upgrading gtx 275 to 660ti/670?

[Riceninja]

my specs are:

i7-920 @ 2.67ghz (stock)
6gb ram
asus p6t se mobo
evga gtx 275 896mb
1tb caviar black
corsair tx750w

gaming on a 24 inch 1080p resolution

i'm thinking of getting either the 660ti/670 for borderlands 2 and whatever's coming out next year, but i have a couple of questions:

1. does my psu and mobo have the appropriate connectors/pins for it? i did my research and my mobo's pci-e 2.0 shouldnt be a problem. what else do i need to be aware of?

2. is my gpu the bottleneck? or is that old school i7 the problem now?

3. how much of an improvement would it be from a 275 to one of the new cards? the 660ti is $300 right now and 670 is $360, but im not sure which is the better deal. and will either last me 3 years like the 275 did?


http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/79920/newegg-gigabyte-geforce-gtx-670-2gb-256bit-gddr5-pci-express-3.0-video-card-gvn670oc2gd-borderlands-2-game-coupon

thanks in advance

 

[toyota]

what resolution? your gpu is a massive bottleneck for newer games on higher settings at 1920x1080 so a gtx670 or even 660ti would more than double your frame rate.

you should get a cpu cooler and oc that cpu a bit though as that will help get the most out of any gpu upgrade.

and your power supply is way more than enough for any single gpu with plenty of room to spare.

I dont think the gtx660 ti is that great of a deal but if you are wanting Borderlands then that does help. the gtx670 is going to handle higher settings and AA much better though so if you want the card to last then that is the minimum I would go with from Nvidia.

 

[Riceninja]

1920x1080 resolution.

i have a zalman cpu cooler on it, but overclocking the cpu seems like a lot of work; im not comfortable messing with the bios.

thanks!

 

[balane]

I hope you decide to at least research it. Because of overclocking the 920 ended up being one of the stars of that generation of processors. It overclocks quite well and yields some sizable, yet safe, benefits that you can easily feel. Seems like everybody had an overclocked 920 back then.

I'm of the opinion that the 660 TI, at its current pricing, is kind of in no man's land. The 660 or 670 seem like much better options to me. (I won't mention AMD cards because you desiring BL2 does make the nVidia cards a good choice with the bundled game.)

Your computer will improve drastically with an updated graphics card and a nice CPU overclock.

 

[The_Golden_Man]

I agree with balane. First of all that 920 should be overclocked. Second, 660Ti is kind of a strange one in the market. GTX 670 is a better option. But if OP is not going to overclock that 920, and only game at 1080dpi a GTX 660 should be just fine.

 

[Riceninja]

thanks guys, i've looked into overclocking the 920 here and i'll probably try that when i get a new card. given that this system is 3 years old i'm not feeling as nervous about screwing up as i did before.

as for the 660ti i'm surprised to see that you guys dont like it, i've read the reviews and it comes pretty close to the 670 at 1080p and is $60 cheaper (was $100 cheaper when the 670 was $400).

i just saw the new gtx 660 review but the benchmarks make it far below a 670, even if its only $230. plus in this video the framerate with physX enabled was pretty bad.

 

[toyota]

the 660ti already struggles a little with AA in some current games and you are wanting to keep the card 3 years. the 670 is 15-20% faster clock for clock on average and the gap only widens with the more AA that is applied. on the other hand the 680 is not even 5% faster overall clock for clock than the 670. that shows you how bad the 660ti is gimped with its 192 bit bus and 24 ROPs since all other specs are the same as the 670. so again I say the 670 is the lowest card I would go with at 1920x1080 in your situation.

 

[lehtv]

Your mobo should handle a moderate overclock, around 3.3-3.8GHz. Depends on the chip and cooling as well, the lower your temps and voltages the more likely that higher clock speed will be stable.

It does take a bit of time but I think it's worth it as you only need to do it once. There's a good chance that a GTX 670 will be bottlenecked otherwise. Google some i7-920 overclocking guides and educate yourself.

 

[raghu78]

OP your CPU is good enough to run a GTX 670. just oc it to around 3.4 - 3.5 Ghz. As for the card the GTX 670 is a better buy as the GTX 660 Ti can really be bottlenecked with high AA settings. In Q1 next year games like Crysis 3 and Metro Last Light are going to launch and are going to really push these cards. You need all the performance you can get now. so grab a GTX 670.

 

[Durvelle27]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102989

 

[The Alias]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102989

easily the best bang for your buck

 

[jacktesterson]

That 920 will probably O/C to 3.5GHz or better on stock voltage. No brainer, I'd aim to get it as close to 4.0 GHz as you can. For the majority of games out there and in the forseeable future, there isn't much benefit of upgrading your CPU unless you don't O/C. That low stock clock rate is really holding it back.

