Graphic Card Question

[Tatoosh]

My current graphics card is tad under their requirement.  I plan to bite the bullet and get a replacement but something used and cheap,  I see the minimum is GEFORCE 9600 (my current card is the 9500). Those are available and cheap, which is very tempting.  

But the GTX 550 ti 1gb is the recommended card.  Those are not huge money.  So a bit of eBay shopping makes it look likely.  Then I ran into the GTX 560 1gb and it looks like a better step up than the GTX 550 when I hop on a hardware comparison site. I see refurbed Zotac GTX 560 around $60 or so. Seems like good bang for the buck.

Other upgrades - more ram?  I think WOWs wants 4 gig, I'm pretty sure my motherboard goes 2 gig max.  I have another MB floating around and will have to check to see if it can handle the desired 4 gig.  And maybe a 128 gb Crucial SSD drive for my primary and a 350 gb HDD?  I'll move from XP to Win 7 as well.  Long overdue but steadfastly resisted.  All good things come to an end though.  Bye bye XP. 

Please remember, I'm a cheap Charley. Regardless how great some hyper fast card is, I won't spend the bucks on it.  But given that, thoughts and advice will be appreciated.

 

[Userext]

 

Operating System: Windows 8.1 Enterprise 64-bit 

Processor: Intel® Core2 Duo CPU E7500 @ 2.93GHz 

Memory: 3000MB RAM

Card Name: GeForce 9600 GSO 512

Display Memory: 2559MB

Dedicated Display Memory: 1024MB DDR2

Dedicated System Memory: 1535MB

 

I get 40 FPS(it goes likes this 40-50-40-76-40-76-50.....) 

 

 

[simonmd]

By the sound of it, i'd be foretting the card all together and focusing on getting a half decent MB and CPU first. There is no point otherwise. You say at present it only supports 2gb? I'm amazed you can run anything!

[Nechrom]

What CPU are you using if you don't mind me asking? With a MB that can only take 2 GB of ram I'm afraid of how old the CPU it supports is.

[MrRibz]

Mate for maybe £400/500 you could get a pre built pc and it would upgrade all parts of the pc including the os software.

 

I know you said ur cheap but you shouldn't build a pc to play wows. Build one that can handle a decent amount of games.

 

You would need to upgrade ram, CPU, gpu, and maybe power supply and mother board.............just buy a nice cheap system and enjoy.

[Tatoosh]

Thanks for the input guys.  My old system limps along ... it is an E5200 @ 2.5 ghz, so yeah, pretty antiquated.  Simonmd and nechrom - it is like you say, amazing it does anything.  But it still powers up and runs a lot of stuff.  Browsers, spreadsheets, word processor apps, even a couple of graphics proggies.  

MrRibz, 400 to 500 pounds sterling?  I fear that is not going to happen. At least not in the near future.  I've been tossed ashore, marooned one might say, for almost a decade on a remote island paradise where electronics are taxed like they were sin itself. Next year I will return to pudgy paws of the first world with its much more reasonable attitude toward all things electronic and will look at assembling a nice used "hundred pounder" or so.  

Since I'll be moving in mere months, okay, a mere dozen or so, buying a nice system or even a decent Motherboard and processor that I'd have to leave behind,  well, that is not happening.  I'll find the other MB and check spec on it.  There is a 50/50 chance it is a bit better or a bit worse.

So the graphics card, at 60 dollars (US) seems like a good fix, the SSD drive seems kind of a waste for its size, but I hear they are speedy little bastards - err - sons of guns.  I might pop the little 2.5 in SSD drive out and carry it across the far western pond, but that is about it, I think.  I've too much other stuff that to get back.  

I found a Zoltac GT730 refurb card with 2 gb memory for the price ofthe GT560 1 gb memory. Hmmm, what to do?  

 

Oh well, fair weather and following seas, Captains.  

[Muzzle_Flash]

My opinion on the matter .....

 

Get a GTX 660 Ti , they go around 50€-60€ on eBay , way faster than 560 and 730 .

120GB SSD ??? Why ? Get for the same price 2 Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 and set them up on RAID 0 .

You will get 70% of the SSD performance but you will have 2TB space , and if your board supports only SATA 2 (Which cuts down top performing SSDs)

you will get +90% of the SSD performance .

[Nechrom]

I might be completely wrong here, but if the MB only supports 2 GB does it even have SATA?

[Muzzle_Flash]

I might be completely wrong here, but if the MB only supports 2 GB does it even have SATA?

 

Some old boards had mixed P-ATA and Serial ATA ports .

