GPU based on CPU advice

[.Mitch.]

So I currently have a second spare PC and I want to turn it into a gaming PC, but don't want to go insane..

It currently has an AMD FX-4100 3.6ghz, 4gb RAM, 500watt PSU and an ancient 8800GT. Res is 1680x1050

Now the aim is to get it able to play Rome 2 by September so a friend without a PC can come over and play with me.

While I have no doubt the GPU could play Rome 2 on minimum settings, it plays Shogun on medium.. some how, I want to get it to play it at least half decently.

Really all I'm hoping is that upgrading the GPU only will get me there.. I've heard the FX-4100 is.. shite, and my questions are thus:

1) Firstly assuming only the GPU is upgraded what GPU would be good for this system before the other pieces hold it back? Basically what is the best GPU for this system.
2) How bad is the 4100 actually? And I've heard overclocking it does make it a lot better? Getting 4.6ghz OC out of it is piss easy apparantly but how much of a difference will this make to an already bad CPU.
3) The PSU is getting on a bit and 500w seems a bit low, depending on the end upgrade here should I be looking to upgrade this as well... I'd rather not.

Please note upgrading the CPU is really not an option... I don't mind donating 2gb of RAM from my other PC.. not that that would really help.

[♠ Thomas Cochrane ♠]

Hey Mitch haven't seen you on these parts of the forums for ages.

The GPU is really the only thing you would NEED to replace to get Rome 2 running nicely I'd say. If the 500W PSU is still going well then keep it as 500 is easily enough for a mid range GPU. What is the PSU's efficiency rating? 80 plus?

For mid range spec, go for something like the 7790, 7850 or the GTX 650ti as that should keep you going at not too much of a cash splurge. I have an old 6850, which is very close to the 7790 in performance, and with specs not too far from what you listed, it will run S2TW on High. The 7850 is a 2GB card, which would be preferable

[Crazyeyesreaper]

7850 2gb if you can afford it the FX series chips are all garbage for Shogun 2 its not limited to just the 4100

that said the FX4100 in Shogun 2 offers in the CPU bench aka worst possible senario around 13 min 17 avg
if you can push it to 4.6 ghz on all cores you would get 20 min 24 avg thats a fairly sizable performance increase.

pair that with a 7850 2gb or a GTX 650 Ti Boost if you go nvidia makes sure its THAT SPECIFIC MODEL the regular GTX 650 Ti is garbage and far slower than the 7850 2gb, meanwhile the Ti Boost is faster by a hair compared to the 7850.

overall between the two you should have a fairly competent gaming rig. The 7850 2gb however is much easier on the PSU at just 100-120w full load. with the CPU overclock that would be around 150w so 270w HDD at 20w motherboard etc full load would be in the 300watt range, so the 500w PSU should be just fine depending on 3 things

Age
Make
Model

As for memory 4gb should be fine Rome II is still 32bit exe since Creative ASsembly is so ass backwards for a PC developer they can't wrap their heads around 64bit yet.

[.Mitch.]

Thanks for the advice guys!

I'm going to move 2gb of RAM from my main PC over, that'll give me 6gb on both. The PSU is a corsair and is 80 plus, so I'm confident it'll be fine.

As for the GPU I can pick up a 650ti or 7850 for around £140-150 which is definatly affordable, honestly I was happy to spend up to £200 here. I don't know why I didn't give you that figure in the first place.

Would getting a 660 be an option over the 650ti for instance, theres even a few 660ti's that I could push the boat out for here. I've been an Nvidia fanboy all my life so I've no idea what Radeons are out there right now or how they stack up tbh. How badly is that AMD gonna screw me here in terms of what else I can do, this is my main concern now.

I guess if I went with a £140 GPU there's not much that extra £60 could do for me?

[Crazyeyesreaper]

AMD CPU limits frame rates in up close melee battles if you spend more time zoomed out its not a big deal.

In terms of gameplay for Total war the AMD CPU is gonna limit your minimum FPS greatly but in most other games a GTX 660 or 660Ti will give you better framerates

Total War is just one of those games that so Intel biased its insane.

This is performance across a great deal of games not just total war


In terms of Shogun 2 at least move every Nvidia GPU up one spot against AMD

so the GTX 650 Ti Boost = 7870
GTX 660 = 7870 Tahiti LE / 7950
GTX 660Ti = 7950 / 7970
GTX 670 = 7970 / 7970 GHz edition
GTX 680 / GTX 770 = HD 7970 GHz edition

Rome 2 that all might change so i prefer to go by the overall average of many games rather than one set title.

Using all the above you can get an idea of where the GTX 650 Ti Boost places in this chart
The 7870 Joker Card from Club3D = 7950 but on a 256bit bus, theres 2 version of the 7870 the regular GHz edition card and the Tahiti LE variant the joker card is more powerful Tahiti LE


Keep in mind the frame rates of the above are from the DX11 benchmark at max settings which has 0 melee and 0 interaction period its just troops looking pretty or marching.
so the above is what you can expect zoomed out a bit while zoomed in the 4100 at stock will give you 13 min 17 avg at stock while overclocked youll be much better at 20 min 24 avg CPU will be your limiting factor than again there is no CPU under $200 that will get you to 30 fps at all times either aka you need a 3570k or 4670k from Intel to hit that mark.

In most games tho the 4100 would do fine up to a GTX 660 Ti ask Bolkonsky about it, he had an FX4100 and a 660Ti so he can tell you from personal experience as he also moved to Intel as well some time after that so on the game gpu your looking at he can give you some more personal insight.

[.Mitch.]

Damn thats a lot of info, thanks!

I'm gonna sleep on it, but I think 660 is the way I'll be going, the extra money for the TI version seems a big step up (over my £200 mark) for not enough in my opinion, especially as my aim is to just get things working smoothly not all ultra settings.

CA haven't been plugging Intel constantly like they were for Shogun2 (yet), so I'll take that as a promising sign for things in Rome2...

Thanks again for all your help.