GPU upgrade. Help me, help myself.

[Frumpy Frumpy Frak]

Talk to me as if I was a complete amateur. I've been reading about computer building for a while, but I'm still not particularly confident.

Here's my build at the moment. Its main purpose is for gaming.

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3-B3
GPU: Gigabyte Geforce GTX560
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)
SSD: OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-60G 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Case: BitFenix Shinobi Window Black Steel
Power Supply: Antec 750w Truepower Atx Power Supply
Optical Drive: Internal DVD Writer (SH-222AB)

From what I can see, my GPU is what's holding me back at the moment. This MSI GTX 970 looks good.

My main concern is that the 970 is PCIE 3.0 x16, but my motherboard appears to have PCIE 2.0 x16 (correct?). Will this be a problem?

If not, can I go ahead with the purchase or is there something else I've failed to consider (power supply, cooling etc)? If everything is fine, please let me know.

[lockblock]

A 970 works great with a 2500k.

[Frumpy Frumpy Frak]

Alright then, I'll go ahead with buying the 970 if that's the case.

[mrgreenthump]

As PCI-E 2.0 16x = PCI-E 3.0 8x and no card can hit the limit of PCI-E 3.0 8x, you'll do fine with PCI-E 2.0 with a single card.

A 970 works great with a 2500k.

If overclocked 2500k is enough for any GPU on the market atm.

[Lathais]

You may want to take a look at the other camp. The AMD R9 390 is currently a little better value then the GTX 970. They both perform about the same at 1080p resolution, but the 390 does better with 1440p and 4K(not that you should be trying to run things at 4K with this card anyway). I can only imagine the 390 doing better in a few years as games get more demanding even on 1080p. Keep in mind this is coming from someone who pretty much always recommends nVidia and uses pretty much exclusively nVidia. Not the the 970 is a bad choice, it does have it's advantages. Namely it uses a little less power and therefore runs a little cooler. They are also usually smaller so fit in smaller cases. In reality, either is a great choice, just wanted to give you the option to look at and decide for yourself.

[Deleted]

You may want to take a look at the other camp. The AMD R9 390 is currently a little better value then the GTX 970. They both perform about the same at 1080p resolution, but the 390 does better with 1440p and 4K(not that you should be trying to run things at 4K with this card anyway). I can only imagine the 390 doing better in a few years as games get more demanding even on 1080p. Keep in mind this is coming from someone who pretty much always recommends nVidia and uses pretty much exclusively nVidia. Not the the 970 is a bad choice, it does have it's advantages. Namely it uses a little less power and therefore runs a little cooler. They are also usually smaller so fit in smaller cases. In reality, either is a great choice, just wanted to give you the option to look at and decide for yourself.

thumbs up for this, 390 is better in almost everything than 970, and even better price only cons is it uses more power but your power supply is more than enough, the only reason why i would recommend 970 over 390 is if u only play blizzard games and dont care absolutely nothing for other games , because blizzaard games have lot lets bugs/problems etc with nvidia drivers, im also nvidia fan

[Frumpy Frumpy Frak]

The 970 is already on its way, now I'm going to feel bad whenever my frame rate drops into the high 50's.

"This wouldn't be happening with the 390" I'll say.

[Deleted]

The 970 is already on its way, now I'm going to feel bad whenever my frame rate drops into the high 50's.

"This wouldn't be happening with the 390" I'll say.

dont feel that bad , the 390 is better , but is "slightly" so if ur frames with the 970 would drop to 50fps , with the 390 would be 51-52, thats how "much" better is, beside more cons is since uses more power also generates more heat which means the 970 is quieter, if that matters to u