Best GPU for my current motherboard?

[Tykoia]

I've currently got a GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 motherboard and was wondering what my best option is for a gpu upgrade. I'm rocking the gigabyte gtx 970 but I'm itching to upgrade to a new card that will work well with my old motherboard. I'm no expert on building computers so I figured I would just go with the most powerful card I could afford until a friend of mine stated that paying for a card that is too powerful for my mobo would be a waste. Basically, I'd appreciate if you could inform me on what the best choice for an upgrade would be based on my motherboard. Thanks.

 

[constantine_99]

actually, doesn't matter, as the PCIe is backward compatible so getting most of the GPU is fine, just watch out for the case size though, u might want to check it first

the thing that u need to look out for is whether the CPU will bottleneck your GPU or not, u can try to check it here: thebottlenecker.com

 

[megamanx00]

Your motherboard won't be the issue. Rather your CPU and your RAM will be what can limit you. It is probably best to wait for AMD's Vega come out even if you want to get an nVidia card if only so the new Radeon can push down prices. If you're system is reasonably fast you need a boost now you should consider getting a second 970 to run in SLI

 

[urbancamper]

What is your cpu? A 4670k? Or maybe something of the 4770, 4790 variety? you will not notice any kind of bottleneck with these cpus. They are still good processors. So go on get that all powerful graphics card. Woot! blow up all those cartoons. yehaw

 

[Tykoia]

What is your cpu? A 4670k? Or maybe something of the 4770, 4790 variety? you will not notice any kind of bottleneck with these cpus. They are still good processors. So go on get that all powerful graphics card. Woot! blow up all those cartoons. yehaw

I've currently got an i5-4690k

 

[constantine_99]

What is your cpu? A 4670k? Or maybe something of the 4770, 4790 variety? you will not notice any kind of bottleneck with these cpus. They are still good processors. So go on get that all powerful graphics card. Woot! blow up all those cartoons. yehaw

I've currently got an i5-4690k

that i5 is still good enough
970 can still handle games just fine, though the VRAM size might be the issue here
a recommendation of worthy upgrade:
GTX 1070 (mining craze, don't buy it now)
Vega (the consumer version had 3 different tier but there's no leak about the detailed specs yet, so mostly info are based from the FE)
GTX 1080
GTX 1080 ti

 

[urbancamper]

What is your cpu? A 4670k? Or maybe something of the 4770, 4790 variety? you will not notice any kind of bottleneck with these cpus. They are still good processors. So go on get that all powerful graphics card. Woot! blow up all those cartoons. yehaw

I've currently got an i5-4690k

That's what I figured. As I said previously, you will have no problems at all. Get whatever card you want that will fit your case.