Upgrading PC to run some modern games

[HorseShoe]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently running the following setup:

CPU: Intel Core i5 760
MOBO: Asus P7P55D
RAM: 8gb
Video Card: Radeon 7800

And I was thinking of upgrading to a GTX 960: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9601935

It fits in my budget ($250 CAD) and that particular one comes with the Witcher 3 which is one of the reasons I want to upgrade so that I can play more current gen games on high quality video settings.

I was just wondering if this video card upgrade will work nicely with the current system I already have or would it just get bottlenecked with the CPU?

Any advice is appreciated !

 

[Ken g6]

GTX 960 isn't bad. If you have a weak PSU that's probably the best choice. But what PSU do you have?

Alternatively, there's several R9 280s (7950s) in your price range and R9 280X's (7970s) aren't much higher. Plus AMD will be coming out with a new generation of video cards in a month or so.

 

[HorseShoe]

I have an Enermax FMA II 535 watt PSU, nothing too powerful.

I noticed the R9 280x and when comparing that to the 960 on Passmark tests it didn't score near the 960: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

Now I'm not really sure what that translates into real life conditions but I was willing to shell out a few more dollars to get the 960, would that be a rational choice?

As for the new generation cards I'm looking to upgrade before the end of the week so I don't think I would be able to wait that long.

 

[jime1]

EVGA, MSI or ZOTAC - GTX 960 all the way

 

[Ken g6]

I have an Enermax FMA II 535 watt PSU, nothing too powerful.

D:

It would be really nice if you could fit it in your budget to replace that PSU. But if not, stick with a 960. NCIX appears to have better deals on that ASUS or a faster-clocked EVGA.

 

[HorseShoe]

So unfortunately I don't have it in the budget for a new PSU, however I did buy the GPU and installed it. It seems to work fine, I'm going to buy GTA V to see how well it runs .

Just out of curiosity what program should I use to overclock this card with? Some reviews mentioned that it can be overclocked but I didn't catch what programs they were using to do it.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

msi afterburner for OC'ing you gpu

 

[HorseShoe]

And that would work even though the video card is EVGA and the mobo is Asus?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

And that would work even though the video card is EVGA and the mobo is Asus?

The indications I've seen from those with firsthand experience suggests that the software is likely interchangeable.

But I've seen some who prefer EVGA Precision over Afterburner with cards of VARIOUS manufacture, and others who prefer Afterburner over Precision. I can't remember if anyone tried Asus Tweak on non-ASUS cards. The motherboard make shouldn't matter.

Also, looking at screen-shots from the respective MSI and EVGA software, they seem to have the same features.

Ordinarily, I'd say try the software bundled with the video card. But I'll also be honest to say that some of us with MSI GTX 970's had trouble with Afterburner, because it would leave an SLI configuration running at one notch below the highest load speed settings, without returning both cards to their intended idle state.

I don't think we ever tracked down the cause. It didn't seem to be a universal problem: some folks experienced it; others didn't. NVIDIA tech-support took note of it, even though Afterburner was proprietary to MSI.

HOW-EVER! It may have been a suspicion which I had -- not held by others, but I suspected that there was some interaction or conflict between ASUS monitoring and Afterburner monitoring that caused (a) instability BSOD stop-code 124, and (b) that this might somehow have been related to the clock anomaly. AfterBurner will poll the same CPU sensors as AI Suite if you let it, and I think the default had it doing just that.

For me and in the interim until I dare to install AFterburner again, I'm using NVIDIA Inspector. The problem with that: I have to either leave the thermal fan-control in its default setting, fix the fan speeds at a chosen level, or modify the BIOS for both cards.

I haven't been inclined to pursue one or another path so far. This means I won't change the clock settings of the cards above stock if I can't alter the fan curves. And I can't easily alter the fan curves with Inspector.

 

[mfenn]

The indications I've seen from those with firsthand experience suggests that the software is likely interchangeable.

But I've seen some who prefer EVGA Precision over Afterburner with cards of VARIOUS manufacture, and others who prefer Afterburner over Precision. I can't remember if anyone tried Asus Tweak on non-ASUS cards. The motherboard make shouldn't matter.

Also, looking at screen-shots from the respective MSI and EVGA software, they seem to have the same features.

