Games have to run on Low Settings...what upgrade is needed most

[mastermoirich]

Hi everyone, I would consider myself a slightly higher than casual gamer. I've noticed that I need to run any of the more recent titles at pretty much the lowest graphics settings (Things like D3, Anno 2070, Mechwarrior Online etc.)

So i figure it must be time to upgrade. I was wondering if you could provide some input on what I should be upgrading. Is it just a matter of a sub-pay graphics card? I've been doing some reading and it seems like the VIDIA GeForce GTX 570 might be a good choice, and there was some AMD equivalent but the name escapes me. Is there a such thing as going overboard on a graphics card? Here's a list of my specs to get us started.

OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
System RAM: 8191 MB
CPU Name: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8300 @ 2.50GHz
CPU Speeds: 2499
Physical CPUs: 1
Virtual CPUs: 4
Video Card Description: NVIDIA GeForce G210
VRAM: 512 MB
Primary Display Resolution: 1920x1080
Multi-Monitor Desktop Resolution: 1920x1080
Microphone: False
Language: English (United States)
Free Hard Drive Space: 425847 MB
Total Hard Drive Space: 702212 MB
Windows Experience Index Rating: 4.7

 

[egilbe]

Jeez, I'm surprised you can play any games with that GPU. So...um yeah, upgrade the GPU and if you plan on getting a GTX570 or equivalent, plan on upgrading your CPU, too.

 

[mastermoirich]

Thank you for such a quick reply and getting this discussion started. I really didn't think my CPU was so out of date. Any recommendations?

 

[MRC390]

Upgrade you cpu. Some people say the GeForce GTX 550 ti is only good for playing mid quality games, But it can run Battlefield 3 on ultra with 30-40 fps (you may need to turn AA off) heres a link if you wanna see the card in action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPddsNUHG_M

 

[MRC390]

Also, what motherboard do you have?

 

[bystander]

Thank you for such a quick reply and getting this discussion started. I really didn't think my CPU was so out of date. Any recommendations?

Your CPU is just as out of date as your GPU, but your CPU used to be pretty good and can still be used to game to some extent. However, your GPU was never meant for gaming, even when brand new.

 

[MajinCry]

Cpu is fine. Not the fastest, but it should be fine. Your running one of the worst NVidia cards (x10 = worst of the series), though.

 

[mastermoirich]

I really appreciate all the responses. My technical knowledge is fairly low...so i ran belarc advisor

Operating System new – server roles System Model
Windows 7 Home Premium (x64) Service Pack 1 (build 7601)
Install Language: English (United States)
System Locale: English (Canada)
Installed: 25/12/2009 10:43:22 AM HP-Pavilion AU915AA-ABL p6242f
System Serial Number: MXX940008X
Asset Tag: Asset-1234
Enclosure Type: Desktop
Processor a Main Circuit Board b
2.50 gigahertz Intel Core2 Quad
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (4 total)
Not hyper-threaded Board: PEGATRON CORPORATION Eureka3 1.02
Serial Number: 101364380002498
Bus Clock: 1333 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 5.10 09/07/2009
new USB Storage Use in past 30 Days (mouse over last used for details) new Hosted Virtual Machines (mouse over name for details)
Last Used
Generic- Compact Flash -- drive 3, s/n 058F63626476, rev 1.01 11/10/2012 3:22:36 AM
Generic- MS/MS-Pro -- drive 5, s/n 058F63626476, rev 1.03 11/10/2012 3:22:36 AM
Generic- SD/MMC -- drive 2, s/n 058F63626476, rev 1.00 11/10/2012 3:22:36 AM
Generic- SM/xD-Picture -- drive 4, s/n 058F63626476, rev 1.02 11/10/2012 3:22:36 AM
KODAK SD/MMC card -- drive 1, rev 1.00 11/10/2012 3:22:35 AM None discovered
Drives new – drive encryption Memory Modules c,d
750.05 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
448.98 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-H653R ATA Device [Optical drive]

