Suggestions for GPU upgrade

[Ciddy]

So I'm looking to upgrade my graphics card. Built this system in 2011, and it actually still handles most of what I throw at it quite nicely, but the graphics card is starting to show its age when I fire up some newer games (Killing Floor 2 is a good example of one where I had to jack down the graphics settings to get any decent performance). System in general is quite dated, but I feel like I could pretty easily squeeze a good bit more life out of it and run comfortably with a GPU upgrade.

Specs (with a link to the newegg page of the current graphics card):

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
Motherboard: MSI P67S-C43
CPU: Intel core i5 2500k (overclocked)
RAM: G-Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB DDR3 1600
Boot SSD: 128GB OCZ Vertex 3 (OS)
SSD2: Samsung SSD 850 Pro 256GB (Steam library/other games)
HDD: 1TB 7200RPM WD Blue
Case: Cooler Master Stacker 830 (old but still an awesome case)
Graphics card: 1GB XFX Radeon HD 6870
PSU: 700W Thermaltake W0106RU (this is an older model power supply that I saved from my previous build but still works like a champ)
Monitor: Asus VS238 (1920x1080). I also have a 34" TV that I sometimes hook up with an HDMI cable just for teh lulz.

I use this for gaming more than anything else. I'm not super hardcore, so I don't exactly need some badass $500+ card, but I want what I do play to look nice. For the most part, I play Blizzard games (D3, SC2, HotS more than anything else, and WoW is an on and off thing that's currently off because I'm bored of WoD but will very likely be coming back for Legion, so I have that to consider as well). Other than that, I play games like Shadowrun that aren't super intense on the graphics and the occasional multiplayer FPS games like Killing Floor 2.

Looking to spend maybe $200-$250 ideally (might be willing to go a bit higher for something particularly awesome but not much higher). I'm eyeballing the 4GB GTX 960 because it fits my price range and is a hell of an upgrade over what I have but thought I'd see what other opinions I can get first. Preferably something I can get off newegg, as one of my Christmas presents was a $100 newegg gift card.

edit: I am in the US.

[Denkou]

For $200-250 you can pick up an R9 380X or a GTX 960 4GB. The 380X is the faster of the two cards, but uses more power and runs hotter. If you're willing to spend another $50, you can get a GTX 970 or an R9 390 which are both HUGE upgrades over the 960/380.

http://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews...-review/Page-2

You can see that the 970 gets anywhere from 15-30 FPS more than the 960. The R9 390 trades blows with the GTX 970 and for the most part they perform nearly identically, so you can see how much faster of a card you can get for another $50 or so. If you're patient and shop around for the best deals, you can get a 970/390 for pretty damn close to $250. I got my GTX 970 for $282, with a mail-in rebate for another $20 bringing it down to $262.

[Kagthul]

Of you go wih the 960, dont waste the cash on the 4GB version. Its rather like lipstick on a pig.

[Ciddy]

Thanks for responses.

The GTX 970 didn't really even occur to me before, but yeah, I guess I can't argue much with the performance difference. Might just hang on to this gift card for a couple of weeks and see if the price goes down any. I'm almost tempted to just drop the extra $50 and go for it. Looks like it's running around $299 on newegg right now.

[Lathais]

For $200-250 you can pick up an R9 380X or a GTX 960 4GB. The 380X is the faster of the two cards, but uses more power and runs hotter. If you're willing to spend another $50, you can get a GTX 970 or an R9 390 which are both HUGE upgrades over the 960/380.

http://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews...-review/Page-2

You can see that the 970 gets anywhere from 15-30 FPS more than the 960. The R9 390 trades blows with the GTX 970 and for the most part they perform nearly identically, so you can see how much faster of a card you can get for another $50 or so. If you're patient and shop around for the best deals, you can get a 970/390 for pretty damn close to $250. I got my GTX 970 for $282, with a mail-in rebate for another $20 bringing it down to $262.

Why do I see so many people recommend the 4GB 960? It's a complete waste. Nothing the 960 is capable of needs 4GB RAM, at all. You can go look at benchmarks comparing the 2GB 960 and the 4GB 960 and the only times the 4GB 960 wins clearly is when they use an OCed 4GB and a Stock Clocked 2GB. Not really fair comparison. For 1080p gaming though, the 2GB is fine, there will be no noticeable difference between the two and it's a waste to spend more for the 4GB. Heck, even the benchmarks you linked show a 2GB960 not a 4GB.

[Xirrohon]

GTX 960 2gb is just as good if not better than the 4gb. Somebody said, that the 4gb is like putting lipstick on a pig which is true. Considering the games that you play, I would just get the R9 380 2gb. Its going very cheap right now.

