Upgrading Graphics Card (Yep, another one)

[Spirrwell]

Alright, I'm aware of the redundancy of such a thread so I'm going to quote something from a forum user to indicate that I have looked around:

(12-07-2012, 09:54 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote: GTX 690 > GTX 590 > GTX 680 > GTX 580/GTX 670 > GTX 570/GTX 660 TI > GTX 560 TI/GTX 660 > GTX 560/GTX 650 TI > GTX 550 TI and so on....

The second digit refers to how fast a GPU is within its series (90, 80, 70, 60, etc.). So for example a GTX 680 will be faster than a GTX 670. The first digit refers to the series. A comparable card from a newer series will be faster than the older version. For example a GTX 650 will be faster than the 550 TI from the previous generation which it replaced. In recent times it is usually on par with the level above it from the previous series.

Currently Dolphin itself runs pretty well, and the problems that I do have are minor and probably mostly related to the still limited power of the emulator. I'm not looking for any help with a specific game per say, but the main game I will be running is The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, both GameCube and Wii versions that I plan to do recordings with as I don't have any other method of recording directly from my TV.

So what hardware do I have right now?

Well here's my system specifications that I will add to my signature soon:

MOBO: GIGABYTE Z68X-UD4-B3
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-2600K @ 3.4 GHz
GPU: NVIDIA 9600 GT
RAM: Ripjaws X 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 2133
OS: Windows 7 64 bit; Windows Vista 64 bit; Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit

Right now my graphics card is pretty much the only slightly old piece of hardware in my computer. My current NVIDIA 9600 GT is factory overclocked to 700 MHz. I know my next step up should be one of those GTX cards, but I clearly don't need the absolute best to notice a big difference and I don't know if all of them support DirectX 11, but that'd be nice to have as well as my current card doesn't. I just don't know exactly which one I should go with and typically, the less expensive, the better.

Also on a side performance question, I typically run Dolphin under OpenGL as it seems to work better for the most part, does it make any difference performance wise between running that under Linux, or under Windows?

(Another side kind of unrelated question, is there any difference between the source version of Dolphin as in downloading and compiling the source, and the binary version like for Windows the current binary being 3.5-367)

[admin89]

9600GT can handle 3xIR
GTX550 ti can handle 4xIR

If you're on a tight budget , EVGA GTX 650 (100$) will be a good card for 4xIR,noAA,16xAF . If you want best bang for buck GPU that can run most PC games well , either GTX 660 or GTX 660 ti will be a good purchase

[LordVador]

Go for 560 Ti or 660 TI.

I've been testing my new 660 Ti for a few days and I can say I'm not disappointed

[admin89]

560TI has lower memory bandwidth and less performance (unless you buy the expensive 448 Cores Limited Edition) and higher power consumption than GTX 660 . Not mention , Fermi is just old

[cluthz]

9600GT is fairly old. Any new card will pretty much smoke it (except if you go rally low end).
It all comes down to what you are willing to pay and what prices you get.

Anything from 550Ti and up will be very much faster than the 9600GT.

Here is a fairly accurate list of pretty much all cards made the last 10 years:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

If dolphin is the main gaming concern the list might not be the best as it seems that it is very much bandwidth happy and doesn't care so much about other stuff.
Like me, which use a GTX285, which have a bandwidth between 660Ti and GTX670, but in every other aspect gets slaughtered by both, even the GTX560Ti is faster in PC games, even tho the bandwidth on the GTX285 is vastly better than a 560Ti.
I can play pretty much all games with 4xIr and some AA, although some games like Pandoras Tower is very GPU happy and won't run well with any kind of AA.
Xenoblade runs fine with 4xIR an AA without my GPU getting even very hot.

[Shonumi]

Spirwell Wrote:Also on a side performance question, I typically run Dolphin under OpenGL as it seems to work better for the most part, does it make any difference performance wise between running that under Linux, or under Windows?

Usually, the OGL backend speed-wise on Linux will run on par with DX9 on Windows (which is usually the fastest backend for that OS). OGL on Linux is probably noticeably faster than on Windows, most likely due to how Nvidia makes their drivers. DirectX is used by nearly all PC games these days, so it makes sense that it gets a lot of focus. Linux only has OpenGL, drivers for it would obviously focus on it's implementation, at least one would hope :p

Spirwell Wrote:(Another side kind of unrelated question, is there any difference between the source version of Dolphin as in downloading and compiling the source, and the binary version like for Windows the current binary being 3.5-367)

You can compile it with "optimizations" and such, but they shouldn't significantly affect Dolphin's performance, and no one's ever clearly demonstrated otherwise. If you use the binary provided from this site, you won't be missing out on anything performance-wise.

[NaturalViolence]

The 9600GT is inbetween the GT 630 ($60-80) and GT 640 ($80-100) in terms of performance. All 400, 500, and 600 series cards are dx11 capable. You should have at least a GT 610/620 for 1x IR, GT 630 for 2x IR, GT 640 for 3x IR, GTX 650 for 4x IR, GTX 650 TI for 4x IR + 2xMSAA, and GTX 660 for 4x IR + 4xMSAA. And that's being extremely conservative since you're using openGL. GTX 660 TI and higher are overkill in my opinion. You could also do 3x IR + 4xMSAA with a GTX 650 TI which might be the best option for you. I would probably get at least a GTX 650 TI if you have the money. Grab a GTX 660 if you enjoy PC gaming as well.

[Spirrwell]

Woah, that's a lot of information there. Thank you all for your help. It seems that everybody has slightly different opinions but the GTX 650 seems like the best bet. Well, when I upgrade my video card I guess I'll find out just how big of a difference it will make.

Thanks again.

[Guegs]

I have pretty close to the same setup as you (i7 2600k), except I have an ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 Motherboard, and am using the Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics. Obviously, for Dolphin this doesn't work very well. This is my main computer.

I think I am going to pick up this card, unless anybody suggests otherwise.

My other computer is an i7 930 with a HD 5770. I have yet to try Dolphin on it, but I assume that I will be able to play with pretty good settings?

Also, I was going to get this sensor bar. Would it be a good buy?

[admin89]

If you buy that card for dolphin , it will not worth the extra 70$ (over GTX 650) for minimal Anti-Aliasing . Either GTX 650 or GTX 660
But if you buy that card for PC game then that's a different story

Quote:HD 5770

4xIR (2560x2112) , no AA , 16x AF