GTX 460 or should I wait for something better?
 

Okay, so I've been playing RoF on my old 9800GT and decided that it's time to bite the bullet and get hold of a better GFX card.

The only thing which is stopping me from just grabbing a GTX460 for that is the fact that I kinda want to fly some real planes again. Cliffs is looking better and better as the weeks roll by, so, I'm wondering if a GTX460 is going to cut the mustard with it?

I have a quad core processor and enough RAM so I'm all good on that front. I know that Windows 7 will need to replace my old install of XP SP3 and I can manage that but will a GTX460 get me good enough performance or should I maybe hold out a little longer and save up for something better still?

You may get by but I doubt you'll be satisfied.

I have an I5 2500K and a 560TI card and I'm thinking of getting a 580 as soon as I can swing it. My performance is passable but I'm not satisfied. Of course, the right optimization from a patch could change my view.

Well it depends, I would not buy a 460 as a single card solution, and its too a weird time to buy two of them since the demand for them as a single card went down when the 500s came out, but by now supply has been eaten up by people running 460s in SLI.
If you are set on buying a card now I would strongly suggest going for a 500 range card, they are not even manufacturing the 400s since 500 series release. In any case the 500 series is worth the few extra $ imo.

If I were you though I would wait until the end of the year/2012 q1 and have a peak at the new nvidia Kepler and AMD Southern Island 28nm fab gpus. At the very least when they come out the price on the 500s, especially the high range 500s will plummet. I am waiting to see myself because depending on how the new gpus perform I will be going dual 580 sli or a new single card.

560 seems to be a beefed up 460, I would go for 570 or 580 which I'm holding out for also

Thanks for the replies, I might just hold out a little longer then and stick with my dinky planes before slipping into something that actually has more horsepower than my best mates motorcycle.

Might be time for a full system upgrade even, my 2.4Ghz processor is getting a bit dated too but it's a good, reliable unit.

i use the 460GTX 1GB and I think it's a great card. I get great performance with it, also have an AMD phenom x4 965BE, 8GB ram. I get a solid 35 to 40 FPS in online fights.

I'd say your processor and ram would do a lot to help with that droz. Mine are quite inferior to yours and putting a 460 amongst them might not be such a great boost as I had hoped it.

My mobo only supports DDRII and I only have 3Gb as well so it might just be time to go back to the drawing board. It's a shame really, my system has given excellent service for a few years now but that's the way it is. Not much point in settling for 'Low" settings.

I really should have titled this thread "Help me convince myself to bite the bullet and buy a new system."

I second that, I went from 9800 GTX (x2) to a 460 GTX OC, and the performance is great. Obviously there is some issues with this game currently, but I get very playable framerates, and other games like DCS A-10 is smooth as silk...

A 460 or 560 will work nice in CloD and in ANY other actual title.

Don't get stuck to the talking that CloD need 10GB VRAM to run and other nonsense: you just will need to lower IN ACTUAL BUILD OF THE SIM the texture setting from "ORIGINAL" to "HIGH" and/or reduce Land Detail to "MEDIUM" and will fly with other settings all up, with great performance.

Better VGA will be nice and will last longer, but isn't really a need to run CloD beautiful and with great performance.

Good choice. I have a GTX460 1GB (upgraded from a 9800GTX) and I am happy with the card and it was a big step up from the 9800GTX. Even though it's slipping down the performance list I'm happy running at 1680x1050 with the sliders on medium to high.

My original idea was to pickup another 460 and go SLI (Who would need more than 1 gig of video ram?- famous last words!!!!), but from peoples posts it would probably be more beinficial to get a newer card with more ram. When the developers of COD and ROF recommending a single GPU card over SLI/Crossfire, unless your building a system for other games that handle SLI better I'ld give it a miss.

Now this could all change with driver support and future patches so waiting may give you more option IF you can put up with the low settings.

Cheers!

I've always been a bit skeptical of crossfire, it seems a little clumsy and since RoF will be my main interest alongside Cliffs, potentially, so I can probably do without it.

I notice that many of you are using better CPUs', RAM and even SSDs' now so I'll definitely be looking at more than a GFX card.

Here in Aus I can probably manage to build a half-way decent system for >$1000 but that is going to take longer to save than the $170 I was looking at for at 460.

But it will be worth it I'm sure.

I'm getting more and more enthusiastic about Cliffs now, especially with the sound mod released which is what I have been waiting for and it looks like Cliffs will include the same kind of progressive improvements that 1946 and RoF have enjoyed. Hopefully a good single player campaign will be one of them.

Apart from that I don't really play many other modern games. I fool around with Empire Total War (with Darthmod), ArmA II (It's kinda boring though and MP sucks unless you like sniping, Javelins and watching people TK each other for jets) and, don't laugh, Oblivion, which I have very heavily modded (<100 mods, lol).

System specs below, game runs smooth as silk. Highly recommend the ATI 6870.

