PC upgrade for gaming. Old(ish) chip, is it worth getting a GTX 660?

[Miotas]

Hello,

I'm about to commit to a video card and PSU upgrade and looking for advice. My chip is an AMD Phenom II 965 3.4 Ghz Black edition.

I 'm a student so budget is a major consideration. Having said that, I'll spend €20 more if it provides bang for the buck.

The cards I’m considering are Gainward GeForce GTX 660 2GB (ex-sample) or a Saphire Radeon 7870. Both at €180. BUT I’m wondering since my chip is kind of old , would I be better sticking with the Saphire Radeon 7850 for €160?


For a PSU I was looking at Antec High Current Gamer 520M 80PLUS Bronze . Is this enough? Should I invest another 20 euro and get something like the Be Quiet ! Alimentation System Power 7 600 W 80PLUS Silver ?

I'm playing Guild Wars 2 at the moment, I get 30-40 FPS with visuals at minimum (res. 1200 x 800) . I'd like to be able to play at higher resolution mostly. My screens default is 1980 x 1020.

I'm tempted by the PSU upgrade as I'd like to overclock my CPU also.

Any advice is greatly appreciated,

Thanks !

 

[ittimjones]

i like both of ur 1st choices
660 and Antec PSU

 

[maxalge]

Hello,

I'm about to commit to a video card and PSU upgrade and looking for advice. My chip is an AMD Phenom II 965 3.4 Ghz Black edition.

I 'm a student so budget is a major consideration. Having said that, I'll spend €20 more if it provides bang for the buck.

The cards I’m considering are Gainward GeForce GTX 660 2GB (ex-sample) or a Saphire Radeon 7870. Both at €180. BUT I’m wondering since my chip is kind of old , would I be better sticking with the Saphire Radeon 7850 for €160?


For a PSU I was looking at Antec High Current Gamer 520M 80PLUS Bronze . Is this enough? Should I invest another 20 euro and get something like the Be Quiet ! Alimentation System Power 7 600 W 80PLUS Silver ?

I'm playing Guild Wars 2 at the moment, I get 30-40 FPS with visuals at minimum (res. 1200 x 800) . I'd like to be able to play at higher resolution mostly. My screens default is 1980 x 1020.

I'm tempted by the PSU upgrade as I'd like to overclock my CPU also.

Any advice is greatly appreciated,

Thanks !

Good choices.


I would snap up the 7870 its about 8% faster and can overclock better than the non ti 660, plus an aftermarket cooler so you could get 4ghz on the cpu.


The antec 520w is more than enough for your needs.


Good luck!

 

[coozie7]

Agree with the others, good choice on the PSU.
Do n't forget, for any serious overclocking you'll need a better cooler so unless you already have one installed I'd suggest you go for the HD7850 and use the saved cash to get a better cooler-you can always overclock the 7850 after all .
You're giving prices in Euro. Are you in Continental Europe or the UK?

 

[MajinCry]

Just as an FYI, the 965 BE is only 20% 'slower' than the i5 2500k. It isn't that old, as far as performance in concerned.

 

[Miotas]

Thanks for the tips. I'll take the Antec.... I'm also leaning toward the 7850. I think it will more then meet my requirements. I've no fancy cooling solutions - maybe that's why the processor overclock was unremarkable to not helpful.

I'm in France, hence the euro.

Just as an FYI, the 965 BE is only 20% 'slower' than the i5 2500k. It isn't that old, as far as performance in concerned.

That's good news : ) Guild wars is apparently very CPU dependent.

 

[DarkSable]

Throwing out there, you'll get a HUGE performance gain if you leap for a 7870xt.

It has 95% of the performance of a stock 7950 for $220, and is currently the best thing out there price/performance wise.

 

[swifty_morgan]

the XT won't make any difference. OP stated it's an old system so the 2 previously mentioned card won't be fully utilized.

OP, what's the rest of the hardware?

 

[Miotas]

Asus M5A78L-M LX V2
AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 965 Processor 3.4Ghz
4GiB 1333 MHz (one slot of two free : will be upgraded with a second matching stick of 4GB)
Seagate ST500DM002-1BD14
DVD RAM writer.
current display is HD5450.

do you need anything else?

thanks for the help guys ; )

 

[swifty_morgan]

somewhere along the line you will be cpu bound. but I wouldn't put anything better on that machine.

 

[coozie7]

@Miotas: Do n't forget, to use 8 Gb of memory you'll need to have a 64 bit OS installed.
And I think Swifty_morgan means 'better than a hd 7850', sorry if I'm wgrong mate, it's been a long day in the window factory so my head's thicker than ususal .

 

[Miotas]

Plus Im on a very limited budget so upgrades will be minimal. Plus, theres a good chance I will buy a whole new system once I have an income again , in a year or so.

 

[Miotas]

Hey - missed your reply. Ok; that makes sense, I thought he might have been talking about a CPU upgrade.

So AMD 7850 max - would even this card be overkill on this system so?

perhaps a smaller upgrade just to tide me over for the year would be more judicious...

Thanks for all the help !

(and yes; I have a 64 bit system)

 

[swifty_morgan]

read between the lines. if you're going to upgrade to an i5 or i7 or something newer and faster in the "near" future, but a gtx680..... entendido?

 

[MC_K7]

Upgrade to 8GB of RAM (64-bit OS required) and go for the Radeon 7870. Phenom-II 965 isn't that old and it's a good CPU, I don't think it will bottleneck the card by much. But if you're worried about that you could settle for a 7850.

 

[Miotas]

ah, a linguist! Très charmant. Are you a native Spanish speaker? That might explain your inability to articulate your thoughts clearly in English.

Look, I'm new to this. I'm looking for help and clarification, not sarky comments (which, regardless of where I look between, over, under or on the lines, are frankly, baffling.)

To everyone else; thanks for the input.

 

[swifty_morgan]

yeah, I'm a real charmer alright. guess the density is too thick. If you're going to upgrade your mobo/proc/ram in the near future like you said you are, get a really, really big card now to carry over.

comprenez une bande élastique ?