Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

[wrongfeifong]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

I am waiting for the next beta to see if i go with a radeon or a 460.

But if you did your research, the score from a 460 GTX would go roughly in the low 4500/2500 range while a 5770 would also go 4500/2500 range.

Score isn't everything but it is a mark on what card we need. Radeon 5800 series out perform 480.

On another topic,

anyone tried Newegg.com - AMD Opteron 6128 Magny-Cours 2.0GHz 8 x 512KB L2 Cache 12MB L3 Cache Socket G34 115W 8-Core Server Processor OS6128WKT8EGOWOF 8 cores and 12 cores yet ? Sound fun to run FFXIV on 16 cores. since they are usually 200 buck each with a dual cpu mobo.

[Kafeen]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

FFXIV is supposed to be a TWIMTBP game. Why would nVidia cards do crap?.

I don't think they will do crap by the time the game is released, they just score alot lower than they should be in the benchmark.

[Malacite]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

That's why I say the Benchmark is crap; don't trust it. It took SE 3 tries to get XI's right (I scored horribly low despite being able to run it on max settings just fine on my old PC) so yeah...


Also, from what I've heard, the 460 is actually better than the other nVidia cards in terms of pricing and performance. The 465, 70 and 80 all are quite loud, generate a lot more heat, and just do not deliver enough graphical power to warrant their cost (or so I've been told).

The 460 is plenty for me, as the only games I'll really be using my PC for will be XIV and Star Craft 2, and I already know for a fact the 460 can run SC2 on Ultra settings without any issues.


I'll wait another 2-3 years when prices on the current top of the line cards go down and then I'll build a new PC that will eat XIV alive

[israel165]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

My new PC is pretty beastly and it's got the 260 nvidia in it. I know it's cheaper, but it's working wonders. I think the BM is overpowered, like what Malacite said. The game will run better regardless of what your BM score is.

[Freelancer]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

That's why I say the Benchmark is crap; don't trust it. It took SE 3 tries to get XI's right (I scored horribly low despite being able to run it on max settings just fine on my old PC) so yeah...


Also, from what I've heard, the 460 is actually better than the other nVidia cards in terms of pricing and performance. The 465, 70 and 80 all are quite loud, generate a lot more heat, and just do not deliver enough graphical power to warrant their cost (or so I've been told).

The 460 is plenty for me, as the only games I'll really be using my PC for will be XIV and Star Craft 2, and I already know for a fact the 460 can run SC2 on Ultra settings without any issues.


I'll wait another 2-3 years when prices on the current top of the line cards go down and then I'll build a new PC that will eat XIV alive

465 is definitely a bust, they just crippled a 470 with bios to sell it for 50$ cheaper then people found a way to unlock the card and 1st few batches were fully unlocked to 470 cards and now they manifacturers caught up with them and started crippling the cards via hardware and now nobody wants the 465 turning it into Nvidia's 5830.

470 and 480 on the other hand performs very well, the 470 specially is great bang for the buck for its catagory, being 30$ over a 5850, performing slightly better and gives you phsyx, and doesn't run hot enough to warrent the drama.

I'm using a fan profile (as should everybody) and I went the extra mile and changed the thermal paste on the card from factory splooge to Tuniq TX-2 which isn't the best but deffinatly better and it dropped the temp 5c, now my card underload is 75c which is pretty standard for GPUs.

If they release something like a GTX475 that runs cooler I might look into it, but I'm pretty satisfied how the 470 turned out.

480 though would be a blockbuster if it was 50$ cheaper but meh... Nvidia is greedy.

[Malacite]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

Well, I ended up getting a 465 as Canada Computers was out of the 460 and they are phasing it out... on the plus side though, it was only $10 more and came with a $25 mail-in rebate so that's not bad really for a better card?

Also picked up a Coolmaster Extreme Power Plus 700W PSU. I'm waiting for Monday to take it all in to the guy who always does our PC repairs for installation and to get my PC checked out too. Fucking sleep mode hasn't been working in some time and it's pissing me off (it was working again briefly the other day after a power out but after I restarted my PC again because iTunes wouldn't load, it once again stopped... PC makes a lot of noise too)

[wrongfeifong]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

Well, I ended up getting a 465 as Canada Computers was out of the 460 and they are phasing it out... on the plus side though, it was only $10 more and came with a $25 mail-in rebate so that's not bad really for a better card?

Also picked up a Coolmaster Extreme Power Plus 700W PSU. I'm waiting for Monday to take it all in to the guy who always does our PC repairs for installation and to get my PC checked out too. Fucking sleep mode hasn't been working in some time and it's pissing me off (it was working again briefly the other day after a power out but after I restarted my PC again because iTunes wouldn't load, it once again stopped... PC makes a lot of noise too)

You live in toronto too ?

the rpice of 460 1gb at right now, it is better off pay 50 bucks more to get that 20-30% increase with a 470.

[Freelancer]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

Well, I ended up getting a 465 as Canada Computers was out of the 460 and they are phasing it out... on the plus side though, it was only $10 more and came with a $25 mail-in rebate so that's not bad really for a better card?