Get a used 480 if you can and then SLI down the track.

Wouldn't touch a AMD gpu at this time if you payed me to. Intel beats them hands down which relegates AMD to the cheap/low end marketshare for cpus.

Jimmy - like said *especially* if you are going for a new system in all, I would wait. Not only will the 28nm gpus be launched at the end of the year/start of next year, but Intel Ivybridge 28nm CPUs will also be launching at the same time, and AMD will be releasing bulldozer so the prices on everything current will fall, and the new die shrinks could give a big performance boost. Also Ivybridge will require a new mobo because its not using the current socket system (the 1366, 1155 or 1156), which means there will be a new mobo range out which might be PCI3. The only thing that wont change drastically is ram, although mhz will go up most likely as the new cpus will have a faster clock.

This was all supposed to be out at the end of this year but TSMC is having trouble with the 28nm fab, apparently the yields are not good enough yet for full production as the tech is very new. Also tablets/phones are going to eat alot of 28nm chips - all of this has resulted in a delayed release for Q1 2012 although AMD GPU might still come out this year, although bulldozer is looking dodgy.

I got a PNY GTX460 1 gb 256 bit for $150.00 USD out the door...
my cpu is a core2duo 2.93 ghz, but only have 2gb ddr2 ram... nvidia 750 i PN7 motherboard..

Win7

$150.00 is a good deal. I would not pay more.. make sure you get the 1 gb and 256 bit, they have an SE edition which was cheapened and selling for much less..

PNY is factory overclocked.

does not overheat..

I fly a few flight sims.. and am happy..
of course a GTX480 would be better is you have the cash..

I'm personally waiting for the new cards. This generation is already more than halfway through it's product cycle, and AMD may well have Southern Isles ready before year's end.

You really need more ram, that card is probably operating way under its potential with only 2gb of system ram.

my advise would be to continue to wait until the game is finished and then get a better idea at what its going to take to run it all maxed out. ( i wish i would have ) :)

If you cant wait just to give you an idea the single card systems with 2G of Vram and over seem to be running well. The dual card systems with 2.5G Vram and over combined seem to work as good.

I can really only speak for my rig below which runs great (except for stutters) with everything maxed out as long as i keep it in 1776x1000 Resolution. as soon as I go up to 1920x1080 I get a slide show even with all the graphics turned down. (Crossfire issue maybe but still not sure until more patches come)

Good luck
cheers :)

At the end of this year ATI and Nvidia are releasing new cards, these ones are completely new unlike the ones we have now which are just redesigns and dual core. If you can not afford the new design which I would recommended you get then you can get a 580 etc for cheaper as they will reduce in price to make room for the next gen cards.

Yes thank you for your wisdom Mr. But I think I already coverd this.

Wait on buying new technology...
 

it seems the overall consensus is that you should wait for them to finalize the game to get a better idea of what you will need, but it should (HOPEFULLY) only get better, performance wise...or that should be the trend...

with technology the best bet when you are at an impasse, would be to just wait...the longer you can put off buying technology (especially new technology) the better off you will be. the prices will go down, and new stuff will come out...


I have a better pc, and even i am coming to the conclusion with this game that it might be time for a brand new computer (as well as windows 7)

You definitly should have 64 bit win7 even if you dont game. It is the fastest selling windows ever, its already the majority/main platform so to not get it is a bad idea. Also Win8 will suck :(

Intel doesn't do high-end graphics though so that is hardly relevant here. AMD/ATI makes fine graphics cards that stand up to nVidia well, they usually take turns in having the fastest cards. And as Biggs said the game runs well for him.

My system runs it well using a 460. Performance was much improved when I upgraded from my Phenomx4 @2.3 to an i2500k@3.3 using the same card, a Gainward 460GLH with a small factory overclock. If I was buying now I'd probably get the 560Ti, something about spending more than £200 on a GPU makes me want to cry:)
At the moment though I'm having a great time on the Syndicate server.................

I can either run all settings on medium with shadows on or all settings on high except textures on medium with out shadows, get pretty smooth gameplay, at 1360x768 res. 1920x1080 brings the stuttering back. I shouldn't say to wait, it's not a bad card (560 ti factory overclock) ROF plays very well on high settings, landscape med, shadows med I'm sure once they get CLOD optimized it will only get better.

I am using a GTX 470 with maximun settings and runs perfectly well, no stutters at all and absolutely smooth.-
i7 960 @ 4Ghz, 6 Gb RAM.-

I meant cpu not gpu, was a mistype.

-Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM
-AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Quad Core Processor AM3 3.4GHZ 8MB Cache 125W 45NM
-ASUS M5A97 Evo ATX AM3+ DDR3 AMD 970 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2PCI USB3.0 SATA3 GBLAN Motherboard
-Corsair CMV4GX3M2A1333C9 4GB DDR3 2X2GB DDR3-1333 CL9 Dual Channel Memory Kit
-Radeon hd 5770 1GB

Keep in mind that i have a simple flat 17-19 "i dont know witch" inch screen and my max res is 1200x1024

How should i fare??? i know the video card is a bit old ,but i used to have a 9600 gt. Gamer on a tight budget , all the hardware is brand new except the vid card , will run on win7 64bit.

