Upgrading Nvidia video card (from a GTX 670) for next gen games?

redbull02

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Nov 22, 2012
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Hi everyone :hello: I currently have an EVGA GTX 670 FTW ACX 2.0 card (exact model: http://www.evga.com/Products/Specs/GPU.aspx?pn=41A1A160-D559-457A-809C-4F0E42269628) on an Alienware Aurora (the older ones from 2009). I'm currently getting pretty low fps (~10 fps to the point where I have to reduce texture detail to medium and turn off ambient occlusion, etc. so I can play) on high or ultra video settings on next gen games like Assassin's Creed Unity, Ryse- Son of Rome, FarCry4, Shadow Of Mordor, etc. So, I'm looking into upgrading my current video card to something better.
I was thinking an overclocked EVGA GTX 980 with 4GB VRAM but IDK if that would help improve my frame rate (although IMO the main problem is that I only have 2GB VRAM and I need at least 4GB but I'm not sure). So which video card do you guys think is the best one to play all those new next gen games in high or ultra settings (like ultra texture details, physx, HBAO+ ambient occlusion, and all those fancy effects) with some decent fps (~30 to 40 fps). (Oh btw I'm using a single 23' monitor at 1080p, 60Hz)

this pic has my video card specs:


these are pics for specs on my CPU, motherboard and RAM:
http://s1295.photobucket.com/user/redbull02/slideshow/Alienware%20CPU-%20motherboard-%20and%20RAM%20specs

I'm using a 875W PSU

Thanks beforehand ;)
 
Solution
i would max out the fan speed or replace and put in water cooling. i can't afford the water cooling set for my vid card, even tho it's config'd with backplate so i have the option to upgrade to water cooling system for it. so i rigged the air flow to go thru the vid card and both sides of it out the back of the case, to improve cooling for the video card.

DougLYX

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Apr 9, 2011
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i'd say upgrade the whole pc actually
u have x58, with 9gig ram on triple channel.
i have x79 with 16gig(my 64gig set is on rma at the moment) quad channel and boots off ssd. and uses 680 gtx
newest tech is at x99 level, m.2 drives, 128gig capable quad channel ddr4 and 8 core cpu's (18 core if u go xeon).
and 900 series gtx's
 

DougLYX

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i'm waiting about 2-3 yrs before i need to upgrade again, pcie 4.0 will be out by then(think x32 pcie slots) should be at 10 core by then for non-xeon's
usb 4.0, sata 4.0 about 6-12 months later..if not sooner, and with upgraded pcie should be upgraded m.2's as well.
 

DougLYX

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i think raheel forgot to notice redbull2 is on x58 system...not x99 system which those test specs are based upon
redbull2 will see a big improvement, but he'd get way bigger improvement if he built a more advanced pc.
redbull2 is on a 4-5yr old pc, newer vid card won't improve that much, newer system with the newer vid card will improve alot
 

redbull02

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Nov 22, 2012
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Thanks dougL YX and and raheel136 for the reply, really appreciate it ;)
Yea I have a pretty old pc (I should've gone with a custom rig that I could easily upgrade but now I have to buy a new pc if I want to upgrade the mobo or processor to something current bc it's an Alienware; back then I was a much more inexperienced pc gamer lol). I'm planning to do a full upgrade in 3-4 yrs from now since it's gonna be very expensive and I need to start saving up.

But yea I went ahead and got the Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 windforce since the 970's have the best price to performance ratio (like raheel said) and I've seen tons of reviews saying that it gives a lot of OC headroom thanks to its thermal efficiency and power efficiency thanks to the new Maxwell's GPU architecture (some people got the max boost clock up to a stable 1506Mhz under 70C and with acceptable %TDP which is pretty impressive IMO).

Meanwhile I tried OCing my 670 to at least squeeze a bit more fps and got a stable max boost of 1360MHz and mem clock at 3654MHz (while keeping avg temp at 67C and TDP% at 130% max and 110% avg); now I'm getting ~37 avg fps in Assassin's Creed Unity all maxed out (except for only MSAAx2 and no soft shadows, only high quality) (substantial improvement from ~15 to 20 avg fps with those same settings before OC).

So do u guys think it's safe to keep those OC settings for a couple days until my GTX 970 arrives so I can play ACU meanwhile? Oh, and with my current pc, do you think I could at least achieve, say, 40-50 fps in ACU (and similar good fps for other next gen games like FC4, Ryse-Son of Rome, etc.) with my new soon-to-arrive GTX 970 with or without OC?
 

redbull02

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Nov 22, 2012
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just a quick question guys. I managed to get my new gtx 970 to these OC settings:

max stable boost clock = 1584 MHz (offset +230 MHz)
mem clock = 3829 MHz (clock offset+330 MHz)
Avg temp = 70C

However in order to get this performance I have to get my GPU fan% to 80-85% (~2600 rpm). Do you guys think this is a safe fan speed and temp for sustained gaming of about 3 to 4 hours?
 

DougLYX

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i would max out the fan speed or replace and put in water cooling. i can't afford the water cooling set for my vid card, even tho it's config'd with backplate so i have the option to upgrade to water cooling system for it. so i rigged the air flow to go thru the vid card and both sides of it out the back of the case, to improve cooling for the video card.
 
Solution