Need a New GPU for Wolfenstein 2 - Which One?

[ubertrout]

Hey folks - I sometimes joke I'm an old school gamer, by which I mean I don't play games much anymore, but have strong opinions about them. But I recently purchased Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus on the Steam sale and was surprised to find out it won't run on my graphics card, which is a MSI Twin Frozr II Radeon 6950 (with the extra shaders unlocked).

In truth, I wasn't really looking to replace my graphics card, but it might make sense and get extra longevity out of my PC? The rest of the system is a Core i7 950 and 16 GB of RAM. I suppose option B is to get a new PC, but giving that I'm playing games maybe once a week and the system works fine otherwise, I'm not leaning that way.

I'd rather not spend more than $300, and the Radeon 580 and Nvidia 1060 both look to be around that point. For infrequent gaming, is there one people would recommend? Would the age of my CPU be an issue? Any particular model I should be looking at? Thanks, and sorry for the broad question.

 

[WildCard999]

Try raising the settings and lowering the settings while gaming, does your FPS increase?

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

Game requires 4GB VRAM, your card only has 2GB.

That's not the only issue. The CPU doesn't meet the minimum requirements either. So chances are it's going to bottleneck whatever you get.

If I were you I would get the minimum required for that game and maybe think about upgrading the CPU.

A 1050 Ti would let you play the game at lower settings with 60fps.

The only thing that would let you play at the highest settings at 1080p would be a 1060 6GB and I highly doubt the CPU won't bottleneck it.

 

[ubertrout]

So I'm clear, the game won't even start with the 6950, so I haven't experienced performance one way or another. Wolfenstein: New Order runs without problems, but I know that doesn't tell us anything.

If I'm replacing the GPU and CPU, it seems almost better to start fresh, no?

 

[WildCard999]

So I'm clear, the game won't even start with the 6950, so I haven't experienced performance one way or another. Wolfenstein: New Order runs without problems, but I know that doesn't tell us anything.

If I'm replacing the GPU and CPU, it seems almost better to start fresh, no?

Yea, I mean you might be able to reuse your HDD/Case/PSU so that saves you some money.

https://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/wolfenstein-2-the-new-colossus/16124
Just saw those requirements, yea it'll take a semi beefy machine to run that game smoothly.

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

You could theoretically recycle the entire system except CPU/MB and GPU.

Even then with your budget you're not looking at a very meaningful upgrade.

The lowest you should probably even consider upgrading to is a 4770k and a Z97 MB. That would give you the most longevity with your current RAM but even then it will only have a few more years most likely. The 4770k is no pushover when overclocked, it can still hang with current gen CPU's.

If you upgrade everything to 8th gen Intel or Ryzen + you would get a lot more out of the system but DDR4 RAM is quite expensive.

 

[ubertrout]

So before I know it I'm looking at $1,500 or so for a new mobo, cpu, memory, and gpu.

I think I'm going to take a deep breath and hold off for now, maybe wait for bargains to pop up. Bummer.

 

[WildCard999]

So before I know it I'm looking at $1,500 or so for a new mobo, cpu, memory, and gpu.

I think I'm going to take a deep breath and hold off for now, maybe wait for bargains to pop up. Bummer.

Well you don't need to spend a lot if you repurpose some of the parts from your current system. Something like this would last at least a couple years for gaming.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($178.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - H310M-HDV/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($59.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GT OCV1 Video Card ($284.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $663.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-28 14:20 EDT-0400

You could even go a little bit cheaper (8gb DDR/GTX 1050 ti) if need be.

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

Yeah new is probably the best way to go. You could technically get a 4770k and a Z87 MB for about $80 cheaper, but they would be used and probably won't last as long.

 

[ubertrout]

If I'm going for a new build I'd probably put in a little more money than WildCard's suggestion. While funds aren't unlimited they're available - it's more that I don't want to spend a fortune on a casual hobby. It does make clear that I could probably spend under $1k and have something very respectable though. Thanks!

 

[ubertrout]

Doing a little looking around, it seems like I can get a good Motherboard for $150, the Core i7-8700K for $350, and 16gb of DDR4 memory for $150. Then $300-400 for the graphics card and I'd essentially have a new machine.

Now to figure out if I need that, or I'm talking about paying $1k to play a game.

 

[WildCard999]

Doing a little looking around, it seems like I can get a good Motherboard for $150, the Core i7-8700K for $350, and 16gb of DDR4 memory for $150. Then $300-400 for the graphics card and I'd essentially have a new machine.

Now to figure out if I need that, or I'm talking about paying $1k to play a game.

Well hopefully there will be more games besides Wolfenstein 2 but that would give you quite a awesome system.

 

[James_458]

I'm currently running an i5 4670 (processor is about 7 years old now) on a Z87 mobo.
Your processor should hold up, running at 3.0 Mhz per core. I'd look into upping the graphics card first. I upped mine about 2 years ago to a GTX 1070 (got it while the prices were low). Just wait a few more months if you can hold off, and the graphic card prices will drop again. If you can't, then go with a GTX 1060. It will allow you to play most games at high graphic settings (although you probably won't want to given your processor) without breaking your bank.