Ordinarily, I'd say try the software bundled with the video card. But I'll also be honest to say that some of us with MSI GTX 970's had trouble with Afterburner, because it would leave an SLI configuration running at one notch below the highest load speed settings, without returning both cards to their intended idle state.

I don't think we ever tracked down the cause. It didn't seem to be a universal problem: some folks experienced it; others didn't. NVIDIA tech-support took note of it, even though Afterburner was proprietary to MSI.

HOW-EVER! It may have been a suspicion which I had -- not held by others, but I suspected that there was some interaction or conflict between ASUS monitoring and Afterburner monitoring that caused (a) instability BSOD stop-code 124, and (b) that this might somehow have been related to the clock anomaly. AfterBurner will poll the same CPU sensors as AI Suite if you let it, and I think the default had it doing just that.

For me and in the interim until I dare to install AFterburner again, I'm using NVIDIA Inspector. The problem with that: I have to either leave the thermal fan-control in its default setting, fix the fan speeds at a chosen level, or modify the BIOS for both cards.

I haven't been inclined to pursue one or another path so far. This means I won't change the clock settings of the cards above stock if I can't alter the fan curves. And I can't easily alter the fan curves with Inspector.

That's not really germane to the OP's question, and just creates confusion. Please keep your replies at least somewhat on topic.

OP, it doesn't matter if you mix and max brands between motherboard and CPU.

 

[mfenn]

I have an Enermax FMA II 535 watt PSU, nothing too powerful.

I noticed the R9 280x and when comparing that to the 960 on Passmark tests it didn't score near the 960: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

Now I'm not really sure what that translates into real life conditions but I was willing to shell out a few more dollars to get the 960, would that be a rational choice?

As for the new generation cards I'm looking to upgrade before the end of the week so I don't think I would be able to wait that long.

Passmark is what's known as a synthetic benchmark, meaning that it measures some abstract property of the GPU which may or may not be relevant to actual gameplay.

In real-world games, the R9 280X beats out the GTX 960 by about 10% at 1080p. However, if you're particularly interested in running a particular game like the The Witcher 3, I would recommend waiting until we have some good benchmarks for that specific game. That should be the end of this week or next Tuesday at the latest.

 

[HorseShoe]

Thanks for the information everyone. I went with the 960 gtx as it was about $50 cheaper than the 280x, and I'm willing to sacrifice that 10% gain.

I also got afterburner and was playing around with that for a while, I'm going to have to do some more research on how to use that properly.

I played farcry 4 and noticed there was some graphical hicups, I'm thinking it may be due to the CPU so I'm going to try and OC that and see if it helps.

Honestly if this card lasts me maybe another couple of years I'll be happy and I'll be in a better spot to upgrade to a much higher end rig then.

Again thanks for the help everyone, much appreciated!

 

[escrow4]

760 will bottleneck badly, its stock clocks are very low compared to modern i5s - 2.8GHz vs 3.5GHz or so. Also a 960 is a bad idea. 2GB of VRAM isn't enough for modern games anymore even at 1080p. Even 3GB is pushing it.

 

[HorseShoe]

Thanks for the information, it's good to know that's where the bottleneck is. Suppose that I could upgrade the CPU, would an AMD FX8320 do the trick? Or would it be just a marginal improvement over the 760?

 

[mfenn]

Thanks for the information, it's good to know that's where the bottleneck is. Suppose that I could upgrade the CPU, would an AMD FX8320 do the trick? Or would it be just a marginal improvement over the 760?

With a GTX 960, your bottleneck has almost certainly shifted to the CPU in most games. Whether that limits the performance to an unacceptable level is a value judgement based on your personal framerate goals.

If you do decide to upgrade the CPU, an FX-8320 isn't really that big of an upgrade from what you have now in terms of gaming performance. You'd want to look at a Core i5 like the 4590 or 4690K.

 

[HorseShoe]

With a GTX 960, your bottleneck has almost certainly shifted to the CPU in most games. Whether that limits the performance to an unacceptable level is a value judgement based on your personal framerate goals.

If you do decide to upgrade the CPU, an FX-8320 isn't really that big of an upgrade from what you have now in terms of gaming performance. You'd want to look at a Core i5 like the 4590 or 4690K.

Perfect thanks for the info, I'll look into getting the new generation core i5 processor and do a bit more digging there.