Recommend Video Card

[DXXPublic]

Hi,

I would like to get some advise from you experts. I currently own an old rig with this spec (high level)
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1225 V3 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper N520 43.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($64.78 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Solid State Hard Drive
Video Card: AMD Radeon HD5700
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (
Power Supply: Corsair CX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply


I only use the computer to use office tools, some photoshop, some webdesign here and there and mostly for World of Warcraft.

I would like to run the game on max settings on 1920x1080. Which GPU can i get that will provide me that without overkilling it.

Thanks in advance,

 

[atljsf]

it depends on your budget and this xeon is not a speed demon, i would start by a 1050ti, but budget and cpu bottlenecking the gpu is a concern with this one

do you have a budget for this gpu upgrade?

 

[Lucky_SLS]

for world of warcraft, an rx480 4gb would do the job.

 

[DXXPublic]

My Budget is $300.

I was thinking also i the RX480.

Woudl you recommend also upgrading CPU?

 

[Lucky_SLS]

i dont think WoW is cpu dependent much. its a capable cpu. stick with it for maybe a year or so till X299 or cannonlake, next gen xenon, launches

 

[turbopixel]

I have a very similiar CPU for gaming and some other stuff: Intel® Xeon(R) CPU E3-1230 v3 @ 3.30GHz × 8
After researching, I can recommend the GTX 1070 8gb and there is little to 0 need for higher end card. But if you really don't play high demanding games, then a slower card is enough. GTX 1060 6gb would fit good in your case I think.

And in your case, I would not recommend to upgrade CPU. Xeon is like i7 with hyper threading, but without overclocking ability and no iGPU. And with your H97 board, you can't overclock. But not sure about Anniversary edition... Office and webdesign don't need more cpu or gpu. Photoshop is more cpu bound, but can get some boost with gpu cards.

I would not upgrade your cpu. Its fine and the cost for the little fps gain is not worth the price and trouble if you stay at same motherboard. If you upgrade to new generation cpu, then your motherboard and memory must be upgraded too. But you can buy some system memory, it would help in photoshopping, 12gb or better 16gb.

 

[DXXPublic]

Awesome. Thanks guys.

Last question. There are several models of the RX480 on amazon on different prices, which one would you recommend.

thanks again

 

[atljsf]

the one with the most fans so when it gets hot the fans can spin slower and make less noise

msi seems to be popular

 

[Lucky_SLS]

get the asus dual or msi gaming x. if power colour red devil is available, go for it 😉

 

[atljsf]

power color is popular for being problematic and die soon, a sapphire nitro sounds better, or the msi mentioned

 

[spdragoo]

Technically, that Xeon is equivalent to a Haswell i5, not an i7, because it doesn't have HyperThreading (http://ark.intel.com/products/75461). Based on its stats, though (3.2GHz core speed, 3.4/3.5/3.6/3.6GHz Turbo with 4/3/2/1 cores), it's basically a cooler-running i5-4570 with a little extra L3 cache. That puts it still up in the top tier (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-hierarchy,4312.html), so you don't really need to worry about replacing it (especially for WoW).

If you really wanted to have a HyperThreaded, 4C/8T Xeon chip in your machine, you have the option of going up to the E3-1286 v3 (3.5GHz, 3.7/3.8/3.9/3.0Ghz Turbo) or E3-1285 v4 (3.5 GHz, 3.8GHz Turbo) chips (http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H97%20Anniversary/?cat=CPU). They're roughly equivalent to the i7-4770/4770K (Haswell Refresh) or i7-5775C (Broadwell) chips...but again, you're already equivalent to a 1st-tier CPU, so I don't think you're going to get much of a performance jump out of it.

I would just stick with the GPU upgrade, any of the non-reference 8GB models of the RX 480 (i.e. at least 2 or 3 fans) should be more than enough for you.

 

[RobCrezz]

The 1231 v3 was the other popular one, very similar to the i7 also, but with no IGPU.

 

[DXXPublic]

I "might" be able to get a 1080ti from a friend for about 300. I know the card is way better but for my actual rig, will it be recommended to pay the extra 70-100? Will it impact anyting having a bottleneck on the CPU on game performance?

 

[RobCrezz]

you sure its a 1080 ti for 300? They have literally just been released for $699

 

[atljsf]

1080 for 300 sounds perfect, ti sounds like a error

 

[DXXPublic]

Im going to check it later.

But even if its the non TI version, if i get that it wont mean that will have to upgrade the CPU as well?

 

[Lucky_SLS]

unless u r gaming @ 2k or more in excess of 60 fps, ur cpu should be fine.

 

[atljsf]

you can pair whatever cpu with any gpu

the only problem, as in there is no problem is that you might find that the cpu or gpu doens't give you as good fps as you wiould like to get, nothing more can happen

 

[turbopixel]

Technically, that Xeon is equivalent to a Haswell i5, not an i7, because it doesn't have HyperThreading (http://ark.intel.com/products/75461).

You are right, sorry, my mistake. I didn't check this, because I assumed all Xeons have HyperThreading (like mine 1230v3).

So, maybe upgrading the cpu would not be too bad. From
Xeon 1225v3 3.2Ghz without HyperThreading
to i7-4790K 4.0Ghz with HyperThreading

Its not necessary, but if you have the money, it can help on cpu bound software like Photoshop.