Is a Q6600 and a GT610 still acceptable for gaming?

[harrynowl]

Yeah, but this system is working fine for me, except it's 32 bit, and it's suffering with 4GB of ram.

Well you can still get a little mileage out of the system with a 750ti, 

 

Then that 750ti is still relevant if you upgrade to Fm2 or LGA1150

[naveed]

if I were you I would get a radeon r7 260x to get the system running. also if you have  a 32 bit operating system I would get a 1gb graphics card, a 2gb card could limit the performance since a 32 bit operating system can only use 4gb ram and Vram

[terrytek]

if I were you I would get a radeon r7 260x to get the system running. also if you have  a 32 bit operating system I would get a 1gb graphics card, a 2gb card could limit the performance since a 32 bit operating system can only use 4gb ram and Vram

 

Wow, I didn't know that 32 bit could only use 4GB total.

[Ryan Leech]

Wow, I didn't know that 32 bit could only use 4GB total.

That's not true don't listen to him. Your motherboard will allow you to use 4GB system RAM + whatever your gpu has.

 

O.K. There seems to be a lot of conflicting information here, and a lot of odd misconceptions The answer as always is somewhere in the middle, so heres my attempt at an answer: 

 

It depends entirely on your motherboard. 

A lot of people in this thread are right in saying that it is an addressing problem and not a memory problem.  

 

Essentially there is a maximum amount of memory your computer can "see" at any given time, and your video card's memory is "mapped" into this window of see-able memory (This is called Memory Mapped I/O). When it's mapped into this window it takes up a chunk of it and the operating system can't use that chunk to see into your physical memory. So if you say have a 4GB address space, and a video card with 2GB of memory, that memory will be mapped into 2GB of that address space leaving only 2GB for the operating system to use for real RAM.

However, Not all 32-bit processors are limited to a 32-bit address space, newer motherboards and 32-bit CPUs (and by newer I mean newer than 1995) introduced PAE, or physical address extension, that allow an x86 32-bit processor to address up to 64 GB of RAM. As long as the operating system supports PAE (which all modern operating systems do) and you have a motherboard that has a chipset that can address more than 4GB, than you can address more than 4GB. (The motherboards memory limits are published with the motherboard).

 

With PAE this whole "video card taking up memory" problem can be avoided by the motherboard by employing what is called "memory remapping". Essentially, because more than 4GB can be addressed, the motherboard re-maps the addresses of memory (or Memory Mapped I/O Devices) to addresses beyond the 4GB address barrier, avoiding the problem all together. (You can check if memory remapping is enabled by poking into the bios, I believe it is enabled by default by now)

 

So in short it falls into two categories:  

 

1) You have a motherboard and cpu that support PAE and memory remapping: Then no, that 2GB video card will not impact the amount of RAM your OS can address. (Most likely the case if you have a computer build within the last 5 or so years)

2) You have an incredibly old motherboard and cpu that don't support these things: Then yes, you would notice that 2GB of your RAM was "missing" and windows would report only being able to address 2 GB of RAM!  (You have a really old computer)

 

[naveed]

no a 32 bit operating system will only let you use 4gb ram total. WHY ARE THERE 64 BIT OPERATING SYSTEMS THEN. why are 64 bit operating systems used on pc s that have 4gb + ram

[terrytek]

no a 32 bit operating system will only let you use 4gb ram total. WHY ARE THERE 64 BIT OPERATING SYSTEMS THEN. why are 64 bit operating systems used on pc s that have 4gb + ram

No, even less. 3.25.

[Ryan Leech]

no a 32 bit operating system will only let you use 4gb ram total. WHY ARE THERE 64 BIT OPERATING SYSTEMS THEN. why are 64 bit operating systems used on pc s that have 4gb + ram

a 32bit OS allows you to use 3.4GB of system RAM, vram is not included

[harrynowl]

VRAM is specific to the GPU and isn't impacted by the CPU bit count as far as I'm aware.

[KamiKatze]

Wow. how did this thread get 17 pages long, lol?

 

I bought myself a GTX 580 recently. It was 120€, for comparison, a 750 Ti costs 130€. But the 580 performs around 30% better than the 750 Ti. Despite the massive difference in power consumption and heat output, the GTX 580 is a very competetive performance schnitzel!

[iceballfunela]

NVidia made a GRAND mistake by creating the GT series. So not worth 20 bucks! Cheap, but crappy performance.

Its made only to put into computers made by dell and asus just for the sake of putting a gpu in...

[KamiKatze]

Its made only to put into computers made by dell and asus just for the sake of putting a gpu in...

