GTX 970 w/ a 2500k @ 4.6Ghz?

[RuneDK]

As the titles says, I have a 2500k OC'd to 4.6Ghz. I currently have a GTX 680, but want to upgrade my GPU. MY issue though is I don't want the videocard to be bottlenecked. Was wondering if anyone else had a similar setup and if their card was fine. Ultimately why I want to upgrade to the 970 is due to the Witcher 3, GTA5, and Batman(and luckily two of those titles come with the purchase of a 970 if im not mistaken, unless that promo ended).

I have been out of the hardware game for a long time so I am looking to upgrade piece by piece again instead of a full out rebuild with all new parts. Also how much do people think a GTA 680 2GB could fetch since I will try and sell that after purchasing the 970.

[Wiltrold]

I have a 2500k @ 4.0 GHz with a slightly overclocked 770 GTX. I'm actually seeing some bottlenecking in GTA V, but it really depends on the scenery etc. I'd image that a 970 will most likely be more bottlenecked by a 2500k. But then again, it really depends on how CPU heavy the games you play are.

I'm personally going to wait until the DirectX 12 native cards arrives (sometime late 2015/early 2016) and then upgrade my entire PC.

[RuneDK]

I have a 2500k @ 4.0 GHz with a slightly overclocked 770 GTX. I'm actually seeing some bottlenecking in GTA V, but it really depends on the scenery etc. I'd image that a 970 will most likely be more bottlenecked by a 2500k. But then again, it really depends on how CPU heavy the games you play are.

I'm personally going to wait until the DirectX 12 native cards arrives (sometime late 2015/early 2016) and then upgrade my entire PC.

Hmmm, that's a good point on the DX12 native cards. The 680 is playing everything I want to play perfectly fine at 1080 right now...And by the time those came out all of the games would have hit a sale on steam of some sort....

[Deleted]

A 2500k will not bottleneck a 970 or a 770 for that matter....

I have my 2500k (4.5 Ghz) paired with a 290x and have zero issues. And before that with a 7970, also no issues.

[Wiltrold]

The new generation of Intel processors (6th gen, Skylake) are supposed to be released around that time aswell, which means brand new hardware on all fronts

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A 2500k will not bottleneck a 970 or a 770 for that matter....

I have my 2500k (4.5 Ghz) paired with a 290x and have zero issues. And before that with a 7970, also no issues.

Well, I'm seeing CPU usage of >90% with my GFX sitting at around 85% in some scenes in GTA V. Might be that GTA V is just very CPU heavy sometimes, but as I said, depends on the game really. Every computer that runs WoW is bottlenecked by the CPU (atleast before WoD) since most of the work was done by the CPU.

[Deleted]

Well, I'm seeing CPU usage of >90% with my GFX sitting at around 85% in some scenes in GTA V. Might be that GTA V is just very CPU heavy sometimes, but as I said, depends on the game really. Every computer that runs WoW is bottlenecked by the CPU (atleast before WoD) since most of the work was done by the CPU.

That a game might be bottlenecked by the CPU, does not mean that the GPU is bottlenecked by the CPU.

[Tehterokkar]

Using i5-2500k @ 4.5GHz with a GTX 970, no issues here in any game. Currently in Witcher GPU sits at a solid 99-100% all the time with no dips(other than loading screens).

[noteworthynerd]

I'm running that exact setup (2500k and a 970) and I haven't noticed any issues; if anything the card still has problems keeping up with the CPU in games like GTA V when I have In-Game Depth of Field Effects on.

[Artorius]

A 2500K is just fine, most improvements since then aren't exactly related to performance.

[RuneDK]

A 2500K is just fine, most improvements since then aren't exactly related to performance.

That's what I thought, but now the only thing im questioning is DX12....should i wait for it to be native in cards or no...will they even utilize it early on or will it take time? Last thing I want to do is drop a couple hundred on a new GPU to sell it later this year for a DX12 card.

