Upgrading my pc, second gfx card?

[Psyko]

Hey

at this stage my computer is quite out dated but its only nearly 4 years old I think and back then it was made of pretty good parts.

So right now the mother boards is
asus p5q3 delux
and its alright, it does the job. But looking at the performance im getting in Arma 3 im seeing that it wouldnt hold a candle to the next generation games. But id be happy if I could at least get Arma 3 to work smoothly on a little higher than Standard rendering settings.

My cpu is a Q9450 (this is for reference in case) ARK | Intel? Core?2 Quad Processor Q9450 (12M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB)
the one and only Graphics card I have is Geforse 9800 GT GeForce 9800 GT | Specifications | GeForce
And i have a very strong heat sync.

So my question is.
If I add a second graphics card is it going to do me much good? my MB is PCI express 2.0 and that seems to have come and gone, theres only one graphics card available to me that meets my specs on my favorite shopping site. ASUS GeForce GT610-SL-1GD3-L - 1GB - PCI-E

Its cooling is "passive" lol, but my heat sync should keep the whole lot nice and cool.

Any Crits or advice? im working cheap here as im not working properly, still a shitty intern level student.

[SANGUE-RUIM]

i wouldnt get another card... i would save the money, sell the current card u have, and buy another one better...

but of course, i think u need to upgrade the other parts of your PC, such as mobo and CPU...
good luck

[Psyko]

Thank you sangue

[SANGUE-RUIM]

i think u can start changing ur GPU card if u cant afford everything now...

i'd recommend a GTX 660 TI... its a great card (i have one)
if u cant afford it, I also have a RADEON 7850 1GB, which is much cheaper than a 660 TI (at least here) and its also a great card.. love it

ur mobo is good, but its an already outdated socket... when u can, change it... but that will force u to get a new processor, and new RAM, etc...

be aware of ur PSU... u need a good one for a 660 ti for example...

good luck

[SANGUE-RUIM]

also, dont waste money upgrading ur processor and RAM (on this MOBO)...

save the money and change everything u have when u can... if u start by changing the GPU now, u wont have to do that later...
and dont mess with the PSU, its always necessary to have a good one if u have a high performance PC...

good luck

[LITOralis.nMd]

my MB is PCI express 2.0 and that seems to have come and gone,

You are mistaken, all PCI express x 16 2.1 and 3.0 cards are 100% backwards compatible with the PCI Express 2.0 slot.
Only the very top end cards, say the GTX 680 and higher, and the HD 6990 and HD 7970 wilol actually get bottlenecked by the PCI-express 2.0 slot.

I fell your pain, I swapped from the Q9550 last fall, it was expensive, and I still can't max out Arma3.

Arma2, Arma3 were made by hardware companies to make bleeding edge consumers cry when they run the benchmarks. Hence they must buy even newer hardware. Bohemia Interactive is just a front group.

If you aren't sure which PSU you have, unplug your PC, and open it up and find out exactly.

[AfterDune]

What kind of thread title is "no mod related question". You know better than this, Psyko, now we have to fix her up again .

[Psyko]

What kind of thread title is "no mod related question". You know better than this, Psyko, now we have to fix her up again .

Butthurt from AD? I am overjoyed! I did it specifically to aggitate you as i knew how anal you are about things like that.
(does my misspelling of the word AGGITATE agitate you?)

I fell your pain, I swapped from the Q9550 last fall, it was expensive, and I still can't max out Arma3.

Thanks for the advice man, I was never one of those consumer cows anyway, im happy playing it on low, as long as i can play epic titles like BF3 and Batman Arkham City, im happy with what I currently have.

do you think a cheap G-card would help at all? or is it really CPU performance thats the real problem? when implaying arma 3 coop, the two things that seem to drag on my cpu are the smoke, and enemy NPCs. not sure why as they dont look all that troublesome to render, and i would have assumed some of those things would have been calculated on the serverside!?

[LITOralis.nMd]

Just to reiterate, the GT610 you linked to is a card made for budget office PCs, do not buy it.

A optimal upgrade path for you,
first off, you need to know what PSU you have, and what wattage it's rated.

If your PSU is sufficient,

1. Overclock your CPU, your mobo is an enthusiast mobo, it's designed to overclock CPUs. Get the most out of that Q9450 as you can.
Arma2 performance is most dependent on the speed of the CPU,


2. Yes, your GPU is holding you back. You could jump into a GTX 660 or HD 7850 and triple your graphics performance, GeForce 9800 GT vs GeForce 660 GTX review - Introduction

A GeForce GTX 650 Ti would double GPU performance.

--------------

On another note, for both ARMA2 and ARMA3, you need to use command line options to optimize the games for your system.

[Psyko]

do you think a GeForce GTX 650 Ti would fit in beside my 9800 gt?

