Upgrading PC - question about components

[Deleted]

Hello there!

I'm thinking of getting myself a brand new GTX 970 GAMING 4G. The thing is, my other components are kind of outdated. Here's the list of my actual components:

Intel Core i5-3470 - clocked to 3.4GHz
GeForce GTX 650
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3V
Power Supply - Chieftec GPA-350S
RAM - 2x Corsair Vengeance DDR3 4GB

I already know that Power Supply has to be changed for sure, but how about my motherboard? Is there any sence of getting GTX 970?
Thanks for answers!

[Fascinate]

Really depends on what games you play. If you only play WoW you wont notice much difference, if any.

[Evolixe]

Your CPU would probably sooner bottleneck the whole thing than your GPU tbh.
I'd advise saving up for an entirely new system rather than just a GPU.

[Ghâzh]

Everything else should work (if the card fits in the case).

Really depends on what games you play. If you only play WoW you wont notice much difference, if any.

For general gaming it's pretty solid upgrade. Even for WoW he should notice quite an upgrade as that 650 is holding him back by quite a lot.

[Crillam]

I would recomend to also upgrade CPU, PSU and maybe motherboard. Then also Nvidia will introduce their new GPUs soon so maybe even wait and see if something better and cheaper comes around.

[Fascinate]

Everything else should work (if the card fits in the case).


For general gaming it's pretty solid upgrade. Even for WoW he should notice quite an upgrade as that 650 is holding him back by quite a lot.

No it really isnt. I went from a gtx 465 (same relative power as a 650) to a 760 (twice as fast on paper as my 465) and no difference in WoW at all.

[svettleif]

If you want a cheap cpu upgrade i would really recommend getting a used 3770k, it would allow you to keep your mobo, and its are better than all the low-mid end 4 series anyway.

my old pc has one, and i never had fps issues in wow with it. could have 60+ in 20man with ultra shadows lowered

[Wildpantz]

If you only play wow getting a new cpu will be better

[Ghâzh]

No it really isnt. I went from a gtx 465 (same relative power as a 650) to a 760 (twice as fast on paper as my 465) and no difference in WoW at all.

Depends, what CPU did you have? Also, when was this upgrade?

[Aleksej89]

For games like WoW your CPU is everything.
I played WoW on my i7-4790K and it's Intel HD graphics for several weeks before my dedicated GPU arrived.
On that basic Intel HD graphic i had no issue playing WoW on medium graphics, and other games like Dota 2, LoLegends, Diablo 3...

Note that certain graphic settings like Anti-aliasing can drop your FPS from 100+ to barely 20 if your GPU is not super strong.

Overall that PC is really old and weak.
i5 CPU is okay.
The power supply is only 350 watts? omg...
4GB ram is not good enough, windows 7/8/10 take 2GB just for itself.

Your new GPU will not do anything if it is in that old PC.
Perhaps it won't even work with a 350W power supply.

I know money can be a problem, but here is some minimum i would consider worth investing:

8GB RAM is really really good, or at least 6 GB. DDR3 1866Mhz is all you need, any faster is pointless.
Keep that i5 CPU you have (for now)
GTX 960 or 970 if u got the $, or wait for new generation of Nvidia. AMD is really failing these past years, awful drivers (i currently have R9 380).
A power supply that is enough for that config (google "PC power supply calculator"). Stick to good PSU brands like Seasonic, it is extremely important!
Make sure your current Motherboard supports ALL of the above, especially the RAM and the GPU size/connectors.
It could be that your Hard Disk is also some old slow model, but you have not listed it.

[Ghâzh]

4GB ram is not good enough, windows 7/8/10 take 2GB just for itself.

As far as I understood, he has 2x 4GB (8GB total). And he said he was going to replace the power supply.

[Denpepe]

http://techbuyersguru.com/does-memor...-gaming?page=1
just for the hell of it

[Mystrome]

If it was me, I'd go for the GTX 960 in stead of the 970, and spend the money I saved on an 240/256 GB SSD (if you don't already have one).


This is assuming you mostly play Blizzard games / LoL.

[Deleted]

Thanks for all the answers!
Aleksej89 - I already have 8GB of ram just as Ghâzh said. I know that my power supply is incredibly bad, but trust me or not - to this day i was thinking that there's a 500W one. Also, how is your R9 380 doing? I've also considered this GPU, but i completly forgot about it somehow.

Mystrome - I bought 256GB SSD earlier this year so it's already fine.

Edit: The games I play, are WoW and LoL. However, I'm looking forward to see more gameplay of new doom tbh. That's why i even considered upgrading my pc.

[Deleted]

Hello there!

I'm thinking of getting myself a brand new GTX 970 GAMING 4G. The thing is, my other components are kind of outdated. Here's the list of my actual components:

Intel Core i5-3470 - clocked to 3.4GHz
GeForce GTX 650
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3V
Power Supply - Chieftec GPA-350S
RAM - 2x Corsair Vengeance DDR3 4GB

I already know that Power Supply has to be changed for sure, but how about my motherboard? Is there any sence of getting GTX 970?
Thanks for answers!

You can safely get yourself a GTX 970, you CPU is still more than OK for most games and wont "bottleneck" the GPU, it's still a pretty fast CPU with 4 cores.

Beware though, your PSU might be a bit on the weak side. Get urself a EVGA G2 PSU, if you don't plan to go SLI (x2 GPUs) the 650W version should be more than fine and should work for many years to come. Also comes with 10years warranty.

[Evolixe]

You can safely get yourself a GTX 970, you CPU is still more than OK for most games and wont "bottleneck" the GPU, it's still a pretty fast CPU with 4 cores

It most definitely will. Chances are by a lot more than 10%.

[Deleted]

Hey again!
I'm just about to finish my order. What do you think about those parts?
PSU - EVGA SuperNOVA G2 80 Plus Gold 550W
GPU - MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4096 MB DDR5

[Deleted]

PSU is fine.

I would not upgrade the GPU yet. New cards are coming out soon (For AMD June, Nvidia I am not sure yet). I would also wait till Doom is released and wait for some benches to get the best card

[Evolixe]

PSU is fine.

Definitely not fine for discrete graphics ala 970 and up.

[Deleted]

Definitely not fine for discrete graphics ala 970 and up.

Have a look at what post I responded....