Maximum PC

Hey guys,

Okay this is my complete gamer machine spec thats over 2 years old:
* Asus M3A78-CM
* AMD athlon Phenom II x4 940
* 2GB x 2, DDR2
* GTX 260 - 896MB
* win7 64-bit

Few of my games that I often play and their FPS range while running @ 1920x1080, AA=4x :
* FarCry2 - 22fps - 60fps
* Crysis - 15fps - 44fps
* L4D2 / HL2 / CSS - 80+ fps

Basically I just want to "up" my fps especially for FarCry2. Obviously the last thing I want to upgrade are my mobo/processor/ram because I don't really like to re-install win7 and ALL the games.

So do you guys think, simply upgrading my GTX-260 video card to _________________ will be a good choice ?

And what if i upgrade my mobo/cpu to icore 3/5/7 with DDR3 or DDR5, and keep my GTX-260... will this 'up' my FPS or no ? and is this a logical choice too ?

Please comment and thanks !!!

~ Alexander

i would suggest lowering AA to maybe 2x in farcry2 and see if that helps. then save your money for a bigger upgrade later as the GTX260 is still a pretty potent card

hi buddy thanks 4 the reply

I've done that too.. lowering the AA to 2x and also to 'off' ; the fps range still touches below 24 fps

And I don't really want to lower my resolution and graphic details !

so I really want to know if I can simply upgrade my GTX260 to ______ to solve the problem.

a GTX470 would be the minimum upgrade i would make, but the problem then becomes your cpu as it will limit that card. are you ok with overclocking? if so, then that can help alleviate the cpu bottleneck a bit

Hi friend

Thanks 4 the reply I was just reading anandtech's various CPU benchmarks.

It seems that with my current CPU ( no overclock), the average fps for FarCry2 at 1920x1080 and 2AA settings only gives up to 44 FPS (compared to i7 which shoots out a whooping 80+ FPS).

So maybe its more logical to holdon to my GTX260 like you suggested, then get a newer CPU/Mobo/Ram which I'll do near Xmas season

Thanks again

hey no problem bud! if dunno how far you are from cliffside park NJ, but theres a microcenter there and they usually have fantastic deals on Intel processors. you can get a Core i7 930 for $199 so that might be something to look into

oh yeaaa microcenter aint that far from me.. maybe 45 minutes drive. Thanks for the suggestion !

soooooooo? your asking about buying a new video card for more FPS when you dont have your CPU OCed? And now you want a new CPU for more FPS and you STILL dont have your CPU OCed?

im confused

hey 8086,

I was asking for opinions for either or ( replace GTX260 and keeping cpu/mobo/ram) or ( keep GTX260 and upgrade mobo/cpu/ram).

But about OC'd... i finally did it late last night ! Now my CPU is 3.2 ghz and I also up'ed my GTX260 core/clock/mem clk a lil but. I saw an improvement (48 fps from 43 fps) on a typical multiplayer map for FC2.

Somehow L4D2 / CSS / HL2 at maximum resolution / graphic details... i always get over 88 FPS, but I get low FPS on crysis / Fc2. I guess different game engine favors ATI/AMD, and some favors Nvidia.

Anyways.. my GTX260 is NOT directx11 , is it ?

Nope have to get a fermi card for that.

oh ok thanks bro but what games are directx11 ? I bet just few. Anyways FarCry2 option menu can let you play directx9 or directx10, and no directx11. But I believe STALKER COP does have directx11 ?

Affirmatory.

List of DX11 Games & Software:

God Love Wikipedia

oh wow , not a whole lot at the moment huh ! I wonder if Steam would update CSS / HL2 / L4D2 / etc to a directx11 in the near future. Not so long ago, one of the update is to enable the multi-core support which is great !

If the Source engine ever gets updated to support DX11, then, well, my life savings will be gone in lost bets.
Seriously though, it just isn't going to happen. Source will be forever DX9.

oh wait.. does that mean if i purchase Bad Company2 on steam, i will be stuck with DX9 ??

no it wont. what he is saying is in reference to the game engine for half life2, left 4 dead 1&2, and team fortress 2 for example, not the actual steam application

HEY GUYS !!!

Guess what !!!! Thanks to the latest Nvidia video driver update !!! Now my FarCry2 FPS jumped from the sub-24 FPS to a whooping sub-51 FPS !!!!
The secret lies beneath the new Nvidia video driver that allows me to SWITCH my PHYSX from GPU to CPU !!! I have Phenom II X4 CPU so there you have it

For those of you with Nvidia video card.. TRY THAT TOO !!!

First off, your Phenom II Quad-Core CPU will not limit you in any way in regards to GPU performance, not even with a pair of 480's in SLI (not even possible with your motherboard, but that's not the point), if it were a dual core CPU, yes you would see some limiting depending on which dual core & what clock speed, but with the Quad you wouldn't run into a problem till you start getting into tri-SLI. You've already figured out that you can turn PhysX over to the CPU... & if anything would cause your CPU to limit your GPU performance, doing that would, but again, if it were a dual core... or possibly an original AM2 (i.e. not an AM2+ variety) Quad-Core.

