Looking to upgrade my son's Alienware x51 need help

[Cerb]

A GTX 760 should be fine at 1080P or thereabouts, with no need for an upgrade, yet, on medium, or high.

 

[TemjinGold]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7601/sapphire-radeon-r9-290-review-our-first-custom-cooled-290/4

Power consumption is high on those charts but its on overclocked version. The heat and noise on the link above are better then the 780/780ti. Dont remember how much better the 970 was overthe 780/780ti but the saphire card should be close.

The 970 is actually significantly better than the 780/780Ti in this regard. It was actually one of the main reasons why the card was a success.

 

[TemjinGold]

Then it will make for a good space heater this winter but at least his gaphics card will be cool.

I don't think you understand still. Your card is fine because you have a great card that can expel the heat AND you have a case that can handle that heat without your components getting affected. If the OP bought the same card as you, he would also have a great card that can expel the heat but he would NOT have a case that can handle that heat. With nowhere for that heat to go, it will go right back to heating up his gfx card. So no, his card would not be cool.

 

[Blue_Max]

Yep... turn down the details... smooth beats pretty.

The GTX 760 should still run it on high-very high and it'll still look great.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I'm calling BS that your boy can't run Far Cry 4 on a GTX 760. In this video they got 30.3 FPS average on 1080P ultra with 4xMSAA on a GTX 760, so it should have no problem playing it well with the MSAA turned off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqiOX-4fjdw

He's just dropping a hint that a 970 is what he wants for Christmas. If you're going to buy the card, you have three reasonable choices:

(1) PNY GTX 970 reference blower ($330 + one free game)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133564

(2) EVGA GTX 970 reference blower ($350 + one free game)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814487070

(3) Nvidia branded GTX 970 with metal reference blower ($390 + tax + no games)

Only place in the US you can buy this card is at Best Buy.

None of the other GTX 970's make any sense whatsoever in that case, as others have said.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

And any card other than a GTX 970 is a waste. $300 for a GTX 770 is stupid since it's way less powerful than that $330 PNY GTX 970. The R9 290 and R9 290x are terrible buys for that Alienware case because the blower style cards are truly horrible, thanks to reaching 95 degrees celsius, and your case can't support the much better standard aftermarket cards with axial fans. I mean I guess the GTX 980 would be great if you're willing to spend $550, as it's somewhat more powerful than the GTX 970 (though not jaw-droppingly more powerful).

 

[SteveGrabowski]

One other option might be waiting for the GTX 960 which is rumored to come out at the $250 price point, but that might not get released until February. And if it ends up only a little more powerful than a GTX 770 it might not be worth the price when your boy already has a 760. And maybe he asks for the GTX 1070 next year. lol

 

[HeXen]

There's the new Gigabyte 970 for ITX boards, it's a lot smaller and $349 at Amazon.

 

[Hauk]

Agree Steve, dude was likely dropping hint for a Christmas gift. Dropping detail levels and holding fast is an option; I like the former.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

There's the new Gigabyte 970 for ITX boards, it's a lot smaller and $349 at Amazon.

It's still an axial cooler that's going to dump heat into a case with really crappy airflow.