Upgrade time?

[Zadock]

I'm considering making a couple of changes to my rig (in sig and on left), CPU and RAM wise I think I will be ok for a while so the things I may change are:

Graphics card: 8800GTS 640Mb currently, am I going to see a huge difference if I buy something from the current mid-range? say a radeon 6780 or equivalent Nvidia?

and potentially

an SSD: just for the OS to run from, so size not that important but speed is.

I'd probably get these over the next few months.

All opinions welcome, also if you know of any issues I might have with either of these items with my current hardware that would be good to know as well.

Cheers!

[kalniel]

You will notice the SSD. GPU depends on the games you play. Anything taxing then yes. WoW, no.

[Zadock]

Games wise I am currently playing Mass Effect 2, Borderlands, Dragon Age Origins... I have Just Cause 2, Assassins Creed 2 and I will be buying The Witcher 2 in March so I like fairly graphically intense games. I'm not fussed about full AA/AF etc just so long as I can have good texture detail and a reasonable level of filtering etc.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

A DX11 card will mean higher framerates with WoW and more shiny though.

[DanceswithUnix]

You will notice the SSD. GPU depends on the games you play. Anything taxing then yes. WoW, no.

Guess you haven't played WoW for a while.

It had my 8800GT 512MB on its knees, 460GTX 2GB is a huge difference. Slower card means lower viewing distance so enemy players can see you before you see them

I have read that putting the ~16GB of game directory on an SSD can make a world of difference to zone changes as well. I presume the same can be said for other sizable games (unless you have 16GB of ram ofc).

[Zadock]

I don't play world of warcraft... You're all addicted though by the looks of it

I think Kalniel has answered my question, thanks goes his way

Its going to be a radeon 6780 I think, or the equivalent nvidia. I'll have a read near the time.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Games wise I am currently playing Mass Effect 2, Borderlands, Dragon Age Origins... I have Just Cause 2, Assassins Creed 2 and I will be buying The Witcher 2 in March so I like fairly graphically intense games. I'm not fussed about full AA/AF etc just so long as I can have good texture detail and a reasonable level of filtering etc.

The first two games run fine on an overclocked HD4830 512MB.

An SSD will improve loading times but won't improve game performance.

I would also get an HD6950 1GB or 2GB too as it has much better tessellation performance than an HD6870 1GB.

With the GTX560 being released at the end of the month prices may start to fall too.

[DanceswithUnix]

I don't play world of warcraft... You're all addicted though by the looks of it

I think Kalniel has answered my question, thanks goes his way

Its going to be a radeon 6780 I think, or the equivalent nvidia. I'll have a read near the time.

Edit to add: I really should refresh a thread before I post to it

I presume that is a typo and should be 6870? That would be a decent upgrade, and Nvidia should be releasing their 560 GTX going head to head with it which can only help you for choice and pricing

Also, ignoring that I said it about WoW, game/level loading off SSD is supposed to make a difference so if you do get one allow a little more than the OS size for your favourite game.

[Zadock]

Edit to add: I really should refresh a thread before I post to it

I presume that is a typo and should be 6870? That would be a decent upgrade, and Nvidia should be releasing their 560 GTX going head to head with it which can only help you for choice and pricing

Also, ignoring that I said it about WoW, game/level loading off SSD is supposed to make a difference so if you do get one allow a little more than the OS size for your favourite game.

Sorry, yes I meant 6870!

Looks like its a good idea to wait for a little while for the new 560 then? I'll look at the 6950 cards aswell.

a 32Gb SSD be enough for windows 7 and perhaps one game? 7 installation is around the 16Gb mark usually?

Cheers guys

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Sorry, yes I meant 6870!

Looks like its a good idea to wait for a little while for the new 560 then? I'll look at the 6950 cards aswell.

a 32Gb SSD be enough for windows 7 and perhaps one game? 7 installation is around the 16Gb mark usually?

Cheers guys

One of my mates has a 60GB SSD and he did run out of space quite quickly once he installed a fewgames on it.

You can get a decent 60GB SSD for around £90 to £100 an it is worth the extra cost over a 32GB one IMHO.

[TheodanUK]

If you are thinking over the next few months then the GPU you select is likely to change ... mainly due to the pending release of the nVidia GTX 560.. (which I expect is probably going to be the new 8800 legendary graphics card for the next couple of years)

As for a SSD for operating system only, I would grab a Crucial C300 64GB SSD (under £100), lightning fast read speeds but slow write, which is fine for an OS drive.. maybe also grab a PCI-E 6GBPS SATA Card to ensure maximum speed of the SSD Drive.

[Zadock]

The 6950's look nice! surprised by the pricing as well, scan have a 2Gb xfx one for £229.99. Is 2Gb of vram overkill though? I only have a 19" widescreen monitor.