GPU upgrade

byte

I'm hoping for some advice on upgrading my GPU.

Currently, I have a GTX460, which really seems to struggle with newer games.

I'm wondering what would be a good allrounder for under €200?

I had been told about the new GTX950 (seems to be a few variations from different brands with some small OC already). Or maybe a GTX960? I note the 950 uses less power.

My CPU is an i5 760 and I've 8GB RAM.

Any advice?

Digital Solitude

The CPU is getting up the years too now

The 950 would be a huge upgrade for you, even something weaker like a 750 if you wanted to keep a few euro for an overhaul of the CPU too

byte

Thanks for the quick reply.

I thought the CPU might survive another wee while, but would it be a big deal changing the CPU but keeping the same mobo? I can't remember what socket the CPU is now, is there some handy software that'll give me all the info on what Socket I have, etc?

I could get a 950 or something now, and after Christmas, maybe consider the CPU?

Digital Solitude

Depends on what you play really.

Don't think there's any first gen cores worth upgrading to but I'm not the best on older chips.

If the CPU isn't holding back then no rush to upgrade sure

byte

Using DXDiag, it shows I have a Gigabyte P55A-UD3 mobo which seems to use LGA1156 socket.

If I could get a middling CPU upgrade without breaking the bank, I'd consider it.

challengemaster

I'm in the exact same position still using a GTX460, except I've a FX6350. Was eyeing up the GTX 950's, but the higher end versions (EVGA SC/SSC/FTW) are into entry model GTX 960 territory, which is muddying the waters slightly.

Digital Solitude

challengemaster wrote: »

I'm in the exact same position still using a GTX460, except I've a FX6350. Was eyeing up the GTX 950's, but the higher end versions (EVGA SC/SSC/FTW) are into entry model GTX 960 territory, which is muddying the waters slightly.

That'd be low end 960s though?

Just get a cheaper 950 if that's the order, get a cheaper 960 if you're willing to pay it

challengemaster

Digital Solitude wrote: »

That'd be low end 960s though?

Just get a cheaper 950 if that's the order, get a cheaper 960 if you're willing to pay it

Lets say the EVGA 950 SSC which can be had for £130 vs a Gigabyte 960 at £145. Which is why its getting confusing.

Are the higher end 950's which have much better base OCs and overclockability, outweighing the extra CUDA cores in a low end 960?

booooring!

Have you the CPU overclocked? Should be okay if you do. Should be able to get it up to 3.5 or more depending on the chip.
It will play new games no problem however but the FPS will be lower than a newer chip.
GTX 950 or r9 280 would be a good upgrade.

Digital Solitude

The factory over clocked 950s won't have much more potential in them for over clocking.

That gigabyte 960 will be able to over clock to become faster than the fastest 950 anyways. Factory over clocked cards are a useless premium IMO

Gigabyte 950s should be around £115-120 I believe. Mine was almost spot on €150.

challengemaster

Any chance of a link? :P

Digital Solitude

Appears to have been €160
http://geizhals.de/?cat=gra16_512&xf=1439_GTX+950#xf_top

Hopping around a few of them for best postage is your cheapest bet I reckon

Most of the 960s on geizhals are over €190-200

I Armour I

If you end up deciding to go with the 950, I will have one coming in the post new I won't be using, will gladly sell/trade it

Otherwise can't quite go wrong with any of the 9xx serieis NV cards

TerrorFirmer

i5-760 needs overclocking ideally, it will bottleneck in a lot of new games. If you can't overclock but want an improvement a socket 1156 i7-860 or similar will be an improvement and won't cost all that much, but overclocking is the ideal solution if possible.

byte

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

i5-760 needs overclocking ideally, it will bottleneck in a lot of new games. If you can't overclock but want an improvement a socket 1156 i7-860 or similar will be an improvement and won't cost all that much, but overclocking is the ideal solution if possible.

The reason I bought the 760 was the fact it supposedly is OK to OC. The GTX460 is already OC'd (Zotac AMP! factory OC job).

However, I've never bothered with it, as I'd need to change from the stock cooling to do so.

I was looking at various 1156 CPUs, like an i5 4460 or 4690K which is a fair bit dearer.

They both seem to be LGA 1156, but maybe then the mobo would be the bottleneck with newer gen Core series? Or maybe not enough increase to warrant another i5. So out of the loop on these things...

TerrorFirmer

They're all socket 1150 and 4th generation i5. You would need a new motherboard. What you have is a 1st gen and its far, far slower.

The i5-760 would need to hit around 4Ghz to eliminate most of the bottlenecking. Of course it depends on the game as well.

The GTX460 is very old now and a GTX950 even would be a massive upgrade.

It might be time to look at building a new machine and selling that one as is, either?

byte

Ah fcuk, you're right! Was surprised newer gen CPU's would have the same socket! Now I know why

Funds are quite tight atm, so had only anticipated pushing maybe 200eur for a new gfx card and was told about the new GTX950's (though I now think it'd still be better to spend the extra few quid on the 960).

Dunno what to do now. I'm not really pushing for a high performance machine, but being able to play the likes of DiRT Rally at a reasonable resolution and frame rate would be nice! Even as is, when playing a short amount of time, the PC sounds like it'll take off, the fans get so noisy. So if CPU is heating so much on base speed, it'd definitely need new cooling to OC it.

TerrorFirmer

I don't think Dirt Rally is super intensive, so you should be fine at stock for that game. I thinking more stuff like GTA V, Battlefield 4, etc which will definitely show bad bottlenecks.

byte

Aye, I mentioned DiRT Rally as it's not really that intensive, yet my PC still struggles! So if DiRT is gonna be an issue, games like GTA V, etc will be a waste of time.

Project Cars etc would be a bit more needy too if I want it to play and look middling.

byte

So, ended up ordering an EVGA GTX950 on Amazon. Annoyingly, it was in stock til I ordered it, now it's not. Anyway, says I'll have it early October.

I'll have to consider a new mobo+CPU combo for Xmas present to myself (along with hinting for Amazon vouchers to anyone willing to buy me stuff)

As a rough idea (as I won't be buying for few months), what would I be looking to spend to upgrade mobo and CPU to something middling like i5? I'm hoping to swap out the HDDs , BD drive and RAM from this rig and keep existing case too.

Digital Solitude

A cheap board is about 50-70, with an i3 at 120 and an i5 at 170 or so

TerrorFirmer

And worth keeping in mind that a 4th gen i3 like the i3-4160 @ about 120 absolutely runs rings around the i5-760, in 80-90% of games there isn't really any perceivable difference between it and a more expensive i5 unless you're rocking a 1K+ graphics card setup.

byte

Cheers, guys, for the advice. Much appreciated.

I shall return when I have some shekels gathered up for the mobo/CPU.

byte

Just a wee update.

GTX950 finally arrived yesterday, so got it installed. I note the card is somewhat longer than the GTX460, though still fits as power is at the side of the 950.

I did a benchmark test on DiRT Rally when I still had the 460, and got average fps of 62. Did the benchmark test with the 950, and it has jumped to 91fps average.

Naturally I don't believe my monitor can show 91 frames per second, but meh.