Upgrading GPU for Bioshock Infinite

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I currently have a Radeon 5770, and it has done its job for quite some time (maybe around 4-5 years, even more). I can see it wearing down a bit as sometimes my system is freezing up and I have like freezes and weird glitch sounds during heavy usage. I have opened the card up itself and cleaned it out a bit and I'm sure if i reapply thermal paste, it'll work better, but I might as well get a new card.

I'm not entirely sure of what my specifications are as it was a stock PC from Dell, with some minor tweaks that I added on. I'm not looking for something too crazy or high end because I know that my computer cannot handle it nor do I wish to dive too deep into the financial end.

Bottom line, looking for a video card that can play bioshock infinite flawlessly in 1080p. With similar system specifications as the 5770:
  • PCI Express® based PC is required with one X16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard
  • 450 Watt or greater power supply with one 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended (600 Watt and two 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode)
  • Certified power supplies are recommended. Refer to http://support.amd.com/us/certified/...s/listing.aspx for a list of Certified products
  • Minimum 1GB of system memory
  • Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
  • DVD playback requires DVD drive
  • Blu-ray™ playback requires Blu-ray drive
  • For an ATI CrossFireX™ system, a second ATI Radeon™ HD 5770 graphics card, an ATI CrossFireX Ready motherboard and one ATI CrossFireX Bridge Interconnect cable per graphics card (included) are required

budget is $100-200. Posted this in the Requst or Get Advice on a vg thread but didn't seem to have much luck so I thought I'd try here. Also I read the stick about building a PC, didn't really have a large selection of graphics cards.

Additionally, tips on what to look for in a graphics card as well as a synopsis of whats good and whats bad. Google has been further confusing me.
 
I personally love my GTX 650, it's been on sale for $80 on Amazon before and with some overclocking, it'll play mostly any game at 1080p on all high or very high settings.
 
[quote name='pacifickarma']You could always go up to a 7770.[/QUOTE]

@1080p, he will def. not be able to max out Bioshock Infinite, maybe mediumish - highish graphics at 30-40 fps at most

Personally, if you want to max it out, I would suggest at least a 7870, look for the Tahiti LE as those can be OC'd to 7950 speeds. I think a 7850 would also do the job as well, I believe these can be OC'd to 7870 speeds (not too sure if they can run as fast as 7870 Tahiti LE though)

But yeah, look for the 7xxx series, if you already have Bioshock you'll get Tomb Raider for free, if your getting a 7950 you'll get Crysis 3 for free.
 
EVGA GeForce GTX 650 1024MB GDDR5 around $100 on amazon and I guarantee you will play 99.99% games on highest

settings and yes including BioShock Infinite
 
No GTX 650, NOTHING Under 670... No 7770. 7770 is SLOWER then the 5770. If your spending money you want a decent upgrade, kay? :)

I went 5770 > 7850 did NOT like the performance gains... if you can find a Tahiti LE 7850, pull the trigger...otherwise you may have remorse like I did with a stock card, I resold it for a 7970. Else you can just go 7790...Crossfire them even, its $100 over budget so not much, or just go 7950 because 7970 is not amazingly better and your on a budget.
 
Damn, just found out that my PSU is only 350W, don't get how my card is running.

But thanks for the replies and suggestions, looks like I need to get a new PSU as well before I can upgrade my card.
 
Sorry to semi-hijack this thread, but I have a 4 month old 6870 that I hardly used and am looking to sell. Would you guys recommend that for OP's needs?

My system is over 6 years old is based off of the AM2 platform. The 6870 was bottlenecked by my Phenom II 720 X3 (yes, it's an AM3 processor but it was usable thanks to backwards compatibility). I used it for all of 10 hours (I'm not joking). I got a gaming laptop since then as I needed a new laptop and a gaming rig, I decided to settle in the middle for a year or so until I'm in a better financial situation.

If you're interested OP, PM me. I'm actually parting out the entire system so if anyone is interested in DDR2 RAM, a Corsair HX 620 power supply, an ASUS AM2 mobo, or the aforementioned processor, LMK.
 
