

You should be ok playing older games until the new line of GPUs come out. It's completely up to you on whether you wait or not though, as it depends on how desperate you are to be gaming or whatever, though I'd wait since you already have a decent enough card to last.

 

[fastestlouigie]

With the 9800GT, you should be good for now, though playing at a lower resolution might be advisable.

The 9800GT seems to do fine with Fallout 3 according to these benchmarks, and I've heard that Dragon Age: Origins works fine with the 9800GT.
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/fallout_3_mainstream_gpu_performance/images/fall2560.gif

Those benchmarks were done with a Core2Extreme, so performance may differ, but probably not drastically.

You should be ok playing older games until the new line of GPUs come out. It's completely up to you on whether you wait or not though, as it depends on how desperate you are to be gaming or whatever, though I'd wait since you already have a decent enough card to last.

Many thanks for this Fuzzynuts11. I guess I'll wait until the monitor is delivered and I can set it up and trial my games. I'm more than happy to wait to get the full resolution in games until I can get the kit I need.
BTW, where did you get the 9800gt chart from-was it Toms'?

 

[fuzzynuts11]

Many thanks for this Fuzzynuts11. I guess I'll wait until the monitor is delivered and I can set it up and trial my games. I'm more than happy to wait to get the full resolution in games until I can get the kit I need.
BTW, where did you get the 9800gt chart from-was it Toms'?

You're welcome, and no, I got the chart from FiringSquad.com

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Here's the performance of the Asus GTX560 DirectCU II and the 570 @ 2560 x 1600
http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-gtx560-directcu-ii-review/1

Game 560 Cu fps - 570 fps

COD-MW 90 - 100
Bad Company 2 32 - 38
Dirt 2 51 58
Far Cry 2 59 - 59
Metro 2033 15 - 16
Dawn of Discovery 47 - 48
Crysis Warhead 32 - 35

Tot59al 326 - 354

That's about 2/3 of what peeps get at 1920 x 1200

Some have OC'd that card to 1070 MHz (900 outta the box) ..... I mostly set them up at 980 - 1020 when SLI's, little higher as single cards.

http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=1201&page=17

Your PSU is big enough. Your PSU and budget are enough for a 570 .....but that's a 58% increase in price for a 9% increase in fps.

 

[fastestlouigie]

Just for completion in case someone is searching the threads historically, I thought I'd mention that I bought a Graphics card. After a lot more online research, I got a MSI R6950 2GB Twin Frozr III. It's more than powerful enough for my present needs and when I've upgraded my motherboard, cpu and memory in the summer, I'll crossfire for some serious graphics power. I went for the ATI option because most of the reviews state that the extra video ram (2gb) gives it an edge over NVidia equivalents at 2560x1440 (although a lot of the comparisons are at 2560x1600, I guess this is near as dammit close to the Dell's native resolution).
Interestingly, after reading quite a bit about the quality of NVidia displays, I found the R6950 to be much better quality than my previous NVidia 9800gt, with much more natural colours from the MSI board.

 

[beltzy]

Cheers- that's a big jump from a 9800gt. Enjoy!