New pc specs, need advice?

[Violet]

Get 2GB more RAM. 4GB is just fine, don't listen to anyone who says you need more (unless you're doing some serious photo or video editing).

Or if you are *GAMING*. Don't listen to anyone who says you don't need RAM, fail to buy RAM, and then try to play Skyrim, only to have to delay your epic experience because you don't have enough RAM.

[Santewi]

I don't know about Skyrim, but for any game that has come out to date, 4GB is enough.

[Violet]

I don't know about Skyrim, but for any game that has come out to date, 4GB is enough.

* Violet derisively laughs at 4 being 'enough' for games.

If you want to run Rift on ULTRA (everything), you need the most most motherboards can handle: 16, and get a processor over 3.2 GHz, sickest video card you can, and an excellent internet connection.

For reasonably decent gaming, 6-8 is enough... 4 is most certainly not. You know... not everyone is content to run their game on the lowest possible settings, especially when the higher settings add a great deal of depth to the game.



The processor is the conductor of the computer, the RAM is the engine, the video card is a miniature computer plugged into your computer that is devoted entirely to audio/video. Obviously... you can't go as fast in a car with a small engine.

[Santewi]

Only the data the game requires is loaded to the RAM. I really can't believe Rift would need more than 3GB to load all the textures and objects even on highest settings. Unless it loads the whole damn world with all raids and instances and all that at the same time.

And 16GB... Sure, if you want to multibox with 4+ accounts. And "excellent internet connection"? You know, your connection only affects your ping or latency, and has nothing to do with your framerates.

The amount of VRAM and the performance of the GPU and CPU are more important than RAM.

[R-e-n-n-a-t]

I'm definitely adding more RAM (for futureproofing, if nothing else), but what do you think of this graphics card?
HIS Radeon HD 4670 IceQ 1 GB (128bit) DDR3 HDMI Dual DL-DVI (HDCP) PCI Express 2.0 X16

Here's the amazon page:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ZLP...PDKIKX0DER

EDIT: Btw, I don't care about running multiple monitors. I just want to be able to smoothly max the settings on a single game. (and not necessarily something as demanding as the Witcher 2)

[Violet]

Only the data the game requires is loaded to the RAM. I really can't believe Rift would need more than 3GB to load all the textures and objects even on highest settings. Unless it loads the whole damn world with all raids and instances and all that at the same time.

And 16GB... Sure, if you want to multibox with 4+ accounts. And "excellent internet connection"? You know, your connection only affects your ping or latency, and has nothing to do with your framerates.

The amount of VRAM and the performance of the GPU and CPU are more important than RAM.

The scrub above me has never played Rift. Ultra settings, open world raid during a zone invasion, in shimmersand. Not one of those sticks of RAM will go unused.

And the reason you need a solid internet connection to enjoy an internet game.... have you ever played WoW on dial-up?

How'd that work out for you?

[Santewi]

That's a decent card, but you won't be playing many games with max settings with it. Considering your somewhat "weak" CPU in gaming use, I'd go for a little bit better graphics card. Just make sure your CPU wont bottleneck the GPU.



Okay, an outdoor raid with a world event. I'd guess it would take a lot of processing power, but 16GB of RAM? Just no. Do I really need to download Rift, go to a private server, find a place full of people and a world event and then check how much RAM it uses? Btw, I played in the Rift beta for umm, 30 mins? Damn the game was horrible. Like WoW but with just horrible looking "realistic" graphics.

And no, I haven't played WoW on a dial-up. I have played it on a 0.5/0.5MB connection though. I had 100-200 latency, not bad for a MMO. And I don't think that if you don't have a dial-up you have "an excellent internet connection". Sure, a good solid connection is preferred, but is not necessary in a MMO. Having 150+ ping in a FPS game would be a problem.

[R-e-n-n-a-t]

cpu= AMD Phenom II Quad Core 995
I doubt it'll bottleneck most gpu's.

Also, 16GB of RAM sounds a little extreme. You don't even need that much to max Crysis 2 with a great gpu. I'm thinking more like 8 or 12 GB.

I could actually buy two and run that card in crossfire, and it'd still be pretty cheap compared to most decent cards since it's currently $30 off. I'd be paying something like $140 instead of $200+.

or I could buy this card instead:
EVGA - GeForce GTX 550 Ti 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/EVGA+-+GeFor...Id=2843107

[Santewi]

Remember that Crossfiring a second card doesn't add the memory of the second card (so if you have two cards with 2GB of VRAM, they will still have just 2GB). The performance is not doubled either (it's something like 75% more). Single cards usually produce less heat and consume less power. You should also know that nvidia cards can only be crossfired with the same model, but ATi cards can be crossfired with cards from the same series (for example, you can crossfire a 5770 and a 5750).

That card you linked seems fine, can't bother to check if there is something with better price/power ratio though I would go for ATi though, because I don't like nvidia

And you really don't need 12GB of RAM. Go for 8GB if you want, but buying 2x2GB is more than enough.

And seriously, if Rift takes more than 4GB of RAM, the game has a serious memory leak.

[R-e-n-n-a-t]

Thanks for the info about crossfiring, I assumed it would be double the performance...
I guess I'll buy the nVidia gpu, unless I can find something just as good for cheaper, which I somehow doubt...