 

Yeah, but why make a 610, a 620, a 630 and a 640?  Only one of these would be needed. A 1 GB 610 GT. The rest can sod off. Next level card is the GTX 650. The end.

[terrytek]

Wow. how did this thread get 17 pages long, lol?

 

I bought myself a GTX 580 recently. It was 120€, for comparison, a 750 Ti costs 130€. But the 580 performs around 30% better than the 750 Ti. Despite the massive difference in power consumption and heat output, the GTX 580 is a very competetive performance schnitzel!

IKR? Shocked it got this far. Why would the 580 be better? The 750Ti sips power and can mine better.

[Guest]

The gt 610 bleh

[Ryan Leech]

IKR? Shocked it got this far. Why would the 580 be better? The 750Ti sips power and can mine better.

The GTX 580 performs a little better than a GTX 660. The 580 has more raw performance, and if you want to do any professional work the 580 will be better.

[KamiKatze]

IKR? Shocked it got this far. Why would the 580 be better? The 750Ti sips power and can mine better.

The GTX 580 performs a little better than a GTX 660. The 580 has more raw performance, and if you want to do any professional work the 580 will be better.

 

 

Yepp, that sums it up pretty much. Despite it's 1.5 Gig VRAM, it performs pretty good in modern games. I looked up many charts before i bought the card, and the 580 performs close to a GTX 660 Ti, depending on the game. It also performs between 20-30% better than the 750 Ti, again depending on the game (speaking of avg. FPS). At the given price point on ebay, the GTX 580 is a beast.

 

The mining performance of the 580 is of courser not existant, so for mining the 750 Ti is ofc better, but since that's not what i do, the 50 is good.

 

About professional works idk either, but i could imagine that the 580 performs beastly.

 

Edit: i might add that my Valley benchmark score on Extreme HD preset is 1400; i5 4670K @ 4.0 GHz; GTX 580@stock (haven't checked OC potential yet)

[terrytek]

Yepp, that sums it up pretty much. Despite it's 1.5 Gig VRAM, it performs pretty good in modern games. I looked up many charts before i bought the card, and the 580 performs close to a GTX 660 Ti, depending on the game. It also performs between 20-30% better than the 750 Ti, again depending on the game (speaking of avg. FPS). At the given price point on ebay, the GTX 580 is a beast.

 

The mining performance of the 580 is of courser not existant, so for mining the 750 Ti is ofc better, but since that's not what i do, the 50 is good.

 

About professional works idk either, but i could imagine that the 580 performs beastly.

 

Edit: i might add that my Valley benchmark score on Extreme HD preset is 1400; i5 4670K @ 4.0 GHz; GTX 580@stock (haven't checked OC potential yet)

Aw crap. More recommendations. Just makes it more damn confusing!

[qwertywarrior]

wow 18 pages

did u get ur answer buddy

[terrytek]

wow 18 pages

did u get ur answer buddy

Still nope.

[harrynowl]

Still nope.

Well I think you got your answer, just not a solution just yet!

[terrytek]

Yeah, with all of the decisions, it is so damn hard.

[iceballfunela]

Yeah, but why make a 610, a 620, a 630 and a 640?  Only one of these would be needed. A 1 GB 610 GT. The rest can sod off. Next level card is the GTX 650. The end.

I would say 640 is also fine for things like dota or lol. My friend has one and he can play dota 2 with med settings in 1080p.

[KamiKatze]

Aw crap. More recommendations. Just makes it more damn confusing!

I looked at dem low budget cards for days!

A gtx 260 makes a great card for about 30 bucks! Lol. Can still handle modern games on low. Some gtx 280s and 285s are really low priced too. But a gtx 460 is probably your safest bet at around 50 bucks. At 90-120, we are getting into gtx 570 and 580 territory. Latter one is obviously epic.

But i won't keep my 580 for long. Probably until august, when Maxwell prices have settled a bit.

If you want a card with longevity and a bright future, get a current gen card. Those features, and the long term support might be worth more in the long run.

[terrytek]

I looked at dem low budget cards for days!

A gtx 260 makes a great card for about 30 bucks! Lol. Can still handle modern games on low. Some gtx 280s and 285s are really low priced too. But a gtx 460 is probably your safest bet at around 50 bucks. At 90-120, we are getting into gtx 570 and 580 territory. Latter one is obviously epic.

But i won't keep my 580 for long. Probably until august, when Maxwell prices have settled a bit.

If you want a card with longevity and a bright future, get a current gen card. Those features, and the long term support might be worth more in the long run.

Yeah, I need this card to last a while with support in case it fails.