misfit wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:

misfit wrote:

I'm running an ATI HD7770 (with a QX9650 CPU) but the game I play is
getting more and more complex. Also apparently it's better optimised
for nVidia cards rather than ATI / AMD.

So I need an affordable card that doesn't draw (much) more power
than the HD7770 (~120w). Obviously it should be considerably more
powerful than the now quite old HD7770. I can't afford the latest
gaming cards nor can I afford to replace my PSU. I'd even consider a
second-hand card if there's something that's likely to fit my needs
and price bracket.

Thanks in advance for reccomendations. I'm quite out of touch with
GPU development lately.

You never mentioned the game.

https://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri

Enter the game to see what specs it requires. If you select a game,
there's another "Can you run it" button that downloads an inventorying
tool. It uploads what hardware you have to their site and thereafter
when you pick a game the site will tell you if your hardware meets
minimum, recommended, optimal requirements for that game on your
hardware.

For a reason - the developers claim it'll run on a 'potato' - which it will
if you don't mind cartoons.

It's Path of Exile, a game produced by a small New Zealand company.

https://www.systemrequirementslab.co...of-exile/11575

Well, does your PC qualify? Those are minimum requirements. Since no
recommended or optimal requirements are listed, tis likely the game
author didn't specify those hardware levels. Your HD 7770 looks more
than capable enough for that game.

https://techreport.com/review/22473/...-ghz-edition/2

That's just for Path of Exile. There are 4 games with that base title
name. They didn't list the latest expansion but the one before it yet
that has requirements much lower than what you have for a video card.
You didn't mention your other hardware specs, like system RAM, mass
storage (HDD or SDD, make and model). While their minimum reqs are
lower than your CPU (QX9650), that's probably the choke point in your
hardware setup. My Q9400 2.66GHz limits me from playing some of the
latest games. Your CPU is a little faster than mine (both are quad
cores) but probably won't make much difference in gaming. Yet both CPUs
are far above what is listed as the minimum reqs for the base game and
its expansions.

So what is the maximum resolution and refresh for your monitor? The OS
is going to query the monitor (if supported) to get its specs and try to
get the video driver to use the native resolution of an LCD/LED monitor.
Maybe you've got a huge monitor and are trying to run the game at that
same resolution. Tis likely you don't need to run the game at that
large of a resolution and could go smaller which would up the FPS.
There might be other game configs that you've overdone. Maybe you went
to 4AA but maybe that's overkill for this game. If the game has a test
tool to select the optimal settings, start with those and then inch up
until you dislike the artificats in the video play quality.