2 different GPU installed - upgrade

[dovla 10]

Not really a arma question

Currently I have 650 Ti OC gigabyte 1Gb card installed bought less than a year ago

While card is good and performs well in most new games, there is a need to stronger one especially in DCS and Arma3.

Question is, if I buy new card and put it x16 slot and this old 650ti oc I move to x4 slot (without connecting anything to it) do I get anything from it being in my system, will it help my primary card to render content or something.

I do have second monitor which I could connect to that second card if it would make any sense performance wise.

Any 150-200 $ gpu upgrade suggestion ? ( i have 8Gb ram and 4xPhenom @3.2ghz), my motherboard suposedly can handle ati crossfire, but I have nvidia card atm

tmx

[dayglow 2]

If both are Nvidia cards then you could use the old 650 as a dedicated PhysX card. This would have limited use as the game would need to support GPU PhysX (Arma uses CPU PhysX so it would do nothing for this game).

Other than that, no it would not help out with the rendering in any way.

[dovla 10]

tnx

whats the best buy 200 $ gpu these days

btw, I never had any experience with sli or crossfire, unfortunately my 650 Ti OC, is SLI disabled so buying another one is not an option :-(

so I need to sell this 650Ti and buy new one

any good crossfire suggestion ? budget friendly ofcourse ;-)

so x16 + x4 pcie is fine for crossfire, dont really have the time for research so I guess I ll go for single gpu option, maybe ati cause of crossfire potential on my MB, never had ati card before so maybe it is time

[jurrasstoil 10]

Low end and midrange Crossfire/SLI is useless. It's better to have one strong card than two mediocre ones.

For 200 bucks you can get a 7950 at the moment which is a really good bang for the buck. Same performance as GTX760 which is a slight bit more expensive.

However, have you tried lowering your graphic settings to check if it is really your GPU that is limiting your performance? I've had a phenom II x4 as well and arma 3 ran like shit in MP. My GTX660 was idling away at 20% Usage.

[dovla 10]

Low end and midrange Crossfire/SLI is useless. It's better to have one strong card than two mediocre ones.

For 200 bucks you can get a 7950 at the moment which is a really good bang for the buck. Same performance as GTX760 which is a slight bit more expensive.

However, have you tried lowering your graphic settings to check if it is really your GPU that is limiting your performance? I've had a phenom II x4 as well and arma 3 ran like shit in MP. My GTX660 was idling away at 20% Usage.

I also need a cpu upgrade you are right.

Speaking of which when you mention it, what amd cpu you have now as upgrade to that phenom ?

tnx

[jurrasstoil 10]

Upgraded to a Xeon 1230v3. If I had had an AM3+ Board I might have gone for an FX-8320.

[ric 1]

@OP give us your complete system specs, how much you have to spend and we will try to find you the most inexpensive upgrade we can.

[Furret 0]

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

[dovla 10]

@OP give us your complete system specs, how much you have to spend and we will try to find you the most inexpensive upgrade we can.

am3+

8Gbram

4xphenom 200x15.5 unlocked

650Ti OC 1Gb

200-300 US$

not buying ssd :-)

tnx

[ric 1]

am3+

8Gbram

4xphenom 200x15.5 unlocked

650Ti OC 1Gb

200-300 US$

not buying ssd :-)

tnx

if you can please provide model numbers for all equipment, it helps in determining the best route. are you just looking for a video card or CPU/MB upgrade aswell?

[pr0ph3tswe 1]

am3+

8Gbram

4xphenom 200x15.5 unlocked

650Ti OC 1Gb

200-300 US$

not buying ssd :-)

tnx

i5 4670k + motherboard is probably the best upgrade you can do for arma if you have ddr3 ram already, should be around 300 USD

or if you can find the 3570k cheaper it's only around 10% slower, also why no ssd?

[ric 1]

i5 4670k + motherboard is probably the best upgrade you can do for arma if you have ddr3 ram already, should be around 300 USD

or if you can find the 3570k cheaper it's only around 10% slower, also why no ssd?

true but that 650ti IS a lowish card, so upgrading the back end might get him 10-15 FPS because the VC is now the bottleneck :( and i am guessing no SSD because he cant/wont reload his OS.

Best bet is for him to save the $300 add another $200 when it comes available and throw a 660 or equivalent when it upgrade time .

[pr0ph3tswe 1]

true but that 650ti IS a lowish card, so upgrading the back end might get him 10-15 FPS because the VC is now the bottleneck :( and i am guessing no SSD because he cant/wont reload his OS.

Best bet is for him to save the $300 add another $200 when it comes available and throw a 660 or equivalent when it upgrade time .

true, but that card should still handle the game on medium gpu heavy stuff with no aa without any issues, but yeah, he should save up for both cpu/mobo and a gpu

[ramius86 13]

You know that if you bought another GPU to play with arma you have to choose if to flickering PIP or to play with less fps without flickering ( forcing single cpu use = disabled sli ), right ? ;)

[dovla 10]

Thank you for your opinions, here is some more detailed hardware info, I'd prefer to stick with AMD processor line, and afaik my current MB can accept all new/latest amd processors and ofcourse avoid MB change.

no to SSD is money/capacity related, I ll wait till prices drop, I ll than just restore windbows drive backup image to new disk...

