Upgrading to play Doom 2016

[NorthernThunder]

I have a Dell XPS 8700. Do I need only to upgrade the video card to play the game or should I get a new computer? If so, what parts do you recommend?

[Plasma Gun]

NorthernThunder said:

I have a Dell XPS 8700. Do I need only to upgrade the video card to play the game or should I get a new computer? If so, what parts do you recommend?

I see that the Dell XPS 8700 comes equipped with a fast quad core Intel CPU. You will need to purchase a 6-pin power connector to 8-pin power connector to power a the GeForce GTX 1070 (which is what I recommend for your system), but other than that you should be good to go.

Here's the 6-pin to 8-pin connector that you'll need:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200420&cm_re=6_pin_to_8_pin-_-12-200-420-_-Product

And here's the graphics card you should buy (when it comes in stock):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133630&cm_re=gtx_1070-_-14-133-630-_-Product

[Bucket]

A 960 will also work if you're not made of money.

[Plasma Gun]

Bucket said:

A 960 will also work if you're not made of money.

True, but if the OP was willing to go all out and buy a new computer for Doom, a $449 GPU is a much cheaper proposition :)

@ OP -- if spending as little as possible to get a good Doom experience is important to you, go ahead and buy a GeForce GTX 960:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121928&cm_re=gtx_960-_-14-121-928-_-Product

The GTX 960 will give you a very good experience at 1920x1080:

[Deatheye]

Plasma Gun said:

I see that the Dell XPS 8700 comes equipped with a fast quad core Intel CPU. You will need to purchase a 6-pin power connector to 8-pin power connector to power a the GeForce GTX 1070 (which is what I recommend for your system), but other than that you should be good to go.

Here's the 6-pin to 8-pin connector that you'll need:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200420&cm_re=6_pin_to_8_pin-_-12-200-420-_-Product

And here's the graphics card you should buy (when it comes in stock):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133630&cm_re=gtx_1070-_-14-133-630-_-Product

are you sure this mainboard has PCI-e 3.0 slots?

Hell this mainboard doesn't even have PCI-e 2.0 x16 :D only x8, this will bottleneck the shit out of every modern GPU

And besides that, I doubt the PSU can handle a strong GPU

[Wild Dog]

I think that the DELL has a Nvidia 660, you should be able to play Doom at Medium quality.

[NorthernThunder]

The current video card is an AMD Radeon R9 200.

[ReFracture]

Deatheye said:

are you sure this mainboard has PCI-e 3.0 slots?

Hell this mainboard doesn't even have PCI-e 2.0 x16 :D only x8, this will bottleneck the shit out of every modern GPU

And besides that, I doubt the PSU can handle a strong GPU

Lanes and PCI-E revisions are not the same thing.

8x is plenty of bandwidth for even a Titan X, otherwise SLI would be ineffective.

It's an x16 slot. Source:
http://static.bhphotovideo.com/lit_files/118764.pdf

PCI-E 3.0 has been around since Ivy Bridge. This is Haswell.

GTX 960 uses less than 150 watts, 1070 around 150 watts.

PSU is 460 watts.

Do some research before you start posting misleading information.

[Deatheye]

ReFracture said:

Lanes and PCI-E revisions are not the same thing.

8x is plenty of bandwidth for even a Titan X, otherwise SLI would be ineffective.

It's an x16 slot. Source:
http://static.bhphotovideo.com/lit_files/118764.pdf

PCI-E 3.0 has been around since Ivy Bridge. This is Haswell.

It looks like there were different Dell XPS 8700, the models I found only had PCI-e 2.0 x8

ReFracture said:

GTX 960 uses less than 150 watts, 1070 around 150 watts.

PSU is 460 watts.

That's cool dude - and a gtx570 needs 220watts and burned my 550watts PSU to death

and only the founders edition needs 150watts, the slightly faster asus version already needs 165watts

in addition to that, most of the pre-built PSU are crap, a cheap 460watts PSU is often not as good as an expensive one

ReFracture said:

Do some research before you start posting misleading information.

you too

[ReFracture]

Deatheye said:

It looks like there were different Dell XPS 8700, the models I found only had PCI-e 2.0 x8
That's cool dude - and a gtx570 needs 220watts and burned my 550watts PSU to death

and only the founders edition needs 150watts, the slightly faster asus version already needs 165watts

in addition to that, most of the pre-built PSU are crap, a cheap 460watts PSU is often not as good as an expensive one
you too

I don't find your anecdote really valuable as you didn't elaborate further on circumstances and you didn't effectively refute my other points as I described a reference design not third party designs so.. No.

[Plasma Gun]

NorthernThunder said:

The current video card is an AMD Radeon R9 200.

OK, so what you have is a Radeon R9 270, a 150W card.

My original recommendation stands: GeForce GTX 1070 along with that 6-pin to 8-pin adapter. A GTX 960 wouldn't be a huge upgrade (~35%), so don't bother with that.

This one looks good at $420.

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-1070-Graphics-08G-P4-6171-KR/dp/B01H74VTBK?ie=UTF8&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&ref_=olp_product_details

It is not in stock, but Amazon is taking pre-orders. I recommend this.

[Deatheye]

the cpu COULD bottleneck the 1070 as well - but that should be fine since this card is a long-term investment

[ReFracture]

A 1070 will be a sick upgrade.

You sure are a service for people looking for some upgrade possibilities Plasma Gun.

[Plasma Gun]

ReFracture said:

A 1070 will be a sick upgrade.

You sure are a service for people looking for some upgrade possibilities Plasma Gun.

Thank you. I offer my services humbly as a way to pay back this community for all of the amazing Doom maps that it has produced and allowed me to enjoy free of charge.

[Bucket]

Stop using the word "bottleneck" until you know what it means. Thanks.

A CPU would not force a GPU to run at a slower speed. They will both run at whatever speed they're designed to. Also, it's likely that PCIe 2.0 is enough bandwidth for any mid-range card.

[Deatheye]

Bucket said:

Stop using the word "bottleneck" until you know what it means. Thanks.

A CPU would not force a GPU to run at a slower speed. They will both run at whatever speed they're designed to. Also, it's likely that PCIe 2.0 is enough bandwidth for any mid-range card.

It doesn't bottleneck the GPU directly, but a weak CPU will be the bottleneck of the whole system and that means you have less FPS

[Edward850]

I don't think you want indirectly either. While yes, the CPU can drop your FPS if it's not coping with the load, that'll be entirely its own load and not related to the GPU at all.