replacement card for use with i5 2500k?

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highway72

Commendable
Dec 19, 2016
3
0
1,510
Hi all,

I need to replace my dead card on my 5 year old system - I need some advice please on best picks for a new card. I really only play turn-based strategy stuff, so I’m not after mad FPS, 3D or anything fancy, but I’d like nice looking, high quality settings for games like Xcom2, Civ 6 and Total War at 1080p 60mhz.

I've got a good fan so I can overclock the CPU if its going to bottleneck with a GTX 1060 or 1070.

I had a couple of concerns:

1. Can I run a GTX1060 with this system without issue, and getting the most out of the card? If so, should I go with 3GB or 6GB? (flexible on budget, but why spend the money if you don’t have to!)

2. Or would it be better to get a cheaper card with an older chip but more graphics RAM, and not overclock?

I recently added a bunch of RAM, and hope to get another 2-3 years out of this system. An SSD upgrade might be around the corner too.

The specs -

BUDGET RANGE: USD $200-350

usage only games (not 3D) – Xcom 2, Civ 6, Total War Warhammer

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: Zotac GeForce GTX560 1gb; 600w PSU (one of the main brands, not sure which)

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: core i5 2500 3.3ghz, ECS p67h2 mobo, 24gb ram. decent coolermaster fan, not sure of the specs.

PARTS PREFERENCES: nvidia GPU, not Zotac...

OVERCLOCKING: no (but I can if necessary) SLI OR CROSSFIRE: no

MONITOR RESOLUTION: max 1920x1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
 
Solution
xFeaRDom
1. Can I run a GTX1060 with this system without issue, and getting the most out of the card? If so, should I go with 3GB or 6GB? (flexible on budget, but why spend the money if you don’t have to!)

I would definitely recommend the 6GB over the 3GB, as many games will happily use 4GB or more of VRAM - This GPU will easily provide ultra settings in most games at 1080p 60Hz.

2. Or would it be better to get a cheaper card with an older chip but more graphics RAM, and not overclock?

I would say the GTX 1060 would be the best bet.

This would bring a good performance increase, although an SSD upgrade will also bring great benefits over the classical old HDD.

At stock, a GTX 1060 may be bottlenecked by the 2500K, but that will not be...
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xFeaRDom

xFeaRDom

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Jul 28, 2016
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1. Can I run a GTX1060 with this system without issue, and getting the most out of the card? If so, should I go with 3GB or 6GB? (flexible on budget, but why spend the money if you don’t have to!)

I would definitely recommend the 6GB over the 3GB, as many games will happily use 4GB or more of VRAM - This GPU will easily provide ultra settings in most games at 1080p 60Hz.

2. Or would it be better to get a cheaper card with an older chip but more graphics RAM, and not overclock?

I would say the GTX 1060 would be the best bet.

This would bring a good performance increase, although an SSD upgrade will also bring great benefits over the classical old HDD.

At stock, a GTX 1060 may be bottlenecked by the 2500K, but that will not be major, a slight overclock will definitely close that bracket, and also give a nice boost to your system performance.

Edit: If possible, find out what exact PSU you have, it may determine if you need a PSU upgrade or not, but I am not too worried about that, as it is most likely suitable for the GTX 1060 6GB.
 
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Solution
FrEaKii

FrEaKii

Commendable
Dec 20, 2016
58
0
1,660
The GTX1060 should run fine with your i5 2500k, the CPU might bottleneck a GTX1070 in CPU demanding games.
As long as your mainly playing in 1080p I would recommend you getting a GTX1060 and might spend the bucks saved for the GTX1070 in a SSD.

If you think of going for a GTX1070 you might want to gather some more information on your PSU before upgrading.
 
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H

highway72

Commendable
Dec 19, 2016
3
0
1,510
thanks guys for the help, much appreciated. my PSU is a Corsair CX600 (guessing by looking at images online), with 2 PCI-e inputs, so I guess it's good to go
 
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