GPU advice for Eagle Dynamics sims

[default762792]

I'm looking at getting a new computer shortly. It will have among other things, 64-bit Windows 7, an Intel Core i5 760 CPU and 8GB of 1333MHZ DDR3 RAM. The question is the video card - I've narrowed it down to (I think) the Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 and 570, and the ATI Radeon HD 6850 and 6870.

 

I think any of those GPUs will be fine for high-quality FPS games, but I wonder if the extra expense of any of them above the GTX 460 (particularly the GTX 570) would pay off in FC2 and the two DCS titles. It's my understanding that these sims are more CPU-intensive than GPU-intensive, but I don't mind paying the extra if I'll see a concrete benefit.

 

Super-high resolution and multi-monitor are probably not going to be my thing - I'm shooting for high framerates at high quality settings at 1680x1050.

 

For what it's worth, my current rig has an Athlon X2, GeForce 9500 GT, and 4 GB of RAM, all under Vista, so I am hoping for something of an improvement. :)

 

Thanks for any insight!

[Kuky]

If you want high quality image and HDR turned on etc you better get as fast video card as you can... it will be of good use ;)

 

Up to now flgith sims were 90% of time CPU dependent but as they are now adding more graphics features starting with DCS A-10C it has lot more impact on the video card as well, so now you need both... very fast CPU and VGA... I guess once they get multithreading working also that'll reduce impact on the CPU as almost everyone now has at least dual core CPU... it's lovely to be a flight simmer isn't it :D

[Pilotasso]

Just about any modern graphics can handle these SIM's, as long as it is dedicated and not onboard with shared memory.

[Konovalov]

I really hope that DCS A-10C will run with full eye candy on my 22" 1680 x 1050 resolution screen with a GTX460 1GB or equivalent card. Don't think I will be able to stretch my budget for a GTX570. The GTX580, forget about that one.

[CAT_101st]

DCS is all about your CPU and not so much about the GPU. Airdog is runing A-10C with a 460 128bit card not the 256 bit 1gb card. and he is on high setings. Now my setup is way behind the times for gaming and the 465 1gb is the primary card I am after along with a 460 1gb as a second card to run my extra screans.

[Pilotasso]

460GTX is very good for graphics intensive games, just not the best at it.

[default762792]

Okay, thanks for the input everyone, much appreciated!

[Steel Jaw]

Try to hit at least 470. 480 and 570 performace are on a par so pick whichever is cheapest if that applies.

[Doctahg]

What you buy depends alot on your other Hardware too. A 580 would be great, SLI even better, but you will be bottlenecked by your CPU...just something to consider. Without question, for a single card, the 580GTX a superslocked even better, is the way to go, cost aside. I don't know if you overclock or not, but OCing you cpu would help any bottlenecks, but if you have no clue on OC don't try it unless you can deal with the consequences!. Overclocking the GPU help alot as well. I use Evga cause they warranty their cards even if you overclock, My 2 cards are way higher than stock, could go higher as well. Every little bit helps!!

[default762792]

I went for the 570 GTX, and the computer will have a Core i7 870, 8GB of DDR3 RAM at 1333MHZ, and Windows 7 64-bit.

 

It seems that the 570 GTX is going to benefit me more dramatically in FPS games than in flight sims (performance in shooters being the other motive for the whole upgrade), but it certainly won't hurt. And it looks like the processor should be a significant step up from the trusty old Athlon.

 

I don't overclock, and I don't have any real plans to, but it appears that the i7 870 and GTX 570 are pretty overclockable if I learn how to do it safely and upgrade my power supply and cooling solution as needed.

 

Thanks again!

[JG27_Arklight]

Try to hit at least 470. 480 and 570 performace are on a par so pick whichever is cheapest if that applies.

 

Between those three...stick with the 570.

 

Performance on par with the 480, but with lower heat/power consumption.

[Migo]

Get the 570, same performance as HD6970 but better overclocking capability.

GTX 570 can easily be overclocked to GTX 580 level.

[Steel Jaw]

Someone above said that the GPU is not so important for this sim.

 

I disagree based upon what I see with my new overclocked 470.

 

GPU usage is near 100%.

[JG27_Arklight]

Get the 570, same performance as HD6970 but better overclocking capability.

GTX 570 can easily be overclocked to GTX 580 level.

 

Actually, the 570 tends to do better at lower resolutions while the ATI 6970 takes the lead at higher resolutions (2560x1600, etc..).

[default762792]

Actually, the 570 tends to do better at lower resolutions while the ATI 6970 takes the lead at higher resolutions (2560x1600, etc..).

 

This is one of the reasons I picked the GTX 570, since I plan to do everything at 1680x1050, at least for a while, and even then I doubt I'll buy a monitor with a resolution higher than 1080p.

[JG27_Arklight]

This is one of the reasons I picked the GTX 570, since I plan to do everything at 1680x1050, at least for a while, and even then I doubt I'll buy a monitor with a resolution higher than 1080p.

