Looking to upgrade GPU, Power supply question

[DeadlyPeanut]

Im looking to upgrade my GPU I currently have a GTX 560.. thats is slightly faulty now, trying to figure out why but ive wanted to upgrade my GPU for a bit so its a good excuse.

Anyways i would prefer to upgrade to a GTX 760, ive read on some benchmark sites that the 760 uses 170 Watts Vs my 560 at 150 Watts

Alternatively i could get the GTX 660 which uses less power then the 560 ( again according to a benchmark site ). But if im going to shell out the cash for a new GPU id rather pay a couple more bucks and get a newer generation card.

Here are some specs ( if im missing something that also draws alot of power let me know ).

Power supply is 700W

The GPU in question
2 HDDs ( 7200 RPM) and 1 SSD
a Couple fans incl a 120mm Case fan and other smaller fans,all various sizes if it makes a difference i can look up the specs and get exact numbers.
Desktop MoBo ( GIGABYTE Z68A-D3H-B3 INTEL Z68 )
2x 4 GB CORSAIR 4GB 1600 XMS MEMORY
Intel I5-2500k 3.3 GHZ CPU
2 optical drives ( which i never use there about as useful as a floppy drive to me )
Various USB devices , Xbox360 controller, USB mouse

Also another question the GTX 760 is PCI express 3.0 , My MoBo supports PCI express 2.0 x16- Is this a complete deal breaker ? or can a 3.0 plug into a 2.0 but just not be as fast. From looking at pictures the spot where the card plugs in looks exactly the same.

Basically it comes down to is can my system handle another 20 Watts ( if the specification pages im looking at are correct )

Thanks in advance, I tried to give as much technical specs as possible even though honestly i have dont have much knowledge what a few of em mean , Let me know if im missing something and more info is needed

 

[jaraldo]

Dont' go by recommended wattage, it's overestimated.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-750-ti-review,3750-21.html

We need to know your brand of your power supply before we can determine anything. I don't see many good 700w brand though. Usually 650w or 750w

Edit: If you can take my word without a link, I'm pretty sure the 3.0 to 2.0 speeds for PCI-e aren't very different to noitce anything.

 

[DeadlyPeanut]

Brand is the COOLERMASTER SILENT PRO 700W

When comparing GPUs I use http://www.hwcompare.com/ - according to that site the 750 Ti is worse then what i have. Except in power usage, 750 Ti uses much less.

I just wanted to know about PCI express 2.0 compared to 3.0 is if there compatible. I know a few years ago when PCI express was replacing what ever it was before it forgot the name already. It was like trying to plug a square into a circle.. it just wasent happening

 

[jaraldo]

3.0 is backwards compatible with 2.0.

Your PSU is in the tier 3, so it's borderline bad. It's a gold/platinum rated one yes?
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1804779/power-supply-unit-tier-list.html

If you have a PSU that is bad then I wouldn't trust it with any $150+ card. You might have to research your PSU a bit.

I can say though, the r9 265 can be compared to a gtx660 and it's at a much nicer price point. I'm not sure how it is with connectors and being run on old bios etc.

 

[DeadlyPeanut]

Im going on invoices here because i didnt build the PC myself had it built for me, Another invoice/conformation thingy describes it as "CoolerMaster Silent Pro Gaming 80 Plus Power Supply"

also did you mean R7 265 ? , Also looked at a few ATI cards , ive used only nivida before.. but thats not to say nividia pisses me off often when they release drivers that simply do not work. Just a personal opinion there quality control when it comes to drivers is real hit and miss even on driver version that they state is a non-beta fully tested release. Needless to say on more then one occasion ive thought of at least being different and try an ATI card

I looked at a R9 270 , its a good bit better then what i have , not as good as a 760 , but also 100$ less at least and the same power demand as the card I currently have.

 

[jaraldo]

Yea thanks, it's close to the r9 270 I sometimes give it the 9 to

Here is a review of the r7 265 and some GPU benchmarks, it scores very close to the r9 270/660 in many games. I'm sure in newer ones it would drag behind in high settings though.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r7-265-review,3748.html

It varies from $120 to 140 in price so it's a nice deal.
Up to you if you want to try them or not I know since I've been back here recently, everyone is recommending amd in the $100-$300 range for the most part, so I assume they can't be all that bad

 

[DeadlyPeanut]

hmm , Think ill get the R9270 , can pick em up on newegg in the 150-170$ range looks like theres one thats 150 after a Mail in rebate with 3 bucks shipping. About the same price as a R7 265.

Thanks for the help, its time to try an ATI card alot of people recommend them it seems and playing guess what driver actually works with nividia is getting really annoying

the R9 270 is a nice improvement over what I have for not much money, at least compared to a 770 cheapest one I can find on newegg would be 230$
Also the card i have now has issues damn thing is being real temperamental and dosent seem to want to load up any game with good graphics, games ive played before with the same card, without horrible screen artifacts and eventually just crashing. Ruled out everything except some kind of malfunction in the card or the drivers or anything relating to the GPU and its drivers

 

[jaraldo]

Yea , sucks when you get a lemon card or some new drivers just screw everything in a perfect set up :lol:

The r9 270 should be a nice improvement to this build

I am still wondering about you PSU though
This is the guidelines for a tier 3 psu like yours

Tier three - Meets standard ATX specifications, though closer to the edges than Tier two units. These are still solid units, which still supply stable power to your system, though not ideal for serious overclocking

As long as you follow that you should be ok

 

[DeadlyPeanut]

I dont overclock, never even messed with it, dont really even know how.

The r9 270 at least according to the bench mark uses the same amount of power as what i have now so technically it shouldnt put any more demand on it.
Next PC ill pay close attention to the power supply it was one of those things I just glossed over until recently in the last year or so figuring out how damn important it is.
As long as I can get 2-3 more years out of this PC im happy I tend to get a completely new PC every 5-7 years or if the thing completely frys and I have to earlier.

 

[jaraldo]

Alright sounds good

I've had mine for 3 years now and it's still been really good for me. I have the 2500k to

Just pay attention on intensive games/settings, if you start to get blue screens or reboots with 41 code in your error logs, it's your PSU telling you it's struggling

Enjoy your new card