FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Register Register  Login Login

Help with Video Card Upgrade

Post Date: 2016-01-02
 Post Reply Post Reply
Author
  Topic Search Topic Search  Topic Options Topic Options
keithwc View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 26 Feb 2009
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 14 		  Quote keithwc Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: Help with Video Card Upgrade
    Posted: 02 Jan 2016 at 10:52am

Hello all! I purchased a system here several years back and I am needing to make an upgrade to keep it going a little longer as I can't do a new system at the moment. So... I thought a new Video Card is what I need first. However, I am a newbie at this so I thought I'd check here as I was thinking of getting a GTX 960 or 970, but I wasn't 100% sure if it would work in my system or be worth it in my older system. Here's my current specs:

Chassis: Cooler Master HAF 932
Motherboard: EVGA X58 3X SLI (Intel X58 Chipset)
Processor: Intel Core i7 920 2.66 GHz (overclocked to 2.79 GHz)
Memory: 6GB DDR3 1333MHz Corsair Dominator DHX
Power Supply: 750W
Current Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 1GB
OS: Windows 10

The 970 is about $100 more than the 960, but the specs looks like it is worth it. My usage of it would be primarily gaming, but I do some photo/video work as well.

So, knowing the above info, I was thinking of getting GTX 960 or 970... do you think it is a worthwhile upgrade or is my system a little too old for it to make much of a difference?

Thank you for helping this guy out!
Back to Top
Purpletalon55 View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 21 Nov 2015
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 165 		  Quote Purpletalon55 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 03 Jan 2016 at 1:16am
The 970 is a beast any game at ultra 1080p and over clock it and the 980 is actually a inferior card. It literally over clocks that much. Hands down the best card for the. Value it beats anything amd has.
Back to Top
bprat22 View Drop Down
DS ELITE
DS ELITE

DigitalStorm East -- (Unofficially!)
Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 08 Jun 2011
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 20391 		  Quote bprat22 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 03 Jan 2016 at 3:00am
Either the 960 or 970 will be a huge performance boost over your 285. The 970 is about 40-50% stronger in gaming than the 960 and worth the extral money if in the budget,

Your system does have an older CPU that might limit you in some games, but a video card upgrade is still the way to go for the largest bump.

Good luck.



Back to Top
Purpletalon55 View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 21 Nov 2015
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 165 		  Quote Purpletalon55 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 03 Jan 2016 at 3:37pm
As far as limiting his cpu will not as a graphics card these days is always a better upgrade. And the 970 can over clock a lot too its just hands down a better card my buddy with a msi 960 gaming is upgrading cause the 960 is just too weak to play a lot of the games we play.
Back to Top
JamesAstro View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 28 Nov 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 624 		  Quote JamesAstro Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 03 Jan 2016 at 6:40pm
I think the 970 will work well in your system. I had a similar computer to yours with the EVGA X58 motherboard, and I eventually upgraded it with three GTX 980 cards. They work amazingly well! None of my games were limited by the CPU. I think this would be a wonderful upgrade for your system.
Velox, Intel Core i9 11900K, ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero
32GB RAM, 1TB Samsung 980 Pro NVME
RTX 4090, 38" Ultrawide LG-38GL950G
Noctua NH-D15S cooler and NF-A14 fans, Corsair AX1600i PSU
Back to Top
FrankW View Drop Down
DS Veteran
DS Veteran


Joined: 22 Feb 2010
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2254 		  Quote FrankW Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 04 Jan 2016 at 5:17am
Hi keithwc,

As already stated a 970 would be a great upgrade.

I have that exact system and you should have no problem overclocking your CPU to 3.6Ghz. Did you made a mistake with your overclock at 2.79Ghz? That would be a really low overclock. Doesn't sound right to me.

The i7 920 was a solid CPU and overclocked well. If your overclock is in fact at 2.79Ghz you might consider upping that to something over 3Ghz.

Frank
Back to Top
keithwc View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 26 Feb 2009
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 14 		  Quote keithwc Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 04 Jan 2016 at 9:14pm
Thanks for the awesome replies everyone as that was exactly what I was looking for!

FrankW: I am a total newbie at the overclocking so the 2.79Ghz is how the system arrived. To be honest, the trust in myself to overclock it the right way is limited so I just left it where it was at. However, I'm definitely open to doing some research on it since there is still room left for me to go... especially with this case as it cools really well.

Thanks again!
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down



This page was generated in 0.0390625 seconds.