Is upgrading my GPU necassary

[bk70]

I'm looking to play bf3 very smooth on high when it comes out and im thinking im going to need a better GPU. Currently i have a 9800GTX+ and have a core 2 duo 2.4ghz or something. Should i buy a better GPU? I usually play on resolution 1360x768

 

[jryan388]

TBH I'd wait till it's out. Who knows if it will be another console port or something special. And if you did upgrade very much, you'd probably need a better processor to go along with it.

 

[blakmumba]

^^what he said

I would bother to be honest the way most games are mostly console ports.

 

[bk70]

Well since im not interested in buying a new mobo i would have to stick to socket 775 so would it even be worth it to upgrade to a core 2 quad for 300$?

 

[Lotharian]

Either wait till next Tuesday for the Beta if you preordered BF3 on Origin or bought MOH. If not that, wait till next Thursday when the Beta becomes available to everyone.

This game will not be a console port and was built with PC in mind, but since it will be able to run on a console, minimum shouldn't be too hard to hit with 2007-8 hardware, which it sounds like you have. I can't imagine those specs hitting high, though, even at that resolution.

Having said that, I repeat my earlier sentiment, and highly suggest you wait a few more days and see for yourself if what you have will be sufficient before you make a decision.

 

[megamanx00]

For $300 no. Now if you can get a used one from a reputable seller on eBay for less than $150, then yeah that would be worth it for you. You should also consider overclocking it. Anyway, you may want to wait for BF3 to actually come out before you decide what you need for it.

 

[benski]

Since you won't be using any DX11 features I would think your GPU would be fine for that resolution. Your CPU will probably need an overclock or upgrade to keep up with it.

 

[bk70]

My card doesnt support DX11? dxdiag says i am running it. And i'm looking to play the game on high, not just minimum, if i buy a better GPU can that be achieved or will my CPU bottleneck me? BTW its core 2 dup E6750 @2.66ghz.

PS ive never done any overclocking, how would i go about that? My mobo is a p5n-e sli. Also what are the benefits of having two graphics cards in SLI

 

[jyjjy]

Your CPU is more likely to be the limiting factor in most cases rather than the 9800GTX+ at that resolution I believe.

 

[benski]

My card doesnt support DX11? dxdiag says i am running it. And i'm looking to play the game on high, not just minimum, if i buy a better GPU can that be achieved or will my CPU bottleneck me? BTW its core 2 dup E6750 @2.66ghz.

PS ive never done any overclocking, how would i go about that? My mobo is a p5n-e sli. Also what are the benefits of having two graphics cards in SLI

No, your card doesn't support DX11. You might be able to run the game on high, hard to say since it's not out yet. I would guess that your CPU is going to be a bottleneck in that game since they are recommending a quad core.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/259899-29-core-overclocking-guide

That guide should help with overclocking.

SLI is where 2 graphics cards run in parallel and share the graphics processing load. Depending on the game it can come close to doubling performance over a single card.

 

[bk70]

Alrighty then, i think im going to buy a core 2 quad q9550 for 200$ on eBay, the benchmark score is 2.7 times higher then my current CPU. Good choice?

 

[benski]

If you can get one for 200 bucks it's probably a good choice. Much more than that and you would probably be better off just switching platforms.

 

[bk70]

Yeah i agree, however my ram is only pc2 - 5300, do i need pc2-6400 to run it?

 

[benski]

I don't think so, I've never heard of a processor requiring a certain speed of ram, if your motherboard supports that ram and that CPU I don't know why it wouldn't work.

 

[bk70]

Correct me if im wrong but i believe the fsb of a single core of a cpu should be a 1:1 ratio with the mhz of a stick of RAM so if i were to OC my q9550 to 400mhz i would need PC2-6400 to maintain that 1:1 ratio correct?