Advice on a New Graphics Card

justinx01 · Oct 17, 2016

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: (Within a Week or 2) BUDGET RANGE: ($100-$250, maybe $300 , if performance is much better than the one below it. No rebates please.)

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: (e.g.: Gaming, surfing, movies, the usual.)

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: (GFX - Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT w/ 2GB Boost, PSU - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W)

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: (CPU - Intel Core i5 3350P Ivy Bridge 3.1GHZ, RAM - CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB 2x 4GB, MoBo - ASRock H77M LGA 1155 Intel H77, HDD - Western Digital WD Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM, CASE - Case - NZXT Source 220)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: ( Newegg preferably as that is where I got my parts for my current build but can try other sites if there is a good deal(s) ) COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: (USA)

If you do not know of a store for your country this thread will point you in the right direction: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1643019/guide-inte...

Tom's Hardware gets users from literally all over the world. Knowing the pricing and availability of parts relative to where you live will help us (the community) to help you (the original poster) better.

PARTS PREFERENCES: (NVIDIA. Had a bad experiece with an AMD card, see below)

OVERCLOCKING: No. SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: (1920x1080)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: (1440p, 4K, and/or any resolution above 1080P is not a necessity for me as I don't care for those or see the point. As long as it has good/great performance on any game thrown at it, I'm okay with it. Prefer a good, steady FPS than higher resolution above 1080P)

Is an upgrade possible for this build or will pretty much an entirely new build be required for any new(er) graphics cards nowadays? Reason why I'm replacing/upgrading this GPU is it has weird clock problems (2D and 3D clocks fluctuate in game a lot and crashes the PC, requiring a reboot. Also starting to "feel" the card's performance hitting a wall on newer games (struggling to stay above 30FPS, etc, in other words, just wanting to upgrade). The crashes can happen once a day to once every 3 months but only happens in game, even, for example, Runescape.) Didn't know of the clock problems at the time of buying it back in 2013 until warranty was up. Underclocking the card greatly reduces the chances of crashes but they still can happen. Would rather have a card that "just works" instead of having to do some weird configurations to reduce/remove crashes in MSI Afterburner, etc.

Any suggestions are welcome.

chemmajorp53 · Oct 17, 2016

Those crashes could also be your Power Supply dying, I'd be aware of that in case replacing the GPU doesn't solve your problem. That being said, either an RX 470 or an RX 480 is probably the best fit for you.

Hlsgsz · Oct 17, 2016

This would be your best bang for buck in that range: http://pcpartpicker.com/product/gL98TW/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-1060-6gb-g1-gaming-video-card-gv-n1060g1-gaming-6gd

You will have to take into account a CPU upgrade aswell in the future, as that i5 will limit any good card these days. Look for a second hand i5 3570 or, better yet i7 3770

justinx01 · Oct 17, 2016

No way it can be the PSU (I understand what you mean though) as I got the PSU along with the rest of the parts all at the same time. While I watch MSI Afterburner on my 2nd screen, the GPU Usage and core clock speeds fluctuate a bit while playing anything. For example, while playing Diablo 3, the GPU Usage will go from like, around the 80s-90s, to the 40s and back up when nothing major happens on screen. Now if I underclock the card from 975 MHz to 920MHz, the card runs more stable.

justinx01 · Oct 17, 2016

Hlsgsz :

Hi, thanks for post. Card looks great but if I have to change my CPU, would it be best to just get a new build? (Don't really like buying used hardware.) Is my CPU really that...well...limiting?

Hlsgsz · Oct 18, 2016

justinx01 :

No, not that limiting, but there are titles where it'll hold back a good card. NOt to an unplayable amount, mind you, but it would.
Obviously, a new build is always best, but it always comes down to budget, adn a 3770 is still a very potent CPU. You shouldn;t worry too much about buying second hand. These are not K-series CPU, hence they have not been overclocked, so not much to worry about, really.

justinx01 · Oct 18, 2016

Hlsgsz :

Oh I see now. I mis-read. Guess I'll look around for one but yeah, a new build is always better. A 1060 is what I believe I'm leaning on. I guess I'll get a new(er) CPU also. A Haswell (brand new) isn't really too much more than a used ivy bridge.

I believe I'll have to replace the motherboard which sucks but oh well.

Hlsgsz · Oct 18, 2016

justinx01 :

If you're going to replace your MB, it's a bad idea to invest in already old tech. WHat you want is Skylake:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($195.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: *ASRock H170M Pro4S Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($62.25 @ Newegg)
Memory: *Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($66.54 @ NCIX US)
Total: $324.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-18 13:29 EDT-0400

And yes, selling your DDR3 and getting DDR4 is very much merited.

justinx01 · Oct 18, 2016

Hlsgsz :

justinx01 :

If you're going to replace your MB, it's a bad idea to invest in already old tech. WHat you want is Skylake:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($195.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: *ASRock H170M Pro4S Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($62.25 @ Newegg)
Memory: *Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($66.54 @ NCIX US)
Total: $324.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-18 13:29 EDT-0400

And yes, selling your DDR3 and getting DDR4 is very much merited.

