GPU upgradePost Date: 2015-11-10 |
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ryuubane81
Newbie Joined: 15 Sep 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 44 |
Quote Reply
Topic: GPU upgrade Posted: 10 Nov 2015 at 4:10am |
Hello everyone!
I want to upgrade my gpu but I'm not sure what I can upgrade to. I'm not sure what's compatible with my setup and I'm not sure how to even figure that out. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Here are my system specs: Pre-built Digital Storm Marauder - Level 4 Processor: Intel Core i5 3570K 3.40 GHz (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core) (Requires Z77 Motherboard) Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LX (Intel Z77 Chipset) System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair Vengeance Series (High-Performance) Power Supply: 600W Corsair GS NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB (Includes PhysX) Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (High Performance Cooler) Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition) Nothing is or ever has been overclocked (not sure how to lol). I'm basically trying to play fallout 4 on high or ultra and was thinking of getting a gtx 960 or better card but i'm confused about pci express 2, 3, etc and there being adapters between 6+2 and 8 pins. Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance! |
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bprat22
DS ELITE DigitalStorm East -- (Unofficially!) Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 20391 |
Quote Reply Posted: 10 Nov 2015 at 4:30am |
Hi ryuubane81......,I would suggest upgrading to the gtx 970 for a large boost in gaming and ability to run Fallout 4 .
Your mobo is Pcie 3.0 and so are the 660ti and 970. Even if the mobo was the older Pcie 2.0 it wouldn't matter. Pcie 3.0 is backward compatible to 2.0 with little or no performance loss. Both cards, your 660 ti and most 970s have 2x6 pin power inputs. If by chance you got a card requiring an 8 pin power input, again, no problem. I believe that psu, like most, have dual 6+2 pin cables. It's a 8 pin connector where 2 pins detach from the 6 pin section, hence 6+2 pin. The other 2 pins are probably folded back and tywrapped by DS for a clean look. The new 970 should be just an easy swap, plug and play, and maybe update the drivers afterwards. Hope this helps. |
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ryuubane81
Newbie Joined: 15 Sep 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 44 |
Quote Reply Posted: 10 Nov 2015 at 4:35am |
Thank you bprat22! That helps immensely! I appreciate your help! Thank you! Thank you!
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bprat22
DS ELITE DigitalStorm East -- (Unofficially!) Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 20391 |
Quote Reply Posted: 10 Nov 2015 at 4:38am |
My pleasure. . I have the MSI gtx 970 Gamer 4 with mild factory overclock and custom fans that stay off until under load and about 65c. Quiet even with the fans on. Just an example.
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jhdeerslayer
Newbie Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 41 |
Quote Reply Posted: 11 Nov 2015 at 5:21am |
To hijack this thread... I want to upgrade my 670 to 970 and seems an easy upgrade but any advise on what company for the 970? You have Asus, Gigabyte, EVGA, etc. and there can be $50 or less difference between them and I'm not sure just deciding on price is the best way. Any thoughts how to weed the company choices down?
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jhdeerslayer
Newbie Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 41 |
Quote Reply Posted: 11 Nov 2015 at 6:32am |
Maybe I answered my own question... I found a good side by side review of EVGA, Asus, and Msi and seems Msi makes the overall better card.
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bprat22
DS ELITE DigitalStorm East -- (Unofficially!) Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 20391 |
Quote Reply Posted: 11 Nov 2015 at 9:48am |
I bought the MSI gtx 970 Gamer 4G a few months ago. My research showed the same result. EVGA is known for excellent support, so can't knock them. They did have heat sink mis-alignment issues and Asus Strix has had a lot of complaints of coil-whine and a bit more noise. MSI is great card, custom cooling that keeps fans off until needed and quiet even with fans on.
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jhdeerslayer
Newbie Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 41 |
Quote Reply Posted: 11 Nov 2015 at 10:11am |
Thank you sir and good to know.
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Meller
DS Veteran Joined: 20 Feb 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1627 |
Quote Reply Posted: 12 Nov 2015 at 1:55pm |
Just saying, you could throw in a GTX Titan X.
But all joking aside. I haven't ever had a cooler issue with EVGA. Their biggest thing was the alignment issues plus the coil whine, but the coil whine of the ACX coolers was the 1st gen on the 700 series. As for the 900 series... they are rock solid. And Im using ASUS Strix 980 Ti's at the moment (feels weird not having EVGA). They are quiet, super fast, stay fairly cool... for air. I'm just not a fan of MSI or Gigabyte cards (as long as we're only referencing US cards, I really don't mess with EU cards at all.. Zotac and so forth). |
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Custom PC
Ryzen 9 5950X Gigabyte X570 Aorus Xtreme 128GB DDR4 3600mhz EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming Samsung 980 Pro 512GB m.2 Samsung 960 PRO 2TB m.2 x2 |
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bprat22
DS ELITE DigitalStorm East -- (Unofficially!) Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 20391 |
Quote Reply Posted: 12 Nov 2015 at 2:23pm |
Yeah, I always figured an EVGA or Asus as my next card. Reputation means a lot. But every comparison I saw gave MSI the edge, both in noise and temps. Not much, just a little. So far so good, quality build and quiet with temps rarely getting out of the 60's.