Also picked up a Coolmaster Extreme Power Plus 700W PSU. I'm waiting for Monday to take it all in to the guy who always does our PC repairs for installation and to get my PC checked out too. Fucking sleep mode hasn't been working in some time and it's pissing me off (it was working again briefly the other day after a power out but after I restarted my PC again because iTunes wouldn't load, it once again stopped... PC makes a lot of noise too)

NINJA EDIT: What brand is the card and what color is ther PCB? (the base of the card) if its black chances are you might get a full unlock.

Yeah thats a pretty good deal, go to overclock.net and find the GTX465 unlocking thread and have them help you unlock the card, should get a decent performance increase when flashing it to a 470, might even fully unlock it to a full blown 470 but even if you don't its still good.

Treat it like bios flashing for a motherboard and dont cancel half way through or power down the system, so you don't damage your card, it might sound intimidating but its pretty easy.


And yeah have your PC checked, have the dude blow all the dust out and check the fans, they probablty caused the noice and replace the ones making them because they're close to dying and you dont want that.

Sleep mode usually goes bad when the system is overclocked, dunno why would it do that otherwise, but you might aswell just reformat everything after flashing the card (if you're gonna do it) and just start fresh with new drivers.

---------- Post added at 02:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:12 AM ----------

GTX465 to full GTX470 flashing guide! - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net

the guide.

[Chromemage]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

I'm a bit confused here... why are there talks of doing this and that with the 465, 470, and 480 cards? They all are a bust one way or another... leaving only the 460 as the go-to.

[Malacite]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

Treat it like bios flashing for a motherboard and dont cancel half way through or power down the system, so you don't damage your card, it might sound intimidating but its pretty easy.

not sure what you mean but it came with a free OC software tool. I didn't see what color strip it had or w/e, my friend had a bitch of time getting it put in because of HP's bullshit manufacturing...


Everything on my PC is running smooth now, it's actually making a lot less noise than before but my sleep mode is still fucked, for some reason my damn clock keeps resetting and when I boot up it says my PC fan is disabled o-O but there was no obstructions to it and he didn't remove or see anything with regards to the fan when he put the card in so we're stumped.


Ran the Benchmark, got almost 4k on low, just under 3k on High ^_^

[Freelancer]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

not sure what you mean but it came with a free OC software tool. I didn't see what color strip it had or w/e, my friend had a bitch of time getting it put in because of HP's bullshit manufacturing...


Everything on my PC is running smooth now, it's actually making a lot less noise than before but my sleep mode is still fucked, for some reason my damn clock keeps resetting and when I boot up it says my PC fan is disabled o-O but there was no obstructions to it and he didn't remove or see anything with regards to the fan when he put the card in so we're stumped.


Ran the Benchmark, got almost 4k on low, just under 3k on High ^_^

Basically a 465 is a 470 with some memory and such locked with bios, by flashing the bios of a 470 into the 465 you have a chance of unlocking the card and it'll register to the system as a 470 or close to it.

Like I said, have the store guy look at your pc and check fans for squeaky/about to die ones, and clean off the dust, reset the bios to default and just reinstall the CPU with new paste and install a fresh copy of windows and your sleep mode issues should be ok, the 465 shouldn't be noisy unless you're playing and even then not much.until the fan hits 80% then you can hear it, but headphones or any noise in the room like an A/C should cover it.

Download MSI Afterburner and I'll help you set up a fan profile to keep your GPU cool for extended use.

[Malacite]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

I think I'll just run AVG and some other crap and then have our guy who usually does all our repairs look at it for me, just keep it simple.

As for the unlocking the card crap, I don't like to fiddle with hardware, I really just don't. It was a nightmare just getting the card installed by my friend (HP really are bastards with regards to how they manufacture their machines good Lord) and I'm just happy that it all works. Just gotta get this last little technical issue resolved by a professional and my PC is good for another 2 years.

[lilnickle]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

I have been reading these posts and most are helpful, but as one who isnt as "tech savy" as most on this page, i found some pre-build computers on newegg that look like they may run ffxiv. if someone can check these computers out that i found on newegg and let me know if they meet minimum specs or requirements to run the game thatd be great! they seem too good to be true because theyre really cheap compared to the ones others are building....
Newegg.com - CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 2054 Athlon II X2 255(3.1GHz) 4GB DDR3 500GB ATI Radeon HD 5450 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Newegg.com - CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 2053 Athlon II X4 630(2.8GHz) 4GB DDR3 500GB ATI Radeon HD 5670 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Newegg.com - CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 2040 Phenom II X4 945(3.0GHz) 4GB DDR3 500GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

[DakAttack]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

I have been reading these posts and most are helpful, but as one who isnt as "tech savy" as most on this page, i found some pre-build computers on newegg that look like they may run ffxiv. if someone can check these computers out that i found on newegg and let me know if they meet minimum specs or requirements to run the game thatd be great! they seem too good to be true because theyre really cheap compared to the ones others are building....
Newegg.com - CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 2054 Athlon II X2 255(3.1GHz) 4GB DDR3 500GB ATI Radeon HD 5450 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Newegg.com - CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 2053 Athlon II X4 630(2.8GHz) 4GB DDR3 500GB ATI Radeon HD 5670 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Newegg.com - CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 2040 Phenom II X4 945(3.0GHz) 4GB DDR3 500GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

Just from reading the link I can tell you those PCs are using dated parts. They're not going to run FFXIV very well.

[Malacite]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

It's EVGA and it came in a full body case to keep dust out.