What graphics card for Q6600 with 2xPCIe x16 for Battlefield 3?

[Henrik Jensen DK]

I have a 6½ year old PC and am wondering what is needed if I am going to play Battlefield 3 with it. Or if it's even possible to play that game at a decent level with such an old machine.

Here are the specs:

Asus P5-K motherboard with 2 x PCIe x16 graphics slots (blue @ x16 mode, black @ x4 or x1 mode)
4 GB ram
Enermax Pro82+ 425W power supply
120 GB SSD
1 TB 7200 rpm harddrive

I assume I will need 8 GB of ram for starters, right?
Can I use some kind of Nvidia GTX-card with my old machine, for example a Asus GTX 760 2 GB ram like this: http://www.pc-lager.dk/vare-oversigt.php?varenummer=573881
Will my power supply be able to handle it?

Thanks!

Best,
Henrik
Denmark

 

[biohazrdfear]

Bigger PSU (at least 800w), at least 8GB of RAM (no more needed). And yes, you can use a GTX 760.

 

[RobCrezz]

You could go for a 750 Ti and use your existing PSU. 760 is obviously better, but might be a bit overkill for a Q6600.

 

[biohazrdfear]

Rob's right. A 760 would possibly bottleneck the Q6600. I remember my Q6600...blast from the past! A 550 Ti would be great for your needs, and you could run two of them. I really, really like the 550 Ti, and the ASUS model to boot.

 

[Henrik Jensen DK]

Thanks for the replies, guys.
I just remember I actually have 8 GB of ram, so that part is covered at least.

biohazrdfear, I'd prefer to go with one card because of the increased heat and possibly noise with 2 cards.

RobCrezz, a 750 Ti sounds fine price-wise for my budget, but can I use it with just a 425 Watt power supply?
How many fps do you think I can expect with a 750 Ti?
I forgot to mention I only have a 17" Samsung 930BF monitor with max. 1280x1024 resolution.

Will I need a head-set for multiplay?

 

[coozie7]

+1 for the 750Ti, it's a powerful card and only needs a single PCI-E lead to be kept happy.
Not sure about the memory, if you keep the background programs/processes to a minimum you'll get away with 4Gb, beside, DDR2 memory can be expensive (I'm assuming the system uses DDR2, some used DDR3).

 

[biohazrdfear]

Here is something you could take a look at.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKm-GT8FhBE

 

[RobCrezz]

60+ fps on bf3 with the 750 Ti:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPCFzIyxDMU

Yes you can use it with your PSU. The beauty of the new 750/750 Ti is that they use the brand new nvidia architecture and only draw 60w. It will be a beast at 1280x1024, you should be able to turn on ultra settings with AA etc.

 

[coozie7]

Just one point, sir...The Youtube benchmark is with an i7 4770K! Don't expect that venerable Q6600 to be quite as fast!
Agree with the 750Ti/750 although for 1280x1024 I'd probably go for the lesser GTX750...Probably.

 

[biohazrdfear]

Watch my video I posted, for it has a Q6600 processor.

 

[Henrik Jensen DK]

coozie7: Yes, the memory is DDR2, but I forgot I actually have 8 GB installed, so that will be a good thing performance-wise.

biohazrdfear: I watched the Q6600-video, thanks for the link, it looks awesome
I also watched some of the other Q6600-videos available on YouTube.
I'm amazed at the level of detail of the graphics, even when people are using older graphics cards than 750 Ti.

I'm 42 btw, and the last time I played a first person shooter was with Doom II back in 1996!
A lot has happened since then, obviously.
But I can imagine the adrenaline kick when playing must be exactly the same as back then.
We had a homemade network at my dormitory with 4 pc's connected, so we used to multiplay even back then.
That was a ton of fun!

RobCrezz: Thanks for the link, I am totally blown away by the level of detail in the graphics with that 750 Ti-card the guy's using!!! Holy cow that looks amazing!!

cookie7: Ok I read in some reviews that you can get around 45 frames per second in Battlefield 3 with a 750 Ti-card but that was with a faster computer. As for sticking with a GTX750, I don't know what the difference is compared to the Ti-version? In terms of max. resolution I just might get myself a new monitor in some months time so I can run 1920x1200 if I find out I like playing Battlefield 3.

Do any of you have any idea what kind of performance I can get out of a 750 Ti-card in my machine?

Will I need a head-set to play multiplay?

Will people continue to play Battlefield 3 multiplay now that Battlefield 4 is out?
BF3 is 5 x cheaper than BF4, so for starters I'd like to just play BF3.

Thanks again, everybody, you're being extremely helpful!

 

[coozie7]

If you're aiming at a 1080 monitor the 750Ti is a good idea, especially if you're going multiplayer, where the difference between fragger and fragged can be the ability to spot the enemy before they spot you!
No idea how much you can get out of the Q6600, but I can say you'll get a fair bit more if you can overclock it, time for some homework?
Without a headset you'll miss a good deal of the atmosphere (and abuse) of online multiplayer.
Don't diss Doom, it's still a blast. Like Quake (1+2)...And Unreal...And Half Life...And HL2.