In 10+ years of overclocking CPU's, I've never fried one yet.

My 2500k has been running at 1.4v without issue with good temps.


Now as far as a 660 Ti/670, my opinion is get a 7870 or 7950 and O/C them. They are begging to be overclocked, are cheaper and better value. AMD also has been killing it with drivers lately, and they include Sleeping Dogs which I really enjoyed. (about 75% done it). If the game isn't for you, sell it for $30 or trade for a BL2 code.

My 7870 will overlock by almost 15% without even touching voltage.

 

[Termie]

The 660 does not come with Bordelands 2. If this is a game the OP would otherwise buy, it makes the 660Ti somewhat more attractive. I agree it's at the wrong pricepoint, however, and should be closer to $275. At $300, the 7950 is a much better buy, but it doesn't come with the game the OP wants to use it for.

Also, I agree with all of the comments on overclocking, except that I don't think the OP needs to OC to 4.0. That's a huge increase in heat/power. A more reasonable 3.2-3.5 would alleviate any bottleneck with a 660 or 660Ti. As for an OC'd 670 or 7950, well, that's another story, but I'm not sure either of those is necessary for his upgrade.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

my specs are:

i7-920 @ 2.67ghz (stock)
6gb ram
asus p6t se mobo
evga gtx 275 896mb
1tb caviar black
corsair tx750w

gaming on a 24 inch 1080p resolution

i'm thinking of getting either the 660ti/670 for borderlands 2 and whatever's coming out next year, but i have a couple of questions:

1. does my psu and mobo have the appropriate connectors/pins for it? i did my research and my mobo's pci-e 2.0 shouldnt be a problem. what else do i need to be aware of?

2. is my gpu the bottleneck? or is that old school i7 the problem now?

3. how much of an improvement would it be from a 275 to one of the new cards? the 660ti is $300 right now and 670 is $360, but im not sure which is the better deal. and will either last me 3 years like the 275 did?


http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/79920/newegg-gigabyte-geforce-gtx-670-2gb-256bit-gddr5-pci-express-3.0-video-card-gvn670oc2gd-borderlands-2-game-coupon

thanks in advance

Any chance you can wait this generation out? The refresh from AMD should be coming within the next 4 months or so probably 6 for Nvidia.

Unless you are comfortable overclocking your card to the limit, stay way from AMD's 78xx cards, they're basically Nvidia's last gen cards performance wise. You already passed that generation up so no sense going back on it now.

 

[Riceninja]

thanks for all the replies, guys.

i tried overclocking last night using this guide and was able to take my cpu to 3.8ghz at 1.24v, i felt that that was a little too hot (71 degs on prime 95) so i stepped it back down to 3.4ghz at 1.11v, with 61 degs on prime 95. im very surprised at how easy it was, and how much of a diff it made in terms of benchmarks compared to 2.6ghz. so, 3.4ghz is probably going to be my 24/7 OC, with 3.8ghz reserved for when i really have trouble in games.

i've ruled out the 660ti now, and am looking at only the 670 and its AMD equivalent. to make it clear i already have the game preordered, but was focused on nvidia because

1) ive been running geforce since 2007 (8800gts before 275)
2) the physX aspect of borderlands 2

i know the amd's are better values, but i dont want to overclock the GPU as well since it'll be brand new.

 

[Termie]

thanks for all the replies, guys.

i tried overclocking last night using this guide and was able to take my cpu to 3.8ghz at 1.24v, i felt that that was a little too hot (71 degs on prime 95) so i stepped it back down to 3.4ghz at 1.11v, with 61 degs on prime 95. im very surprised at how easy it was, and how much of a diff it made in terms of benchmarks compared to 2.6ghz. so, 3.4ghz is probably going to be my 24/7 OC, with 3.8ghz reserved for when i really have trouble in games.

i've ruled out the 660ti now, and am looking at only the 670 and its AMD equivalent. to make it clear i already have the game preordered, but was focused on nvidia because

1) ive been running geforce since 2007 (8800gts before 275)
2) the physX aspect of borderlands 2

i know the amd's are better values, but i dont want to overclock the GPU as well since it'll be brand new.

That's great news on your effort to overclock. I agree that 3.4 is a perfect moderate OC for that CPU, and 3.8 can be used if you ever feel the CPU is lagging.

If you buy a 670, you should definitely cancel your pre-order just to save the ~$50. This Gigabyte GTX670 is the best deal going right now:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125423

With discount code HARDOCPX912G, it's $360 shipped, with the free game. You can't really beat that if you were going to put $50-60 into the game anyway. This version has a better cooler than some of the others in that price range, and also comes pre-overclocked so you don't have to worry about damaging the card.