Help with FPS, trying to find new graphics card.

Funkadelic

With my current graphics card the only way i can avoid FPS issues in Cyrodil is if i put all of my settings super low. I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations on a budget graphics card that will run this game pretty good, around $150. Right now i have a geforce 650 gtx that i bought a couple years back. The max wattage on my computer is 450 w. got windows 7, i7 cpu, 8GB of ram. I really don't know much about computer hardware so if there's any other information that could be helpful let me know.

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post something like this; but i was looking at the forum groups and this seemed the most suiting.

Thanks in advance for reading and any help.

Harkrider

Can you elaborate on your CPU?

i7 would encompass quite a large lineup of potential models you're referring to.

Also motherboard information would be helpful as it determines which cards are compatible with your machine.

Funkadelic

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40 GHz is what my device manager says.

I have no idea how to check what kind of a mother board i have. I got a dell xps that i got a few years ago. Is there a way to find out what i got? i'm trying to search for a way on yahoo right now but am so far unsuccessful.

Audigy

Hmm,

what type of PSU do you have? You said 450W, but what type of connectors does it have? There are 6 pin and 8 pin connectors.

If you have 6 and 8 pin connectors, you could go for a R9 270x of AMD they cost around 140-180 depending on their specifications.

babylon

450W PSU? You're going to need a new PSU for a start.

Harkrider

I've always just opened up my machine and checked the model number printed directly on the mobo. It's the giant computer chip looking item that pretty much everything else is plugged into.

Audio cards, video cards, RAM sticks... they're all plugged into the mobo,

Somewhere on the visible sections you should be able to see a brand name/model number.

Different types of mobos have different types/shapes of connecting slots, which determine what type of hardware is compatible.

Dreez

Sorry to say but the PSU is the heart of the PC. Bad heart and the body will break down and not function at it's best. I don't know what kind of money you're able or willing to put out. But i would strongly suggest you invest in a corsair PSU 600-750 Watt to start with, and if you can toss in another 150$ - buy a Geforce GTX660 , best card on the market for the money.

I have a Corsair TW PSU 750 watt, i5 , Geforce 660GTX and 16g Ram, and i run the game in any form with max settings - never had any hardwarelag.

Audigy

babylon wrote: »

450W PSU? You're going to need a new PSU for a start.

Not necessarily.

It all depends on what brand he has and what type of connectors the PSU has. I would assume his whole system currently sits at around 150W. His system with a R9 270x would sit around 260 W, so there is still enough room.

But as I said, it depends on the PSU. If its a china firecracker, than even 800 wont help

Funkadelic

I'm having a hard time figuring out my motherboard, but i got 2 6 prong chords coming from my power supply. One of which is plugged into my current card.

Audigy

The mainboard shouldn't be a big issue, unless you want to run an SLI system (2 graphic cards) or a new CPU (which you don't need to anyways).

A 2600 can run a new GPU just fine, a PCI Express 3.0 card like the R9 270x will only lose about 1-2% of its performance in a 2.1 slot. It might require a BIOS update, but this can be done easily in a shop where you buy the card if they put it in.

I believe you wont do this yourself do you?

However, it would sure not be a bad idea to know what mainboard you got. You can use CPU-Z for that. Its a free tool which will tell you what´s in your case.

Just make sure to disable all the stuff that the tool wants to install like toolbars etc. You don't need that. You could of course also open your case and write down the reference number of your mainboard, but I believe that might be a bit to difficult if you don't know where to look

As for your PSU connectors, if you have 2x 6 pin connectors a 270x works fine with them. I just checked, its the 280x that requires at least one additional 8 pin.

Still it wouldn't hurt if we know the brand of your PSU. Its usually written at the side of the PSU.

jb1b84

Audigy wrote: »

If you have 6 and 8 pin connectors, you could go for a R9 270x of AMD they cost around 140-180 depending on their specifications.