Oh wow, I forgot about Skylake. These don't look bad at all. So ok, for the Gigabyte 1060, is my PSU fine or is that something else I will have to look into?

Hlsgsz · Oct 19, 2016

justinx01 :

Hlsgsz :

justinx01 :

If you're going to replace your MB, it's a bad idea to invest in already old tech. WHat you want is Skylake:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($195.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: *ASRock H170M Pro4S Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($62.25 @ Newegg)
Memory: *Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($66.54 @ NCIX US)
Total: $324.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-18 13:29 EDT-0400

And yes, selling your DDR3 and getting DDR4 is very much merited.

Oh wow, I forgot about Skylake. These don't look bad at all. So ok, for the Gigabyte 1060, is my PSU fine or is that something else I will have to look into?

Your PSU is fine. If you go for Haswell or above, you will just have to go into the BIOS and disable something called C6/C7 states. This is irrelevant, but should be done for sleep mode to function properly.

EDIT: Btw, the mB in the build is a very good deal and you should go for it if you mean to upgrade these days.

justinx01 · Oct 19, 2016

Hlsgsz :

justinx01 :

Hlsgsz :

Oh wow, I forgot about Skylake. These don't look bad at all. So ok, for the Gigabyte 1060, is my PSU fine or is that something else I will have to look into?

Your PSU is fine. If you go for Haswell or above, you will just have to go into the BIOS and disable something called C6/C7 states. This is irrelevant, but should be done for sleep mode to function properly.

EDIT: Btw, the mB in the build is a very good deal and you should go for it if you mean to upgrade these days.

I have a problem with sleep mode on my ivy bridge currently (I dont really use sleep mode often/if at all) when I do attempt sleep mode. Once it goes to sleep (the PC that is), it'll be like 5-10 mins and it will wake back up and be at the login screen.

Definitely going to start upgrading. Thanks for the help.

FnaticMeister · Oct 19, 2016

justinx01 :

Hlsgsz :

justinx01 :

Your PSU is fine. If you go for Haswell or above, you will just have to go into the BIOS and disable something called C6/C7 states. This is irrelevant, but should be done for sleep mode to function properly.

EDIT: Btw, the mB in the build is a very good deal and you should go for it if you mean to upgrade these days.

I have a problem with sleep mode on my ivy bridge currently (I dont really use sleep mode often/if at all) when I do attempt sleep mode. Once it goes to sleep (the PC that is), it'll be like 5-10 mins and it will wake back up and be at the login screen.

Definitely going to start upgrading. Thanks for the help.

May i ask where you live? You could go to microcenter with their open box GPU's which are AMAZINGLY cheap and have a load of discounts.

justinx01 · Oct 19, 2016

FnaticMeister :

justinx01 :

Hlsgsz :

justinx01 :

Your PSU is fine. If you go for Haswell or above, you will just have to go into the BIOS and disable something called C6/C7 states. This is irrelevant, but should be done for sleep mode to function properly.

EDIT: Btw, the mB in the build is a very good deal and you should go for it if you mean to upgrade these days.

I have a problem with sleep mode on my ivy bridge currently (I dont really use sleep mode often/if at all) when I do attempt sleep mode. Once it goes to sleep (the PC that is), it'll be like 5-10 mins and it will wake back up and be at the login screen.

Definitely going to start upgrading. Thanks for the help.

May i ask where you live? You could go to microcenter with their open box GPU's which are AMAZINGLY cheap and have a load of discounts.

North Carolina. And yeah I looked for a close one but there aren't near me or are too far away.

Hlsgsz · Oct 19, 2016

justinx01 :

Hlsgsz :

justinx01 :

Your PSU is fine. If you go for Haswell or above, you will just have to go into the BIOS and disable something called C6/C7 states. This is irrelevant, but should be done for sleep mode to function properly.

EDIT: Btw, the mB in the build is a very good deal and you should go for it if you mean to upgrade these days.

I have a problem with sleep mode on my ivy bridge currently (I dont really use sleep mode often/if at all) when I do attempt sleep mode. Once it goes to sleep (the PC that is), it'll be like 5-10 mins and it will wake back up and be at the login screen.

Definitely going to start upgrading. Thanks for the help.

There are several reasons why a computer would not stay in sleep or hibernation mode, but that's a whole topic in and of itself.
You're welcome!

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