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Started by Lazerbeam | | 26 answers
Would I be able to run a GTX 970 with no additional hardware changes?
Specs right now:

Operating System
Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Core i3 2120 @ 3.30GHz 46 °C
Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology
RAM
4.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
Intel Corporation DH61HO (CPU 1) 39 °C
Graphics
1950W (1366x768@60Hz)
1024MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 (Undefined) 52 °C
PSU
says 600 Watts, 26A V or something

I am also looking into upgrading to 64-bit of Windows 7. How much of a jump would it be from my current graphics card to the new one? Would I see some improvements? Would I be able to make it at least 3 years without needing to upgrade? How about Oculus Rift?
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a b U Graphics card
October 15, 2014 1:56:41 AM

Lazerbeam said:
@Raheel, yeah that's the plan :) 

@ZeusGamer, when you said it's much better by a big margin with the 750 Ti, are you referring to the performance if I only upgrade the PSU or the max potential of the 970 which means upgrading my processor, motherboard, RAM and PSU?


Yes, I was referring to the performance of the card.

Tama, you're going to need to update all of those.
October 15, 2014 1:21:04 AM

@Raheel, yeah that's the plan :) 

@ZeusGamer, when you said it's much better by a big margin with the 750 Ti, are you referring to the performance if I only upgrade the PSU or the max potential of the 970 which means upgrading my processor, motherboard, RAM and PSU?
a b U Graphics card
October 15, 2014 12:40:55 AM

Lazerbeam said:
Hey, you're Pinoy too :D 

Well, would the bottleneck be bad? Like would it cause crashes? If a bottlenecked 970 would still outperform the 750 Ti, then I'd still go for it. I want to go for the best that I can get. I can just buy the other stuff that's required like the new processor and motherboard once I'm able to save for them. This is the first time I'm saving some money so I want to go for something big like a 970 or a PS4 :) 


Oo pare. Pinoy din haha.

Anyway, it's not a bad thing. But it's just your GPU will not reach it's full potential when playing games. For example, your CPU would have a hard time keeping up with the GPU specially when playing games. Kaya yung GPU, it's not going to perform as well because of the CPU nga.

All in all getting the 970 would be awesome. Much better than 750 ti by a big margin, pero nga lang, it's not going to perform very well.

PSU you can get like 500 or 600 from corsair, as long as it's a reliable PSU, you should be good.
a b U Graphics card
October 14, 2014 10:48:47 PM

U r thinking right, u just need to upgrade the psu (seasonic 620watt as mentioned above) and get the 970, then upgrade the cpu & ram when u have money.
970 will outperform 750ti by a big margin, there is no comparison.
October 14, 2014 10:32:10 PM

Hey, you're Pinoy too :D 

Well, would the bottleneck be bad? Like would it cause crashes? If a bottlenecked 970 would still outperform the 750 Ti, then I'd still go for it. I want to go for the best that I can get. I can just buy the other stuff that's required like the new processor and motherboard once I'm able to save for them. This is the first time I'm saving some money so I want to go for something big like a 970 or a PS4 :) 
a b U Graphics card
October 14, 2014 10:29:13 PM

Lazerbeam said:
@Delroy thank you for the requirements, don't worry I also check out the reviews on Amazon too.

@Karadjgne I was originally planning on getting the 750 Ti, I asked here before in this thread http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2261087/machine-.... I was gonna get it this Christmas but then the 970 came out. Would a 760 really take me 5 years? The reason I aimed for the 750 Ti first is because it seems I wouldn't need to upgrade anything. I don't know if that's the case with the 760 and 770. The 770 is actually pricier here than the 970, I just checked the website's link I gave up above. If there's really no choice I'll:

a.) get the most important components first to get a Strix/MSI/Gigabyte 970 running
b.) get the Palit 970 which I've read no good reviews of but will make me able to purchase at least a good PSU
b.) get a PS4
c.) or just get a 750 Ti and call it a day

Looking at Delroy's post just after your post though, it seems that the 770 is a bit cheaper than the Gigabyte 970. I'm worried with the GeForce 970 because I don't seem to see a lot of reviews for it. For reference, I have a GeForce GT 220 right now.

@Zeus I bought this rig secondhand, I'm from the Philippines. I don't know where the shop got their PSU supply from, if you see it in person it looks really shady.


Kaya naman pala eh.

Like one of the posters above. It's ok to have a 970.

It just won't be at it's full potential kasi your CPU would bottleneck the GPU.
October 14, 2014 10:23:27 PM

@Delroy I meant recommendations, not requirements. I tried editing it but it seems Tom's Hardware likes to give 404 pages a lot
October 14, 2014 10:22:39 PM

@Delroy thank you for the requirements, don't worry I also check out the reviews on Amazon too.

@Karadjgne I was originally planning on getting the 750 Ti, I asked here before in this thread http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2261087/machine-.... I was gonna get it this Christmas but then the 970 came out. Would a 760 really take me 5 years? The reason I aimed for the 750 Ti first is because it seems I wouldn't need to upgrade anything. I don't know if that's the case with the 760 and 770. The 770 is actually pricier here than the 970, I just checked the website's link I gave up above. If there's really no choice I'll:

a.) get the most important components first to get a Strix/MSI/Gigabyte 970 running
b.) get the Palit 970 which I've read no good reviews of but will make me able to purchase at least a good PSU
b.) get a PS4
c.) or just get a 750 Ti and call it a day

Looking at Delroy's post just after your post though, it seems that the 770 is a bit cheaper than the Gigabyte 970. I'm worried with the GeForce 970 because I don't seem to see a lot of reviews for it. For reference, I have a GeForce GT 220 right now.

@Zeus I bought this rig secondhand, I'm from the Philippines. I don't know where the shop got their PSU supply from, if you see it in person it looks really shady.
a b U Graphics card
October 14, 2014 9:36:06 PM

Hmm.

OP, which country do you currently live in?
a b U Graphics card
October 14, 2014 9:30:29 PM

Which is odd because Lazer's first link to a supplier was Serbian.

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