I would recommend the R9 270 as well. Picked one up a while back on a great Amazon deal for my 2nd pc and it seems to be one of the better value cards out right now

sinz_xb16_ESO

Yep, I've got the R9 270 as well and it is a good card. I've still got a Q9550 3.2 ghz and only 4 GB DDR2 ram, but with the R9 270 I can still play this game at high settings, even in Cyrodiil.

Funkadelic

So the power supply says Dell Inc on it. The motherboard also is Dell Inc, model number 0y2mrg.

This CPU-z program says:

Bios version A06

Link Width x16, Max supported x16

PCI-Express

I was planning on installing it myself. While I don't know much about this hardware stuff I've never had any problems putting a part into my computer once i actually know what to get, from what I have experienced if it fits in a plug that's where it belongs.

Saerydoth

Audigy wrote: »

Hmm,

what type of PSU do you have? You said 450W, but what type of connectors does it have? There are 6 pin and 8 pin connectors.

If you have 6 and 8 pin connectors, you could go for a R9 270x of AMD they cost around 140-180 depending on their specifications.

There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that a "450w" OEM power supply will handle an R9-270x. It would explode. The OP will need a new power supply first, then we can talk video cards.

Saerydoth

Funkadelic wrote: »

So the power supply says Dell Inc on it. The motherboard also is Dell Inc, model number 0y2mrg.

This CPU-z program says:

Bios version A06

Link Width x16, Max supported x16

PCI-Express

I was planning on installing it myself. While I don't know much about this hardware stuff I've never had any problems putting a part into my computer once i actually know what to get, from what I have experienced if it fits in a plug that's where it belongs.

Will not work. You need to get a new power supply first. The absolute best video card you could get that would work with that power supply is the GTX 750ti (it's a different design that uses less power). Trying to put a better video card in than that would not work because the power supply would not be able to handle it.

Now, that said, the 750ti WILL run the game pretty well, though not at ultra (you could probably get a mix of medium/high settings though). And the 750ti runs around $150. So that would work with your current power supply, but anything better would involve replacing it.

Geneticspore

While not being able to look at your system there first hand. I've had to have 2 sets of connectors in my video cards sine the 580gtx. I had some jackholes over at Best Buy "wire down" all my wires n what not so they wouldn't be in the way, basically make it nice n pretty, well long story short, they unplugged the 2nd cord, nearly fried my gpu, AND I was having stuttering issues on WoW, by myself in a starting area with a GTX 580...check to make sure the video card is plugged in properly first

Funkadelic

OK for sure. . I guess I'll have to decide if i want to buy the GTX 750ti and wait a couple years and replace my power supply and the card then, or just replace them both now.

One question do you think upgrading from GTX 650 to GTX 750ti is worth the money.

Thanks a lot for the help guys.

Saerydoth

Funkadelic wrote: »

OK for sure. . I guess I'll have to decide if i want to buy the GTX 750ti and wait a couple years and replace my power supply and the card then, or just replace them both now.

One question do you think upgrading from GTX 650 to GTX 750ti is worth the money.

Thanks a lot for the help guys.

It's an improvement, but not a drastic one. The 750ti is about 10%-15% faster than the 650 (while using about the same power). The 750/750ti are prototype Maxwell cards (next-gen), and are designed for low power, rather than all out performance.

Now obviously the 760, 760ti, 770, and higher are all a MASSIVE improvement over the 650. But your power supply won't be able to handle any of those. A good power supply only runs about $80 though, for a modular one that can handle just about anything. I'm running a 780ti and I only paid $80 for my power supply. Granted, the 780ti is way out of your price range because it is $729.

Here is a decent site to compare video cards. I wouldn't put too much faith in their performance numbers (because they are theoretical, not based on real world performance). But it will give you an example of the power requirements of different cards. The 60ish watt card you're using now is pretty much the absolute max your current power supply can handle.

http://www.hwcompare.com/17300/geforce-gtx-650-vs-geforce-gtx-750-ti/

The closest thing AMD has to the 750ti is the R7-250x. While they perform about the same, and the 250x costs about $30-$40 less...the 250x also uses nearly twice the power and once again your PSU wouldn't handle it.

