Graphics card update?????

[Farmer Carol]

Hello guys,
I currently have a Geforce GTX 650 and I thing it is starting to have "issues" so I've had a quick look around on line (well I looked at Nvidia's website TBH) and I think a GTX 750 Ti isn't out of my price range. My question is, am I being blinded by nvidia's sales patter or is this much better than what I currently have?
I would ask Ian but he's not very well and I don't want to bother him with it just yet. If I can buy one and then ask a friend of ours to install it that would be much better from my point of view.
I have around £100 - £150 to spend on a new card and just don't understand enough about them to make a wise choice so I'm hoping you guys can point me in the right direction.

As always, thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Carol. x

[bassaddict]

Depends on the rest of your computer. But knowing that FS is pretty heavy on the CPU, I guess that's the limiting part in your computer. Unless you're using crappy mods which aren't optimized regarding performance at all, in which case you should fix or delete these mods.

[Farmer Carol]

Depends on the rest of your computer. But knowing that FS is pretty heavy on the CPU, I guess that's the limiting part in your computer. Unless you're using crappy mods which aren't optimized regarding performance at all, in which case you should fix or delete these mods.

I have an i7 @ 2.8
12 Gb RAM
and the GTX 650

The reason I am looking to upgrade is that this used to be what Ian used for making his 3D models etc before he got his new one and it seems to be failing on me now. It keeps getting very hot (I have AIDA installed and keep getting warnings about the GPU temp). It's not just for FS (although that IS reason enough to change it!) I do some video editing as well.
The only errors that I will accept in my mod folder are l10 errors and that kind of thing, everything else gets booted into the recycle bin if Ian can't fix them.

Carol. x

[bassaddict]

Have you checked your computer for dust? And what are the temperatures from your computer? Just because it shows warnings doesn't mean it's really too hot. I've had a tool a while back which showed over 50°C as warning, even though temperatures between 60°C and 80°C are not unusual for CPUs or GPUs.


Oh, creating a mod without errors which would cause lagg on any computer is pretty easy. Very high polycount, lots of little parts, lots of textures and there you have your performance killer without any errors or warnings in your LOG file.

[Farmer Carol]

Ian set the temp warnings up when he was using this PC and I do know the CPU one is set to 90 degrees C (not sure about the GPU though). I've now asked him what he thinks about the GPU and he says he is surprised it has lasted this long and has been waiting for it to give up so he can replace it.
I still want to choose which one I buy to put in there so what do you think, will the GTX 750 Ti give me any real benefits?

Carol. x

PS. Ian is paranoid about keeping the PC's clean and has them "serviced" once a month at the local PC repair shop so I think we can rule out any dust.

[bassaddict]

If the GPU is really about to break down, then the 750Ti is definitely a good choice to buy. It should run FS maxed out without any problems.

[Farmer Carol]

Thank you Bassaddict, I'm coming to rely on your help these days

Do you know of anything else that might be equally as good? Ian always buys Nvidia because his main focus is video but I'm not so worried as long as it is as good if not better than this one I have now.

Carol. x

[bassaddict]

Switching to an AMD GPU would require a complete reinstall of your OS and all software in order to avoid driver problems. With the 750Ti having such a good price/performance ratio it's not worth that effort/trouble IMHO.

[Farmer Carol]

Switching to an AMD GPU would require a complete reinstall of your OS and all software in order to avoid driver problems. With the 750Ti having such a good price/performance ratio it's not worth that effort/trouble IMHO.

Thank you once again Bassaddict, I'm going to order it now.

Carol. x

[Bob Cronley]

Hi, I, too, am interested in video cards. I have a 4 year old Compaq Presario with am AMD processor (I don't think it's multi core) and 2 gigs of ram. I know the ram needs to be updated. I am currently using the on board video and don't want to spend a lot of money on a card. Maybe the $50-100 US range. And recommendations? (besides spend more money, get a new computer, and the like )

[Farmer Carol]

To be honest with you, from the little I know and have learned from the great guys here, the only advice you are going to get is to spend more money/buy a new PC.
With a single core processor you are just throwing your money away trying to make improvements as whatever you buy will be held back by the slow rate of your CPU. You would be much better off trying to find a better system (perhaps second hand might be a possibility?)

Obviously this is just my humble opinion and perhaps others may see things differently and I'm really sorry I can't offer you a better solution.

Carol. x

[bassaddict]

To be honest with you, from the little I know and have learned from the great guys here, the only advice you are going to get is to spend more money/buy a new PC.
With a single core processor you are just throwing your money away trying to make improvements as whatever you buy will be held back by the slow rate of your CPU. You would be much better off trying to find a better system (perhaps second hand might be a possibility?)

Obviously this is just my humble opinion and perhaps others may see things differently and I'm really sorry I can't offer you a better solution.

Carol. x

Plus you can't upgrade the GPU in the very most laptops.
And even if you would have a laptop in which you could upgrade the GPU, it wouldn't be worth the money. About 250bucks for maybe 10% better performance (that was what I looked up for my old laptops a few years ago), really not worth it.