is GTX 560 Hawk overkill for this config?

S

hi guys, my current system config is as follows -
e8400, xfx 680i lt sli mobo, 4GB ddr2 ram (800MHz), 2x xfx 8600GT sli, 18.5" Samsung monitor. I'm planning to upgrade the gpu. will the GTX 560 Hawk (or twin frozr II) be overkill for my system?

R

rest of the system its ok, just the 19" monitor, its an overkill if you don't plan to change it...you dont need it you want to play at that low res..

I think now you don't want to buy a graphics card as in 19" display (1366X768) a 8600 GT SLI can deliver playable performance. Wait a little to AMD 7000 series cards to be released and the current cards price to be reduced a little.

^yes, or better take 22" display that would give better 1080p performance with GTX 560. Or as said 7000 series will drop 5x and 6x series prices.

S

ok, thnx for the suggestions everyone. i'll wait a little longer for the 7000 series to arrive in the mkt.

The CPU (E8400) is an outdated one. A 2 core CPU is not sufficient nowadays, I am talking hardcore here, games like Crysis 2 will cry badly to run in it. You won't get more than 30 fps. So first thing first, Change the processor first, then Monitor and then think of 560 or any same/better card.

S

ithehappy said:
The CPU (E8400) is an outdated one. A 2 core CPU is not sufficient nowadays, I am talking hardcore here, games like Crysis 2 will cry badly to run in it. You won't get more than 30 fps. So first thing first, Change the processor first, then Monitor and then think of 560 or any same/better card.

yes, for hardcore gaming, maybe. but even with my current setup, i usually get more than 30 fps in crysis 2 (at gamer settings though). so let me upgrade the gpu first and observe the difference. changing the processor involves changing the whole rig and is not something i would like to consider right now.

Sure games are playing more nice with quad cores these days. But the proccy is still powerful enough for most of the applications. So a mid-range card will still deliver playable frame rates at high enough settings.

get a Full HD monitor along with a new GPU. E8400 is fast & have good overclocking potential.

S

well, i changed the monitor just a year and a half ago and don't want to change again. so i'll just wait a bit longer (till the prices drop further) and get the 560 then. but thnx again for ur suggestions.

well, to utilize the complete potential of GTX 560 you'll require a screen which supports HD resolution. I recently bought MSI GTX560 Ti for Viewsonic 19" & LG LED 32" screens. The GF114 chipset packs lots of power and runs most of the games flawlessly with highest image quality possible!

Listen, if the OP does not want to upgrade the display for now, don't suggest him to upgrade it. May be Full HD is current standard but there is no point to sell old 18.5" or 19" display every time you buy a new powerful card.
And Op clearly stated that we will upgrade components sequentially so keep your suggestion for what OP has asked for.

You guy's are suggesting like if you are buying a powerful card and you don't have Full HD display, you have to get a new display. But this is not the case...try to suggest what is asked for. It is like if you are buying a 50" LCD TV, you have to get a new flat first which has a very big room so that the TV looks great on the wall.

you hit the nail right on the head Cilus.

@OP: go for the Hawk. You can always use your graphics card even when going for system overhaul. And monitor you can always upgrade.

Cilus said:
Listen, if the OP does not want to upgrade the display for now, don't suggest him to upgrade it. May be Full HD is current standard but there is no point to sell old 18.5" or 19" display every time you buy a new powerful card.
And Op clearly stated that we will upgrade components sequentially so keep your suggestion for what OP has asked for.

You guy's are suggesting like if you are buying a powerful card and you don't have Full HD display, you have to get a new display. But this is not the case...try to suggest what is asked for. It is like if you are buying a 50" LCD TV, you have to get a new flat first which has a very big room so that the TV looks great on the wall.

OP asked if GTX560 is an overkill for his current mentioned system or not. And the clear answer is YES, and Yes it's like if you are buying a 50" LCD and you don't have enough big room for it. Like you have purchased an A8 and you don't have a big enough garage to fit it. Overkill always matters with other things and that's what been said here. Frankly, E8400 with a 18.5" Monitor is not an Overkill but something like superkill imo. Someone here also said that E8400 still have the power, well if E8400 still have the power, then why a 560? Go for a 460 or even 550, they also have the power, don't they? Don't you guys know one of our member, Tenida, had the same situation, he purchased the same GPU for his E6300, and now that GPU is in 'Bazar' section. LOL. I said what's right/true. Now the money is OP's, who can deal with that?
If I said anything harsh pardon me.

ithehappy said:
OP asked if GTX560 is an overkill for his current mentioned system or not. And the clear answer is YES, and Yes it's like if you are buying a 50" LCD and you don't have enough big room for it. Like you have purchased an A8 and you don't have a big enough garage to fit it. Overkill always matters with other things and that's what been said here. Frankly, E8400 with a 18.5" Monitor is not an Overkill but something like superkill imo. Someone here also said that E8400 still have the power, well if E8400 still have the power, then why a 560? Go for a 460 or even 550, they also have the power, don't they? Don't you guys know one of our member, Tenida, had the same situation, he purchased the same GPU for his E6300, and now that GPU is in 'Bazar' section. LOL. I said what's right/true. Now the money is OP's, who can deal with that?
If I said anything harsh pardon me.