On a side note i have ordered a thrustmaster T-FLIGHT STICK X with twist handle and gas throthol the first joystick for ps3 , PC compatible of course. Read nothing but good review's on it and its only 40$ can total.... sadly its out of stock everywhere except on NCIX but even then they are still looking for it in there toronto wharehouse , been waiting 6 days and they still have not ship't it.

Excuse the bad grammar , i am a frog from quebec after all.:cool:

Definitly not what I would go for, but you should go look at other forums that have people better qualified to advise you than here.

-Also get 6gb of ram and get a high res screen, you can get a 22inch 1600x1200 for about $130.

Well to be honest i ask for comments on how it will fair...and i get a "get a bigger screen" comment....right. At least you are right on one thing , ill go look on simHQ for some more appropriate feedback if there is any to be had. Freaking tight budget indeed here and just paid 684$ can for all the hardware - video card + mid tower and 750 watt power supply. Only thing i see i could afford is +2 gig of ram really. Still i think it can run 30-40 fps on 1200x1000 resolution at least i hope.

The game runs fine on my system with win7 64 bit, even over areas with lots of buildings I get no stutters from texture loading.
Resolution 1600x900, fps anywhere between 30 - 70, depending on the area you are flying over, saw fps spike to over 90 in external view over the channel with about 8 planes on screen, more in combat at the time.
Settings are model detail high, textures original, visual effects high, everything else to medium, ssao on, clouds, shadows, roads on.

And Heliocon, could it be that you are mixing up amd gpu and cpu?

Ben, I am on a very tight budget as well, took me a very long time to buy everything little by little, my advice go with what you have, you can always expand later. I do agree though if new cards, motherboards and cpus (waiting for the bulldozer) will come out later this year prices for state of the art hardware now will fall then, and you even have an AM3+ MB already then.
However looking at especially video cards, one could almost buy a new one every half year, so settle for what you have, expand later, don't get hiped into the hardware ratrace. Only the smalest percentage of gamers can keep up with that financially, I most certainly cannot. No clue how others do it but I got bills to pay and a family to feed, oh and darn it, the family even wants a roof over their heads :rolleyes:.

Oh sorry, Ben, keep the monitor you have, it'll be fine, I used to play on a 15inch widescreen monitor, max resolution was quite low but the picture was pristine, since it was that monitors max resolution.
If you get a higher resolution monitor and need to run at a lower resolution the picture might not look as good, generally I think you get the best picture at a monitors native resolution, so if you have a monitor with a lower native resolution you'll have a good picture and you'll free up resources in your comp at the same time.
Remember, never give into the ratrace.:-D

I agree that this would not be a very good setup for CloD.
But why do you completely dismiss the knowledge of everyone on this forum? I'd say that there's a fair amount of HW knowledge in this forum and perhaps in sim community in general, especially what is relevant or not to the sim at hand.

Do you guys understand he's on a budget. I can run CoD great and his setup is better than mine.
Cheapest core i5 sandybridge right now is $185. The cpu he's looking at is $50less, plus he can put a bulldozer on his MB when it comes out.

You graphics card is much better than the HD5770, that will make a big difference.

Sorry, yeah I guess it is, but still if he builds this he's got a good basis from which to move forward in the future and he will be able to run the game, though I think due to the brilliant response about getting a larger monitor Ben won't be back to even read this.

What??? no i am still here , my hd5770 whas a gift from my bro so i cant complain compared to my old 9600 gt . I have no intention on changing monitors until this one dies out , been almost 4 years since i got it still run's fine. From what i can tell i just need some more ram for now and the graphic's card will prolly be changed too some gtx 500 series when the new gen comes in around next year , or maybe ill stick too rad's 6000 series since rad card's seam to be better supported for this game. Should give me a good 6-9 months to pile up a good 150-200$ for said card.

I am pretty much like all the rest of the community , that is hoping for better fps ratings coming out of future patches , it's more of a fact then hope really.
Even then i still have to wait at least another week for my new pc to get assemble , and i am still waiting for my joystick to get shipped.:(

Good to see you're still there.
I only know one other site where to get good tech info, not sure if it's allowed to mention it here, but anyway it's the forum part of totalwar.com.
There is a tech section towards the bottom of the page and the moderators know quite a bit.

In there questions about going with intel or amd cpus came up as well, in essence the result was while intel is clearly superior currently, amd gives you a great bang for the buck ratio amd the phenomII is not such a bad processor. And like I wrote, with the AM3+ MB you're getting you'll be able to get a bulldozer should the need ever arise. I would have to buy both, MB and processor if I wanted to upgrade to the bulldozer.