Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

[Freelancer]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

Well this is interesting

I set the "buffer" (which pretty much is like pixel-lisation) to quarter and the game looked like it was off an NES system then I cranked it to double and the game looked amazing but it totally raped my GTX470 and I'm down to 8-9 frames instead of 30 when the buffer is at window size. (1280x980) but I did have sampling x8 and shadows at highest.

I guess once the SLI kicks in it'll be ok to go double but I'm not sure. maybe with a GTX480 I'll get 15 frames or something hmmm.... well its still pretty without going double buffer.

Though I took some pics and compared them and the differance on a picture is barely noticeable but in game you can tell that it looks sharper.

But damn... guess I still can't max out the beta, and now I really want to see retail graphics options.

[Malacite]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

Holy shit man....


Well, I'm looking at it this way. If FFXI was any indication, I'll be enjoying the hell out of XIV for years, and ditto Star Craft 2 so the GTX 460 will be plenty for my current PC. Then in another year or so (by which point I hope to hell I'll be working again and have saved up some cash) new GPU's will be out, and I can get a new rig that will blow XIV and SC2 out of the water on max settings for less than the cost of a current top of the line machine.

All I really want is a solid frame rate with good graphics. Doesn't have to be super perfect (yet) but I do want to take advantage of my 48" HDTV.

[Chromemage]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

Well I ran the benchmark on my laptop, mostly for laughs but I wanted to see if I'd be able to dual box from the start.

She did her best, but it wasn't meant to be.

Score: 220
147449 ms

[Chromemage]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

Is anyone in beta running on a machine equipped with Nvidia's GeForce GTX 460?

I decided to go with dual 1GB GTX 460's because it's suppose to be the best mid-range, high performance GPU available. It was also advertised as being the "fix" for the disastrous underachieving GTX 480, 470, and 465.

Anyone with first hand experience?

[Malacite]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

Well shit. I may have an unexpected problem...


I won't know for sure until I open up my PC, but I don't think I have a power supply capable of running the GTX 460... as I said I got my PC just over 2 years ago, and far as I know most HP PCs (at least pre-I7) run 200~250 watt supplies...


Ugh this is starting to get WAY too costly... I didn't mind shelving out the $250 for the card as it's a long-term investment, but a new power supply too? Might have to go with a lesser card...

[Cyprius]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

You can get a good 500W PSU for $40 or so.

[Malacite]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

Do tell? I've been searching for one on newegg.ca with no luck.

Also how do I even go about replacing my old PSU without screwing up my PC?


The GTX 460 requires 450~500W power source AND 2 6-pin connectors for the PCI-E.


Okay so I"ve found these two... ugh yet more god damn money, christ...


http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-044-_-Product


http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-005-_-Product



Still cheaper than building a new PC but fuck...

[Cyprius]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

I should have said $50.

But still.

Here... Canada Computers is really good.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=021875 <--- CoolerMaster

http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=016235 <--- OCZ

[wrongfeifong]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

finally i have decide to pull that life saving cash from my can of campbell to buy a new system. But i am at a crossroad here.

Seem to me, GTX 460 is crap in FFXIV. So i am thinking just pull a 5770 out of my hat and OC it. But anyone know how long does OC GPU last ? It is 100 bucks which is cheap, i can live with it when it blew up in 2 years.

I never OC anything, i want to leave CPU as stock, what should i prepare for OC GPU or OC 5770 ?

[Malacite]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

The GTX 460 is the recommended card by SE it's far from "crap"

[Freelancer]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

In general the GTX460 is vastly superior to the 5770 and costs a mere 50$ more, but its a personal choice.

An OCed system will probably out live you if you take care of it and OCing the GPU and ignoring the CPU only creates a bottleneck in the rig, do both or do none, exeption being a high end CPU like the i7 and mid range card, but who would get an i7 with a 9800GT anyhow.

but usually a tiny O.C like going 2.6 to 3.3 is enough to overcome the bottleneck (i7 920 @2.66 bottle necked GTX480 but getting it to 3.4 solved it completely).

[Kafeen]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

The GTX 460 hasn't done too well in FFXIV's benchmarks, no nVidia cards have been, the 460 has has lower scores than the 5770. That is unusual for the 460 though, its performance usually lies between the HD 5830 and the 5850. One of the things SE said they doing in the next beta phase is improving support for different graphics cards so hopefully that mean fixing their nVidia problems.

[Freelancer]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

Do tell? I've been searching for one on newegg.ca with no luck.

Also how do I even go about replacing my old PSU without screwing up my PC?


The GTX 460 requires 450~500W power source AND 2 6-pin connectors for the PCI-E.


Okay so I"ve found these two... ugh yet more god damn money, christ...


Newegg.ca - Rosewill Stallion Series RD500-2DB 500W ATX12V Power Supply


Newegg.ca - XCLIO GOODPOWER 500W 500W ATX SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply



Still cheaper than building a new PC but fuck...

Newegg.ca - COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power RS550-PCARE3-US 550W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply

better

---------- Post added at 03:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:58 AM ----------

The GTX 460 hasn't done too well in FFXIV's benchmarks, no nVidia cards have been, the 460 has has lower scores than the 5770. That is unusual for the 460 though, its performance usually lies between the HD 5830 and the 5850. One of the things SE said they doing in the next beta phase is improving support for different graphics cards so hopefully that mean fixing their nVidia problems.

optimization is coming, in benchmarks ATI cards did great but in actual beta they were terrible, a few patches later they became better but still suffering. and the GTX460 is still on premature drivers, it'll be ok.

I got one sitting under my desk for a friend's build, I think I'll test it in phase 3.

[DakAttack]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

The GTX 460 hasn't done too well in FFXIV's benchmarks, no nVidia cards have been, the 460 has has lower scores than the 5770. That is unusual for the 460 though, its performance usually lies between the HD 5830 and the 5850. One of the things SE said they doing in the next beta phase is improving support for different graphics cards so hopefully that mean fixing their nVidia problems.

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

I bought my new parts through Newegg, and they were shipped from California to Canada for some reason. They're currently on their way back down to Philadelphia, where they'll be sent to Laurel or Rockville, then Germantown. GG 3-day media mail.

[israel165]

Re: Guide: Building a PC to play FFXIV

Dell Studio XPS 8100
Intel Core i7-860 processor(8MB Cache, 2.80GHz)
8GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz-4x2GB
nVidia GeForce GTX260 1792MB GDDR3
1TB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive 7200 RPM

My Windows Experience Index is a 5.9
Processor: 7.5
Memory(RAM): 7.5
Graphics: 7.1
Gaming Graphics: 7.1
Primary Hard Disk: 5.9

Benchmark Scores:
Low Res: 3609
Hi Res: 2100