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[Tech] About to upgrade our video card.

First the hardware that I have right now:

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
MB: ASUS M3N78 Pro
Ram: 6Gb of PC 8500EL
Video: NVidia GForce GTX460
Audio: NVidia Xonar DX

Other plans in the works: An SSD drive. Whoo-hoo!

I want to upgrade the video card for the following reasons:
Because I can, want to, need to, usually do...
Because I don't have DX11.
Because Thief is being relaunched on February 2014

I want to buy a new video card in October. I want DX11 as I said. I have had no complaints with my present video card. I have played several FPS shooter games including Rage and Fear with higher settings and great performance.

What do you recommend for a new video card? I know I need a better one. But not because I know what I'm missing. I just want DX11 for the new Thief. Some of the games we've played have had DX11. I have DX10.

How much eye candy am I missing in games?
How much do I need to spend to see what I am missing?
What video card- at what price- will I need to buy to keep through upgrades of the MB and Ram?

I don't know what I'm willing to spend... $200 maybe. Hopefully less. (Here's hoping)

My wife and I are hoping that an upgrade will reveal more eye candy than we ever thought possible. What's your recommendation?
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Why do cement trucks and school buses go too fast?

The 460 supports dx11.

As you have an am2 motherboard your present cpu is probably going to hold you back quite a bit if you upgrade from a 460 card.

For a $200 upgrade you would be looking at a 660 card. A 650ti Boost would be another choice with lower performance, maybe 40-50% over what you have now.

Since you are primarily wanting this for thief I would wait until the game is released and we know what is needed for decent performance. There is no point in spending money now for a game that is a good half year out. It may also be that your present cpu won't be up to running it properly.

First on the DX11, that surprises me. Thanks for the heads up. My CPU is an AMD Phenom 9550 Quad-Core. The upgrade isn't just for the Thief game. I've had it in mind for the last year probably. I certainly don't want to upgrade past my present hardware- but I do want to upgrade to a level that would give me a significant boost in video performance that is worth the money spent.
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Why do cement trucks and school buses go too fast?

A video card upgrade would not suck. You would see some nice improvements going from a 400 to 600 card. All the eye candy you're missing out on? I wouldn't go quite that far. The 400 is a slower, older card but it's probably showing you already the majority of what the game has to offer.

Firm up your budget and get the highest 600 card you can for that. That's the best bang for your buck right there.

A phenom, even a quad, is going to be a significant hindrance for some games, perhaps not so much for others. It it's for something other than thief 4 then we still really need to talk about specific games and the resolution you are running them at to determine whether moving from a 460 gtx is going to make a lot of difference. A 460 isn't a bad card, even today, so I don't feel I can make a generic statement about whether spending $200 to move to a 660 will be worth it.

I'd recommend a 7950 for $200. Best bang for your buck.

I was noticing all the cards referencing PCI-e versions. So I thought I would look at my MB. I am running version 2. So I guess I would need to stay with that in a new video card. I notice that there is still a lot of new hardware out there for that same version.

My system is in great shape for what I am doing with it. I don't want to upgrade my MB. I just want to improve it graphically as much as I reasonably can. When I play games I maximize the resolution to 1920x1080 of my monitor. I also want the best texture/lighting settings. The rest of it I don't bother with. I'm not seeing any issues that makes me think I need to upgrade. I just want to. I'm pleased that I see a ton of video cards out there that seem much better than my 460. They are inexpensive to boot. I've been looking at this page also. It seems like just about anything would be a big step up at this point.

»www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gam···7-8.html
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Why do cement trucks and school buses go too fast?

"It seems like just about anything would be a big step up at this point."

You need to be careful here and check with us before you buy a specific product.
As I said, on the nvidia side, you need to be looking at a 650ti BOOST card (these are different from the 650 ti cards) or better to get a significant upgrade over what you have now. If performance is already reasonable then don't expect to be too wowed by an upgrade.

Double post

I wouldn't pay too much attention to the PCI-2 or PCI-3 issues. There isn't a graphics card available (IIRC) at the moment that will be bandwidth restricted on pci-2 lanes.

if you dont mind getting used stuff some GTX 580's can be had for $100

but still best bang for buck would be 7950/7970
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hmmmmmm....

Well that's some welcome news if it holds true.

It is true that the pci-e version doesn't matter. You don't have to get a 2 card.
I also agree that a 7950 is an acceptable choice as well if amd solutions are acceptable. Most 7950 cards are over $200 unless there are rebates.

I admit I'm a bit behind the curve... but my 9550 quad core is going to hold me back? Doesn't everything get handled on the video card itself?

40-50% boost? I know that isn't a precise figure- but what would be the improvement if I bought another 460 and linked them? A little? A lot?
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Why do cement trucks and school buses go too fast?

I don't know if I'd bother spending the money on going SLI with a card that's 3 generations old.

Like has already been suggested, either get an AMD 7950, or a GTX 660, which are both great cards.

Your 9550 quad core...is, well, outdated and will probably hold you back some. That CPU ranks even lower than my AMD Athlon Quad 630 in my old HP desktop. Most first gen Intel dual core i3's looks to have better performance than that CPU.

Anyways, if you're lookig to play some of these next gen games maxed out with smooth frame rates at 1080p, I'd definitely looks at doing a MB, and CPU upgrade at some point.

Don't buy a second 460 at this point. Too little, way too late.

I'm thinking of going another route then since I'm behind the curve all the way around. I'm seriously thinking of buying a motherboard bundle which includes ram and a much better video card than I currently have. At least one that is built in. Kill several birds with one stone. I should be able to do that for under $200 right? My problem is, when I'm looking at MB I'm seeing a lot of generic speak for cpus.
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Why do cement trucks and school buses go too fast?

I am not sure today's integrated GPUs will be more powerful than the GTX 460. That's switching gears entirely. If you want the most powerful iGPU available, look at AMD's APUs.

I would, however, look at a low-cost upgrade all the way around. I don't think it's realistic to upgrade both motherboard/CPU AND GPU for under $200, but you can certainly do it under $350 and have a rig that will last for years to come:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 750K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($79.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A55M-HD2 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $329.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-04 10:18 EDT-0400)

Benefits:
1. CPU is unlocked and overclockable
2. Having one dimm of ram means you can add a second to upgrade to 16GB if you feel the need later on (the difference running in single channel is negligible)
3. The GPU choice is beefy, and 2GB of vram means you won't run out for some time to come, even at 1920x1080
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Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

With everything overclocked, that'd be a baddass little PC right there ^

The other option like you said, is going with an AMD APU build, and then slightly down the road, investing in a compatible discreet AMD video card and crossfiring with the APU.

I've always been told intergrated graphics cards are pretty poor.

you don't think an i3 is a better choice here, with they hyperthreading?

"I'm seriously thinking of buying a motherboard bundle which includes ram and a much better video card than I currently have. At least one that is built in"

Integrated graphics, even amd apu won't have better graphics perforamance than what you currently have. We would need to look at the specifics of the bundle you are considering.

The 750k is a decent low cost option for a cpu/platform change.

You could always decide on your total budget and how much you would need to reserve for a cpu/motherboard/ram upgrade and then buy the graphics card first and see if you are satisfied.