Time will tell. |
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Meller
DS Veteran Joined: 20 Feb 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1627 |
Quote Reply Posted: 12 Nov 2015 at 9:51pm |
Yea, the MSI lightning does dominate the meters from reviews. I'm sure the performance is there, but I'm a brand whore. I remember the days when MSI was just a cheaply made card and board. While their boards have come a long way, I guess I'm just stuck in the old age of the idea's of their cards.
I'm planning on either selling my three Strix and buying some classifieds from evga when I end up rebuilding my loops. EVGA just has great cards and great support. Perhaps I should look into MSI and consider giving them a try. |
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Custom PC
Ryzen 9 5950X Gigabyte X570 Aorus Xtreme 128GB DDR4 3600mhz EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming Samsung 980 Pro 512GB m.2 Samsung 960 PRO 2TB m.2 x2 |
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jhdeerslayer
Newbie Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 41 |
Quote Reply Posted: 18 Nov 2015 at 11:44am |
Well we soon find out since I will install it soon. Since I have the latest drivers installed for my 670 I assume I plug in the new 970 and I should be good to go.
Upgrades always make me nervous. |
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bprat22
DS ELITE DigitalStorm East -- (Unofficially!) Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 20391 |
Quote Reply Posted: 18 Nov 2015 at 12:07pm |
It'll go great.
Unplug the rig, stay static safe, either a wrist static strap or keep touching metal, unplug, remove the old, mount and hook cables to the new. Power up, let Windows do its dance and Enjoy. Don't forget to hook up the monitor cable. Nerves can make some forget. |
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jhdeerslayer
Newbie Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 41 |
Quote Reply Posted: 18 Nov 2015 at 12:19pm |
Thanks for the vote of confidence. lol
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jhdeerslayer
Newbie Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 41 |
Quote Reply Posted: 19 Nov 2015 at 6:33am |
Piece of cake to install and not sure what I was worried about....
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bprat22
DS ELITE DigitalStorm East -- (Unofficially!) Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 20391 |
Quote Reply Posted: 19 Nov 2015 at 7:03am |
Never any doubt.
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FrankW
DS Veteran Joined: 22 Feb 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2254 |
Quote Reply Posted: 19 Nov 2015 at 7:33am |
Hi jhdeerslayer,
I am sure you got your new 970 installed correctly but wanted to ask about the power connections. There is a good chance your 670 used 6+6 power connectors. If you got the MSI gtx 970 Gamer 4G card it will have 8+6 power connectors. I was wondering if you used the 8+6 power for your card? If your new card is 6+6 power than you are good to go. I hope you are having a blast with your new 970. Frank Edited by FrankW - 19 Nov 2015 at 7:34am |
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jhdeerslayer
Newbie Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 41 |
Quote Reply Posted: 19 Nov 2015 at 10:28am |
Actually it was 6+8 as you say. MSI provided a converter cable which I used. My only silliness was struggling to get the PCI locking feature off the card already installed. It was easy in the end but took a certain special touch... This card performs so well I can't imagine, (yet...) when I will need to overclock it further. I loaded Afterburner in and might play with it in the future. This card is soooo quiet as advertised! |
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bprat22
DS ELITE DigitalStorm East -- (Unofficially!) Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 20391 |
Quote Reply Posted: 19 Nov 2015 at 10:33am |
If you don't need it, and I don't think you do, don't use the converter cable. Chances are its just fine but it is another source of potential bad connection issues.
Your psu PCIe cables should be the 6+2 cables. Just cut the tie-wrap and use directly. Of course, with it working so great, I'm sure you won't . Can't blame ya. |
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jhdeerslayer
Newbie Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 41 |
Quote Reply Posted: 19 Nov 2015 at 12:55pm |
Yes considered that since my Corsair 800 has two 6+2 connectors and next time I open my case for cleaning (yes I clean out dust a few times a year like a good boy should), I will try the direct connection way. Next upgrade is from Win 7 to Win 10 and a lot more scary then GPU change! But will wait for a long weekend for that. |
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bprat22
DS ELITE DigitalStorm East -- (Unofficially!) Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 20391 |
Quote Reply Posted: 19 Nov 2015 at 1:03pm |
Windows 10 upgrade from win7 , for me, with both my 4 year old DS and 7 year old 'other' rig, was a piece of cake. I did my brothers laptop also.
I just downloaded the media creation files , sat back and watched it work. I used the manual, media creation tool, because MS never put me in Q. |
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