Upgrading GPU

a reply to: Indigent

Well like I said, you CAN use the card it just won't function at 100%.

There's been some great deals in the UK for the R9 390's and GTX970's because the new ranges are coming soon so suppliers are trying to shift them. I'd imagine the same will be true for the US too, so you could wait till you find one really cheap and buy it to tide you over until you do a full rebuild.

I will say with more DX12 games on the horizon and new cards if you're planning a new build then it's better to wait and see how both AMD & Nvidia perform in the DX12 environment as I know Nvidia is struggling with Asynch problems

a reply to: Discotech

I don't like amd

so far I seen Gigabyte GTX 750 ti for 150 and gigabyte gtx 960 for 216 euros both with 4gbvram, i'm not planing on upgrading in the next few month (probably bu October) but how is that about prices?

a reply to: Indigent

Forget about what they look like. If they're all the exact same RAM, then the timings will jive. If not, your RAM will bottleneck to the higher timings if they're different. Your motherboard may support mixed voltages, but I would never recommend it.

Be glad that you can run three sticks and still retain dual channel mode, though I would recommend buying another 4GBs of the same RAM in order to run two dual channels. If you go to the SPD tab of CPUZ, you can scroll through each bank to make sure they are the same. I'm off-topic, so that's the end of that.

a reply to: eisegesis

Yeah my pc does beep when it booth, that's the extend of my knowledge

I did open it and replaced the HD when win 10 fried it double thumbs up for me

a reply to: Indigent

Lots of false information and myths here that I will attempt to clear up.


First:

Your CPU is the i7 2600k right ? It's going to bottleneck whatever GPU you get

That is false. I have the i7 2700K (which is 100 MHz faster) and I just bought a GTX 970. There is no bottlenecking at the CPU. I'm getting the reported frame-rates (in reviews) in all games vs the HD 7970 that I just replaced. Other reviews were using faster i7's, but I'm still getting full speeds out of the GTX 970.

While some slower CPU's will bottleneck, the i7 2600K/2700K shows little to no signs of bottlenecking. And they're excellent overclockers if the need were to arise for more horsepower.



The following is one of the biggest myths circling among those who are misinformed, or drawn in by "false" advertising:

Also your motherboard being PCI 2.0 means you'll never get full bandwidth on the PCI 3.0 cards but they will work on PCI 2.0 but effectively 50% less bandwidth

In a nutshell, current top-of-the-line video cards do not come close to using the full bandwidth of the PCIe lanes.

In checking out the following article using a GTX Titan, it concludes there's no performance hit between using PCIe 3.0, 2.0, or even 2.0 8x (which is 1.0). Some tests even showed that PCIe 2.0 is faster than PCIe 3.0 during gaming:

www.pugetsystems.com...


So, don't fall for the PCIe 3.0 hype. It means absolutely nothing other than a marketing ploy at this point until graphics cards can start utilizing the full bandwidth of the PCIe lanes.



Bottom line: Your CPU is plenty fast-enough, and your PCIe 2.0 is plenty fast enough for any current top-of-the-line video card you choose.

The only thing you need to consider is if the large card will fit in your case, and if your power supply (PSU) has the appropriate power connectors for current video cards. For instance I needed a 6-pin and 8-pin plugs both for my GTX 970. Modular PSU's are always great for being able to upgrade components.

On a final note, I'm getting full bandwidth and speeds out of my GTX 970 as reported in reviews with much "faster" CPU's on my i7 2700K system and PCIe 2.0 slots. And all the latest games fully maxed out with excellent frame-rates.


There are GTX 970's out there that only require one plug, but if you are looking for SILENCE, there are only two: the ASUS and MSI GTX 970. They both turn the fans OFF until the temperature exceeds a preset value (which you can modify). They are also the quietest cards available, but MSI is the quietest, slightly better performer, and has the best reviews.

You can listen to the fans of all the GTX 970's in the video at the following link:

www.computerbase.de...


I have the MSI and I never hear it, even while playing graphic-intensive games. Love this card.

a reply to: Indigent

October time will work better for you, September probably better really but just keep an eye on tech news to follow when the new cards are released then pick up one of the cards you want when the price goes down around a month later.

As for not liking AMD, I don't see why, I'll go for whichever card gives the best price vs performance regardless of Nvidia/AMD. I mean Nvidia are a pretty shady company and AMD aren't angels either so brand has no relevance for me, only the stats of the products.

a reply to: _BoneZ_

some hope!!! thanks man

a reply to: Indigent

I just recently spent a lot of time researching PCIe lane speeds, video cards, CPU's, etc. because I wanted to upgrade my video card, and wanted to make sure my PCIe 2.0 slots weren't going to affect the video card speed. Make sure my CPU wasn't going to affect the video card speed.

