Sqeezing a little more out of a gaming system [Upgrade advice request]

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dedeaux

Honorable
Nov 20, 2013
6
0
10,510
My boys, and myself occasionally, have used this system for video conversion, and gaming on the side @1080p.

Xeon 1231v3 (formerly i5 4570)
8G RAM
MSI GTX 960 2G

For gaming, all is 'fine' but I know things could be better. I've intentionally kept us behind on the latest games knowing that the newest stuff typically will push your hardware and temp for upgrades. Besides a new game often see significant price drops over time which is a reward in itself.

Given recent card releases on both AMD and Nvidia's camps, I am seeking a cost effective upgrade to get a couple or more years from this system.

Cash wise, the RX 480 seems to be the best route, yet I still see the GTX 970 as a contender with us not moving out of the 1080p realm. The GTX 1070 seems to be overkill, but could easily be a carry over once this machine is retired and a new one replaces it -- if that even occurs :)

Any thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated.
 
Solution
Darkbreeze
Do you have your C6/C7 states disabled in the bios? That PSU is not Haswell compatible, and you have a Haswell processor, so I'd disable those if you haven't already. Could cause various small issues or major sleep and low power state related issues. Otherwise, that's a solid PSU.

I'd probably say that something like this would be a good choice, OR, wait a few weeks to see what the board partners release in the form of aftermarket cards for the RX 480. Definitely do not get a reference 480.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0 Video Card ($273.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $273.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when...
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

Retired Mod
Jun 24, 2014
80,411
7,631
176,790
RX480=BUST, at least on the reference cards. There is a problem with pulling more power than the PCI slot was designed to handle. I'd avoid that until the AiB partners release aftermarket cards with different firmware and either dual 6 pin or 8 pin plugs.

Budget probably dictates here. GTX 970's can be had for very reasonable prices and are available. GTX 1070 and 1080 are mostly out of stock, most of the time. 1070 seems to be a bit more available here and there, but is of course more expensive. If you have ANY plans to play at higher resolutions or play with VR hardware later, I'd highly suggest trying to budget a 1070 or at the very least, wait for the 1060. Otherwise, for 1080p the GTX 970 pretty much does all you could want.


Power supply might be a factor as well. What is your current PSU model number?
 
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dedeaux

Honorable
Nov 20, 2013
6
0
10,510


I tried to be forward thinking when I replaced the PSU in 2014:

SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE

Likely overkill at the time, but I wanted room to go up in CPU and GPU.
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

Retired Mod
Jun 24, 2014
80,411
7,631
176,790
Do you have your C6/C7 states disabled in the bios? That PSU is not Haswell compatible, and you have a Haswell processor, so I'd disable those if you haven't already. Could cause various small issues or major sleep and low power state related issues. Otherwise, that's a solid PSU.

I'd probably say that something like this would be a good choice, OR, wait a few weeks to see what the board partners release in the form of aftermarket cards for the RX 480. Definitely do not get a reference 480.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0 Video Card ($273.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $273.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-02 18:35 EDT-0400


If you were considering, or might consider in the future, a 1440p setup, then I'd say the G1 Gaming 1070 at 419.00 is a pretty great idea considering it has better than 980TI performance for much less than the 980TI goes for, but at 1080p you'd need a pretty demanding game at ultra everything to account for the expense.
 
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