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Should I upgrade to GTX 670?

Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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Hello,
I am considering upgrading my current GPU and was wondering if it is worth upgrading to the GTX 670 based on my current PC setup. I play games on a 52" TV (1920 x 1080 resolution). My current PC setup is:
- GIGABYTE GA-MA790XT-UD4P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

- AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

- Two (Crossfired) XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

- Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

- 16 GB total - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

- Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...


What are your opinions? Is it worth this upgrade? Will the CPU/motherboard be a bottleneck in this system? Should I consider upgrading any other components?
Thanks in advance for your opinions/feedback.

More about : upgrade gtx 670

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Graphics card Authority

Yes you should I have close to this setup with a 1090T and it runs everything perfectly/ You will love it. Consider an SSD as your next upgrade otherwise you have a nice PC.

Thent

thently said:
Yes you should I have close to this setup with a 1090T and it runs everything perfectly/ You will love it. Consider an SSD as your next upgrade otherwise you have a nice PC.

Thent


Thanks. Which one should I consider. I see there are two available that are higher priced than the 399 suggested retail:

EVGA 02G-P4-2678-KR GeForce GTX 670 FTW 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

or

MSI N670GTX-PM2D2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

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Graphics card Authority

I think I would go with the EVGA but it really does not matter from stock to max factory OC is like a 5% diffrence max so cooling is prob the main diffrence between the cards.

Thent

thently said:
I think I would go with the EVGA but it really does not matter from stock to max factory OC is like a 5% diffrence max so cooling is prob the main diffrence between the cards.

Thent



Thanks.

What about using the GTX 670, which is PCI Express 3.0 X16 on my motherboard which is PCI Express 2.0 X16?

Will it still run?

Any advantages on upgrading to a motherboard PCI Express 3.0, or is it just not worth the upgrade until I upgrade my CPU?

What are the advantages of upgrading to an SSD for gaming?
Graphics card Authority

The 670 won't max out PCIE 2 let alone PCIE 3.

It will run.

No advantage for PCIE3 - you will most likely need PCIe3 for the next gen top of the line GPU's though.

The main advantage of an SSD will be much faster boot times and much less loading times for games. Instead of waiting 15 seconds for a level to load - it will take like 5 or less seconds (just as an example).

Your restart times should go from anywhere from a couple of minutes - down to less than 30-40 seconds. With my SSD, to restart - it takes approx ~15 seconds from power up to windows desktop (and I can start upening things up right away).

Chainzsaw said:
The 670 won't max out PCIE 2 let alone PCIE 3.

It will run.

No advantage for PCIE3 - you will most likely need PCIe3 for the next gen top of the line GPU's though.

The main advantage of an SSD will be much faster boot times and much less loading times for games. Instead of waiting 15 seconds for a level to load - it will take like 5 or less seconds (just as an example).

Your restart times should go from anywhere from a couple of minutes - down to less than 30-40 seconds. With my SSD, to restart - it takes approx ~15 seconds from power up to windows desktop (and I can start upening things up right away).



Thanks for the clarification. Any SSD recommendations? Do I need to install the games that I play in the SSD?

I was looking at the article of recommended SSDs for the month and saw the Mushkin brand. Is it a respectable brand? What size should I consider?
Graphics card Authority

I will let the others answer your SSD questions. But I will give a few reccomendations:

128GB SSD is the sweet spot right now - enough room for your os + 7-8 apps/games.

Crucial M4 is very reliable (using one).

Samsung 830 is good.

I'm sure there are other good ones as well - but I consider reliability #1 in my book for SSD's after my Vertex 2 issue, since most SSD's (the newest gen ones) are all quite fast by default.

So look for best warranty

Best Price

and best reliability

Chainzsaw said:
I will let the others answer your SSD questions. But I will give a few reccomendations:

128GB SSD is the sweet spot right now - enough room for your os + 7-8 apps/games.

Crucial M4 is very reliable (using one).

Samsung 830 is good.

I'm sure there are other good ones as well - but I consider reliability #1 in my book for SSD's after my Vertex 2 issue, since most SSD's (the newest gen ones) are all quite fast by default.

So look for best warranty

Best Price

and best reliability



Thanks. Reliability is also important for me. Is this the one you use?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Graphics card Authority

Hybrid HDD's are only marginally faster than regular HDD's. And in some cases - not quicker at all.

If speed is what you want - you will need an SSD.

By the way the drive you linked is a regular hard drive.

Chainzsaw said:
Hybrid HDD's are only marginally faster than regular HDD's. And in some cases - not quicker at all.

If speed is what you want - you will need an SSD.

By the way the drive you linked is a regular hard drive.



Lol...sorry...linked the wrong one...

Thanks for the clarification. I was going over the available Crucial m4 and I think I am gonna go with this one...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

For only $76 more than the 128 GB version i think it is worth it. Is the reliability of the 256 GB model on par with the 128 GB model?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Graphics card Authority

Yes the reliability should be similar. In fact the 256GB model might even last longer due to more flash cells available (other members can either confirm this or deny it). It will also be slightly faster than the 128GB version.

At 199.99 that's a friggin steal.

Chainzsaw said:
Yes the reliability should be similar. In fact the 256GB model might even last longer due to more flash cells available (other members can either confirm this or deny it). It will also be slightly faster than the 128GB version.

At 199.99 that's a friggin steal.


How long sshould I expect them to last?
Graphics card Authority

The deal or the drive? IDK how long the deal would last. However prices are generally spiraling downwards with SSD drives. They are now at the less than 1$GB range.


There's so little data on SSD's that it's hard to say - but if I were to make an "Educated" guess I would say a minnimum of 3 years. Or at least the number of years on the warranty.

To make it last longer all you have to do is disable page file on the SSD - hibernation - and limit the amount of writes you do to your SSD. Make your default download location on a seperate HDD / use MK links.

Chainzsaw said:
The deal or the drive? IDK how long the deal would last. However prices are generally spiraling downwards with SSD drives. They are now at the less than 1$GB range.


There's so little data on SSD's that it's hard to say - but if I were to make an "Educated" guess I would say a minnimum of 3 years. Or at least the number of years on the warranty.

To make it last longer all you have to do is disable page file on the SSD - hibernation - and limit the amount of writes you do to your SSD. Make your default download location on a seperate HDD / use MK links.



I meant the drive. I usually download files to a separate disk (my VelociRaptor is only 300GB). What are MK links? Does disabling page file reduces its speed?
Graphics card Authority

So many questions! lol.

MK links basically "tricks" your OS into thinking something is installed on your "main" drive when actually it's on your seperate HDD.

For example you could do this with STEAM. If it's growing too large you could use an MK link for it and save space on your SSD.

Disabling page file wouldn't reduce speed as long as you have plenty of RAM.

A page file basically acts like RAM, but is located on all of your storage drives unless you disable it. Pagefiles are much slower than ram, so by turning it off it should actually make things faster.



How about if you ask all your questions in 1 post? It will make things easier for us all.
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