GPU broke, what replacement?

[Fodder]

Hi all. Apologies there must be a ton of threads here like this already but I need some help. Cabin fever has made me dust off IL2 after a long lay-off. I added BOK to my collection last week and then my PC died. Pretty sure its the GPU. My setup is pretty old (2011) and while I'm happy to buy a better (but not bank busting) GPU, I'm concerned it might not be compatible with my other hardware, or that it just won't give me any performance boost. I don't really want to get into changing other components right now. My setup played IL2 OK, not stellar, but acceptable.

 

Can somebody recommend a value GPU? Would source from Ebay if necessary. Cheers

 

Here's what I have:

i5 2500K o/c to 4.0GHz

Asus P8P67LE motherboard 

8GB PC3-10666 DDR3 RAM

PoweColor HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 GPU  

[cardboard_killer]

I just got a MSI branded Radeon RX-580, 8meg OC for 160USD that seems to be regularly exhibited as a good price/performance card. I tend to think Radeon when looking at mid-low range cards, but YMMV.

[SCG_ErwinP]

Rx 570 or Rx 580 if your wallet approves

Edited April 5, 2020 by SCG_ErwinP

[SCG_OpticFlow]

I have a pair of MSI RX 480 Gaming X cards running in CrossFire. They are quite cheap now and if one of them fails I'd be able to play on the remaining one at reduced performance. Redundancy is quite important for me, living in a less developed country. It's like having the two engines on the Bf-110 and knowing you can get home on a single one.

[Dutch2]

Very important to check if your PSU can handle the new Vcard, besides the Watts,  check your connectors, what do you have right now 1x8pins, 1x6pins, 2x6pins 2x8pins PEG or an combination. Pity if you have only one 8pins and you GPU needs 2x6pins 

 

Lots of interesting secondhand Vcards can be found for cheap on Ebay, like the GTX1060-6Gb avoid the 3Gb, same is counting for the RX580 get the 8gb and not the 4gb. I noticed on the secondhand market they are only a few Euro’s more.  

Here an simple to use compare website http://www.hwcompare.com/18059/geforce-gtx-970-vs-radeon-hd-7850/

Guess the safest would be in selecting a Vcard that does need lesser power then your HD7850 to start first. 

 

[Redwo1f]

Depends on how much of a bottle neck you want as well - here is a GTX 1060 6GB  vs RX 580 comparison with that cpu. Feel free to change the video cards and take a look to get a good idea of what you can expect with each:

 

https://www.gpucheck.com/en-usd/compare/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-vs-amd-radeon-rx-580/intel-core-i5-2500k-3-30ghz-vs-intel-core-i5-2500k-3-30ghz/high/high/-vs-

[FlyingH]

I have almost the same setup as you except for 16 Gb ddr4 RAM, 850W power and a nVIdia 1660Ti and the game almost maxed out with a steady 60fps on any map.

[kendo]

Believe it or not, I have exactly the same setup as you - CPU/ motherboard and RAM - all 2011 vintage.

 

Lucked out with the i5-2500k - it was a big advance at the time, and has held up well over the years.

 

I moved from nVidia 1060 3 GB  a few months ago to the nVidia 1660 Super, which has 6GB of fast GDDR6 memory. For 1080p it runs the game at Ultra settings with just a few options toned down. Have it locked at 60fps and is smooth. It is a highly recommended option at the moment for 1080p gaming. Round about £200. [note your power supply needs to have an 8-pin connector]

 

Note: there are 3 variants of the 1660 - the Super is the one to go for. It is a big step up from the standard 1660, and costs much less than the 1660Ti while almost equalling it for performance.

 

(I'm hoping to finally do a system upgrade in a few months when the new Intel chips come out)

Edited April 9, 2020 by kendo

[Retnek]

2 minutes ago, kendo said:

Believe it or not, I have exactly the same setup as you - CPU/ motherboard and RAM - all 2011 vintage.

Lucked out with the i5-2500k - it was a big advance at the time, and has held up well over the years.

Same here - the i5-2500k at 4.3 GHz is doing fine. Together with a 1060 Nvidia (6 GB vRAM - do not buy 3!) we're good for 100 FPS SP offline and 70-80 FPS online with a 2560 x 1440. I don't like Hollywood-visuals, so no HDR or SSAO, shadows medium, 2 x AA, rest is at maximum or ultra. Il2-GB on my setup mainly is CPU-limited now, no need for more powerful GPU right now.

 

Like Kendo I'm ready for CPU-upgrade. Waiting some years now, but why changing my trusty dream-team i5-2500k on ASUS P8P67 for today's stuff with maybe 30% performance gain? Best pieces of silicon I owned ever.

[kendo]

My thoughts exactly!

 

Must be a lot of people out there still using them. I never over-clocked mine though. Thought about it a few times but never quite got round to it.

Edited April 9, 2020 by kendo

[Fodder]

Thanks for the replies and apologies for the tardy response. Turns out my GPU is fine, but the HDD was knackered. With all the funky lines and colours on my display I was certain the GPU was broke. Installed a new SSD and all is fine. I might still upgrade my GPU soon anyway in which case your replies will be invaluable.

 

Question: I'm considering getting a new monitor since I'm spending every day looking at it during lock down. I quite fancy a 27" 2560 x 1440. Would my GPU support that? Can I still play IL2 at 1080p?

Edited April 22, 2020 by [DBS]Fodder

[Retnek]

On 4/22/2020 at 11:38 AM, [DBS]Fodder said:

Question: I'm considering getting a new monitor since I'm spending every day looking at it during lock down. I quite fancy a 27" 2560 x 1440. Would my GPU support that? Can I still play IL2 at 1080p?

Hm-hm, if you can stand the optical effects of "downscaling" the sim to a lower resolution, it might work for you. Flying with the natural resolution I fear you'll have to reduce a lot of options down to the very basics to stay near 60 fps. I personally think lesser detail crisp and clear still is better than the artefacts of interpolation.

Anyhow - get that screen and soon there will be way to find a used 1060 with 6 GB! I upgraded my screen a year ago or so - I never expected going higher than 1920 makes such a big difference. But for me it really did, especially detecting contacts now is much enhanced. I now have the feeling my main problem detecting contacts is no longer limited by technology that much. It's much more a question of well chosen settings (done) and training-training-training (never ending story).