Graphics card upgrade help

[aanicol]

Can any helpful chaps advise me on my sons gaming PC please..?

This is his current setup ;

Nvidia GTX970 4gb
Gigabyte H81M-S2H
16gb (2x8gb) DDR3 1600mhz
Intel i5 4460 Haswell 3.2Ghz
Corsair CX-600 PSU
1TB Sata HD
120gb Kingston V300 SSD
Zalman Z11 Plus case

He's nipping my head about upgrading the graphics card to GTX1080? (peer pressure I'm guessing.... :/)

Firstly ; is it possible i.e. easily done...?

Secondly ; if feasible, would there be a noticeable improvement to justify the cost...?


Games he frequents ; GTA V, Battlefield, Witcher, Fallout, Dirt, Forza



Any advice welcomed

 

[sahak81]

The gtx 970 is still good for an average gamer, but for the best performance 1080 is way better,

It is easy to change and the improvement would be huge.

 

[aquielisunari]

Can any helpful chaps advise me on my sons gaming PC please..?

This is his current setup ;

Nvidia GTX970 4gb
Gigabyte H81M-S2H
16gb (2x8gb) DDR3 1600mhz
Intel i5 4460 Haswell 3.2Ghz
Corsair CX-600 PSU
1TB Sata HD
120gb Kingston V300 SSD
Zalman Z11 Plus case

He's nipping my head about upgrading the graphics card to GTX1080? (peer pressure I'm guessing.... :/)

Firstly ; is it possible i.e. easily done...?

Secondly ; if feasible, would there be a noticeable improvement to justify the cost...?


Games he frequents ; GTA V, Battlefield, Witcher, Fallout, Dirt, Forza



Any advice welcomed

The 970 isn't even 5 years old. In computer years that is about 60. Certainly capable but starting to feel age. I have a 970 and am looking squarely at a Gigabyte Windforce 1080. Pay any more than $519(Yankee's price) and I just wouldn't feel right. Asus strix? THat might be peer pressure. With MSI Afterburner the Gigabyte can be OC'd.

He is however in a very bad position. The 4460 is actually a little on the weak side. The 4690 or the 4790 would be better partners for the 1080.

Would there be an improvement? There will be a MAJOR improvement. Will that major improvement justify a $500 investment? Only you can answer that. That is what I'll be upgrading to so imo $499-519 is worth it.

The PSU he has in there will support the Gigabyte G1 or the WIndforce.

Change the card? Is that difficult? No. The PC needs to be powered down and unplugged. Touching something metal before going in the case is necessary. Ever get a tiny shock on a door handle or seen static electricity under a blanket? That ESD is VERY bad for RAM. .00001% chance it would happen but, just ot be safe. If it was correctly installed there should be two screws securing it to the PCIe slots that need to be removed. The two PCIe supplementary power cables need to be removed next. There is a lever on the right side of the card near the PCIe slot that needs to be pushed, pulled or lifted depending on the card model. It is then lifted straight up. The process is then reversed.

There are so many how-to webpages for that procedure both in text and video form.

 

[Clamyboy74]

the i5 would bottleneck the 1080 HARD. I'd suggest getting an i7 and then getting a 1080 later. If you want a gpu upgrade now, a 1070 would be a better match for the i5.

 

[Cioby]

Are you playing higher than 1080p 60 fps? Do you actually have a monitor to support that frequency?
If yes, then an upgrade could be useful. The CPU is close to bottlenecking but since it's a good quality Intel, I'd say it's okay.

My 980ti was as good as 2x970 and my 980ti was almost as good as a 1080 reference card. So, yes, it would be a huge increase. Expect games like Witcher 3 to go from 45 fps to 90+
And even if you DO GET BOTTLENECKED it's not noticeable if you lose 10 fps at a 100 fps output. And the CPU is replaceable at a later stage for example while your GPU will always be compatible with anything.

 

[Cioby]

Actually if the price difference is very low and you can get a non-reference 1080ti I'd recommend that, for future proof. A 1080ti is actually 40% stronger and non reference 1080ti can get you 5-10 fps at 4K performance, which is a lot. But this will surely bottleneck your CPU.