PC gamers, what do you do when you hit the limits of your system?

[General Twinkletoes]

The thing I use to game is a 5-6 year old toshiba laptop, 32 bit with vista, 2 gig's of ram and a broken fan that overheats playing LoL. Also, it takes two hours to take apart and another 2 to put back together again, and I don't really have access to upgrades at the moment.

Fun times.

 

[Fidelias]

Well, I hunt for a good deal on upgrades. One of the benefits of creating a custom computer. Almost every part can be replaced without problems.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Hmmmm

Spoiler: Looks at gaming monster under desk

Huh, don't really think I'll ever need to do anything

holy fans batman

what cards you got in that big beast?

very impressive, and jealous, although i do love my case dearly so idk if i'll ever give it up..

 

[Imper1um]

To be honest, I build systems that stand the test of time for at least two years. At the moment, no PC game has "rocked" my system because it just doesn't exist (yet), even though the GFX Cards (plural...2) are 8 months old, and the CPU is 12 months old. The Dual-card setup is working amazingly. Alone, a single card probably could be killed by all the HD Patches I put on Skyrim, but together, the cards are working in tandem which mean my framerate with all HD at Maximum on Skyrim is operating at 76 FPS inside, 49 FPS outside in full view.

When I hit the "limits" of my system, I start researching for a new setup. I find the weakest link (slow RAM, slow CPU, slow GPU) and aim to replace only that component (unless old components are incompatible with new components). If I find that the computer is still underperforming, I perform further upgrades.

2 years isn't very long.

Anyway, what GPUs are you running and at what res to say that a single card wouldn't be enough?

I tried running Skyrim with full HD packs on 1920x on my GTX 460...didn't turn out very well. Put a dual card in there and now it takes the Physics and uses the second card as a Physics card, which is great. Went from 13-29 FPS to 49+.

 

[theultimateend]

Why in god's name do you need TRIPLE monitors?!

Dwarf Fortress in center screen.
Dwarf Therapist on Right Screen.
Dwarf Stonesense on Left Screen.

>_>.

 

[Balimaar]

spend 50-100 bucks to upgrade and have a new computer for 1/4 - 1/6th the price of a new console or 1/10 - 1/50th a new pc

 

[ResonanceSD]

Why in god's name do you need TRIPLE monitors?!

Dwarf Fortress in center screen.
Dwarf Therapist on Right Screen.
Dwarf Stonesense on Left Screen.

>_>.

Left third of the game on the left, central third of the game in the centre, and right third of the game on the right. =D

 

[MercurySteam]

Hmmmm

Spoiler: Looks at gaming monster under desk

Huh, don't really think I'll ever need to do anything

holy fans batman

what cards you got in that big beast?

very impressive, and jealous

There's 16 fans including PSU fan. The two CPU fans are TY-140s, which don't reach high RPMs but move plenty of air and are very quiet. The GPUs you see are two Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 1280MB Overclocked V2 in SLI. Even a GTX 680 can't rival that kind of firepower.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Hmmmm

Spoiler: Looks at gaming monster under desk

Huh, don't really think I'll ever need to do anything

holy fans batman

what cards you got in that big beast?

very impressive, and jealous

There's 16 fans including PSU fan. The two CPU fans are TY-140s, which don't reach high RPMs but move plenty of air and are very quiet. The GPUs you see are two Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 1280MB Overclocked V2 in SLI. Even a GTX 680 can't rival that kind of firepower.

sweet jesus. how much would you say (in a guesstimate) did you spend on your rig? (excluding monitor/keyboard/etc..)

tis a very powerful machine indeed, i feel a admiral ackbar quote "can't repel firepower of that magnitude" is needed here.

 

[MercurySteam]

sweet jesus. how much would you say (in a guesstimate) did you spend on your rig? (excluding monitor/keyboard/etc..)

tis a very powerful machine indeed, i feel a admiral ackbar quote "can't repel firepower of that magnitude" is needed here.

Hahaha thanks. I reckon that it cost around 2K AUD. Not exacly something I want to spend every couple of years but defintely worth it if it doesn't break down.

