Think my gtx460 is dying. need an upgrade - please help me choose?

[qwertysoares]

Hey all. Let me just preface this by saying I don't know too much about building computers, but I like to believe i'm not a complete moron.

So recently in the middle of a game of League of Legends, my UI got all weird and started tearing. i tested it in saints row 3 as well and it did the same thing, though not as much. This has never happened to me before but my computer is about 3-4 years old and the card is about 2 years old.

now i see alot of artifacts(i think that's what it's called, basically little squares appearing randomly) but they disappear if i move a window over it or change the screen. I have tried re-seating and cleaning the card, updated to newest drivers and even beta drivers. no change. so i guess my card is dying and i need an upgrade. PLEASE HELP!

i've been away from the scene and don't know what's new anymore, but basically i want a card that will run most new games on high. my 460 has been able to (while cooking eggs albeit) for the most part but it's time is passed.

specs: (im not sure what i should include here so im just gonna throw a bunch of lines from cpu-z here)
CPU: Intel Core i5 750
8gb RAM DDR3
Mainboard: gateway FMP55
1.5TB HDD and an extra 500G HDD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1gb
PSU: 650W

300-ish dollar budget but im hoping i dont have to spend that much.
So what card would suit my needs? and is it essential to upgrade my CPU/MOBO as well?

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

The minimum you should probably do is a 7850 2gb.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%20600007782&IsNodeId=1&Description=7850&name=2GB&Order=BESTMATCH

 

[qwertysoares]

Does that card work with my mobo? it says PCI 3.0 but i'm not sure if that's what i have. Also would my CPU bottleneck the card too much? i'm a bit worried about how old my CPU is. Thanks for the reply.

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

I am guessing it is a pcie 2.0 x8/x16. Either one will work fine. I was going to bring up bottlenecking. Yes, there is a chance that there will be a bottleneck. An i7 920 will bottleneck a 7950, so I don't know about your cpu and the 7850.

 

[qwertysoares]

yea cpu-z says PCI-E x16. nothing about 1.0 or 2.0 or anything. Alright i guess ill wait until tomorrow night to order this, to give time for anyone else to chime in. Thanks alot for the info

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

I'm pretty sure that means it's 1.0. You might get a small bottleneck from that, it shouldn't be to substantial. It might be time for you to do a full upgrade.

 

[The Q6660 Inside]

The processor, RAM, PSU, etc are perfectly fine for these GFX cards and should not cause a bottleneck.

FYI: it _dan_zsu , a 920 will not bottleneck a single 7950 but likely CF 7950s. A 750 is a 920 without HT (useless in gaming) , triple channel RAM (also useless in gaming) and the 1366 socket (just pins and mobo type).

These are some choices that seem to be quite popular :

Minimum for budget- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121651 , http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127699 , http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130841 or any 7850/GTX 650Ti/GTX 660 that fits your needs

Likely your fit (modern equivalent to 460) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130809 , http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202025 or any 7870/ GTX 660ti that fits your needs

Maximum for budget- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127667 , http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130782 or any 7950 and GTX 670 that fits your needs

The GTX 650ti will give performance very similar to the GTX 460.
The 7850 will give you a great performance gain over the GTX 460
The 660ti and 7870 will give you really good performance gain over the GTX 460
The 7950 and GTX 670 will literally destroy the GTX 460

 

[bigshootr8]

With the PCI-E bus you are plenty fine with having a PCI-E 2.0 board the performance difference is miniscule in comparison to 3.0. I would say it all depends on your budget but I would go with something like a 7870XT perhaps from Sapphire or even a 660Ti if you can find it low enough from Nvidia.