Wanting to upgrade my HD6970...

bushkin · Sep 14, 2017

Hi guys,
I'm looking to upgrade my HD6970 to something a bit better short term, before i upgrade to a new pc.

My current specs are:
M-board- asustek M5A78L
CPU- AMD FX8120
16gb RAM

I want something to allow me to play comfortably in 1080p for now.

Cheers!

GamingEnthusiast420 · Sep 14, 2017

Budget? I would buy a 1050 ti or a 1050, or if you are low on cash pick up a used 960 on ebay.. Goes for around 100 bucks and if you don't mind the used part it will run most games fine.

bushkin · Sep 14, 2017

Found a MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Gaming X (4GB) on ebay, would that be compatible?
About £120.00
Don't want to spend any more than that really.
Thanks

GamingEnthusiast420 · Sep 14, 2017

It would be compatible, but a 960 would perform better. And I just saw one for 110 on Ebay.

bushkin · Sep 14, 2017

GamingEnthusiast420 :

Is that because of bottle-necking?

GamingEnthusiast420 · Sep 14, 2017

bushkin :

No, its just the natural speed of the card. Although it is older, it is a higher model on the tier list (basically the 1060 of 2014) so even as the newer cards are faster they don't stand much of a chance against a higher model.

bushkin · Sep 14, 2017

GamingEnthusiast420 :

bushkin :

No, its just the natural speed of the card. Although it is older, it is a higher model on the tier list (basically the 1060 of 2014) so even as the newer cards are faster they don't stand much of a chance against a higher model.

Brilliant, thanks.

Would it be worth getting the 4gb Version?

GamingEnthusiast420 · Sep 14, 2017

Yes, as the 4GB version is the one that beats the 1050ti. The 2GB one is just slightly better than what you already have.

bushkin · Sep 14, 2017

GamingEnthusiast420 :

Ok, cheers mate.
One more stupid question...
Does the new card have to match the dimensions of the old card?

GamingEnthusiast420 · Sep 14, 2017

bushkin :

No, unless you have an absurdly small ITX case. You can 100% get anything smaller than the one you have, and you will most likely fit anything bigger. If you aren't sure, give me the model of your case and the model of the card and I can check for you.

bushkin · Sep 14, 2017

GamingEnthusiast420 :

It's just a fairly standard sized case, think it will be fine.
I'm looking at the Geforce GTX 960 - EVGA 4GB PCI-E
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 4GB Graphics Card GDDR5 PCI-E Dual-Link
MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (4096 MB) (GTX960 GAMING 4G
GIGABYTE GEFORCE GTX 960 WINDFORCE 4GB
EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (4096 MB) (04G-P4-3967-KR)
Would you say there is a particular standout one here?

GamingEnthusiast420 · Sep 14, 2017

I would go for the MSI as it looks the best, because the performance is almost identical between them all. Technically the fastest is the windforce, but by like 2 fps.

bushkin · Sep 14, 2017

GamingEnthusiast420 :

Thanks for the help.
I'll let you know what i go for!

agello24 · Sep 14, 2017

i would have gone with the gtx 960. its cheaper and a good temp card to use with your fx chip.

GamingEnthusiast420 · Sep 14, 2017

bushkin :

Good luck! P.S , tell me what your case is before buying. Yes, I know that 90% of cards will fit, but as the old saying goes, measure twice, cut once

bushkin · Sep 15, 2017

GamingEnthusiast420 :

So I went for the EVGA 960 4GB in the end, £120.
As for my case, its just a standard case. I honestly dont know the specs.
I could have a measure up!
The card itself looks smaller than the HD6970, but thats just from looking at pictures.

Edit:
The 6970 is 275mm in length while the 960 is 172mm.
So should fit fine...

GamingEnthusiast420 · Sep 15, 2017

bushkin :

GamingEnthusiast420 :

So I went for the EVGA 960 4GB in the end, £120.
As for my case, its just a standard case. I honestly dont know the specs.
I could have a measure up!
The card itself looks smaller than the HD6970, but thats just from looking at pictures.

Edit:
The 6970 is 275mm in length while the 960 is 172mm.
So should fit fine...

Ok great, good luck with your new GPU!

bushkin · Sep 15, 2017

GamingEnthusiast420 :

bushkin :

Ok great, good luck with your new GPU!

Thanks mate, i'll come back once I've installed it and ask some more annoying questions! lol

GamingEnthusiast420 · Sep 15, 2017

bushkin :

GamingEnthusiast420 :

bushkin :

Ok great, good luck with your new GPU!

Thanks mate, i'll come back once I've installed it and ask some more annoying questions! lol

Feel free to ask anything, thats what I'm here for

horsemam321 · Sep 18, 2017

GamingEnthusiast420 :

Other than the amount of memory the 2GB and 4GB cards are the same, and both are slower than a 1050 Ti and sometimes by a good deal. At best a 960 will be 2-3 fps behind with lower mins.

bushkin · Sep 18, 2017

Thought i'd ask here instead of starting another thread.

I'm running HW monitor to check my processor speeds etc, and i basically want to OC the CPU a bit.
But the processor speed seems to fluctuate a lot.
The multiplier keeps changing every few seconds, is that normal?

Oh and any help to try and OC the FX8120 would be amazing (complete noob)
Thanks

GamingEnthusiast420 · Sep 18, 2017

bushkin :

Not really. What program do you use? It may be the fault of the application. I would recommend MSI Afterburner or CPU-Z as the usually have more accurate results. Also what is your cooler? The 8120 is a hot chip on its own, and overclocking it on a lower-end heatsink could cause some problems.

bushkin · Sep 19, 2017

GamingEnthusiast420 :

Ok, so i've installed the 960.
Upon powering up for the first time, i get a black screen. Can't even get to the bios settings.
So i searched around on here and found that my bios may need updating as the new card is a PCI 3 slot. And i hadn't updated the bios for years.
So i updated the bios, re-tried and still the same problem,
The fan starts on the card for a few seconds on startup and then the screen just stays black, really frustrating!

GamingEnthusiast420 · Sep 19, 2017

1) What motherboard do you have
2) What BIOS version was it
3) What BIOS version is it now

bushkin · Sep 19, 2017

GamingEnthusiast420 :

The mobo is a M5A78L-M/USB3
Bios ver was 0801 i think
and now its 2101 which is the latest i believe.
Thanks

Wanting to upgrade my HD6970...

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