 

[ResonanceSD]

[

The GPUs you see are two Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 1280MB Overclocked V2 in SLI. Even a GTX 680 can't rival that kind of firepower.

Uh, yes, yes it can. and does.

That's single card performance, so not so much help, but it does set the scene.


Kepler GK104 includes TXAA and GPU Boost, which isn't on your card. Also the GTX 680 has 2GB of VRAM.



In addition, a single GTX 680 is slightly more powerful than both your cards together. what's your resolution?


Also whilst we're on the subject

FEAR

 

[MercurySteam]

The GPUs you see are two Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 1280MB Overclocked V2 in SLI. Even a GTX 680 can't rival that kind of firepower.

Uh, yes, yes it can. and does.

That's single card performance, so not so much help, but it does set the scene.

True, but lemme show you some charts that are actually useful:

Here is the bench for the GTX680 [http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/555]

Here is the bench for the GTX570 SLI [http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/307]

Look at them side by side and tell me I'm wrong. Remember, I'm talking raw framerates.

Finally, visit this [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AkabYLFWwMWQdHJIRDItUjZZM3RkUkZ1SGVVZU9ncVE&single=true&gid=0&output=html&widget=true] speadsheet and look for my name. Look at what my cards scored and then look down and see what single GTX680s scored

Kepler GK104 includes TXAA and GPU Boost, which isn't on your card. Also the GTX 680 has 2GB of VRAM.

TXAA is a feature but i was talking about pure gaming power and GPU boost currently does almost nothing to improve performance in games as some most reviews state. Plus the amount of vRAM I currently have is fine for the games I use (including RAGE on ULTRA with 8K textures)

 

[ResonanceSD]

.

Yes. Raw framerates. I imagine you have a 120Hz monitor which can actually take advantage of those.

 

[MercurySteam]

.

Yes. Raw framerates. I imagine you have a 120Hz monitor which can actually take advantage of those.

Nope, I cbf with 3D and having half your framerate. I just want to be able to run EVERYTHING very smooth for the next few years.

 

[Charli]

Keep playing stuff I can handle until I can afford and/or pilfer an upgrade off friends.

The i7 and GTX 560Ti are doing me just fine, don't think I'll need an upgrade for several years at least.

 

[ResonanceSD]

.

Yes. Raw framerates. I imagine you have a 120Hz monitor which can actually take advantage of those.

Nope, I cbf with 3D and having half your framerate. I just want to be able to run EVERYTHING very smooth for the next few years.

My point being you can't actually see more FPS than your monitor can display Hz. So you know, your toaster oven is somewhat under utilised.

 

[MercurySteam]

.

Yes. Raw framerates. I imagine you have a 120Hz monitor which can actually take advantage of those.

Nope, I cbf with 3D and having half your framerate. I just want to be able to run EVERYTHING very smooth for the next few years.

My point being you can't actually see more FPS than your monitor can display Hz. So you know, your toaster oven is somewhat under utilised.

I know that anything over 60FPS is pretty much useless for me but I bought these cards to last me over a period of a few years, so by then I'd wager that I'll still be getting framerates that I can actually see even then. A worthwhile investment in the long run for sure.

And I suppose at this point you want me to forget your claim that a single 680 can outperform my two OCed 570s?

 

[Nelires]

I just live with it until I can afford to upgrade.

 

[ResonanceSD]

.

Yes. Raw framerates. I imagine you have a 120Hz monitor which can actually take advantage of those.

Nope, I cbf with 3D and having half your framerate. I just want to be able to run EVERYTHING very smooth for the next few years.

My point being you can't actually see more FPS than your monitor can display Hz. So you know, your toaster oven is somewhat under utilised.

I know that anything over 60FPS is pretty much useless for me but I bought these cards to last me over a period of a few years, so by then I'd wager that I'll still be getting framerates that I can actually see even then. A worthwhile investment in the long run for sure.

And I suppose at this point you want me to forget your claim that a single 680 can outperform my two OCed 570s?

Overclock a 4GB 680 to the same degree and see what the result is. =D