Need GPU Upgrade Advice (From GTX 650, $220 USD Budget)

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Dec 28, 2014
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So, I've got an EVGA GTX 650 (Not the Ti sadly) that is starting to show its age in today's titles. I've never really spent the money on a more powerful component yet, and this'll be a first.

I'm looking to buy something within the week and have it ready by next week. My budget is in the $220 USD or so neighborhood before any kind of rebates and such.


I'll be using it mainly to play games on a borderless windows dual-monitor setup (With 1440x900 and 1024x768 monitors), the 1440 as the main display and the 1024 as a second desktop. Mostly for CS:GO at high settings and Anti-Aliasing at high framerates (120 minimum); Watch_Dogs, Just Cause 2, GTAV, and Battlefield 3/4 running natively on medium/high settings with MSAA x2 or x4 filtering. I prefer quantity over quality.


Currently, I have an EVGA GTX 650 powered by an EVGA 100-W1-500-KR 500W PSU, so nearly any upgrade is better. My other specs are as follow:
Motherboard: Asus CG5270 P41/P45
CPU: Intel Xeon E5440 2.83 GHz
Memory: 8GB DDR2 Samsung
Case: Asus P5Q (Or something like that, it's a generic case with 15 or so inches of horizontal clearance)


I've been eyeing a GTX 960 from Newegg EVGA GTX 960 SSC 4GB

There's also a used FTW version I'm looking at that's floating at $185 USD.

The ACX cooler seems like a good deal too, but I can't find any good reviews and how it compares to others. I keep my case open and have two fans blowing air in and out, so the whole "Hot air back into the case" isn't a problem.


I was originally going to go with a 950, but I figured the extra $30 was worth going a tier up. I also really like EVGA's products and support. I'm okay with getting an MSI, reference, or Asus card, but no Gigabyte, PNY, or ZOTAC.

I'm more in the market for a Nvidia card since they tend not to use as much power, and while I'm not familiar with the naming and abilities of AMD cards, I'm considering trying an AMD card too.


I'm wondering if there's another comparable alternative that I should look for in the 600/700 series that I overlooked. I figured with Pascal coming out soon, a 900 would have better resell value. Plus, I figured Nvidia hasn't just been sitting on ass for a few years and that the 900 cards are going to perform better.


Thanks for reading this giant wall of text, if you made it this far. I'd love any input from the community! Thanks!
 
Solution
I think you shouldn't go 960 as it'd bottleneck with your CPU. With the same CPU as you, the 960 got 6017 on 3dmark. 780ti gets a 8999. Again, a GTX 950 got a 5890 on 3dmark. Your card got 2175, so if you go 780ti, you can get much better performance.

tothergnome

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Mar 27, 2016
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I think you shouldn't go 960 as it'd bottleneck with your CPU. With the same CPU as you, the 960 got 6017 on 3dmark. 780ti gets a 8999. Again, a GTX 950 got a 5890 on 3dmark. Your card got 2175, so if you go 780ti, you can get much better performance.
 
Solution