If we are talking for a MB without any SATA ports then we are going back to prior 2003 .

I rest my case if we are talking for that old PC .

In this case no upgrade would actually be worth because everything will be Bottlenecking the other .

Even if he could afford a 400$ GPU would you recommend a GTX 970 for him ?

But as you see OP has left the building , no details , no specs , nothing .

 

[black_falcon120]

Also, the website 'gamer debate' lets you compare graphics cards directly against each other.

[Tatoosh]

Wait, wait, I did reply - what do you mean no specs or details?  See my "Thanks for the input guys.  My old system limps along ... it is an E5200 @ 2.5 ghz, so yeah, pretty antiquated."  It does do SATA but not SATA2 (I think).  It was a sweet system back in its day.  That was maybe 5 years ago, or a bit less.  

I'm digging out the other motherboard as I type this up.  I'll see what specs it has.  I put a 1 terrabyte Seagate HDD in it that prompty died after 2 weeks.  Bleh!  Talk about pissed off.  So if it can go 4 gig ram, it will be my the object of upgrade.  And that looks very promising!  It is a Asus P5N73-AM which can do 4 gig at least of ram, it has a PCIe x16 x1 slot, so that will be my graphics slot and my graphics card question is pertinent.  Sorry, I am not sure about the processor in it.  

 

[black_falcon120]

Control panel => Devices and hardware =>Device manager

 

Then look in there, it'll tell you your specs.

[Tatoosh]

MuzzleFlash- thanks for the good comments and insight!  I will probably forgo the SSD, though it is tempting,.  With the availability of the 4 gig ram on my other motherboard/system - which says SATA in the spec sheet I found online, not SATA 2 - though I see another website refer to the motherboard as handling SATA 2 - so I'm puzzled there a bit.  Anyway, that is the system I'm going to upgrade for the WOWS and let this system slip down to another family member for "researching school projects" which seem to involve copious amounts of time on FB.  It does FB fine except with no sound, which should just get her panties in a major twist... heh heh!

If I can find a GTX660 Ti at a reasonable price, I'll definitely hop on it. I'm a bit at sea (pun intended) about what graphic card in the $50 to $60 range would be best.  I have to ship it overseas for another $16 or so, but with the local shop markups and the 12% VAT tax, I can handle the shipping easier.

 

[Tatoosh]

BlackFalcon - thanks - the other motherboard is not up and running at the moment, so I can't check that.  But I looked at its stats online and it is the system to go with.  I used Crucials memory system  evaluator to look at the one I'm using currently and it is 2 gb ram max.  So the other motherboard is the way to go, sans doubt.  

 

Wednesday I'll drop it off at the shop and get Windows 7 and a 350 HDD installed to get it at least running.  When I can get a decent Graphics Card, I hope I'll have a bit stabler game.   

[black_falcon120]

Np, btw, make sure you price compare on newegg, it's usually cheaper than amazon for PC parts.  Also, a small SSD for WoWs isn't a bad thing to get, it costs about £20 for a 60gb.

[Tatoosh]

I'll probably buy used off of eBay rather than new.  I look for someone that has upgraded their system and I can snag a decent part for pennies compared to the new item.  I have been looking at Crucibles 128 gb SDD - one of the few "new" items I'm considering, but Muzzle_Flash's comments make sense too and I don't want to throw money that doesn't offer a reasonable improvement.

When I get back to the States and get settled in, I'll look at something like a MSI Intel LGA 1150 H81m-E33 microatx motherboard, which is cheap, runs a decent 16 gb of ram if needed, and handles the Intel pentium g3258 processor, all of which is reasonably easy on the pocket and if I can find a good GPU, should give me an "okay" gamer system considering my abilities and so forth.  

Thanks for the info and advice to everyone - sorry if my posts did not contain as much info as they should.  I was not annoying you intentionally.  I would have a big grin on my face if that was the case.  ;) 

  

[EsaTuunanen]

I will probably forgo the SSD, though it is tempting,

SSD can only speed up say game/level load times and not replace having enough RAM for not needing to constantly load/offload stuff in the middle of playing.

Today's softwares are such bloated memory hogs that anything below 4 GB would be pure masochism in my books.

 

And as that E5200 is 64-bit CPU you could get 64 bit OS when upgrading that for being able to use it all.

(32bit OS can directly access around 3,5GB which is still heck a lot better than 2GB)

 

As for graphics cards 5xx serie Nvidias are based to old and power inefficient Fermi (I just call it fermistor) architecture while 6xx cards are based to lot more power efficient Kepler architecture.

PSU of that PC probably never was any high end model using quality parts and with this much age wouldn't want to stress it heavily.