Secondly, a 460 is a worthy upgrade to any 260. Mine will outperform an nVidia reference speed 470 card thanks to superb overclocking headroom & for both less $$$ & less power consumption. Minimum performance gain of the 768MB version compared to a 260/216 is 25%, though several games see 30%+ gain (40%+ for the 1GB version) including Crysis & Far Cry 2. With game settings on High Quality @ 1920x1200 with NoAA, I haven't seen Crysis drop below 30fps with my 460 1GB clocked at 850/1700/2160 at stock voltage & it just barely reaching 54C, actually GPUz shows it swapping back & forth between 53C & 54C while playing Crysis. I'm not saying it doesn't drop below 30fps btw... just that when I'm looking at the fps meter, I have not seen it below 30.

Lastly, I probably wouldn't worry about upgrading yet, unless you just want to be able to run everything at maximum quality, & that's entirely a personal preference thing.

Just for reference, here's my gaming system:
AMD Phenom II X6 1055t 6-core CPU @ 2.98GHz
Gigabyte MA-790XT-UD4P AM3 motherboard
ADATA 4GB "gamer" DDR3 1600 (@1696 MHz) in dual channel mode
Gigabyte GTX-460 1GB @ 850/1700/2160 for gaming / 825/1650/2160 for folding (260.99 WHQL drivers)
Antec EarthWatts 650 Watt Power Supply
LG 10X SATA Blu-Ray burner
2x Western Digital 74GB SATA II Raptors in RAID-0 for OS & programs
750GB WD Caviar Black SATA II for general storage drive
1TB WD Caviar Black SATA III for Video storage drive
Currently installed in 2nd PCI-e X16 slot, GT-430 card for PhysX
Previously installed in 2nd PCIe x16 slot (when I last played Crysis & FarCry 2) Creative Labs X-FI Elite.

mmmmm Pretty.

And I still agree, a 460 is a very good upgrade.

As a note, logicmaster2003, You should do a BIOS update to be able to take advantage of overclocking. Your board needs BIOS revision #1003 from the Asus website which will alleviate any memory issues and also allow for some better fine-grain tuning of PCI-E bus speeds of over 100mhz, Processor overclocking and increased compatibility with other newer CPU's as well. This may help you get a bit more juice out of the machine before you do need to upgrade sometime in the future.


As time goes on, you will not be able to purchase a new game and run it on non-DX11 (or better) hardware and software. So considering that, and the recent price drops on current-gen cards, now is a good time to buy, but also after Christmas when sellers have extra stock they didn't sell in the Christmas rush and need to get rid of it. Prices will drop further still in the summer when we know the next steps for nVidia and ATi.

I still plan to wait even though I plan to build a Core i7 machine now, not a Phenom II.
Unless some of the compatibility issues prove false or are remedied.

Hi Guys !!

sorry its been a while .. I haven't checked the forum in almost a month !

but fast-forward.. I still am using the same hardware but upgraded my bios to the latest. I've been visiting ibuypower / cyberpowerpc and drooling over these two:

1)LAN WARRIOR MINI (http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/LAN_Party_EVO_Mini/) ........... about $898

* CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-655K 3.20 GHz 4M Intel Smart Cache LGA 1156
* HDD: 64 GB A-DATA S596 Turbo Series Gaming MLC Solid State Disk [+94] (Single Hard Drive)
* MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module (Corsair or Major Brand)
* MOTHERBOARD: * GigaByte GA-H55N-USB3 Intel H55 Chipset DDR3 LGA1156 Ultra Durable™3 Mini-ITX w/ Onboard Graphic, HDMI, DVI,
VGA, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB 3.0, SATA-II, 1 Gen2 PCIe
* SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
* VIDEO: None [-118] ------(will buy GTX480 from amazon)
* no OS

2) Gamer Dragon 8000 (http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Gamer_Dragon_8000/) ......... about $738

* CPU: AMD Phenom™II X4 970 Black Edition Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology [+50]
* HDD: 64 GB A-DATA S596 Turbo Series Gaming MLC Solid State Disk [+36] (Single Hard Drive)
* MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module [-64] (Corsair or Major Brand)
* MOTHERBOARD: GigaByte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870/SB850 chipset support DDR3 Ultra Durable™3 Socket AM3 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 Audio, GBLAN, Support 6-core CPU, CPU Auto Unlocker, USB3.0, SATA-III, ON/OFF Charge for IPod, RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1, & 3 PCI
* SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
* VIDEO: None [-165] ------(will buy GTX480 from amazon)
* NO OS

WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK ?? if i get either one, i'll slap in my GTX260 for now until GTX480 becomes less than $300.