I also went with the GTX 970 vs the GTX 980 TI since the GTX 980 TI's performance gain vs. its price difference from the GTX 970 wasn't worth the extra money.

So, rest-assured your PC will definitely get the full usage out of any current video card so long as it fits, and you have the appropriate power connectors from your PSU.

What exactly do you want to do with it?

If you haven't been noticing problems with your old card and just think it's getting a little long in the tooth, then why try going top of the line? It doesn't sound like you necessarily use it. You wouldn't then be looking at having to possibly rebuild half your old system just to make a top of the line card work.

a reply to: ketsuko

dark souls is love, dark souls is life, and dark souls 3 needs a gtx 970

more important ds3 needs 2gvram, and that's something my 1gbvram sli cant do anything about it, the basic textures with all on low use 1.6gb of vram

a reply to: Indigent

Ah, OK.

I'd look at a motherboard upgrade soonish.

a reply to: _BoneZ_

2 year old test on even older engines.

How about showing some up to date tests ? There is one from last year in Feb which does show 3.0 is best but not as great as 50%, the drop offs become more apparent in SLI as well

However I'd hold off your assertions until people do some DX12 tests

As for bottleneck it depends on the game, if the game is designed with hyperthreading the 2600k will be fine, if the game desinged on single core then the 2600k WILL bottleneck



Even with multithread gaming the 2600k performs decent sure, for now but the new models still outperform it



Come Autumn time though that could all change

a reply to: Discotech

What it boils down to is I'm getting the full speeds out of my GTX 970 on my i7 2700K with PCIe 2.0. Getting the same frame-rates on the latest games as other reviewers are getting on faster CPU's and PCIe 3.0.

I was ready to upgrade my CPU and motherboard just for PCIe 3.0, but it's not needed with the current-gen cards.

Purchase a new motherboard first. You will get a good one for around $100. Don't be fooled by gaming branding. Nvidia are releasing their new cards in the next few weeks, Pascal. Normally that means a price drop for older GPU's. ATM it's not a great time to purchase high end GPUs. IMHO, get a new mobo and wait til October to see what deals are on GPUs.

ETA: Check out pcpartpickerDOTCOM.

Your system should indeed run with any card u would get, meaning there should be no bottlenecking what so ever.
Sandy Bridge processors are coming an old timers but they still are very good processors with any current games.
700w psu should be enough for pretty much any one card, not sli but one card it will run just fine.
pcie2.0 what i have read it will lose about 2-5% performance compared to 3.0 and still there are ppl whom say it wont do even that.

If u would want to upgrade ur cpu or motherboard, u would have to get both upgrades since next upgrade would jump to Ivy Bridge cpus.
I doubt even current high end cards will drop in price that much with new brands coming out, perhaps within more time after new brands have come, others will go down but huge drop i dont think anytime soon.

I am also looking for gpu upgrade for future proof gaming etc, i will get xfx r9 390 that has 8gb vram and is build more for higher resolution gaming, i seen quite few videos that run test and compare to other cards and it seems just awesome card for 310e price tag.

Later i will get an 1440p 144hz screen for that card to handle. Or perhaps 3x 27" screens, what i seen both setups are just awesome for gaming and r9 390 will run both of em just fine. It would run even 4k gaming pretty good.

My current setup is quite similar to yours, i have 2600 non K version, gtx 660 gpu, corsair vs 650w psu, i will upgrade psu after the gpu but what i have research my psu should run even r9 390 just fine with factory settings.

I have had nvidia for ages but after i done some researching i am going to get an amd this time, they seem to be more powerful and for me more future proof card. I am not an "fanboy" so i will go what ever is better for my needs.

a reply to: _BoneZ_

This 100%.

The 2xxxK line of CPU's are beasts and many are still using the i5 2500K with top of the line GPU's (980 Ti for example) without any issues, none of the cards that exist today will ever use PCie 3.0 bandwidth you won't see any difference with 2.0.

If you play plenty of games then you should be fine getting a 900 series card, 970/980 depending on your budget but both will work great.

You can also easily overclock the 2600k to 4Ghz+ and you won't have any issues running pretty much any game if you get a 980 Ti for example.

I recommend looking in eBay for used:

1. R9 290x which are practically the same performance as the 390x, note that they are very long and hot. But you should be able to get them around $200 - $250 which honestly are a steal for the performance they have. (faster than 970 at resolutions higher than 1080p)

2. GTX 970 which can be found around the same price of $250+/- ish, are also pretty attractive for the price and run cooler than the R9 290x. (goes neck to neck with the 290x at 1080p resolution)

These used cards are generally in excellent condition and from a price perspective you can't go wrong. Also, anything with lower performance than those might be an issue in the future due to higher resolutions of new monitors.