Chill Dude, Cilus didn't mean that you are wrong in suggesting, he wanted to indicate that one can show the way about how things are and then wait for the OP to choose his way.

Means you could have said this like "Look, so and so is working with so and so but best thing will be this to do, so as to make it a balanced system". Then wait for what OP's opinion is, and then take the next call.

I think cilus only meant this and nothing negative.

1st of all, he Tenida does not have a E6300, he has a E7300.
2nd thing is Tenida does have Full HD display and that's why his CPU is getting bottle-necked. Here we are talking about 1366X786 resolution
I think you didn't get my example right. in my example GTX 560 is the 50" LCD TV and flat is equivalent to your system.
here you can plug the Display in your small room but cannot get the full beauty but still it will get the job done, watching HD content on it.
Same thing here...if he use his GTX 560 along with the 18.5" display, may be he is not utilizing the whole system, but tell me can't he play games on it?

By the way, I was just addressing the Getting the New Display part, not the CPU part. Just Google a little and you will find out that there will be very very little bottleneck if you are playing upto 1600X900 resolution. It is 1080P when the CPU bottleneck starts to slow down your Gfx card. And a little overclocking the CPU will enhance the performance a lot.

And GTX 560 is a overkill for sure as even a 8600 GT SLI can handle the 1366X768 resolution & I've mentioned it in my first psot. But the thing is if you get a very good card now, in future upgrades you don't need to upgrade it. What I think is, Getting a new Processor still somehow makes sense, but the New Monitor Thing just unacceptable.

Cilus said:
1st of all, he Tenida does not have a E6300, he has a E7300.
2nd thing is Tenida does have Full HD display and that's why his CPU is getting bottle-necked. Here we are talking about 1366X786 resolution
I think you didn't get my example right. in my example GTX 560 is the 50" LCD TV and flat is equivalent to your system.
here you can plug the Display in your small room but cannot get the full beauty but still it will get the job done, watching HD content on it.
Same thing here...if he use his GTX 560 along with the 18.5" display, may be he is not utilizing the whole system, but tell me can't he play games on it?

By the way, I was just addressing the Getting the New Display part, not the CPU part. Just Google a little and you will find out that there will be very very little bottleneck if you are playing upto 1600X900 resolution. It is 1080P when the CPU bottleneck starts to slow down your Gfx card. And a little overclocking the CPU will enhance the performance a lot.

And GTX 560 is a overkill for sure as even a 8600 GT SLI can handle the 1366X768 resolution & I've mentioned it in my first psot. But the thing is if you get a very good card now, in future upgrades you don't need to upgrade it. What I think is, Getting a new Processor still somehow makes sense, but the New Monitor Thing just unacceptable.

Got your point. Yes, I also am not suggesting OP to get a new Monitor especially if he doesn't change his system and change his monitor it will be a shocking decision. But still I will suggest OP to either buy a Mediocre GPU and ran his system for another year OR wait a few days and change the whole system with GPU

My point is, it is not worth buying a GTX560 with OP's current system.

That is a good idea I guess because that time because of the introduction of new gen graphics cards, the price of these cards will come down a lot. In fact OP can settle for a HD 6570 or HD 6770 which is more than capable to run all the games in their highest setting @ 1366X768 resolution and save the rest of the money for future upgrades.

ithehappy said:
Got your point. Yes, I also am not suggesting OP to get a new Monitor especially if he doesn't change his system and change his monitor it will be a shocking decision. But still I will suggest OP to either buy a Mediocre GPU and ran his system for another year OR wait a few days and change the whole system with GPU
My point is, it is not worth buying a GTX560 with OP's current system.

Sorry, I beg to differ. Please try to understand, not everybody can spend a lac on their computers at a single go. Heck, even spending half that amount is impossible sometimes. Upgrade by parts help a lot. Say OP here bought a 560ti now, without changing CPU (which actually involves changing mobo & RAM too) and monitor, he can play all the latest games at its full glory and can reuse the GFX card, when he upgrades his base system along with monitor. What's more, if you have money, there's always the option to go dual-GPU in future which will provide further grunt.

Cilus said:
That is a good idea I guess because that time because of the introduction of new gen graphics cards, the price of these cards will come down a lot. In fact OP can settle for a HD 6570 or HD 6770 which is more than capable to run all the games in their highest setting @ 1366X768 resolution and save the rest of the money for future upgrades.

Price may come down, but how many of us is going to recommend the older card over the newer cards? It will always like "spend some extra and you get a newer gen card, that one has better this and that" sort of thing. And then there's the case of driver support. At the end of 2-3 years of life, there remain fewer driver optimization for the older cards. So ultimately performance in newer games might suffer.

S

wow! looks like "crysis 3" demo is running here already! and i haven't even bought the card! chill guys, i know what i'm gonna do now - wait a while for the nex gen gpus to be released (the prices of these cards will come down). get one then, and another one later (if i haven't upgraded the whole rig by then). that way, even if it's an overkill right now, a year later even a single 560 card maybe sweating a little to play the new titles at the current resolution. so buying a high end card now will enable a bit of future-proofing.