Best graphic card for this computer

[wachuwey]

Hello.
This is my current computer.

AMD 965 @3.8GHz (slight OC)
Cooler Master V8
2x4GB GSkill ARES 1600
Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
Corsair 650TX

Cooler Master HAFXB
Crucial M4
Benq 1920x1080

Gigabyte GTX 460 OC 1GB

I was wondering what is the best graphic card to put in that pc without bottleneck.
Does a 460 SLI worth it?

Thanks.

 

[RCoon]

Wouldnt jump on 460 SLI personally, lots of power hunger there. All depends on budget I suppose. But with no budget to deal with so far, a 7970 or 680, dont care which.
inb4 greenvsred.

 

[wachuwey]

7970 or 680 ?
Those beasts will not be bottlenecked by the CPU?

Don't talk about budget because i just want to know the limitation of my actual computer for future updates.

 

[TriggerWolf]

Well, from personal experience with a 3.66GHz Q9450 @1680x1050 you won't get much better performance of a newer GPU, I tried a GTX670 with it and my frame rates were downright the same as a GTX470 on 3 out of 4 games I benchmarked. Only the extra video RAM was handy, one thing I noticed as an improvement was less stuttering with very high texture detailed games.

You may be better off at that res with something like a GTX660 or AMD 7950 over a 460 SLI.

 

[RCoon]

Well that CPU is reasonable and will game comfortably, but i dont think there's much left in the way of future gaming, though at this rate it will do ok if engines dont get updated...
Your build is actually pretty reasonable, i checked it out on the internet, and you would not experience any noticable bottleneck, though the gtx 680 etc might not run at 100% in certain game titles. You could easily get those two cards on your system, but a 7950 or 660/ti would run perfectly i think.
Apparently with a good overclock on the Phenom X4's you can mitigate the bottleneck to minimal.

 

[wachuwey]

Apparently with a good overclock on the Phenom X4's you can mitigate the bottleneck to minimal.

That's one of my weak points.
Not a expert in overclock.

Recently tried to put my cpu at 4.0GHz but it became unstable.
Also, my cooler is not the best for overclocking, but I liked it.
For sure I need to give it another try, someday.

 

[RCoon]

That's one of my weak points.
Not a expert in overclock.

Recently tried to put my cpu at 4.0GHz but it became unstable.
Also, my cooler is not the best for overclocking, but I liked it.
For sure I need to give it another try, someday.

Come on the TPU Teamspeak server at 17:00 GMT tonight, I'd be more than happy to help.
While the cooler may not be the best, the V8 is one of my favorites aesthetically.
I got my 1055t X6 to 4.2Ghz on 1.45v vcore, without changing much else in the BIOS besides multiplier, voltage and manually setting RAM speed, and that was on a cheap old Asus Evo board. Just keep the CPU below 70 degrees
Big GPU's will certainly improve framerates, and even if they are only 95% loaded with the CPU, if you ever think of upgrading the CPU in future, at least you know your graphics card is boss.

 

[Law-II]

Hi

Just my opinion; take a GTX 670 over a GTX 660Ti [Ti has less mem bandwidth over the 670]

nb: GTX 670 has theoretical Pixel Fill Rate: 32320 MPixels/sec Texture Fill Rate: 113120 MTexels/sec at peak loads [this is without OC; due to the dynamic clock *boost, if temps are kept under control higher clocks can be achived]



Source - http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_660_Ti_Power_Edition/8.html

if you are not in the Nvidia camp then go with a HD 7950



Source - http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7950/8.html

Spec Comparison site - http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=669&card2=664#

Which ever way you go I hope you have a great experience

atb (all the best)

Law-II

 

[wachuwey]

Come on the TPU Teamspeak server at 17:00 GMT tonight, I'd be more than happy to help.

Thanks for the invitation, but I have to reject.
English is not my first language. I can write decently, but speaking is quite difficult to me.

But thanks anyway.

 

[TC-man]

Hi,

Here's a very interesting article about better performance scaling overall of AMD's HD 7970 (versus GTX 680) in games with PC systems that are running on relatively weaker processors (except in the Crysis 2 test where it shows that the GTX 680 in general is better, though AMD's HD 7970 scales relatively better in the same Crysis 2 test with the Pentium G860 dual core CPU than the GTX 680 does).

So according to this article (and if we can believe in the results from it) your video card of choice may be an AMD video card, especially when you are afraid that the games may not scale well with your PC that's powered by a Phenom II X4 after a high-end video card upgrade.

