Will my processor handle nvida 550 graphics card?

[wyndoo]

Hi All,

I am looking into upgrading my graphics card. Currently I have the nVidia 260. I would like to upgrade to the GeForce GTX 560 Ti or 570 series, but im not sure if my other components will get along with it.

Will the nVidia GTX 560 Ti or 570 serieswork with the following specs of my comp:

-Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3Ghz
-RAMM: 3GB DDR2
-PSU: 1100w
-M/b: Asus (not sure of the specifics)

thanks!

Sean

 

[gmcizzle]

Depends on the game. In Crysis, which is very GPU based, your processor should be OK. But in a game like BF3/BC2, you really need at least a tri-core, and ideally a quad core, or there will be severe bottlenecking.

 

[assassin123]

yes your system can support it but if you don't mind why you didnt buy the gtx 560ti or 570 or do you want to sli the 550

 

[wyndoo]

Depends on the game. In Crysis, which is very GPU based, your processor should be OK. But in a game like BF3/BC2, you really need at least a tri-core, and ideally a quad core, or there will be severe bottlenecking.

How severe are we talking? I do plan on playing BF3 but I also play games such as Heroes of Might & Magic 6 and Dead Island.

 

[wyndoo]

yes your system can support it but if you don't mind why you didnt buy the gtx 560ti or 570 or do you want to sli the 550

I haven't puchased anything yet - im doing my research prior Im hearing that exact response: "buy the gtx560ti" instead.

Ultimately I want to find out how high I can go w/o wasting a card due to my older processor.

 

[benski]

I didn't think BFBC2 was all that demanding, but BF3 is likely to choke a dual core at high settings. There are a handful of games like that but for the most part you will be ok.

The 550ti isn't much of an upgrade for the 260 though, maybe 10% faster, hardly worthwhile IMO. Your better off with a GTX 460. Even the 768m version is better than the 550ti by quite a bit, and usually cheaper.

 

[gmcizzle]

How severe are we talking? I do plan on playing BF3 but I also play games such as Heroes of Might & Magic 6 and Dead Island.

http://images.benchmark3d.com/benchmarks/battlefield%203%20beta/bf3%20beta%20cores.jpg

 

[vitornob]

There's already some games that REALLY benefits tri or quad-core designs.
Battlefield 3 is one of them, GTA 4, Just Cause 2 if I'm not mistaken, Dragon Age 2..
A gtx 260 isn't that weak, I think u could really use a better CPU.

Sadly I can't research something bout this for u since I'm posting from work and can't do it now.

 

[Memnarchon]

Hi wyndoo. You have a nice card there. A gtx 260 has 192/216 cuda cores (depends on your version) while a gtx 550 ti has 192 cuda cores. There is almost no difference on these gpus apart ofc that the 550 ti supports dx11. Look at this chart from Toms to get an idea if an upgrade is worth it or not. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-performance-radeon-geforce,3018-7.html Imho a good upgrade has to be around 3 tiers (or more) more than the gpu you have atm. But depends from the games you will play if a 560ti/6950 would not be bottlenecked by your cpu...

 

[vitornob]

btw, just checked, GTX 260 and GTX 550Ti have:
- Equals Stream Processors (Cuda cores)
- GTX 260 448 bit memory interface vs GTX 550Ti 192 bit, but slower memory clock.. this equals GTX 260 having a faster memory bandwidth
- GTX 260 Slower core clock.

At the end they are similar cards, same category.
If u want a VGA, not a CPU.
Take GTX 560 TI at minimum

 

[Memnarchon]

There's already some games that REALLY benefits tri or quad-core designs.
Battlefield 3 is one of them, GTA 4, Just Cause 2 if I'm not mistaken, Dragon Age 2..
A gtx 260 isn't that weak, I think u could really use a better CPU.

Sadly I can't research something bout this for u since I'm posting from work and can't do it now.

Dragon age 2 isnt cpu intensive. Its completely playable even on dual core athlon X2 260...
source: http://www.techspot.com/review/374-dragon-age-2-performance-test/page8.html

 

[wyndoo]

Assume I upgrade to the GeForce GTX 560 Ti or 570- Would the bottleneck created by the CPU negate the upgrade, or would there be enough of a tangle upgrade to move forward?

 

[chinoroy]

GTX 560 Ti. and overclock your processor a little. if your mobo supports it.

 

[Memnarchon]

GTX 560 Ti. and overclock your processor a little. if your mobo supports it.

+1.

An other option also is instead of a gtx 560 ti, you can upgrade your cpu/mobo/ram smthng like core i5 sandy / lga1155 mobo / 4 or 8 GB ram which will be around the same price of a gtx 560ti/570. Then you can be ready for a great upgrade with a kepler gpu (nvidia 6xx) ^^. Also if you dont mind the dx11 while waiting for kepler gpus you can add a 2nd gtx 260 (if its possible to find it for less than 100$ like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125391 )