GT 970 on low-end

[okfineimbatman]

So I will be in Japan next week and I want to get the GIGABYTE Geforce GTX970 GV-N970G1 at about $384 (46000 yen) but I'm worried that with this system the card will not be able to work properly:
-Core i5 2320 3ghz
-Mainboard: Gigabyte H67M-D2-B3
-Ram 4Gb DDR3
-PSU: cooler master rs 600 pcar e3

I just want to upgrade it bit by bit you know so I think a new GPU would be a great start and my budget is <$400. Please tell me any opinion or recommendation about it. Thank you so much in advance.

 

[GhislainG]

The GPU will work and your CPU shouldn't bottleneck it if an i3-4150 is powerful enough for a lot of games.

 

[okfineimbatman]

Do you think that I should get another 4gb DDR3 Ram?

 

[GhislainG]

It isn't an absolute must. How will you add 4GB of memory? An additional 2x2GB kit (identical to the one that you already have) or a 2x4GB kit (and sell the old kit)? Did you determine that adding 4GB will help because memory utilization often is close to 100%?

 

[okfineimbatman]

There's another ram slot so I'm planning on getting another kingston 4gb ddr3 1333mhz since I don't think selling it would get me much. Anyway I think another one would be a better choice than upgrading to a single 8gb or anything with ddr5. It's not close to full memory utilization but I did experienced some major fps issues when playing COD MW, and I certainly don't want it to happen again when the witcher 3 came out. That's why I think a GPU + Ram upgrade would be a sure fire. What do you think about the PSU? I know it's not that good so I don't want it to do anything bad to the new GPU.

 

[GhislainG]

If you already have a 4GB module, then adding another one is fine; normally a PC has 2 or 4 modules to run in dual channel mode.

Your PSU is 450W (600 is the model number). The GPU (240W peak) requires 6 pin (75W) and 8 pin (150W) PEG connectors (it draws the rest from the PCI Express slot); your PSU provides two 18A (216W) 12V rails and two 6 pin PEG connectors. You could buy a 6 pin PCI Express to 8 pin PCI Express quality cable (presuming your cheap PSU has quality cables that can handle that load without getting too hot), but that doesn't solve the basic issue where the total load can be up to 225W on a 216W rail. If I were you I'd invest in a quality 550W PSU that's designed to support the GPU properly.

 

[okfineimbatman]

Ok, suppose that I have $100~150 for the new PSU then do you have any recommendation?

 

[GhislainG]

Unless you plan on going SLI in the future, you don't need to spend $150 for a good PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207032

https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx

 

[okfineimbatman]

Unless you plan on going SLI in the future, you don't need to spend $150 for a good PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207032

https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx

Thank you so much for answering all my questions ^^ I think I will get a new 4gb DDR3 Ram and Cosair CS650M to go with the new GPU. One last thing though, the motherboard can support the card right? but do you think I need to change it?

 

[GhislainG]

The motherboard can definitely support that GPU.

 

[okfineimbatman]

Thank you ^^ that's all I need to know