thoward

Honorable
Jan 9, 2014
4
0
10,510
Hey there,

Relative beginner at assembling PC's. Looking to drop a new GPU into an older rig in hopes of getting a FPS bump in a few of the games I have time to play.

Bought the PC in 2012, specs are:
  • Intel Core i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40HGz, 3400 Mhz, 4 Cores
  • ASRock Z77 Pro 3
  • AMD Radeon HD 7700
  • 12.0 GB DDR 3 (1333 MHz)

Thinking of picking up a mid-range card (AMD Rx 570 or 580) to get a bit more longevity out it. Is this reasonable? Will it be bottlenecked by my CPU? Can my motherboard handle it? Is there another consideration I'm not realizing? Should I just give up and take my girlfriend out on a date for once in my miserable life?

Any help or suggestions are much appreciated.
 
Solution
It's a reasonable goal. The 3570K will run quite nicely with a 580. There will be some times in newer games where you have to ease up on settings, mainly open world games capable of using a lot of threads.

What's the exact power supply? That's the most important information involving a GPU upgrade. HD 7700 doesn't really tell us much about your power situation because there's no GPU called an HD 7700. HD 7700 refers to an entire family of GPUs: 7730, 7750, 7770, 7790. And none of these cards hit 100W, so a power supply that can safely power a 100W GPU (if you're actually safely powering one now!) might not necessarily be safe for the 570 or 580. Even the 570 uses almost twice as much power as the 7790.

DSzymborski

Curmudgeon Pursuivant
Moderator
It's a reasonable goal. The 3570K will run quite nicely with a 580. There will be some times in newer games where you have to ease up on settings, mainly open world games capable of using a lot of threads.

What's the exact power supply? That's the most important information involving a GPU upgrade. HD 7700 doesn't really tell us much about your power situation because there's no GPU called an HD 7700. HD 7700 refers to an entire family of GPUs: 7730, 7750, 7770, 7790. And none of these cards hit 100W, so a power supply that can safely power a 100W GPU (if you're actually safely powering one now!) might not necessarily be safe for the 570 or 580. Even the 570 uses almost twice as much power as the 7790.
 
Solution