Thinking of upgrading my Graphics card/Computer a little, thoughts?

Forums › Desktop computing › Thinking of upgrading my Graphics card/Computer a little, thoughts?

ispudgun

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#191898 19-Feb-2016 19:48

Hi Guys,

So I've recently got back into gaming with a few mates, nothing too graphically intense but none the less still require a few .ini fill tweaks to get some good frames on LOW. I prefer FPS > Graphics.

I'm looking at upgrading my current GPU to EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB. From what I can gather this is my biggest bottle neck.. and most needed upgrade. Though, it might be a good time to do a few other upgrades here and there as well, can you guys see/suggest any other smaller upgrades/tweaks that might be beneficial? Not looking to break the bank here, just wanting a mid-range computer to run some games but also add a bit more life into the old girl!

Current System

PC Type: Desktop
OS: Windows 10 64-Bit
Mobo: Gigabyte Z68XP-UD4 (Socket 1155)
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500 @ 3.30GHz (Sandy Bridge)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti - 1GB Dedicated Memory
RAM: 8.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz (9-9-9-24)
Storage: 2TB Western Digital HDD, 500GB Seagate & 120GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD

Any help on the above will be greatly appreciated :)

xpd

Geek of Coastguard
14116 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4579

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1495915 19-Feb-2016 19:54

Best to give a figure to work with and go from there. Newer video and more RAM (16GB) would probably offer quite a boost.

XPD / Gavin

LinkTree

sidefx

3775 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1295

Trusted

#1495917 19-Feb-2016 19:56

960 would be a good upgrade. Might be worth grabbing another stick of RAM when you upgrade, though not essential. The rest your rig should run pretty sweet for a while. What PSU though?

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

Dairyxox

1595 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 455

#1495920 19-Feb-2016 20:04

I'd be tempted to go further. See if your budget can stretch to a GTX 970.

The rest of your rig is already pretty decent, maybe overclock the CPU a little, and get an upgraded cooler if necessary.

richms

29099 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10214

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1495921 19-Feb-2016 20:07

I saw no change on my 970 between 8 and 16 in the machine in GTA5 for the actual gaming. Getting into the game was better, but that was probably moving the steam library from an ext USB drive to 2 striped 960 gig SSDs. Mainly did it for the noice but wow so much faster for some things.

Richard rich.ms

PhantomNVD

2619 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 759
Inactive user

#1495940 19-Feb-2016 20:41

Striped terabyte SSD's??? Awesome! 💥

I run a similarly specced 570, i5 and 120gb SSD to the OP but have the 16gb Ram as was so cheap at the time, but my ram use (Win7 still) is never more than around 6gb, so don't really need the full 16gb 'range' at all really...

I mainly play StarCraft, but my bottleneck has always been my shoddy rural 1Mb adsl so YMMV

Jase2985

13732 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6206

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#1495941 19-Feb-2016 20:44

go for the 970, i have essentually the same rig as you but with out a GFX card at the moment and im going to go for the 970 as this will pretty much ensure you get 30+fps on ultra in almost any game. the 960 you would have to turn the settings down a little in some games.

Apple TV

Stream your favourite shows now on Apple TV (affiliate link).

ispudgun

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1495942 19-Feb-2016 20:45

sidefx:

960 would be a good upgrade. Might be worth grabbing another stick of RAM when you upgrade, though not essential. The rest your rig should run pretty sweet for a while. What PSU though?

Corsair, 800w. So no issues there! :P

Was considering the ram as it would probably be a good idea for future proofing somewhat. Thanks for the comment :)

xpd:

Best to give a figure to work with and go from there. Newer video and more RAM (16GB) would probably offer quite a boost.

Around 500, 600 at max!

I guess that limits me to a GPU/Ram & potentially cooling if I decide to OC the the CPU (Though that's not essential just yet). CPU Usage is still pretty good when the system is under stress.

Jase2985:

go for the 970, i have essentually the same rig as you but with out a GFX card at the moment and im going to go for the 970 as this will pretty much ensure you get 30+fps on ultra in almost any game. the 960 you would have to turn the settings down a little in some games.

I thought about the 970, but for what I'm wanting and the games I'll be playing I think the 960 will be best bang for my buck.

Would definitely be my pick if I had a bit more of a budget though :) Thanks for the advice!

toejam316

1516 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 888

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1495998 19-Feb-2016 22:45

If you're happy with the 960, just grab one of those - the rest is fine, and any money spent now is just money thrown - your CPU is slower than more recent models, but fast enough, 8GB of RAM is plenty unless you're doing some heavy stuff outside of gaming, so I'd use the spare money to grab a bigger SSD to store games on (500GB drives are rather cheap now), or else go all in on a R9 390 or GTX 970 (If you look around you might be able to find a lightly used 970 for the $400-500 mark, although you can get new ones for $550).

Join Quic Broadband with my referral - no sign up fee and gives me account credit

Anything I say is the ramblings of an ill informed, opinionated so-and-so, and not representative of any of my past, present or future employers, and is also probably best disregarded.

Lias

5655 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3978

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1496116 20-Feb-2016 10:09

If you're not running anything else while gaming and minimal stuff in the background, 8gb is fine for gaming, but if you're like me with multiple monitors and stuff happening in the background while gaming, get more.

I'd just go with the biggest GPU you can afford personally, I'd try for a 970, I doubt you will regret it.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.