[Lathais]

That's what I thought, but now the only thing im questioning is DX12....should i wait for it to be native in cards or no...will they even utilize it early on or will it take time? Last thing I want to do is drop a couple hundred on a new GPU to sell it later this year for a DX12 card.

Most features of DX12 will not need a new GPU and the 970 is a DX12 compatible card anyway.

[RuneDK]

So then I guess my next question will be how much is a GTX 680 worth now? Want to put an ad out for it so I can go get the 970 and get some of my investment back.

[Warrax]

Around 200$ USD I would say, it's about as good as a 960.

[Wries]

I'm personally going to wait until the DirectX 12 native cards arrives (sometime late 2015/early 2016) and then upgrade my entire PC.

The GTX 900 series is fully DX12 compliant. And as mentioned, older GCN, Fermi and Kepler cards will support most of DX12 anyway.

[RuneDK]

Last question regarding this. I usually stick with what I know in terms of company. So when I go nvidia I usually go with EVGA, and when i go Radeon I usually go XFX. My question is are gigabyte, MSI, or Asus better than EVGA with the 970? Are there any advantages to choosing any of those over the EVGA?

[Vetali]

I went gigabyte with the 970 and I've always bought EVGA cards. Its a great card, just absurdly loud coil whine. Went with gigabye because the FTW+ was on backorder and I heard meh things about the non FTW+.

Oh and the cooler is pretty much silent. I never hear it while gaming, over the coil whine at least.

[RuneDK]

I feel like Im between Asus and EVGA, and only because ASUS has been superb for me on the motherboard side of things. I'm really stuck on which one to go for since im typically a "brand loyalist"

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Sorry to bump the post again, but looking for someone who upgrade from a 680 to a 970...Ive been reading that it's a good upgrade but possibly not worth it as much for the price from a 680..I do DSR in some games and mostly just want to see if it was a worthy upgrade from a 680.

[Deleted]

how do u know when a there are bottlenecks.I have i5-2500k non-overclocked.I bought recently a 290 vapor-x and i am running witcher 3 on medium without problems.If i go higher there are fps drops.I think i should be able to play at least high with this gpu.any thoughts?

[Warrax]

I feel like Im between Asus and EVGA, and only because ASUS has been superb for me on the motherboard side of things. I'm really stuck on which one to go for since im typically a "brand loyalist"

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Sorry to bump the post again, but looking for someone who upgrade from a 680 to a 970...Ive been reading that it's a good upgrade but possibly not worth it as much for the price from a 680..I do DSR in some games and mostly just want to see if it was a worthy upgrade from a 680.

ASUS cards are great, specially their Strix ones.

From 680 to 970 is not a huge upgrade but the difference shows in 2014-2015 games at high/ultra settings (I upgraded from an OCed 670).

On the subject of the 2500k, it's still a great CPU but it's best to use it overclocked.

[RuneDK]

Thanks for the info Warrax.

Yea, im strongly debating it now...I would REALLY like to get a 970 as the 680 is going on three years now. I think the reason im so bent on whether to get it now or to wait is simply because of the promotion for the witcher 3 and batman(both of which will most likely kick the shit out of my 680 anyways, and to get them included in the $340 price at microcenter pretty much makes the 970 a steal atm). If it didn't have the game promotion I would probably wait, but there's no big titles I would rather play on PC than my consoles(due to comfort factor and not having to lug around my tower to play on my couch). However those two games + GTA5 are probably reasons enough to upgrade....i hate when I have buyers remorse before I even buy something.

As far as 2500k(directed at truthbetold) I would highly recommend overclocking it, I am very stable right now at 30-35C at 4.6GHz doing internet browsing and get to about 50-55C depending on the game I Play during full load, I have been debating OC'ing more because I have one of those water pump coolers for my CPU but not entirely sure if I want to deal with playing around with voltage to go up to 5GHz. However going back to you I would recommend overclocking it, just google a bunch of guides to overclocking with your specific motherboard. Then write down all the default settings you change in case you get cold feet after stability testing(and getting some crashes along the way).