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Should I upgrade my Graphics Card now or later?

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  • Computers
  • Graphics Cards
  • Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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July 28, 2013 9:30:10 PM

Hello,

So I have recently rebuilt my old computer with a shiny new Intel I3-3220 with 8 GB DDR3 1600Mhz of Ram along with the Gigabyte Z77-D3H Motherboard to replace my old Core 2 Duo E7500. The Hard Drives, Graphics Card and 550W PSU I didn't touch because of the limited budget I had set for myself back then.

Now I feel that I have the money to replace the Graphics Card (a Geforce GTX 550 ti w/ 1GB of Ram) with something newer at around maybe $150 range, but at the same time, I do not feel it is at all the pressing atm. It would be nice, but its not necessary I think.

So I guess my question boils down to is next year's graphics cards going to be significantly better then the one in market now that I should hold off on purchasing one for now?

More about : upgrade graphics card

a b U Graphics card
July 28, 2013 9:48:41 PM

As time passes, graphics cards get cheaper and better. If you don't have a pressing need, wait. In several months AMD will come out with their new stuff. Should be pretty interesting.
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a c 171 U Graphics card
July 28, 2013 10:00:17 PM

That's true, but there's always something new on the horizon. If you keep on waiting, you'll never buy anything. Plus immediately after release there's usually a significant premium.

Why did you go for the Z77 MB, if you don't mind me asking? It's not really what I'd have picked.

I'd suggest saving up for a 760.
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a b U Graphics card
July 28, 2013 10:16:39 PM

Your 550ti is still powerful enough. Don't upgrade now. Save up more for a better card, you already have $150. :)  Save around $400 then decide next year.
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July 28, 2013 10:19:55 PM

Someone Somewhere said:
That's true, but there's always something new on the horizon. If you keep on waiting, you'll never buy anything. Plus immediately after release there's usually a significant premium.

Why did you go for the Z77 MB, if you don't mind me asking? It's not really what I'd have picked.

I'd suggest saving up for a 760.


I bought the MB because it was cheap and my brother believes Gigabyte MBs are reliable. I don't have plans to overclock so it seems to fit my expectations at the time. Is there anything particularly wrong with a Z77 MB that I should be aware about?

Geforce 760? Never bought a single component that is that expensive, but imagine it would do wonders to gaming performance in comparison to the 550 ti. Although besides the price I have the concern that it will be even longer then the 550 ti, but I guess if it comes down to that I can move the HHD out of the way to have it fit.

I now hear that the I3 3220 does not fully support PCI 3.0, will that be a problem while upgrading graphics card?
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a b U Graphics card
July 28, 2013 10:28:22 PM

Don't worry about the difference between pcie 2.0 and 3.0. It's not noticeable when you use a single card. :) 
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a c 171 U Graphics card
July 28, 2013 10:30:51 PM

You've misheard then. All Ivy Bridge chips are fine with PCIe3.0. Though there's currently no real need for it, and it's fully backwards compatible.

It's that there's no reason to spend the extra above an H77 board. Good board, but no need for it.

You could go with a 7850, but it's well worth the extra $$ - the 760 is a lot faster, about 7950 levels.
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July 28, 2013 11:06:56 PM

Alright, well I didn't know there was a cheaper version of the board at the time then, I guess I should look harder in the future.

I'm not well versed in the difference in graphics cards, all I have ever really had were Nivida stuff in computer, I think this will be the first time for me replacing a graphics card in a computer that was semi-built by me.

Two more final questions, if I'm getting a 760 in the future, will the I3 bottleneck the 760 (or god forbid, the card to the CPU) and what seller (Gigabyte? MSI?) should I get it from?

Thanks for the replies!
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a c 171 U Graphics card
July 28, 2013 11:23:41 PM

You should be quite OK.

Gigabyte, Asus, MSI, and EVGA are all good brands.
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