[quote name='Vinny']Sorry to semi-hijack this thread, but I have a 4 month old 6870 that I hardly used and am looking to sell. Would you guys recommend that for OP's needs?

My system is over 6 years old is based off of the AM2 platform. The 6870 was bottlenecked by my Phenom II 720 X3 (yes, it's an AM3 processor but it was usable thanks to backwards compatibility). I used it for all of 10 hours (I'm not joking). I got a gaming laptop since then as I needed a new laptop and a gaming rig, I decided to settle in the middle for a year or so until I'm in a better financial situation.

If you're interested OP, PM me. I'm actually parting out the entire system so if anyone is interested in DDR2 RAM, a Corsair HX 620 power supply, an ASUS AM2 mobo, or the aforementioned processor, LMK.[/QUOTE]


He would need the HX PSU, But a 7850 le / 7870 will be much faster then a 6870
 
[quote name='Tsundere']No GTX 650, NOTHING Under 670... No 7770. 7770 is SLOWER then the 5770. If your spending money you want a decent upgrade, kay? :)

I went 5770 > 7850 did NOT like the performance gains... if you can find a Tahiti LE 7850, pull the trigger...otherwise you may have remorse like I did with a stock card, I resold it for a 7970. Else you can just go 7790...Crossfire them even, its $100 over budget so not much, or just go 7950 because 7970 is not amazingly better and your on a budget.[/QUOTE]

I want to stop you right there. The GTX 650's biggest problem is the memory bottleneck which can easily be overcome by some overclocking. I personally own the card and even Far Cry 3, which is VERY intensive can be run at 1080p(medium) with 40+ fps. Every other game is high, very high and sometimes even ultra or extreme.

His hardware is pretty much obsolete so spending $200+ on a GPU, keeping in mind other bottlenecks, is just stupid.

If you look at the 7870 benchmarks (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7870-review-benchmark,3148-15.html), you notice that Skyrim at Ultra, 1080p averages 72 fps, my GTX 650 averages about 74 (with an overclock).

I realize that not all GPUs have the same amount of overclocking available but for $100 more, are a few more frames really worth putting that much money into an obsolete computer?

Not to mention the fact that the GTX 650 has a TDP of 62 watts so there is a chance that you wouldn't need a PSU upgrade.
 
[quote name='aShufflinZombie']I want to stop you right there. The GTX 650's biggest problem is the memory bottleneck which can easily be overcome by some overclocking. I personally own the card and even Far Cry 3, which is VERY intensive can be run at 1080p(medium) with 40+ fps. Every other game is high, very high and sometimes even ultra or extreme.

His hardware is pretty much obsolete so spending $200+ on a GPU, keeping in mind other bottlenecks, is just stupid.

If you look at the 7870 benchmarks (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7870-review-benchmark,3148-15.html), you notice that Skyrim at Ultra, 1080p averages 72 fps, my GTX 650 averages about 74 (with an overclock).

I realize that not all GPUs have the same amount of overclocking available but for $100 more, are a few more frames really worth putting that much money into an obsolete computer?

Not to mention the fact that the GTX 650 has a TDP of 62 watts so there is a chance that you wouldn't need a PSU upgrade.[/QUOTE]


You do know the 7870 has much higher bandwidths, nearly twice the fill rate...and 2.3x the AA capabilities right? and thats stock not LE/XT edition which blows stock out of the water. With a jump of up to 10FPS from stock in scenarios.

Plus games are starting to use Compute, and Nvidia cards are hard pressed. Shall I remind thee of the Tomb Raider Disaster with NVIDIA GPUs?

Any GCN and Kepler card will be somewhat bottlenecked until an upgrade to i5 SB or better, even i5 Ivy bottlenecks a 7970...had to go 3770K. it doesnt matter but using an NVIDIA GPU and forcing compute on the CPU is NOT going to help when he players the latest games.
 
[quote name='Tsundere']You do know the 7870 has much higher bandwidths, nearly twice the fill rate...and 2.3x the AA capabilities right? and thats stock not LE/XT edition which blows stock out of the water. With a jump of up to 10FPS from stock in scenarios.

Plus games are starting to use Compute, and Nvidia cards are hard pressed. Shall I remind thee of the Tomb Raider Disaster with NVIDIA GPUs?