Audigy

Funkadelic wrote: »

So the power supply says Dell Inc on it. The motherboard also is Dell Inc, model number 0y2mrg.

This CPU-z program says:

Bios version A06

Link Width x16, Max supported x16

PCI-Express

I was planning on installing it myself. While I don't know much about this hardware stuff I've never had any problems putting a part into my computer once i actually know what to get, from what I have experienced if it fits in a plug that's where it belongs.

Hmm, this is a bit of a problem now.

I don't trust PSU´s of premade PC´s While 450W is absolutely solid in a be quiet, Corsair PSU - a Dell PSU most likely wont work, or lets say its to risky.

For safety, I would advice to buy a new PSU as well.

As for the mainboard, it only supports PCI Express 2.0 - but this is ok as I said earlier, but might require a BIOS update. Question is, does Dell offer BIOS updates?

Daverios

Your problem is NOT hardware related as these other folks are leading you to believe. Your system and OS is very poorly optimized. How do I know? I have had this game running on ultra on a I5 2nd gen. @3.30 with a gtx 560ti. A 560ti with blown fan I might also add (I literally zip tied a case fan to its heatsink and off I went)


I would recommend a clean windowz install and finding a good site that shows you how to optomize as windows installation leave all the garbage you will not need turned on. I recommend getting the latest release of your OS as it will have all the updates built in an greatly cut down on windows sideXside garbage (all you need to know about sideXside is it slows down your OS as it grows and does so with each windows update). It is perfectly legal to get latest release from a torrent site and use your windows authentication to activate it.

Guarenteed wifhout any hardware change and a fresh optimized install you would run high-ultra no problems.

Saerydoth

When shopping for power supplies, you never even LOOK at wattage. Wattage is meaningless when it comes to power supplies. You have to look at the number of 12v amps the power supply can provide, and whether it is single or multiple rails (you always want single rail).

As for PCI-e support, that doesn't matter at all. PCI-e is forward and backward compatible. You can plug a PCI-e 2.0 card into a 3.0 slot or a 3.0 card into a 2.0 slot and they will always work fine. Even the 780ti doesn't quite max out PCI-e 2.0, so there would be NO performance penalty for using a 2.0 slot.

Funkadelic

ok for sure thanks a lot for the help. If its not a big improvement I'll probably just wait a little but and replace my power supple and card.

Funkadelic

Daverios wrote: »

Your problem is NOT hardware related as these other folks are leading you to believe. Your system and OS is very poorly optimized. How do I know? I have had this game running on ultra on a I5 2nd gen. @3.30 with a gtx 560ti. A 560ti with blown fan I might also add (I literally zip tied a case fan to its heatsink and off I went)


I would recommend a clean windowz install and finding a good site that shows you how to optomize as windows installation leave all the garbage you will not need turned on.

Guarenteed wifhout any hardware change and a fresh optimized install you would run high-ultra no problems.

Can you do that in Cyrodil with a bunch of people around casting spells? right now i run high-ultra everywhere BESIDES cyrodil then i change some things around.

Dreez

Like Daverios said, try doing a clean install of your OS, that can fix a lot if you have been putting alot of junk into C: (Me personally never install games on C, its only for OS).

But i would also try to make preperations to get a better PSU. That dell-PSU i wouldn't
trust to run a calculator.
Since its Dell hardware, i assume its a prebuilt PC you got throughwork
(very common here in Sweden at least), and they never use hardware that is high quality.

Anyway.. Before reinstalling your OS, make sure you save stuff you want to keep, like files usually stored in /documment folder or /pictures etc, etc.... gamesave files.

