Hardware and average FPS thread

[wolfgang784]

So for reasons I have never been able to figure out while researching or talking to people I get absolutely terrible fps in Minecraft for some reason for what card I have. Its fine in other games for the most part, but its getting worse as new games come out so I am about to upgrade my video card and am pretty decided but find myself wondering what cards you all use, as Minecraft is a bit strange in that top of the line $1000 cards could get low fps while a cheap $50 card could get pretty up there. Here is my current situation while running a 128x128 texture pack:

Single Radeon HD 6870 (2GB, 900MHz) with a Phenom 2 x6 1100t (3.3GHz 6 core)

Low - 22 fps spikes
High - 80 fps spikes
Average - 40 fps

If I throw back in my second 6870 and put them in crossfire the numbers actually go down rather than up, due to some cards being unfortunately terrible in crossfire.

The numbers there aren't terrible, but for the specs and benchmark results of my card(s) it should be much higher. I enjoy playing with shaders and such on sometimes as well however that brings me down to an average of 25 fps with spikes down to 10.

I plan on buying an MSI Radeon HD 7970 3GB Twin Frozr OC Boost Edition after I do a bit more researching and talking to people.

EDIT: Just bought the 7970 linked above.

 

[Kainzo]

So for reasons I have never been able to figure out while researching or talking to people I get absolutely terrible fps in Minecraft for some reason for what card I have. Its fine in other games for the most part, but its getting worse as new games come out so I am about to upgrade my video card and am pretty decided but find myself wondering what cards you all use, as Minecraft is a bit strange in that top of the line $1000 cards could get low fps while a cheap $50 card could get pretty up there. Here is my current situation while running a 128x128 texture pack:

Single Radeon HD 6870 (2GB, 900MHz) with a Phenom 2 x6 1100t (3.3GHz 6 core)

Low - 22 fps spikes
High - 80 fps spikes
Average - 40 fps

If I throw back in my second 6870 and put them in crossfire the numbers actually go down rather than up, due to some cards being unfortunately terrible in crossfire.

The numbers there aren't terrible, but for the specs and benchmark results of my card(s) it should be much higher. I enjoy playing with shaders and such on sometimes as well however that brings me down to an average of 25 fps with spikes down to 10.

I plan on buying an MSI Radeon HD 7970 3GB Twin Frozr OC Boost Edition after I do a bit more researching and talking to people.

I swear by Nvidia. Couldnt take it out of my cold dead hands. The drivers are just better for most games and it has a proven track record.

If you want to buy anything consult the BENCH marks.
http://hc.to/bench

 

[wolfgang784]

Yea Passmark is what I have used this last year or so whenever I look at video cards. The 7970 is rated 9th strongest card right now and has a score double my current card.

Due to all my issues in the past I was thinking about switching to Nvidia possibly but I dunno. Its always so hard to choose. I'll likely wait another day or two while I keep reading about a few cards online.

 

[Kainzo]

Yea Passmark is what I have used this last year or so whenever I look at video cards. The 7970 is rated 9th strongest card right now and has a score double my current card.

Due to all my issues in the past I was thinking about switching to Nvidia possibly but I dunno. Its always so hard to choose. I'll likely wait another day or two while I keep reading about a few cards online.

Give me your budget and I'll point you to the right card.

I've used Nvidia for the last 15 years.

Also note that your biggest bottleneck is NOT your gpu - its your CPU/motherboard.

If you're looking for smoother gameplay, having a better motherboard (larger pipe) and a massive cpu is the way to go.

I can run most games at a table 30-40 FPS with a GTX 480 and an i7 980x (Granted I upgraded my card to a GTX 680)

 

[wolfgang784]

I spent a few hours researching more today (like a good 5 hours over the day, im pretty convinced) and actually purchased the 7970 linked in my first post a bit ago. My budget was the $300 the card costed give or take a bit, and the only Nvidia card within that range that could put up a fight is the GTX 670.

Even between the 7970 and the 670 they are, for the most part, evenly matched. The 670 brings you physx and all that sort of stuff while the 7970 has a bit faster calculation speed. The 7970 should OC better as well and I hear it can outperform the 680 if you do it right. The games I tend to play are also more biased towards ATI cards, so it should work out better.

I appreciate the offer to help though. Can't wait to see what the results are when it gets here in a few days. Should be Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

EDIT: Forgot to mention about the motherboard bottleneck. I do plan on getting a new one of those sometime here as well, as this one is complete shit. Its sort of broken too, as no matter what ram is put in it you cannot have it faster than 800MHz even though the board supports up to 2100MHz and the ram is 1333 (also tried 1600).