Advice upgrading from Nvidia 460GTX with i7 930 CPU and Asus X58 mobo?

gabrielflight7 · Oct 10, 2015

Our current pc setup is in desperate need of an upgrade, but I won't be able to do any major upgrades until sometime next year (later than sooner). Until then I was hoping to upgrade a few components as far as possible to have a better playing experience with games like Skyrim. Could someone advise me as to the best/highest gpu I should upgrade to for now? Possibly to last for at least 6 to 8 month or so, maybe a little more.

My current setup:
Asus P6X58D-E
i7 930 CPU
Nvidia GTX460
G.SKILL 6GB DDR3 1600
400w PSU
Corsair H50

The long term goal is to fully replace everything and do an entirely new build next year with better components. Until then, I would like to at least be able to play Skyrim with a few good HD mods, little or no stutter. I can play it with a couple of the larger mods now, but it's a big struggle and I have a lot of stuttering and some crashing. My game graphics could be much better, so I'm really hoping to upgrade the gpu as far up the Nvidia ladder as my mobo and cpu will allow (planning to keep both of those for now, I think). I need more ram also, and I'm guessing a stronger psu.

I read here that a PCIe 3.0 card will work on a PCIe 2.0 mobo - will I be able to upgrade to a 3.0 Nvidia card, maybe a GTX 750 or above? Or would that conflict with something else?

Thanks for any advice, I apologize for my lack of knowledge.

maxalge · Oct 11, 2015

gabrielflight7 :

Our current pc setup is in desperate need of an upgrade, but I won't be able to do any major upgrades until sometime next year (later than sooner). Until then I was hoping to upgrade a few components as far as possible to have a better playing experience with games like Skyrim. Could someone advise me as to the best/highest gpu I should upgrade to for now? Possibly to last for at least 6 to 8 month or so, maybe a little more.

My current setup:
Asus P6X58D-E
i7 930 CPU
Nvidia GTX460
G.SKILL 6GB DDR3 1600
400w PSU
Corsair H50

The long term goal is to fully replace everything and do an entirely new build next year with better components. Until then, I would like to at least be able to play Skyrim with a few good HD mods, little or no stutter. I can play it with a couple of the larger mods now, but it's a big struggle and I have a lot of stuttering and some crashing. My game graphics could be much better, so I'm really hoping to upgrade the gpu as far up the Nvidia ladder as my mobo and cpu will allow (planning to keep both of those for now, I think). I need more ram also, and I'm guessing a stronger psu.

I read here that a PCIe 3.0 card will work on a PCIe 2.0 mobo - will I be able to upgrade to a 3.0 Nvidia card, maybe a GTX 750 or above? Or would that conflict with something else?

Thanks for any advice, I apologize for my lack of knowledge.

make and model of the power supply?

it is recommended 450w GOOD power supply minimum for that video card

this is most likely the issue causing the crasing

gabrielflight7 · Oct 11, 2015

I just found our old receipt for the PSU: a Thermaltake Purepower 600w. It's around 8 years old; doesn't seem to have given us many problems but should it be upgraded now as well? I'm definitely planning to upgrade it next year along with the other parts, but trying to keep as many things as I can right now while switching GPUs and adding ram.

gabrielflight7 · Oct 12, 2015

Thank you for the answers, guys. @tea urchin - yeah, that psu is pretty ancient, unfortunately. Even when we upgraded components a few years ago we neglected the power supply, not really thinking we'd still have it this long.

I was looking at the EVGA G2 850w as a replacement - should I go for a higher wattage or would this suffice?

As far as GPUs, it looks like my current choices are the gtx 750, gtx 960, and gtx 970. If I go with the 750 I can upgrade much sooner, possibly within the next week or two. With the 960, I'd have to wait a month or so, and the 970 would be a much longer wait than that. Given that this is more of a temporary upgrade to hold me over until next year's major upgrade, which GPU would be the best option for now? Is it worth it to spend the extra money on a gtx 960 when I'd probably be looking to upgrade from that in +/- 6 to 8 months or so?

Thanks again for the help

Thorongil44 · Oct 12, 2015

Came here to ask almost this exact question, so I'd also love some advice on this. I'm just coming back to my desktop after a 3 year hiatus (been working on the road during that time so relying on a couple of laptops) and looking to slowly upgrade components until I can afford the time and cost of a new mobo/cpu combo. Currently I have the following:

i7 930
Gigabyte X58-UD3R
16gb DDR3 Crucial Tactical 1600 (yes i know it's a triple channel, but could only afford two sticks at the moment. It's an upgrade from three 2gb sticks anyway)
Palit NVIDIA GTX 460 1GB
Corsair 750TX

I meticulously cleaned every nook and cranny after my long hiatus, and was able to boot everything just fine, including an upgrade to windows 10. However I'm now jonesing for some more power. I'd like to be somewhat forward thinking but also budget conscious. I've been thinking about the GTX 960, but was hoping for some more experienced opinions!

maxalge · Oct 13, 2015

Thorongil44 :

pretty big upgrade, your cpu should handle it with a bit of overclocking

that mobo should handle that no problem if you have an aftermarket cpu cooler

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