Daverios

Funkadelic wrote: »

Daverios wrote: »

Your problem is NOT hardware related as these other folks are leading you to believe. Your system and OS is very poorly optimized. How do I know? I have had this game running on ultra on a I5 2nd gen. @3.30 with a gtx 560ti. A 560ti with blown fan I might also add (I literally zip tied a case fan to its heatsink and off I went)


I would recommend a clean windowz install and finding a good site that shows you how to optomize as windows installation leave all the garbage you will not need turned on.

Guarenteed wifhout any hardware change and a fresh optimized install you would run high-ultra no problems.

Can you do that in Cyrodil with a bunch of people around casting spells? right now i run high-ultra everywhere BESIDES cyrodil then i change some things around.

Sure did. Even in the zerg there was little noticable difference but I am sure fps did take a small hit. Just not very noticable one.

Audigy

Saerydoth wrote: »

When shopping for power supplies, you never even LOOK at wattage. Wattage is meaningless when it comes to power supplies. You have to look at the number of 12v amps the power supply can provide, and whether it is single or multiple rails (you always want single rail).

As for PCI-e support, that doesn't matter at all. PCI-e is forward and backward compatible. You can plug a PCI-e 2.0 card into a 3.0 slot or a 3.0 card into a 2.0 slot and they will always work fine. Even the 780ti doesn't quite max out PCI-e 2.0, so there would be NO performance penalty for using a 2.0 slot.

What you said about the 12v is correct, thats why buying of a good brand is key. A 800 W can be a china cracker, even if it shows 800W

I am afraid his Dell PSU wont have a strong 12v lane, maybe he can find out what the 12v says and if its a single one?

What you said about the PCI-e isn't exactly right.

You lose a tiny bit of performance in a PCI 2.1 from a potential 3.0 of a GPU. Is it noticeable? Most likely not for the human eye, but its based on a 1-2% loss. Not relevant for the OP, that's true especially with a low budget / mid range card I think this was tested on the 290x once, but I could be mistaken

However, the real problem is the BIOS. The AMD Cards tend to be demanding on those, I know a customer needed a new BIOS for his p67 - but that's not a big issue for Asrock mainboards or those of a good brand. Dell however, I am not sure if they offer BIOS updates?

Numeriku

a 750 ti isnt that bad, i'm running at 55 fps in cyrodil with an i7 870 2.98ghz & a 750ti just fine at ultra settings, though my 750 ti is a asus version with a 6pin connector for gpu overclocking.

RinaldoGandolphi

Hi,

I noticed no one ask what resolution you are playing at?

1080? 1650?

the resolution you are playing it really plays a big part in determining what card to buy.

If your at 1080, I would say the 750ti would be plenty enough for this game.

I'll be honest with you, this game is not really "graphically demanding" this game is CPU bound all the way.....you have a good CPU.

I would just buy the 750Ti. you will get a great boost from it. 2-3 months down the road when the game engine patches in furhter optimizations and AMD/Nvidia catch up on driver support, the game will perform even better.

You should be able to maintain at the very least a solid 30 FPS in Cyrodiil with that CPU and the 750Ti...get the 2 GB version or more if you can. The 750TI is a very good performer for the price, and to be honest I can't tell any difference between High and Ultra....even Medium and high look almost the same to me.

Shadows are the real FPS killer, Drop shadows to meduim or low and crank everything else, and that 750Ti will do just fine...its a great buy for its cost.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487024

Therer a good one right there..EVGA has a great warranty, it has a good cooler on it, and its overclocked to boot straight from the factory at a cool $154 bucks...thats a good deal right there IMO

Daverios

woodsro wrote: »

Hi,

I noticed no one ask what resolution you are playing at?

1080? 1650?

the resolution you are playing it really plays a big part in determining what card to buy.

If your at 1080, I would say the 750ti would be plenty enough for this game.

I'll be honest with you, this game is not really "graphically demanding" this game is CPU bound all the way.....you have a good CPU.