 

[AcesB]

Before you spent your precious money, consider an incremental upgrade, starting from GPU. If it was not enough, you can upgrade the whole system later. A GTX 1060 6GB, a nice gpu for 1080p, is around U$ 300, fitting you budget. And GPU *is* the bottleneck of 99% of games.
CPU upgrade is overrated for i7, i.e., going to 2-3 generations up doesn't double your processing power. You may spent a lot of money for moderated power increase. If so, consider a i7-7770 or even a Ryzen 5 2600, the best value options for today.

By the way, I'm running a stock I7-3770 liquid cooled with GTX 1070, in a 27" 2560x1440p. I play War Thunder in high settings (HQ FXAA, no SSAA), and I have to use MSI AfterBurner/RTSS to cap FPS to 120 (!). No plans to upgrade any time soon...

 

[TheStig47]

Yeah new is probably the best way to go. You could technically get a 4770k and a Z87 MB for about $80 cheaper, but they would be used and probably won't last as long.

New would be better for the long run, anyway.

I have a 9 year old Dell XPS with an i7-940, which works fine but needs new thermal paste on the CPU. It has been upgraded with an SSD, 600-watt PSU and runs a GTX 1060 6GB video card.

But buying a new system would add USB 3.0, use SATA 3 instead of SATA 2, use DDR4 RAM instead of DDR3, and use PCIe 3.0 instead of 2.0. A new computer may also have one or two M.2 slots on the motherboard for either a very fast NVMe SSD or Intel Optane SSD.

So, while mine and the OP's older first generation i7's are still working fine, there are a lot of benefits to getting a new, current computer over the old one. Not just the benefit of a faster i7 and much, much better video card.

Also, the old one could be retired and used as a backup should something go wrong with the new one, and/or placed in an area of the home where others in the family might use it. It could even be hooked up to an HDTV to do streaming and Internet access on the big screen.

Anyway, the point of buying or building something newer to replace the first generation i7 computer is that many updates and improvements get added. It's not just about the CPU and GPU, though those are the most important, the others matter, too. Especially if one wants to be able to add or use an M.2 SSD for much faster boot and app load times.

Also, if one goes for the current 8th generation i5, in a new computer with a decent graphics card (GTX 1060 6GB, for example), it can cost less than a $1000 and last for years.

 

[mortemas]

For a total of around $325 you could get a new 1050 ti ($200) and upgrade your processor to a used i7-980 from ebay (~$125). The i7-980 benchmark is a bit shy of the minimum required i7-3770 for that game (see link below), but with 2 more cores and faster turbo clock it's quite a boost from the i7-950 while having the same TDP. And a toms review says the game likes multi-threading and benefits from 6 cores vs 4. I think it'll be ok. Will your mobo support the i7-980?

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-980-vs-Intel-Core-i7-3770/m3336vs1979

 

[ian.sheffield]

Hey folks - I sometimes joke I'm an old school gamer, by which I mean I don't play games much anymore, but have strong opinions about them. But I recently purchased Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus on the Steam sale and was surprised to find out it won't run on my graphics card, which is a MSI Twin Frozr II Radeon 6950 (with the extra shaders unlocked).

In truth, I wasn't really looking to replace my graphics card, but it might make sense and get extra longevity out of my PC? The rest of the system is a Core i7 950 and 16 GB of RAM. I suppose option B is to get a new PC, but giving that I'm playing games maybe once a week and the system works fine otherwise, I'm not leaning that way.

I'd rather not spend more than $300, and the Radeon 580 and Nvidia 1060 both look to be around that point. For infrequent gaming, is there one people would recommend? Would the age of my CPU be an issue? Any particular model I should be looking at? Thanks, and sorry for the broad question.

FYI - i found an another band-aid on the original core i7's that has worked like a charm and will allow you to get more legs on your system.

The x58 motherboards work well with xeon chips... you can get a second hand xeon off ebay which will knock the socks off your current processor.

I had an core i7-920 overclocked to 4ghz, toward the end (around 2 years ago) it started to only boot at 3.4 ghz. So I replaced it with this:

Intel Westmere Xeon W3670 OEM 3.2GHz 8MB 6Core LGA1366 B1 130W 32nm Processor for $50 off ebay.

6 core which easily overclocked to 4.2ghz. Not that much slower than current gen.

 

[ubertrout]

I thought about it and decided to pretty much take out the internals of my current PC and replace them. I still like my Corsair case, going to keep that, along with optical and HDDs, although I'm adding a NVME drive for Windows. Debating keeping power supply, which I'll do a separate thread on.

I'd been considering moving Windows to a SSD, and realized the time it would take to start fresh on a system would probably be very worthwhile. Between a 512 GB NVME and a terabyte regular SATA SSD, I'll have room for programs and data, and I'll use the HDDs for media and such. So I got a Ryzen 2700x, x470 motherboard, 16GB of RAM, NVME SSD, and Radeon RX580. Should play Wolfenstein - and do almost anything else I want - for the better part of the next decade, give or take.

 

[WildCard999]

You'll be well off, at least CPU wise, for quite awhile.