Generic- Compact Flash USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 3
Generic- MS/MS-Pro USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 5
Generic- SD/MMC USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 2
Generic- SM/xD-Picture USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 4
KODAK SD/MMC card USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 1
ST3750528AS [Hard drive] (750.16 GB) -- drive 0, s/n 9VP1ZBQF, rev HP34, SMART Status: Healthy 8192 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'DIMM0' has 2048 MB
Slot 'DIMM1' has 2048 MB
Slot 'DIMM2' has 2048 MB
Slot 'DIMM3' has 2048 MB
Local Drive Volumes new – volume encryption

c: (NTFS on drive 0) * 736.32 GB 446.52 GB free
d: (NTFS on drive 0) 13.73 GB 2.46 GB free

* Operating System is installed on c:
Network Drives
None discovered
Users (mouse over user name for details) Printers
local user accounts last logon
Chloe 16/08/2012 8:34:16 AM
Rob and Amanda 11/10/2012 4:56:37 PM (admin)
UpdatusUser 11/10/2012 3:25:20 AM
local system accounts
Administrator 30/09/2009 10:52:04 AM (admin)
Guest never
HomeGroupUser$ never

Marks a disabled account; Marks a locked account

KODAK ESP 3200 Series AiO on USB001
Microsoft Shared Fax Driver on SHRFAX:
Microsoft XPS Document Writer on XPSPort:
Controllers Display
ATA Channel 0 [Controller]
ATA Channel 1 [Controller]
Intel(R) ICH10 Family 4 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 1 - 3A20 NVIDIA GeForce G210 [Display adapter]
LG W2361 [Monitor] (23.1"vis, s/n 404508, March 2009)
Bus Adapters Multimedia
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 3A3A
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 3A3C
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A34
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A35
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A36
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A37
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A38
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A39 NVIDIA High Definition Audio (4x)
Realtek High Definition Audio

 

[egilbe]

Is this a pre-built system? Such as a Dell or HP?

 

[mastermoirich]

Yeah it is HP.

 

[Sakkura]

I don't know why you'd be looking at a Geforce GTX 570. With your system, something like a Radeon HD 7850, or even just a 7770, seems more reasonable. Either would be a massive upgrade over your current graphics card. There are better graphics cards out there, but they'd probably be held back by your CPU anyway.

If you want to stick with Nvidia, the GTX 660 is about as high as it would make sense to go. A 650 Ti or 650 might be more fitting, but I consider AMD to be a bit better value for money in that segment.

 

[mastermoirich]

I don't know why you'd be looking at a Geforce GTX 570.

B/c I have never upgraded a pc myself before and truly have little idea of what i'm talking about. I read and read and read and come out feeling more confused.

I appreciate the recommendations of the Radeon 7850 or 7770. Or even the GTX 660 (max). I read somewhere that the Nvidia's have Physx and that makes them better? What do you guys think.

And...if i wanted to upgrade a CPU, would i be able to do so without upgrading my MoBo too?

 

[Guest]

even a 7850 might be a bit *ambitious* for your set up. a 7770/650ti would get you a playable frame rate @ your resolution.
http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=1762&game=Anno%202070
http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=656&game=Mechwarrior%20Online

you may want to think about a ~20% overclock on that cpu also.

 

[CaptainTom]

Hi everyone, I would consider myself a slightly higher than casual gamer. I've noticed that I need to run any of the more recent titles at pretty much the lowest graphics settings (Things like D3, Anno 2070, Mechwarrior Online etc.)

So i figure it must be time to upgrade. I was wondering if you could provide some input on what I should be upgrading. Is it just a matter of a sub-pay graphics card? I've been doing some reading and it seems like the VIDIA GeForce GTX 570 might be a good choice, and there was some AMD equivalent but the name escapes me. Is there a such thing as going overboard on a graphics card? Here's a list of my specs to get us started.

OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
System RAM: 8191 MB
CPU Name: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8300 @ 2.50GHz
CPU Speeds: 2499
Physical CPUs: 1
Virtual CPUs: 4
Video Card Description: NVIDIA GeForce G210
VRAM: 512 MB
Primary Display Resolution: 1920x1080
Multi-Monitor Desktop Resolution: 1920x1080
Microphone: False
Language: English (United States)
Free Hard Drive Space: 425847 MB
Total Hard Drive Space: 702212 MB
Windows Experience Index Rating: 4.7

LOL the GPU!!!! Get a 7750 if you have a shoddy PSU, or get a 7870 since it is EASILY the best performance for price you can get!

 

[technoholic]

1- Let us talk about your power supply at first. What do you have?
2- That is indeed a strange partitioning in your hard drive. What if your windows system crashes? it seems you store everything in c: drive. That is kinda strange

 

[division_9]

Your processor isn't that bad if you ask me. If it doesn't make you uncomtforble I'd recommend you overclock that to say 3.5 ghz.

But before you do all that nobody has asked the most important question of them all.

What is your PSU brand/make?. We can't help much if we don't have that single piece of information.

EDIT: Seems someone beat me to the PSU part.

 

[CaptainTom]

B/c I have never upgraded a pc myself before and truly have little idea of what i'm talking about. I read and read and read and come out feeling more confused.

I appreciate the recommendations of the Radeon 7850 or 7770. Or even the GTX 660 (max). I read somewhere that the Nvidia's have Physx and that makes them better? What do you guys think.

And...if i wanted to upgrade a CPU, would i be able to do so without upgrading my MoBo too?

Even when I used Nvidia I usually turned Physx off because the performance hit is not worth the slight increase in eye candy. This generation AMD has WAYYYYY better performance for price. Last gen Nvidia was a better choice because of raw power (Besides the awesome 6670 and 6950).

 

[CaptainTom]

Upgrade you cpu. Some people say the GeForce GTX 550 ti is only good for playing mid quality games, But it can run Battlefield 3 on ultra with 30-40 fps (you may need to turn AA off) heres a link if you wanna see the card in action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPddsNUHG_M

NO NO NO NO NO NO! The 550Ti is a joke! The 7770 destroys it and is CHEAPER! The 7850 1GB is $50 more and double its performance!

 

[Kari]

2- That is indeed a strange partitioning in your hard drive. What if your windows system crashes? it seems you store everything in c: drive. That is kinda strange

the d: is likely a 'hidden' partition for the preinstalled windows & bloatware

 

[Sakkura]

And...if i wanted to upgrade a CPU, would i be able to do so without upgrading my MoBo too?

Not really. There are better CPUs available for your motherboard, but they're not huge improvements and the prices tend to be rather ridiculous because they're out of production and everyone with an old motherboard (like you) are trying to get their hands on an upgrade. Still, you can get some more mileage out of your CPU. It's your graphics card that really cripples gaming performance.

 

[mastermoirich]

PSU = Bestec
Model ATX0300D5WC
Output 300w max

Is that what u guys are looking for?

 

[technoholic]

Yes, a PSU (power supply unit) basically feeds your motherboard and other stuff in your computer case. Graphics cards are kinda power hungry and many of them require you to have a nice quality psu. I think your PSU is not a good one

 

[mastermoirich]

Ok...so what output am i looking for?

 

[Sakkura]

Yeah with that PSU you'd probably have to stick to the lower-end cards. Something like the HD 7750 would probably still work.

I'd probably recommend a new power supply anyway though. It does mean there's a bit more work to do with the installation, but it's fairly straightforward (plugs pretty much only fit what they're supposed to be plugged into, and you'll be able to see what's plugged in where with your old power supply).

 

[blader15sk8]

Depending on which GPU you decide to go with, you will probably want at least a 450-550w PSU. The GPU you have now barely draws any power compared to a 560/660.

I know this has been said a bit already in this thread, but you won't be able to max out many games with your CPU. It is definitely not a bad CPU, just not great for games.. so that would put you at I would say a radeon 7770 or geforce 650ti max like a few others have said, no reason to go much higher.