Graphic Cards Upgrade for SH3 + GWX3.0

Victor Schutze · 01-18-12, 02:12 PM

I noticed that I have 12-14 fps in Kiel or when I zoom down on my u-boot in the map, I am left with 8 fps. I am looking for a solution to this problem.

My rig specs are:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (2.6 Ghz overclocked through mobo BIOS)
Mobo: Asus A8N-SLI SE Motherboard Socket 939, Nvidia NFORCE4 SLI
Graphic cards : 2 of EVGA 01G-P3-N959TR GeForce 9500 GT 1GB DDR2 PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card in SLI.
RAM: 4 GB (3GB used by windows 7?)
OS: Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Sound card: Diamond XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit Sound Card ( XS71 )
PSU: PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W High Performance 80PLUS Silver SLI CrossFire ready Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 i5
I exclusively play SH3 GWX3.0 with a long (

) list of mods.
I would like to be able to enable heavier mods such as "fm interiors" as well.

So, I am contemplating to replace my 2 graphic cards with this choice:

http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-M...=30ZGK8T9NSVEA

My question to you people is: Does it make good sense? Does it worth it?
What will be the gain in terms of fps? Maybe I should consider changing the whole mobo/processor/RAM combination? Not the same price though....

Any thoughts?

PeriscopeDepth · 01-19-12, 01:45 AM

Putting a ~$170 vid card in that machine, while it may help, is not a cost effective solution IMO. I would save up for a cheapo ~$600 gaming desktop (prebuilt that is, if you can build your own that would probably be far better), I think it would be a far better long term investment. It's not cheap by any means, but PC gaming tends to be that way. :/

Your processor (and thus your mobo, probably) and vidcard definitely need to be replaced for what I would consider mid range gaming (SH3 with a ton of higher end mods).

Processor tech has come a ways in the past ~6 years. As a comparison, my 1.5 year old phone has a processor with the same size L2 cache as your desktop, and is built on a 45nm chip (vs 90 for your current processor, smaller is better)

.

kiwi_2005 · 01-19-12, 08:13 AM

I would think those pc specs should be able to run SH3 / GWX without a hitch, unless I missed something, I use to run the game on a far lower spec than what's here and it ran fine. Try taking the cpu clock back to default. Sometimes an overclocked cpu can cause problems in old games & have you tried running the game on one graphics card?

Victor Schutze · 01-19-12, 01:55 PM

Thank you for your thoughts PericopeDepth and kiwi_2005!

Ok guys, you know what I'll do?:
I'll go for one GPU at first, then go for a second one (SLI) in a second phase, then for a processor/mobo/RAM change as my last move.

It should allow me to improve the overall performance of my rig gradually without being broke.

Whot ya think?

CCIP · 01-19-12, 02:02 PM

The low FPS is not caused by video card in that case, I can tell you that for certain - it's a CPU limitation. There are simply a lot of ships and other stuff in Kiel, and the issue is not graphics but physics processing etc. No video card upgrade here will help you, in fact I suspect you won't even get 1 extra FPS out of that upgrade. And to get a new processor, you'll need a new motherboard. And at that stage, you might as well get a new system. Your current one is more or less at the limit.

12-14fps - if only in Kiel - is not bad though. It improves elsewhere in the game, anyway, and I played like that for years.

Arclight · 01-19-12, 03:23 PM

If you exclusively play SH3, then forget about SLI altogether. Doesn't really work.

A single GTX550 will work just fine, it's (probably) quite a bit of overkill for something like SH3.

Though I agree that that CPU could do with a replacement, note that a 9500GT is a joke of a graphics card.