Any GCN and Kepler card will be somewhat bottlenecked until an upgrade to i5 SB or better, even i5 Ivy bottlenecks a 7970...had to go 3770K. it doesnt matter but using an NVIDIA GPU and forcing compute on the CPU is NOT going to help when he players the latest games.[/QUOTE]

Link me to where this info is located, I would honestly like to read it.

Plus I do understand that the 7870 is more powerful but as I said in my original post, the 7870 stock is more than twice the cost of a GTX 650 and with the age of his machine, there will be no real world difference. I own and use a GTX 650 in my rig because of the AMAZING price to performance ratio.
 
[quote name='Tsundere']You do know the 7870 has much higher bandwidths, nearly twice the fill rate...and 2.3x the AA capabilities right? and thats stock not LE/XT edition which blows stock out of the water. With a jump of up to 10FPS from stock in scenarios.

Plus games are starting to use Compute, and Nvidia cards are hard pressed. Shall I remind thee of the Tomb Raider Disaster with NVIDIA GPUs?

Any GCN and Kepler card will be somewhat bottlenecked until an upgrade to i5 SB or better, even i5 Ivy bottlenecks a 7970...had to go 3770K. it doesnt matter but using an NVIDIA GPU and forcing compute on the CPU is NOT going to help when he players the latest games.[/QUOTE]

This is such a flawed argument. You point out the one instance where Nvidia has failed and act like that backs up your argument. That failure only occurred because SE didn't provide a proper build until right before release. How about how AMD slashed prices and shit pants with the 680 came out because it destroyed it? AMD has done a good job with getting their drivers up to par and improving performance, but the point is that neither company is 100 percent perfect.

That said, I do agree with your assessment that AMD is the way to go if you are going to upgrade your graphics card. The coupon offer plus the price/performance ratio favors AMD at this point.
 
[quote name='Tsundere']You do know the 7870 has much higher bandwidths, nearly twice the fill rate...and 2.3x the AA capabilities right? and thats stock not LE/XT edition which blows stock out of the water. With a jump of up to 10FPS from stock in scenarios.

Plus games are starting to use Compute, and Nvidia cards are hard pressed. Shall I remind thee of the Tomb Raider Disaster with NVIDIA GPUs?

Any GCN and Kepler card will be somewhat bottlenecked until an upgrade to i5 SB or better, even i5 Ivy bottlenecks a 7970...had to go 3770K. it doesnt matter but using an NVIDIA GPU and forcing compute on the CPU is NOT going to help when he players the latest games.[/QUOTE]

Oh the compute argument. Sigh.

A patch to the game fixed whatever issues there were, which means it was poorly optimized and not an nVidia issue. I personally don't root for either company, but I'm so tired of people bringing up the compute crap with Tomb Raider. It was a game issue not a problem with nVidia.
 
People who blame it on an improper build, well... dont know reality I do ITS for a mmo company and it doesnt break that badly from 1 build revision... its an EXCUSE by nvidia who did not optimize the drivers in conjuction with the engine for TFX at launch, anyways. You can see hwcompare for the information regarding AF and fillrates.

Green team has always suffered, they cannot even bitcoin because ghash is sadistically low (*knocks on wood* ahem, computational power = nothing)

TR just showed NV that games are slowly shifting focus to protos for Dcompute for better performance, and with PS4 using GCN its critical for NV to stay optimized and for the 700 Series to be more compute capable, which Im sure they will be. They need to focus away from PhysX and beef up the cards.


Red team focuses more on raw power, but does not usually pull it off in the most stellar of manners...and by the time the GPUs powers fully unlocked, well.... Hello next generation ...versus Greens all about features with "almost there" performance.

Like 3D? Nvidia no questions asked.


7970 whoops the 680, But the 680 got fanboi'd at launch... 7970 Series got price dropped to 670 level since 670 was on par with 680, then 7970 GHz Editions are now on par with 680 price range so I dont know where that bit comes from.

If you like hot GPUs, locked vcore, etc...by all means....