[Psyko]

So i investigated overclocking, and i realized that i had bought this motherboard in the first place becuase it sort of overclocks itself.

heres the thing, theres a great heatsync so i dont have to worry about heat.

what your looking at above is the software that goes along side the motherboard. and becuase im terribly impatient i would rather master this than fiddle around in the bios, making a balls of things.

when i cranked the frequency bar up to 20% the computer froze and i had to restart. the good thing about this MB is that when you restart, it sets the bios back to default settings. I only installed these bits of software this afternoon.
Asus 6-engine, AI suite, PC probe and Asus Smartdoctor.

but it looks as though im only getting a fraction of what i could potentially get, any idears?

[Darkpowder]

Don't aim for any more than a 10% overclock, if you have the kind of mobo that "overclocks itself".
Research heavily your mobo/memory/gpu combination before getting into any professional techniques.

For PR BF2, 9800GT = Throw in bin. and Get a mid-range NVIDIA card. The 650Ti is a good card, but check -carefully- whether your PSU has the correct range of connectors and the power to support it before you buy.

If you post up the details on the PSU, someone here can tell you for sure.

[Psyko]

Don't aim for any more than a 10% overclock, if you have the kind of mobo that "overclocks itself".
Research heavily your mobo/memory/gpu combination before getting into any professional techniques.

For PR BF2, 9800GT = Throw in bin. and Get a mid-range NVIDIA card. The 650Ti is a good card, but check -carefully- whether your PSU has the correct range of connectors and the power to support it before you buy.

If you post up the details on the PSU, someone here can tell you for sure.

my current ball of shi- ahem.... win. ball of win.

1 PCS 347716 Corsair TWIN3X 1600MHz DDR3, 2GB, DHX,
Kit w/two 1GB XMS3 modules, CL9-9-9-24

1 PCS 344758 Intel Core?2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz Socket
LGA775, 1333MHz, 12MB, BOXED w/fan
1 PCS 352410 Asus P5Q3 Deluxe/WIFI, P45, Socket-775,
ATX,GbLAN,DDR3,Firewire,3xPCI-Ex(2.0)16
1 PCS 332085 Antec Nine Hundred black miditower,
Side panel window (Without PSU)
1 PCS 340678 Corsair Powersupply 750W Black, ATX/EPS,
140mm Fan, 8xSATA, SLI
1 PCS 331024 Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA2
16MB 7200RPM
1 PCS 345091 LG DVD?RW burner, GH20NS20, 20x, SATA,
Black, OEM

Xigmatek Dark Knight Heat sync

1 PCS 364909 Gainward GeForce 9800GT 1GB GDDR3,
PCI-Express 2.0, 2xDVI/HDCP "GS"

[LITOralis.nMd]

That is a superlative power supply. I put one in a PC in 2007 that runs nearly 24/7/365 since then.

If you are not paying your electric utility bill, you can go with an older gen top of the line card that uses more electricity, but if you're not paying for who cares?!

From best to less best, I'd try to find something in this range...

Discrete: GTX 295, 480, 570, 650 Ti Boost
Discrete: 6970, 7850
Discrete: GTX 470, 560 Ti, 560 Ti 448 Core Discrete: HD 4850 X2, 5870, 6950
Discrete: GTX 560, 650 Ti
Discrete: HD 5850, 6870, 7790


Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart - Best Graphics Cards For The Money: May 2013

[Psyko]

LITOralis.nMd;1904232']That is a superlative power supply. I put one in a PC in 2007 that runs nearly 24/7/365 since then.

If you are not paying your electric utility bill, you can go with an older gen top of the line card that uses more electricity, but if you're not paying for who cares?!

From best to less best, I'd try to find something in this range...

Discrete: GTX 295, 480, 570, 650 Ti Boost
Discrete: 6970, 7850
Discrete: GTX 470, 560 Ti, 560 Ti 448 Core Discrete: HD 4850 X2, 5870, 6950
Discrete: GTX 560, 650 Ti
Discrete: HD 5850, 6870, 7790


Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart - Best Graphics Cards For The Money: May 2013

I have been running this computer 8+ hours daily since i bought it in 2008, it has been great! the power-supply and hard drive have been brilliant. i have heard many horror stories from people with other components, but i can definitely vouch for what i got.

I'll look into prices for those things, thanks!

[Psyko]

I made another thread by accident below this one. sorry disregard it.

After re-reading this thread, I now have a new question

Can you recommend a good replacement motherboard that all my currect hardware will work with or close to?
Its still the same hardware as list in post #14.

Thanks

Also Afterdune, sorry i was such a tard.

[LITOralis.nMd]

Its really a bad move though, you wont get your money's worth for performance, you will get an extra one or two hundred MHz out of your CPU which wont achieve anything.

Did your mobo drop dead?

[Psyko]

Its really a bad move though, you wont get your money's worth for performance, you will get an extra one or two hundred MHz out of your CPU which wont achieve anything.

Did your mobo drop dead?

even though the parts still work perfectly i only want a boost in graphical strength including an upgrade to dx 11. Somebody else suggested upgrading the mobo.

are you saying all i really need to do is upgrade the graphics card?