best graphics card for my motherboard/CPU

[byeung7]

I am thinking of upgrading my graphics card later this year, I built my computer in Jan 2012:

MB MSI|P67A-C43 (B3) P67 LGA1155 R
VGA SAPPHIRE|100315L HD6850 R
PSU ANTEC|650W EA-650 GREEN RT
CPU INTEL|CORE I5 2500K 3.3G 6M R
12GB RAM

What is the best card I can buy that will be compatible with my motherboard and won't let my existing components act as a bottleneck? I noticed my motherboard supports PCIe x16 2.0, and I heard if I try to get a card that uses PCIe 3.0, I'll only get half of the performance out of the card. I would to play new games at highish settings at 1080p (or 1440p if possible) for a few more years.

Please advise. Thanks!

 

[Ryan_78]

GTX 1070. might be a slight bottleneck, but its not to worry about
2500k is an extremely strong CPU as of today, though, a little showing its limits, but shouldn't be a problem

 

[firo40]

Maybe wait for a 1060 or just buy a r9 380. I think a 1070 would probably bottleneck alot if the 2500k is only at 3.3ghz

 

[Hlsgsz]

I am thinking of upgrading my graphics card later this year, I built my computer in Jan 2012:

MB MSI|P67A-C43 (B3) P67 LGA1155 R
VGA SAPPHIRE|100315L HD6850 R
PSU ANTEC|650W EA-650 GREEN RT
CPU INTEL|CORE I5 2500K 3.3G 6M R
12GB RAM

What is the best card I can buy that will be compatible with my motherboard and won't let my existing components act as a bottleneck? I noticed my motherboard supports PCIe x16 2.0, and I heard if I try to get a card that uses PCIe 3.0, I'll only get half of the performance out of the card. I would to play new games at highish settings at 1080p (or 1440p if possible) for a few more years.

Please advise. Thanks!

Even the most powerfull GPUs will work just fine in a PCIE 2.0 x16 slot. Whoever told you taht you get half the performance has no idea what he's talking about, so no worries about that. Cpu'll be still good for some tiem aswell.
So an 1070 will suit you just fine.

 

[firo40]

I am thinking of upgrading my graphics card later this year, I built my computer in Jan 2012:

MB MSI|P67A-C43 (B3) P67 LGA1155 R
VGA SAPPHIRE|100315L HD6850 R
PSU ANTEC|650W EA-650 GREEN RT
CPU INTEL|CORE I5 2500K 3.3G 6M R
12GB RAM

What is the best card I can buy that will be compatible with my motherboard and won't let my existing components act as a bottleneck? I noticed my motherboard supports PCIe x16 2.0, and I heard if I try to get a card that uses PCIe 3.0, I'll only get half of the performance out of the card. I would to play new games at highish settings at 1080p (or 1440p if possible) for a few more years.

Please advise. Thanks!

Even the most powerfull GPUs will work just fine in a PCIE 2.0 x16 slot. Whoever told you taht you get half the performance has no idea what he's talking about, so no worries about that. Cpu'll be still good for some tiem aswell.
So an 1070 will suit you just fine.

Even in games such as ARMA 3 which is old that cpu will bottleneck a 1070 severly, I cant see new games which he will most likely try to run working well on a stock 2500k. Even 2500k clocked at 4.5ghz are stuggling with newer titles

 

[Hlsgsz]

I am thinking of upgrading my graphics card later this year, I built my computer in Jan 2012:

MB MSI|P67A-C43 (B3) P67 LGA1155 R
VGA SAPPHIRE|100315L HD6850 R
PSU ANTEC|650W EA-650 GREEN RT
CPU INTEL|CORE I5 2500K 3.3G 6M R
12GB RAM

What is the best card I can buy that will be compatible with my motherboard and won't let my existing components act as a bottleneck? I noticed my motherboard supports PCIe x16 2.0, and I heard if I try to get a card that uses PCIe 3.0, I'll only get half of the performance out of the card. I would to play new games at highish settings at 1080p (or 1440p if possible) for a few more years.

Please advise. Thanks!

Even the most powerfull GPUs will work just fine in a PCIE 2.0 x16 slot. Whoever told you taht you get half the performance has no idea what he's talking about, so no worries about that. Cpu'll be still good for some tiem aswell.
So an 1070 will suit you just fine.

Even in games such as ARMA 3 which is old that cpu will bottleneck a 1070 severly, I cant see new games which he will most likely try to run working well on a stock 2500k. Even 2500k clocked at 4.5ghz are stuggling with newer titles

Seriously dude? ARMA 3 is so poorly optimized that even a 6700k struggles with it.

 

[Asusprime]

PCIE X16 3.0 cards do not saturate a PCIE x16 2.0 connector. New cards are just not strong enough to use all the bandwidth yet.

Tell us about the games you want to play. Some games are CPU dependent, use up to 8 threads or rely heavily on single core performance. Other games just like beefy GPUs and even a simple quad core is enough.

Your i5 is only about 20-30% slower than current i5 skylake so I say that its still decent. If you want a card that can handle everything and still have a balanced system just get a GTX 1070. The lowest, oldest card I would get with that CPU is the GTX 780. In any case your CPU cant keep up with the games you play you can always upgrade to a i7 ivy bridge or a Xeon with HT

 

[byeung7]

Some of the games I'm looking at are Routine, Total War Warhammer, Star Citizen, P.A.M.E.L.A. I guess I can get a new CPU later, but wanted to keep the budget to $400 for now. If a GTX 1070 would work for my setup, that would be my first choice. Thanks for all the responses, guys.

 

[Hlsgsz]

Some of the games I'm looking at are Routine, Total War Warhammer, Star Citizen, P.A.M.E.L.A. I guess I can get a new CPU later, but wanted to keep the budget to $400 for now. If a GTX 1070 would work for my setup, that would be my first choice. Thanks for all the responses, guys.

That would be my first choice aswell.

 

[Asusprime]

Some of the games I'm looking at are Routine, Total War Warhammer, Star Citizen, P.A.M.E.L.A. I guess I can get a new CPU later, but wanted to keep the budget to $400 for now. If a GTX 1070 would work for my setup, that would be my first choice. Thanks for all the responses, guys.

Total War Warhammer and Star Citizen are getting a DirectX 12 upgrades so they will rely less on CPU or use it efficiently. As for Routine and PAMELA there isnt much info on how much CPU those use. I say just get the GTX 1070 and I am sure you will need no upgrades for the next 2 years if you only play those games. You can always just wait to upgrade cpu when new Intel Kabylake cpus or AMD Zen come out.

I got an FX 8350 and a GTX 780, played Overwatch beta on full max graphics at 1080p and currently play World of Warcraft on ultra at 1080p too. My cpu has slower single thread than yours and I am able to play most games on ultra or high settings. I also played Assassin's creed Unity for a few hours on pretty high settings but then I got frustrated and quit LOL.

You CPU is good, if you really want to upgrade you have ample time to do it since your CPU is not outdated at the moment.