GPU Upgrade - All The Way or Not Worth It?

[Prag]

I'm using the compatibility checker on PC Part Picker using the following hardware that I currently have:


Intel i7 3770k
Noctua NH-D14
ASRock Z77-Extreme4
AMD 7900 Video Card

It's telling me that the GTX1070 and GTX1080 are compatible, but they're pretty expensive. Are they worth the investment?

I bought a large power supply (650w I believe) so, assuming I don't want to change any of these other parts, what is a strong performer in the GPU category?

My uses:
World of Warcraft
Guild Wars 2
Multi-monitor (Gaming on one 1080p, Netflix/Twitch on the other)

Thanks in advance!

[dotKaine]

Let's get the easy part of your question out of the way; your 650W will be more than enough for a single GPU. The PCI-E specifications state that a graphics card cannot draw more than 75W over the PCI-E connection, with an additional 75W per 6-pin connector and 150W per 8-pin connector (for a total of 300W).

Now, as for which graphics card to buy - that depends on two things: your budget, and what you're intending to play. You've mentioned WoW and GW2, neither of which are that graphically taxing, especially at 1080p - so both the GTX 1070 & 1080 would be over-kill, unless you're also looking to upgrade your monitor in the near future.

In general, the sweet-spot (in terms of bang-for-buck) for NVidia GPUs has been the GTX x60-series cards - have a quick read over the GTX 1060 benchmarks in this Guru3D review to see how it compares against similarly priced AMD cards (i.e. R9 Fury, RX 480) in the games that interest you.

[Deleted]

get MSI 1060 gaming X. 1070/1080 are for Ultra HD+.

[Prag]

Awesome - thanks for the super quick and useful suggestions/guidance!