[AnuSuaraj]

@Tatoosh

 

Your CPU is fine. Decent IPS and since WG titles are struggling with multithreading anyway...I have an old AMD Phenom II x4 945 which is only slightly faster than your Intel and it runs both WoWS and WoT on high settings without much trouble.

 

Definitely upgrade your RAM to 4 gigs and get Win7 64bit.

 

I have the GT 560 and can vouche for around 50-60 fps in WoWS and 70+ in WoT on medium to high settings.

 

Still, I think the GTX 660 Ti is a much better choice. You can get them used for bottom dollar prices at the moment.

 

SSD is definitely a game changer. It accelerates your PC really a lot, but the effect on gaming is only on loading times (i.e. map loading before battle etc..), it doesn't help with fps.

 

You can get a cheap 120GB SSD for your OS only.

 

But I would say that extra RAM, Win7 64BIT and a better graphic card should be your priorities (in that exact order).

[Bulanskovich]

Used cards have better prices, but before buying see if they have at least some warranty left and ask the seller what he did with the card. He could have been an avid overclocker.

[AnuSuaraj]

Used cards have better prices, but before buying see if they have at least some warranty left and ask the seller what he did with the card. He could have been an avid overclocker.

 

People who overclock GPUs should have their head examined.

 

It's not like CPUs where you can squezze out a significant performance boost and then just slap an aftermarket cooler to deal with the extra heat.

 

With GPUs dweebs squezze out 1-3% extra performance and leave the stock cooler on in most cases, which results in more overheating and a significant decrease in GPU's life.

 

With that said, no one's going to tell you that they've been messing with GPU. Ask the seller to stress test the GPU.

[Bulanskovich]

 

People who overclock GPUs should have their head examined.

 

It's not like CPUs where you can squezze out a significant performance boost and then just slap an aftermarket cooler to deal with the extra heat.

 

With GPUs dweebs squezze out 1-3% extra performance and leave the stock cooler on in most cases, which results in more overheating and a significant decrease in GPU's life.

 

With that said, no one's going to tell you that they've been messing with GPU. Ask the seller to stress test the GPU.

 

True, but maybe he comes a across an honest seller. You are right he should ask for a test, no harm in asking as well too.

 

And to be honest I'd rather OC my GPU, as today's CPUs are strong enough to support even Crossfire/SLI without needing a second one. 

[Tatoosh]

Thanks - the E5200 is on this computer - which reportedly supports on 2 gb of ram according to the specs I've found online and Crucial's memory evaluator, which I downloaded and ran.  

 

My other system which sucked up due to my 1 terrabyte HDD dying will handle the 4 gb WG recommends for WOWs. I will definitely get it upgraded to 4 gb and a basic 350 gb HDD put in.  Then the search for a decent GPU.  If I can find one that is in good condition and not overclocked - which I know almost nothing about - I'll hop on it.  

 

The SDD is something I would like to do, but not in a big hurry.  They are easy to pack and carry when I move.  I see Samsung has some out cheap now, cheaper than Crucial.  If I have the pennies, I'll look at it. 

 

But 4 gb Ram, Win 7, and the hunt is on for the GPU!  Hoot! Hoot!  (Yes, the hunt will be conducted on eBay) 

[Bulanskovich]

Thanks - the E5200 is on this computer - which reportedly supports on 2 gb of ram according to the specs I've found online and Crucial's memory evaluator, which I downloaded and ran.  

 

My other system which sucked up due to my 1 terrabyte HDD dying will handle the 4 gb WG recommends for WOWs. I will definitely get it upgraded to 4 gb and a basic 350 gb HDD put in.  Then the search for a decent GPU.  If I can find one that is in good condition and not overclocked - which I know almost nothing about - I'll hop on it.  

 

The SDD is something I would like to do, but not in a big hurry.  They are easy to pack and carry when I move.  I see Samsung has some out cheap now, cheaper than Crucial.  If I have the pennies, I'll look at it. 

 

But 4 gb Ram, Win 7, and the hunt is on for the GPU!  Hoot! Hoot!  (Yes, the hunt will be conducted on eBay) 

 

SSD are nice, but for the biggest difference in performance your priority should be GPU - CPU - RAM.

[black_falcon120]

 

SSD are nice, but for the biggest difference in performance your priority should be GPU - CPU - RAM.

 

It depends what you want to improve, if you have loading times which mean you miss the first 2 minutes of the battle (like me), get an ssd, if you get fps issues, then you are correct. 

[Tatoosh]

Last question - should I go for 64 bit Windows 7 if available?