I would just buy the 750Ti. you will get a great boost from it. 2-3 months down the road when the game engine patches in furhter optimizations and AMD/Nvidia catch up on driver support, the game will perform even better.

You should be able to maintain at the very least a solid 30 FPS in Cyrodiil with that CPU and the 750Ti...get the 2 GB version or more if you can. The 750TI is a very good performer for the price, and to be honest I can't tell any difference between High and Ultra....even Medium and high look almost the same to me.

Shadows are the real FPS killer, Drop shadows to meduim or low and crank everything else, and that 750Ti will do just fine...its a great buy for its cost.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487024

Therer a good one right there..EVGA has a great warranty, it has a good cooler on it, and its overclocked to boot straight from the factory at a cool $154 bucks...thats a good deal right there IMO

This game is absolutely is No way what so ever CPU demanding. It is all about your GPU in ESO. Personally I want some of what thia guy ia smoking to even make a claim like that. So utterly laughable, this game uses like no physics which is what puts demand on your cpu during gaming. How do I know this for a fact ypu ask? Simple besides the fact I run an I5 2nd gen with a 770 gtx and run circles around people running I7 3rd gen and a crappy video card I also monitor my pc stats and cpu never goes above 30% and that is ONLY on loading screens. Less than 10% cpu usage during gameplay.

deef85b16_ESO

Daverios wrote: »

woodsro wrote: »

Hi,

I noticed no one ask what resolution you are playing at?

1080? 1650?

the resolution you are playing it really plays a big part in determining what card to buy.

If your at 1080, I would say the 750ti would be plenty enough for this game.

I'll be honest with you, this game is not really "graphically demanding" this game is CPU bound all the way.....you have a good CPU.

I would just buy the 750Ti. you will get a great boost from it. 2-3 months down the road when the game engine patches in furhter optimizations and AMD/Nvidia catch up on driver support, the game will perform even better.

You should be able to maintain at the very least a solid 30 FPS in Cyrodiil with that CPU and the 750Ti...get the 2 GB version or more if you can. The 750TI is a very good performer for the price, and to be honest I can't tell any difference between High and Ultra....even Medium and high look almost the same to me.

Shadows are the real FPS killer, Drop shadows to meduim or low and crank everything else, and that 750Ti will do just fine...its a great buy for its cost.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487024

Therer a good one right there..EVGA has a great warranty, it has a good cooler on it, and its overclocked to boot straight from the factory at a cool $154 bucks...thats a good deal right there IMO

This game is absolutely is No way what so ever CPU demanding. It is all about your GPU in ESO. Personally I want some of what thia guy ia smoking to even make a claim like that. So utterly laughable, this game uses like no physics which is what puts demand on your cpu during gaming. How do I know this for a fact ypu ask? Simple besides the fact I run an I5 2nd gen with a 770 gtx and run circles around people running I7 3rd gen and a crappy video card I also monitor my pc stats and cpu never goes above 30% and that is ONLY on loading screens. Less than 10% cpu usage during gameplay.

CPU cycles are utilized for more stuff than only physics lol.. like the position of every player, netcode, IO, vectors, and last but not least pushing data to the GPU and visa versa, and tons of other stuff, even the moment you push a button on your keyboard you will utilize the CPU and call a method which needs calculation / uses CPU cycles, same for mouse movements etc. etc. etc.

You sir really don't have a clue about programming / hardware how a CPU really works and handles commands and how it schedules the tasks it needs to calculate during gaming or any other given task.

Starcraft II is also very CPU demanding, and do you think it's because the physics ? Think again.

Tieberion

A good "starter" gpu for low cash, low power consumption/good performance would be Nvidias new "Maxwell" GTX 750 Ti. The latest set of Nvidia Drivers (337.50) reworked from the ground up, now relieve some cpu bound games. Def worth looking at if you can swing it.