Furthermore, according several replies to the mentioned article, the difference in CPU scaling between Nvidia's GTX 680 and AMD HD 7970 may be caused by how the scheduling is implemented for both cards. Nvidia has introduced software scheduling that's done by CPU in their new Kepler GPUs. Before with the Fermi cards, Nvidia was using low level hardware scheduling that's run on the GPU itself. So the GTX 680/Kepler can really shine with a high-end CPU and not so much with a weaker CPU, at least that's the conclusion of the replies.

By the way, here's a related article about the mentioned "scheduling".

 

[Lionheart]

I would go with a GTX 660Ti or a HD7950 & no higher due to bottlenecking

 

[MT Alex]

Thanks for the invitation, but I have to reject.
English is not my first language. I can write decently, but speaking is quite difficult to me.

But thanks anyway.

Yes, you do very well with written text, better than a lot of native English speakers.

 

[brandonwh64]

I speak the worst broken english a southerner can do and still come to the TS.

 

[de.das.dude]

this pc will not bottleneck anything.

 

[tokyoduong]

Hello.
This is my current computer.

AMD 965 @3.8GHz (slight OC)
Cooler Master V8
2x4GB GSkill ARES 1600
Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
Corsair 650TX

Cooler Master HAFXB
Crucial M4
Benq 1920x1080

Gigabyte GTX 460 OC 1GB

I was wondering what is the best graphic card to put in that pc without bottleneck.
Does a 460 SLI worth it?

Thanks.

Don't go SLI! it only works on some games and have more problems than it's worth the cost/power/headache. But if you got money to blow then sure.
Just upgrade to 660/Ti or 7870/50 but I wouldn't go any higher. Then your next upgrade should be a 8350/20 if you have the money.
Crucial M4 is a good choice and reliable

 

[wachuwey]

Talking about this with some friends, they realize the SLI option is not possible.
My motherboard is Crossfire capable only.
They told me there are some tricks, but nothing official.

Reading your answers, things are clear
from 660Ti to 680 in Nvidia
from 7870 to 7950 in AMD

Like RCoon said in the first answer, Green vs Red.
Now I know the options.

Thanks.

 

[BraveSoul]

u got decent cpu,,,, 660Ti-670, HD7950 ,,,, enjoy

 

[tokyoduong]

Talking about this with some friends, they realize the SLI option is not possible.
My motherboard is Crossfire capable only.
They told me there are some tricks, but nothing official.

Reading your answers, things are clear
from 660Ti to 680 in Nvidia
from 7870 to 7950 in AMD

Like RCoon said in the first answer, Green vs Red.
Now I know the options.

Thanks.

Stick with 7870 or 660 ti. I would save that $100 and upgrade to the later generation of architecture in 6 months and sell your old card

 

[xenocide]

Just about any GPU people are mentioning will more than likely bottleneck, but you'll still see a performance gain. A system will always have a bottleneck somewhere, what matters is the severity. A bottleneck that costs you 5% isn't huge, but if you barely see a performance gain (which won't be the case) then you are in big trouble. I would say HD7870, HD7950, or GTX660Ti depending on how much you want to spend, then invest in a new CPU/Mobo when you have the funds. An FX-6300 or FX-8320 will futureproof you for some time.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Taking into account your CPU/system, my money would go on the HD7870, swift performance at a good price and will pretty much run anything high at 1080p.

 

[Cruise51]

Your cpu is already pretty good. Even a HD7970 wouldn't really be bottlenecked much by it. If it was my money I'd buy something like this:

Club3D 7870 Joker Tahiti LE
Club3D 7950 Royal King

 

[Bo$$]

Personally I'd say sell your CPU + GPU, add some cash, get a Phenom II X4 or a FX CPU and the highest ATI graphics card your budget allows (7870 or similar). But you MUST change that CPU!

edit: derp derp 965 is a phenom II epic fail, GPU! 7950 is a nice option

 

[drdeathx]

this pc will not bottleneck anything.

You can choose ANY current graphics card will work fine with your system without a serious bottleneck concern.

 

[Jstn7477]

You *might* be alright with a high end single GPU. In the crossfire/SLI charts, Intel SB/IB quads show a noticeably big FPS difference in many games versus AMD FX-8xxx processors. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-8350-core-i7-3770k-gaming-bottleneck,3407.html

The above article is about a pair of HD 7970s on an i7-3770K and FX-8350, but essentially, if you are getting low frame rates compared to other users with the same graphics card, your CPU is probably the bottleneck. You could get a new GPU now and upgrade the platform later on if you wanted.

I'd personally go with a 7850/7870 since they are relatively cheap and are a better match for your CPU in my opinion.

 

[xxdozer322]

My old 965 (oc at 3.9) handled both of my 580s just fine (Evga 580, current SOC 580) without any bottleneck, i maxed out bf3 at 1080p easily...btw it wasn't sli, just 2 different cards that were in my system.