I think I ll go with some ~200 $ amd cpu, and next upgrade will be better gpu - any comments ?

currently I have 8Gb 1333 memory, is it worth buying new 8gb of little bit faster ram or is money better spent to something else like ssd,

Open Hardware Monitor Report

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

Version: 0.6.0.0

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

Common Language Runtime: 4.0.30319.1008

Operating System: Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1

Process Type: 64-Bit

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

Mainboard

SMBIOS Version: 2.4

BIOS Vendor: Award Software International, Inc.

BIOS Version: F7a

Mainboard Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.

Mainboard Name: GA-970A-DS3

Mainboard Version:

Processor Manufacturer: AMD

Processor Version: AMD Phenom II X4 B45 Processor

Processor Core Count: 0

Processor Core Enabled: 0

Processor Thread Count: 0

Processor External Clock: 209 Mhz

Memory Device [0] Manufacturer:

Memory Device [0] Part Number:

Memory Device [0] Device Locator: A0

Memory Device [0] Bank Locator: Bank0/1

Memory Device [0] Speed: 1333 MHz

Memory Device [1] Manufacturer:

Memory Device [1] Part Number:

Memory Device [1] Device Locator: A1

Memory Device [1] Bank Locator: Bank2/3

Memory Device [1] Speed: 1333 MHz

Memory Device [2] Manufacturer:

Memory Device [2] Part Number:

Memory Device [2] Device Locator: A2

Memory Device [2] Bank Locator: Bank4/5

Memory Device [2] Speed: 1333 MHz

Memory Device [3] Manufacturer:

Memory Device [3] Part Number:

Memory Device [3] Device Locator: A3

Memory Device [3] Bank Locator: Bank6/7

Memory Device [3] Speed: 1333 MHz

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

CPUID

Processor 0

Processor Vendor: AMD

Processor Brand: AMD Phenom II X4 B45 Processor

Family: 0x10

Model: 0x5

Stepping: 0x3

AMD CPU

Name: AMD Phenom II X4 B45 Processor

Number of Cores: 4

Threads per Core: 1

Timer Frequency: 3.163564 MHz

Time Stamp Counter: Invariant

Estimated Time Stamp Counter Frequency: 3239.54 MHz

Estimated Time Stamp Counter Frequency Error: 0.08192 Mhz

Time Stamp Counter Frequency: 3239.49 MHz

Time Stamp Counter Multiplier: 15.5

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

Nvidia GPU

Name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti

Index: 0

Driver Version: 331.40

Driver Branch: r331_00-96

[ric 1]

I think I ll go with some ~200 $ amd cpu, and next upgrade will be better gpu - any comments ?

currently I have 8Gb 1333 memory, is it worth buying new 8gb of little bit faster ram or is money better spent to something else like ssd,

there is no need for a $200 AMD cpu at this time unless you have or doing something that needs 8 cores, the FX 6300 should serve you just fine and it is $120 (read the reviews at newegg) as for you question about more ram there are 2 things you can do 1. buy another 8gb of 1333 and create a ram drive or 2. buy a 32gb SSD for $50 and put arma 3 on it, I recommend the latter SanDisk ReadyCache SDSSDRC-032G-G26 2.5" 32GB SATA III for Windows 7 and Windows 8 -based PCs that should bring you in at about $170 :) and that extra $30 you can put towards this XFX Double D FX-795A-TDKC Radeon HD 7950 Black Edition 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 $180 after rebate :)

Edited October 18, 2013 by ric

[MavericK96 0]

I would honestly buy a used i7 920 or 2600K or something and overclock it rather than get a cheap AMD processor at this point. Seriously.

[ric 1]

I would honestly buy a used i7 920 or 2600K or something and overclock it rather than get a cheap AMD processor at this point. Seriously.

True, but then he would have to replace the motherboard reinstall windows and that would go beyond the money he has to spend.

[pr0ph3tswe 1]

True, but then he would have to replace the motherboard reinstall windows and that would go beyond the money he has to spend.

like i said, you can get intel cpu + mobo for 300usd, so won't go above what he wanted to spend

buying amd cpu just for arma is really stupid at this point as the upgrade won't be worth the money at all. he might as well just stick with his current setup then

[ric 1]

like i said, you can get intel cpu + mobo for 300usd, so won't go above what he wanted to spend

buying amd cpu just for arma is really stupid at this point as the upgrade won't be worth the money at all. he might as well just stick with his current setup then

true, but he was asking about AMD cpu and his last comment said $200 not $300 :) now if all i had was $200 to spend i would go this route

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116775

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-157-303&Tpk=N82E16813157303

but i think the OP needs to chime in and tell us exactly what he wants todo.

I think I ll go with some ~200 $ amd cpu, and next upgrade will be better gpu - any comments ?

[pr0ph3tswe 1]

true, but he was asking about AMD cpu and his last comment said $200 not $300 :) now if all i had was $200 to spend i would go this route

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116775

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-157-303&Tpk=N82E16813157303

but i think the OP needs to chime in and tell us exactly what he wants todo.

yeah i agree with that setup, it's quite good

also OP should really think about getting intel as arma runs a lot better (at least in MP) on it