Worth putting in newer GPU into old computer?

[btmaximus]

I have an old computer (Q6600, AMD Radeon 6800 series GPU, 430watt PSU) that my kids primarily use. One of them has started to play Civ5, and when they do, the fans go all out, and the computer becomes super noisy. I'm thinking of getting a new video card for my computer (in preparation for Star Wars Battlefront), and transplanting my 7950 into the old computer. Will this make an appreciable difference in the old computer, or am I so CPU bottlenecked that I shouldn't even try? (Maybe it's time to get off my lazy butt and start a new build

 

[EndlessWargasm]

Will make a huge difference. Games that are particularly cpu bound might not see a large increase, but most games are gpu bound generally.

 

[TheELF]

First off clean the old PC,might just be dust in the fans, not enough cooling getting through to the components so fans working overtime.
The 7950 will allow you to turn graphic up higher and you might get better FPS but Civ is a single thread game so speed (calculating turns) will stay the same.
Don't be afraid of bottleneck,especially if you don't have to pay for a VGA,it just means that you won't get the most out of your VGA so even at ultra settings it might not reach close to 100% utilization.

 

[postmortemIA]

Civ v will work great with new gpu. Because it is turn based, it is cpu bound only between turns. Your frame rate would be better during play.
And it will make any gpu noisy. I don't think that 6800 series would have problems running it.

On the other side, your motherboard probably has pcie that is v1.1 while gpu that you are looking for is v3.0. You won't get max out of it, but it will surely help in most cases .

 

[btmaximus]

Awesome- thanks for the advice. Now to find a good deal on a new video card! Looking forward to the Fury reviews.

 

[Blue_Max]

First off clean the old PC,might just be dust in the fans, not enough cooling getting through to the components so fans working overtime.

Exactly. NOISE is the issue, not performance. The replacement card is faster but generates about the same amount of heat so it's all up to how good the fans are on the card for keeping things quiet.

Might be the CPU fan making all the noise too...(?)

You might want to start by going into the AMD Catalyst control panel under the overclocking settings because FAN settings are there. Making the fans top out at 80% might be more tolerable than 100%, etc.

Of course, if you're looking for an excuse to upgrade, go ahead and put the newer card in there. Play with the fan settings regardless of which ends up in this machine.