01-18-12, 02:12 PM	#1
Victor Schutze Chief Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Drowning in mods soup Posts: 327 Downloads: 466 Uploads: 0	Graphic Cards Upgrade for SH3 + GWX3.0 I noticed that I have 12-14 fps in Kiel or when I zoom down on my u-boot in the map, I am left with 8 fps. I am looking for a solution to this problem. My rig specs are: Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (2.6 Ghz overclocked through mobo BIOS) Mobo: Asus A8N-SLI SE Motherboard Socket 939, Nvidia NFORCE4 SLI Graphic cards : 2 of EVGA 01G-P3-N959TR GeForce 9500 GT 1GB DDR2 PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card in SLI. RAM: 4 GB (3GB used by windows 7?) OS: Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit Sound card: Diamond XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit Sound Card ( XS71 ) PSU: PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W High Performance 80PLUS Silver SLI CrossFire ready Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 i5 I exclusively play SH3 GWX3.0 with a long ( ) list of mods. I would like to be able to enable heavier mods such as "fm interiors" as well. So, I am contemplating to replace my 2 graphic cards with this choice: http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-M...=30ZGK8T9NSVEA My question to you people is: Does it make good sense? Does it worth it? What will be the gain in terms of fps? Maybe I should consider changing the whole mobo/processor/RAM combination? Not the same price though.... Any thoughts? Last edited by Victor Schutze; 01-18-12 at 03:39 PM.

01-19-12, 08:13 AM	#3
kiwi_2005 Eternal Patrol Join Date: May 2004 Location: Aeoteroa Posts: 7,382 Downloads: 223 Uploads: 1	I would think those pc specs should be able to run SH3 / GWX without a hitch, unless I missed something, I use to run the game on a far lower spec than what's here and it ran fine. Try taking the cpu clock back to default. Sometimes an overclocked cpu can cause problems in old games & have you tried running the game on one graphics card? __________________ RIP kiwi_2005 Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others.

01-19-12, 02:02 PM	#5
CCIP Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Waterloo, Canada Posts: 8,700 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 2	The low FPS is not caused by video card in that case, I can tell you that for certain - it's a CPU limitation. There are simply a lot of ships and other stuff in Kiel, and the issue is not graphics but physics processing etc. No video card upgrade here will help you, in fact I suspect you won't even get 1 extra FPS out of that upgrade. And to get a new processor, you'll need a new motherboard. And at that stage, you might as well get a new system. Your current one is more or less at the limit. 12-14fps - if only in Kiel - is not bad though. It improves elsewhere in the game, anyway, and I played like that for years. __________________ There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers. -Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart)

01-19-12, 03:23 PM	#6
Arclight Navy Seal Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Land of windmills, tulips, wooden shoes and cheese. Lots of cheese. Posts: 8,467 Downloads: 53 Uploads: 10	If you exclusively play SH3, then forget about SLI altogether. Doesn't really work. A single GTX550 will work just fine, it's (probably) quite a bit of overkill for something like SH3. Though I agree that that CPU could do with a replacement, note that a 9500GT is a joke of a graphics card. __________________ Contritium praecedit superbia.

01-19-12, 01:45 AM	#2
PeriscopeDepth Sea Lord Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Pacific NW Posts: 1,894 Downloads: 6 Uploads: 0	Putting a ~$170 vid card in that machine, while it may help, is not a cost effective solution IMO. I would save up for a cheapo ~$600 gaming desktop (prebuilt that is, if you can build your own that would probably be far better), I think it would be a far better long term investment. It's not cheap by any means, but PC gaming tends to be that way. :/ Your processor (and thus your mobo, probably) and vidcard definitely need to be replaced for what I would consider mid range gaming (SH3 with a ton of higher end mods). Processor tech has come a ways in the past ~6 years. As a comparison, my 1.5 year old phone has a processor with the same size L2 cache as your desktop, and is built on a 45nm chip (vs 90 for your current processor, smaller is better) .

01-19-12, 01:55 PM	#4
Victor Schutze Chief Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Drowning in mods soup Posts: 327 Downloads: 466 Uploads: 0	Thank you for your thoughts PericopeDepth and kiwi_2005! Ok guys, you know what I'll do?: I'll go for one GPU at first, then go for a second one (SLI) in a second phase, then for a processor/mobo/RAM change as my last move. It should allow me to improve the overall performance of my rig gradually without being broke. Whot ya think?