Old system died & had to get new mobo, CPU & RAM: use GTX460 or integrated graphics?

Tambourineman

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Aug 15, 2014
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I got a 2 beep (parity) error and thought my old DDR2 or mobo had died. I didn't learn it was the Enermax PSU until I installed the new stuff and got the same beeps. So now I have a Z97A mobo and DDR3, plus an i5 4690 for an old Q6600.

My old graphics card (a Palit GTX 460 sonic 1GB GDDR5) still works. Until I decide on what new graphics card to buy (which may be a while), , should I use my GTX 460 or the integrated graphics? I only bought 8GB of dual channel 1600 RAM. The only game I play is Civ.
 
Solution
The 460, still better than integrated graphics.

If you are in no rush for a new GPU, then wait for the soon to be released 800 series (around november).

mapesdhs

Distinguished
I've benchmarked 460 cards until my head exploded. I had about 13 of them at one point. :D Lots of
info with SLI results, oc'd, etc., on my site here, comparing to various other card combos. I had four
of the Sonic cards like your's; a 2nd in SLI is not bad, and cheap, unless the VRAM limit is an issue
(depends on the game, resolution, detail level, etc.) Btw, did you know Palit did a 2GB version of the
Sonic? (same 700MHz core clock) I obtained a Galaxy card with the same specs, both oc'd nicely to
800 (same as the Palit Platinum), work very well in SLI with the higher VRAM.

RobCrezz is right though, if you're not in any hurry, Maxwell is out soon, so even if you don't buy
one of the new cards, it should mean price drops for the old ones, and a reduction in used prices
for others (I bought a couple of used 3GB GTX 580s, works well, quicker than a 780, at the
expense of more noise/power though of course).

Ian.

PS. Just about to update some of my pages with 7970/CF results.

 
The GTX460 is considerably stronger than integrated HD graphics.

I will be strong enough for any version of civ.

CIV 4 should be no problem.
civ 5 takes more graphics, but should still be playable.
You will like the 4690 which will help the turn processing on civ 5.
 
I agree that the GTX 460 slaughters Intel HD 4600. But upgrade the GPU as soon as you can because the GTX 460 will soon become the lowest point of games' minimum system requirements. A GTX 760 is about twice as fast and a GTX 860 will be even faster. In fact, the GTX 860 will be roughly equivalent to the previous flagship GTX 680.