The 650 isnt a worthy upgrade to shell out so much, you dont upgrade within last gen specs. You slowly evolve your computer as your need grows. Just because his CPU will bottleneck now, will not mean in 8 months it will. Then what? hes going to have a then- subpar GPU... think for a moment please.

Im on neither side, I will be clear with that. I buy whats best at price I can afford. Which in my case was a 3770K & 7970. Everyones different though.


(Please dont read this as an argument since it isnt, just stating things. My display picture makes it look like im yelling all mad and grr)
 
A 7850 consumes roughly 10 more watts than a 7790. If a 10 watt difference is seriously going to make or break you, I'd honestly not recommend either as you're cutting it WAY too close.
 
I dont have much to add other than the fact that I have an asus 7870 and love it. Ive had it since September and have had no issues. I'm playing through Bioshock Infinite now on Very high Settings on 1080p and its playing incredibly well and smooth.

I have also heard a lot of really good things about the card SteelWill linked to as well (if I was in the market to buy a card now, thats what I'd pick), that its basically on par with a 7950 and its a great price point. But like others have said it may be worth putting aside the money you would spend now and keep saving until a time like Black Friday, or even earlier if you can afford and build an entire system from scratch
 
You guys all are missing his most important comment....his PC is 4-5 years old!

No matter what video card he gets, he will be bottlenecked at CPU and Memory with that ancient hardware in the PC.

Time to upgrade dude....your video card upgrade won't do you much good anyhow.
 
[quote name='s0undwav3']You guys all are missing his most important comment....his PC is 4-5 years old!

No matter what video card he gets, he will be bottlenecked at CPU and Memory with that ancient hardware in the PC.

Time to upgrade dude....your video card upgrade won't do you much good anyhow.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for agreeing with me, for some reason, no one is listening to anyone.
 
I'd recommend tempering your expectations, the trailer is better than anything in the game. in gameplay, story, and visuals.
 
I played the game on a Radeon 6770 and a dual core AMD CPU at 3.5 GHZ at 1440x900. Ran at 50-60 frames per second on medium settings except for those parts where it stutters when loading a new area.

Looks and runs better than Xbox 360 or PS3. I can even turn on the DX11 features and everything else to high and it's still playable if you consider console games playable, but that stuff isn't very noticeable to me.

[quote name='itachiitachi']I'd recommend tempering your expectations, the trailer is better than anything in the game. in gameplay, story, and visuals.[/QUOTE]
The Bioshock gameplay is more suitable for small rooms and narrow corridors, not the wide open spaces of Infinite. I also found myself getting stuck on objects (like an object at your feet) when trying to maneuver. The story makes no sense but I don't expect video game stories to make sense.

The visuals, however, are incredible. The game feels like an explorable theme park, especially the amusement park section. The initial environments are straight out of Main Street U.S.A. Art pieces like the ice cream store are over the top and beautiful. Perhaps the game is technically the same old Unreal Engine we've seen many times before, the art design is second to none.
 
[quote name='Spokker']
The visuals, however, are incredible. The game feels like an explorable theme park, especially the amusement park section. The initial environments are straight out of Main Street U.S.A. Art pieces like the ice cream store are over the top and beautiful. Perhaps the game is technically the same old Unreal Engine we've seen many times before, the art design is second to none.[/QUOTE]
Not saying there not nice looking, just that the game doesn't look as good as the trailer.
I'd gladly take playing 1 hour of playing the Bioshock in the trailer over 12 hours of the Bioshock that came out.
 
[quote name='itachiitachi']Not saying there not nice looking, just that the game doesn't look as good as the trailer.
I'd gladly take playing 1 hour of playing the Bioshock in the trailer over 12 hours of the Bioshock that came out.[/QUOTE]

Are you talking about this trailer? http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TlE_5JF2FXc

I can tell you I own an eVGA 670 FTW and it looks far better in game that this trailer...especially the part with Elizabeth talking (that's just before you get to the beach).

I'm playing at 1920x1200 ultra settings. It's a great looking game and plays incredible especially when riding along the sky coaster. That part is just insanely awesome.

I'm not saying the trailer fakes stuff...all game companies do that. Look at the Star Wars Old Republic trailers and cinematics...far away from the actual gameplay.
 
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