Would adding a GTX 970 in my 4 years old system be worth it?

Freakything · Dec 5, 2014

Hello,

Like the title says, I'm looking to improve my system without buying a whole new computer. I know that in the past just changing the video card made a huge difference but I realize my parts are pretty old now so I'm not sure if the performance gain would be worth it.

My current system:

ASUS P7P55D-D motherboard
INTEL I5 I760 2.80/8M/1156
ANTEC 850 W Continuous PSU
8 Gb RAM (can't remember the specifics)
2 X EVGA GTX460 1GB,256BIT GDDR5,PCI-E2.0X16
Samsung SSD 840 PRO Series 256Gb

I'm running Windows 7 with a modest 1920x1080 resolution.

Any thoughts would be appreciated, thank you!

okcnaline · Dec 5, 2014

Naw... Bottlenecking. If you can OC that CPU, do that, but until then, not worth.

clutchc · Dec 5, 2014

I'm assuming that is a typo and you meant i5-760. There would be enough CPU bottle neck that you would be better off saving some $ and going with an R9-280 or GTX 760 instead. You won't be able to get the full benefit from the GTX 970 unless the games were extremely GPU limited.

17seconds · Dec 5, 2014

I'm going to cut across the grain and say bottlenecking won't be a major issue. Speaking as someone with a GTX 780 Ti and a i7-875k with minimal/no bottlenecking. Now, the i5 lacks Hyperthreading and your clock speed is very slightly slower than mine, but I'm just not seeing a true major bottlenecking situation based on my personal experience with 90-99% GPU usage in: Borderlands 2, Bioshock Infinite, Witcher 2 (Ubersampling enabled), COD:Ghosts, Shadow of Mordor, Far Cry 3, etc.

The other thing that gives me confidence is Nvidia's DSR technology. Dynamic Super Resolution allows you to select resolutions higher than your monitor's native resolution, as high as 4K, for greatly improved image quality. With DSR, you will be able to force more load onto your GPU with higher resolutions and really exploit that powerful GPU.

I guess the real question for you is the big picture; how long do you plan to stick with your current CPU setup? Do you have plans for other upgrades? If this is part of a larger upgrade, then no problem. If you plan to stick with this current setup for an extended period, years, then maybe set your sights a tad lower/cheaper. With that though, the GTX 970 at $350 is inexpensive enough, in my opinion, to say "what the heck, go for it".

After all, bottlenecking isn't really a problem in the end, it just means you spent a little too much. You may be comfortable with that. I mean, what else are you going to get? A GTX 780 for the same price? A GTX 770 for $50 less? Bottlenecking also depends on the game and some games will definitely favor the GPU over the CPU and in those cases, you'll appreciate the extra power.

clutchc · Dec 5, 2014

@ 17seconds
You're right, the i7-875K is still a beast. I had one until recently. Damn fool for selling it. But (OC'd) it is in another league from the i5-760. And unlike your i7-875K, is not easily OC'd. According to Tom's CPU Hierarchy chart, the i5-760 is in the same class as my phenom II X4 965BE. Even OC'd to 4.0 GHz, my PhII can just keep up with my R9-280 in most games. CPU @ 100% usage, GPU at less than 100% usage in most games.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

If the OP has an upgrade in mind for his CPU/MB, then the 970 would be worth it. He could always move it to the new system.

But if you're sure the i7-875K is not bottle necking your GTX 780 Ti, I may have to re-think...

17seconds · Dec 5, 2014

I checked to see if it was even possible to upgrade his CPU to a i7-860 or 875, but those just aren't for sale any more.

I'm positive about my experience, but I take a lot of care to push as much load onto my GPU as possible. I also take a lot of time to tweak my settings if necessary, but in general, I'm running full settings at 90%+ CPU usage with high FPS, even in Shadow of Mordor. From my experience, the GTX 780 Ti with a stock 875k is a perfect pairing. Hard to say if a little more GPU paired with a little less CPU will be a drastic difference. I'm going on my personal experience, but I certainly don't want to mislead.

All the same, I'm thinking the alternative deals out there aren't all that much better. In the end, it's sort of like gamboling and you need to decide how much money you want to put on the table.

17seconds · Dec 5, 2014

I just ran the Shadow of Mordor built in benchmark:

GPU usage: 96-98%
CPU usage: ~75% avg., range 56-89%
FPS: 34 min, 67 avg., 96 max
Memory usage: 3059 MB (ultra settings)

clutchc · Dec 5, 2014

17seconds :

Amazing. Is that a GPU limited game, maybe? How high do you have the 875K OC'ed?

krells · Dec 5, 2014

17seconds :

I'm going to cut across the grain and say bottlenecking won't be a major issue. Speaking as someone with a GTX 780 Ti and a i7-875k with minimal/no bottlenecking. Now, the i5 lacks Hyperthreading and your clock speed is very slightly slower than mine, but I'm just not seeing a true major bottlenecking situation based on my personal experience with 90-99% GPU usage in: Borderlands 2, Bioshock Infinite, Witcher 2 (Ubersampling enabled), COD:Ghosts, Shadow of Mordor, Far Cry 3, etc.