[Denkou]

Why do I see so many people recommend the 4GB 960? It's a complete waste. Nothing the 960 is capable of needs 4GB RAM, at all. You can go look at benchmarks comparing the 2GB 960 and the 4GB 960 and the only times the 4GB 960 wins clearly is when they use an OCed 4GB and a Stock Clocked 2GB. Not really fair comparison. For 1080p gaming though, the 2GB is fine, there will be no noticeable difference between the two and it's a waste to spend more for the 4GB. Heck, even the benchmarks you linked show a 2GB960 not a 4GB.

I wasn't recommending it, I was simply stating the options that he had in the price range he asked for $200-250. GTX 960 4GB models typically fall in that price range, with the 2GB models being a bit cheaper. In fact, even in my post I mentioned that the 380X is a better choice.

The sad truth is nVidia has nothing to offer in that price range which bridges the gap between the 960 and 970, which is a huge gap in performance. AMD has the R9 380X which is a nice option and noticeably faster than the R9 380/GTX 960, but the green team has nothing to offer. Still, I felt that it was worth at least mentioning the 960 despite the fact that the 380X is faster because sometimes people will buy a slower card simply based on preference. Past experience with a particular brand or brand loyalty is a real thing and I've seen people on actual computer enthusiast forums buy a red team/green team card simply based on that. Also worth mentioning that the 960 and nVidia cards in general are quieter and cooler (generally speaking) than AMD cards, which seems like a silly thing to consider in a gaming PC but there are a lot of people who find that important.

I still stick by what I said in my post; if OP can spend a little more and get a 970/390, that's probably the best option as they both are much, much faster than their lower-tiered counterparts.

[Lathais]

I wasn't recommending it, I was simply stating the options that he had in the price range he asked for $200-250. GTX 960 4GB models typically fall in that price range, with the 2GB models being a bit cheaper. In fact, even in my post I mentioned that the 380X is a better choice.

The sad truth is nVidia has nothing to offer in that price range which bridges the gap between the 960 and 970, which is a huge gap in performance. AMD has the R9 380X which is a nice option and noticeably faster than the R9 380/GTX 960, but the green team has nothing to offer. Still, I felt that it was worth at least mentioning the 960 despite the fact that the 380X is faster because sometimes people will buy a slower card simply based on preference. Past experience with a particular brand or brand loyalty is a real thing and I've seen people on actual computer enthusiast forums buy a red team/green team card simply based on that. Also worth mentioning that the 960 and nVidia cards in general are quieter and cooler (generally speaking) than AMD cards, which seems like a silly thing to consider in a gaming PC but there are a lot of people who find that important.

I still stick by what I said in my post; if OP can spend a little more and get a 970/390, that's probably the best option as they both are much, much faster than their lower-tiered counterparts.

It most certainly is, but why in <insert deity here>'s name would you even mention the 4GB. It's throwing away money.

[Deleted]

DO NOT BUY A 2GB VRAM Card anymore! There are a lot of Games out there that need the 4GB VRAM unless you want to play with Low Details.

[Lathais]

DO NOT BUY A 2GB VRAM Card anymore! There are a lot of Games out there that need the 4GB VRAM unless you want to play with Low Details.

What games? I'll stream them for you on my 2GB 960 and prove you wrong. For 1080p gaming at med-High settings, 2GB is more than enough. If you want to play Ultra at 1440p, yeah, you'll need more than 2GB, that's not what the 2GB cards are designed for though. I see you spouting this nonsense all over the place though, despite there being hard evidence to the contrary all over the place.

[Kagthul]

DO NOT BUY A 2GB VRAM Card anymore! There are a lot of Games out there that need the 4GB VRAM unless you want to play with Low Details.

you know we proved you wrong the last three times you ALLCAPS posted this nonsense, right?

With benchmarks.

Do you ever tire of being wrong?

[Ciddy]

Update: based on the responses I got in this thread (and opinions I've read/research I've done elsewhere), I opted to spend a few extra bucks and go with the GTX 970. My first thoughts on the GTX 960 were more about being cheap because just about anything will blow away my HD 6870, but I figure if I'm dropping that much money anyway, an extra $50 for something that will perform better and last longer wasn't too bad.

Found one on newegg for $300 (which actually meant only $200 of my own money because of the gift card) with free shipping and all, so I think I did pretty well. While the rest of my rig is still somewhat old, I think most of my other hardware is still very relevant and should give me some pretty solid performance in what gaming I do for a while. Financially, I'm not in a spot where I'm ready for a full overhaul quite yet, so hopefully the 970 will let me squeeze a little more life out of this build.

I'm pretty excited to see how things are going to run once I get the card. I definitely can't say I have any complaints about how well the 6870 served me, but it's been showing its age on some of the more recent games. It earned its retirement for sure though.