Hey everyone.
I've been getting by with an ATI 3870 for the last 6 years. I'm considering updating it to a GTX750 (or ti) so I can at least be able to run games that require DX11 (like Watch Dogs and more recent titles.) I'm also expecting a big difference in performance in relation to my 3870 -- problem is I'm also expecting my Q6600 2.4GHz to bottleneck the new card.
My main questions is: for somebody who has been playing games for the last 6 years with the same 3870 (even more recent titles like ACIV) should I be concerned about the bottleneck or is the performance increase still worth it?
I'm not thinking about overclocking the CPU.
Any support is appreciated.
Assuming you have enough ram for your core 2 quad the 750ti would be a great card for that computer and you should get some good performance out of it.
8 Gigs of ram is the new Min for never 64 bit games. And i would spring for the 750Ti better bag for the buck. If you care about G-sync at all get one with a display port. If you have no cares about it. The ASUS 750 Ti is a great value has the extra 6 pin connector and overclocks like crazy. The only cards that I know that have Display port are the EVGA ones. But no extra power unless you fork over the cash.
Yeah im pretty sure your q6600 will bottleneck. My e7400 with 4GB bottlenecks most games. Multi threaded and single threaded games get bottlenecked badly.
Yeah im pretty sure your q6600 will bottleneck. My e7400 with 4GB bottlenecks most games. Multi threaded and single threaded games get bottlenecked badly.
A Q9550 bottlenecks a GTX 560 so a Q6660 will bottleneck a GTX 750.
I agree that 8GB are really needed for more recent games; but, at least as I recall, most core 2 systems used DDR2 RAM. If the OP's system has DDR2 there's no reason to upgrade to 8GB imo, since DDR2 is pretty expensive.
Dont worry about bottlenecks so much - your old gpu is way too old and its pretty obvious to see that you're on a tight budget. Watch dogs - be sure you have enough ram.
Replacing your 3870 with a gtx750 is a top idea imho.
@ 2.4 those first quads are a bit of a slug, @3ghz you'll be close to par with lower end athlon fm2 x4 chips (740 etc). So if you do have board that is oc friendly then it is well worth considering. You'd be amazed at how tough those chips are. You shouldnt even need any increase in voltage at say 2.8 (400x7multi).
For the sake of benchmarks and bottlenecks (FutureMark Firestrike results):
Q6600 @ 2.4ghz + gtx750 : 3452 points
4670k @ 3.4ghz = gtx750 : 3862 points
<<any disputing of these results - go see for yourself via the futuremark result comparing tool)>>
http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/2042860/fs/1966823
... as one can see - bugger all difference, and yes synthetic test but a decent enough benchmark none the less.
...ps. respect for still running such an old card. geez they were fun cards when they came out - with a few volt mods they were beasts.