The other thing that gives me confidence is Nvidia's DSR technology. Dynamic Super Resolution allows you to select resolutions higher than your monitor's native resolution, as high as 4K, for greatly improved image quality. With DSR, you will be able to force more load onto your GPU with higher resolutions and really exploit that powerful GPU.

I guess the real question for you is the big picture; how long do you plan to stick with your current CPU setup? Do you have plans for other upgrades? If this is part of a larger upgrade, then no problem. If you plan to stick with this current setup for an extended period, years, then maybe set your sights a tad lower/cheaper. With that though, the GTX 970 at $350 is inexpensive enough, in my opinion, to say "what the heck, go for it".

After all, bottlenecking isn't really a problem in the end, it just means you spent a little too much. You may be comfortable with that. I mean, what else are you going to get? A GTX 780 for the same price? A GTX 770 for $50 less? Bottlenecking also depends on the game and some games will definitely favor the GPU over the CPU and in those cases, you'll appreciate the extra power.

This has been my experience too. I don't have any major bottlenecks with my i7-930 at 3.8 ghz. I have run 970's in sli and 295x2 with no problems. Some games do scale better thought.

17seconds · Dec 5, 2014

All stock settings. Those are typical numbers I usually get on most recent games.
Resolution: 1920x1080

clutchc · Dec 5, 2014

17seconds :

Well... I guess I can't argue with numbers. LOL... Now I'm really pissed I sold my 875K.

Freakything · Dec 6, 2014

Honestly my system still runs most new games at medium settings, so I was not in a rush to change it. However money is not an issue at all so I think I'll do as clutchc suggests and buy it, then keep the card for my next system. Who knows maybe I'll be able to buy a second one for cheap then and use them in SLI (even though all my previous experiences in the matter ended up with me buying a single bigger card instead - who knows?).

Do you guys have any suggestion about the brand? I admit I saw quite a bunch of different brands and models on NewEgg and I can't tell how to pick.

And thank you all for having taken the time to answer.

coozie7 · Dec 6, 2014

^ Sounds like a sensible plan, based on fine advice to me.
If you live in the USA or Canada, EVGA offer the best warranty and service in the business.
The MSI Gaming and Asus Direct CUII coolers are amongst the quietest/coolest.
The early 'teething' troubles with the EVGA coolers and MSI fans have been sorted AFAIK but read the most up to date reviews on the 'egg with regards to coil whine, ( a sometimes loud squealing caused by the cards electronics) it still seems to be an issue for some.
It should be fairly easy to overclock the CPU to 3.4GHz, which will reduce any bottlenecking to pretty well zero, the little Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo is enough for this fairly moderate overclock (my i5 750 ran at 3.6GHz with that cooler but fully loaded it got to <>79C, a bit too warm for my tastes so I backed it off to a cooler and quieter 3.4GHz).

atomicprince11 · Dec 6, 2014

I'd get two 770s if I were you
You must have a very good airflow in the case though

17seconds · Dec 6, 2014

At this moment in time, the best deal that I see on Newegg is this one:

Gigabyte GTX 970 Windforce OC
$350 + free game + 3% off if your purchase by 12/13 (~$340)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125685

The cards that are cheaper, as low as $330 are all the basic cards by Zotac, MSI, and Gigabyte. None of these have the upgraded features of their AMP!, Gaming, or Windforce versions respectively.

The cards at a higher price point are significantly more expensive and only marginally better, if at all.

Freakything · Dec 7, 2014

Unfortunately I'm in Canada so the suggested Gygabyte card would come off costlier than advertised. I think I'll go with the EVGA instead, as I was satisfied with the performance of mines for the past few years. After reading a few reviews it looks like the coil whine isn't fixed yet, but I have a hard time imagining this as being more noisy than two old cards giving all they're worth to run a recent game.

Thanks everyone for the sound advice!

17seconds · Dec 7, 2014

Freakything :

Checking out Newegg Canada, I think you're right, go for the EVGA FTW, which is one of the least expensive and best models they have. They also have that same Gigabyte card, but for only $10 less than the EVGA FTW. Might as well go with the top of the line EVGA model.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487077

If you're worried about coil whine, here's an article investigating the recent reports.
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/67822-graphics-card-coil-whine-investigation.html

Freakything · Dec 8, 2014

Interesting article and suggestion, I'll indeed order that one once they have it in stock. Thanks again!

Would adding a GTX 970 in my 4 years old system be worth it?

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