Bought a new GTX 980, Did i make the right choice?

[PajamaXLlama]

Out with the old, in with the new.

Old:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102999 (GPU)
http://www.dell.com/downloads/emea/products/snp/p1911.pdf (monitor)

New:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125696 (GPU)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236453 (Monitor)

Did i buy a bad/good card? Is this card good for the money (bought it for $460 on sale)? Will I notice a large increase in performance compared to my old equipment? The new GPU is non-refundable but has a 3-year warranty, should i be worried?

Also, I read that the GTX 980 requires a 550 watt PSU and i have a TX550M. I want to make sure that I am not pushing it over the limit. Do I need to upgrade the PSU?

Thanks

 

[Luminary]

Hello PajamaXLlama,

1) Yes, the GTX 980 is significantly better than HD 7850. Massively better.

2) For the money...that's more difficult to say. In terms of price to performance most folks either drop down to the GTX 970 for $300 or go all the way up to the GTX 980ti for $600. It's a great card though, more powerful than the GTX 970 by 15-20%, and you'll be able to game on the GTX 980 for many years quite well.

3) That's a perfectly fine PSU. It's a bit long in the tooth, but still a very good model and enough to run the GTX 980, including having the required PCIe connectors.

Here's a review from Johnny Guru on your PSU, very solid. 9/10: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=261

 

[Shaun o]

What ?

A GTX 980 for a ATI 7850 card, did you make a good choice?

Will you notice an improvement ?

Yes, and Yes in a nutshell.

But I would opt for a slightly more powerful PSU in wattage.
Just to be safe, if the old one is a few years old consider a new one.

 

[a39232]

yes the gtx 980 is far better than a 7850 so yes a very good choice I would say.

You should be fine with that power supply it is of good quality and has stable power output but what else do you have in your system ? cpu,mobo,ram,HDD

 

[PajamaXLlama]

yes the gtx 980 is far better than a 7850 so yes a very good choice I would say.

You should be fine with that power supply it is of good quality and has stable power output but what else do you have in your system ? cpu,mobo,ram,HDD

My Sig is very much outdated.

CPU: AMD FX 8320 (OC'd to 4.2ghz)
MOBO: M5A99x EVO R2.0
RAM: 2x8gb and 1x4gb Crucial Ballistix Tactical
HDD: Some Toshiba 500gb 2.5in drive and a WD Black 1tb

 

[SkyBill40]

Great choice on the card. I'd opt for a slightly more powerful PSU for additional headroom just in case.

I run an 8350 with a slight OC and have an 850W PSU. While it's overkill for my 660Ti OC, I had planned on an SLI setup at one point and was trying to proactively plan ahead. Though that plan is now relatively unlikely, going to a more powerful card that uses more of what's available is very much a certainty. That said, the adage of "Better to have it and not need it than vice versa" works here.

 

[a39232]

Yes I would definitely go for a more powerful power supply with it being a fx 8320 a bit power hungry. I have a fx-8350 at 4.5ghz 1.4V and the exact same gtx 980 I do not know how much wattage they take up but my AX850 psu does spin I believe when I am playing a demanding game, even though I cant even feel the air.