 

That was a good decision. Anything below 2560x1600 and the very high-end GPU solutions just don't offer much value. It takes very high-res and/or often higher levels of FSAA before the GTX 480/GTX 580/etc.. really become worth it. If you don't run a very high resolution or FSAA levels at high levels there really isn't much point to it outside of being able to tell people you have one....which is silly.

[default762792]

Frame rate, smoothness, and eye candy are far more important to me than raw resolution, as long as it's greater than 1024x768 or 1280x1024. That's not to say I wouldn't enjoy the really high resolutions, or that I wouldn't spring for the gear to achieve them if I had the money, but I think 1050p is going to overwhelm me compared to what I'm used to for some time.

[JG27_Arklight]

Get the 570, same performance as HD6970 but better overclocking capability.

GTX 570 can easily be overclocked to GTX 580 level.

 

Sorry for quoting again, but I did some reading at HardOCP, and the ATI 6950 matched or beat the GTX 570 in every test, and it goes for about $300 ($40-$60 less than the GTX 570).

 

From HardOCP:

 

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/12/14/amd_radeon_hd_6970_6950_video_card_review/1

 

 

AMD Radeon HD 6950

 

 

If there is a real champion in this evaluation, it is the AMD Radeon HD 6950. AMD has set the MSRP at $299 for the 2GB Radeon HD 6950. 1GB models may even be cheaper. The least expensive GeForce GTX 570 is currently $349. That is a difference of $50. In all of our tests, the new Radeon HD 6950 either matched or beat the GeForce GTX 570.

 

In F1 2010 there was a 5% difference in performance favoring the Radeon HD 6950. In Civ 5 the performance between the two video cards was dead even. In Metro 2033 is just slightly faster than the GeForce GTX 570. Once again in BC2 the two video cards are neck and neck. In Mafia II once again the video cards are very close.

 

 

The GeForce GTX 570 just got some new competition in town, and the competition is winning. For the same performance, you can save $50 and get the AMD Radeon HD 6950.

[EtherealN]

"In every test?" That sounds like hyperbole to me, tbh.

 

570 is 60% up over the 6970 there.

 

Roughly equal between 570 and 6970

 

570 runs equal to the 5970 here, but what happened to the 6970?

 

There we go, 6970 doing a good job - even beating the 580. Very nice. But what about that 5970?

 

Lost again, though the 5970 does an awesome job.

 

6950 and 570 go even in SC2, and 6970 ends up roughly at par with the 480.

 

Pretty even run for most of them - excepting the 5970 which beats all of them pretty nicely, even the 6970...

 

And so it continues - they trade places a lot, and sometimes there are outlyer results (the HAWX2 benchmark gives the nVidia cards a bit of happiness due to their somewhat excessive terrain tesselation, which the green corner can exploit due to their firm grip of geometry spinoffs from the GPU compute segment). So for a more complete picture we could check this out:

 

Nice overview. And if we talk about value, we can check out this chart as well:

 

All in all, my opinion on the situation is that either card fab can win with their latest offerings depending on which applications you ask the cards to run.

 

Direct link to the article I shamelessly stole the charts from: http://techreport.com/articles.x/20126/1

[genbrien]

Hawx2 and Lost Planet2 benchmarks seems to be porked :music_whistling: :D

 

Should receive my 6950 the 4th, an I'll be able to make those benchmark too and I'll report back.

 

But I think you can't be wrong with both card anyway. I went for the 6950 because my MB can only do Xfire, and the card was in sale, otherwise I might have bought the gtx570:smartass:

[JG27_Arklight]

"In every test?" That sounds like hyperbole to me, tbh.

 

...snip

 

You may want to read what I posted again. ;)

 

My quote above was referencing the value of the 6950 over the GTX 570 as noted in the "AMD Radeon HD 6970 and HD 6950 Video Card Review" at HardOCP.

 

Here's a quick breakdown:

 

F1 2010 - 6970 beats the GTX 580. 6950 beats the GTX 570. 6970 beats GTX 570.

Civ V - GTX 580 beats 6970. GTX 570 beats 6950. 6970 beats GTX 570.

Metro 2033 - GTX 580 beats 6970 by 2 fps. 6950 beats GTX 570 by 1 fps. 6970 beats GTX 570.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 - GTX 580 beats 6970. GTX 570 beats 6950 by 1 fps. 6970 beats GTX 570.

Mafia 2 - GTX 580 beats 6970 by 1 fps. 6950 beats GTX 570 by 1 fps. 6970 beats the GTX 570.

 

So, in conclusion:

GTX 570 wins - 2

6950 wins - 3

OR...both are close enough to eachother that it doesn't matter. :)

 

Hence the quote, "In all of our tests, the new Radeon HD 6950 either matched or beat the GeForce GTX 570".

 

lol

 

On a side note, I encourage all people to go to HardOCP for non-BS reviews of PC Hardware. They are a great group of people and actually play the games. :)

Edited January 1, 2011 by JG27_Arklight