gtx 760 2GB vs 4GB on pci express 2.0 x16

WideAndNerdy

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May 30, 2013
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I have this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188074 motherboard

EVGA 141-BL-E757-RX which has some PCI 2.0 x16 slots. I'm looking at upgrading from my GTX570 card found here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127582
Mainly because 1280 MB of RAM, I'm told is the bottleneck when I try to play modded Skyrim and also because it would be nice to catch back up with the consoles and maybe the 50 extra bucks will be worth it to stay caught up for a while.

I'm considering GTX 760 cards, I've read that will max out the bandwidth of the slot its in. What I'm wondering is, will I notice a difference in performance between 2GB and 4GB GDDR5 on a GTX 760 on a PCI express 2.0 slot?

I do plan on upgrading my motherboard and CPU at a later time but the CPU is a core i7-950 Bloomfield (I wouldn't bother upgrading it at all but the CPU uses an LGA1366 slot so I figure I'll have to upgrade the CPU when I upgrade the mobo). I figure I can put that off for a while.

So basically, 2GB vs 4GB GDDR5? (keeping in mind that I'll upgrade my mobo and possibly processor in the next year)

P.S. I figure the answer is no but just in case, should I bother overclocking this card while its in a pci e 2.0 x16 slot?
 
Solution
Single PCIE3.0 cards work just fine in PCIE2.0 slots without being throttled by the PCIE2.0 bus. The performance gains are negligible (<10% framerate gains in most instances, in a benchmark done by HardOCP), but it would be forward thinking to make your next mobo/cpu upgrade PCIE3.0 compatible.

Go with the 4GB card. Slightly more future proof, not significantly more expensive. The PCIE2.0 bus won't limit your ability to overclock, so if you want to do that, go for it, just make sure you have the adequate cooling to do so.

Current Haswell boards still use DDR3, so you should be able to carry over. Won't be seeing DDR4 yet for a bit.
the cpu has to go for sure................... it'll soon be holding you back. bet it does in some instances already. if you're going to load up skyrim with multiple mods........ and or run at high res with high/max settings....... and this will help in some future games also.......... go right for the 4gig card. if you pay attention to some of the better reviews by users who load the game up, 2gigs isn't always enough.
 
the cpu has to go for sure................... it'll soon be holding you back. bet it does in some instances already. if you're going to load up skyrim with multiple mods........ and or run at high res with high/max settings....... and this will help in some future games also.......... go right for the 4gig card. if you pay attention to some of the better reviews by users who load the game up, 2gigs isn't always enough.
 
GTX 760 is more than enough for Skyrim.

you need more then 2 GB if you are using multiple high resolution monitors. If you use only one 2 GB is more than enough. what monitor(s) are you using?

what is your motherboard?

check for compatibility. like does it have required PCIE slot, sufficient TDP etc.
 
@swifty_morgan
Thank you, good to know I shouldn't even bother looking for an LGA1366 mobo with PCI3.0 slots. Go straight to the newest CPU port, hopefully my DDR3 RAM and GTX760 video card will carry over till I can afford to upgrade them.

@prud
I'm using a 1080p monitor and 1080p television. I game on the monitor. I posted a link to the motherboard at the top of my original post.
 
Single PCIE3.0 cards work just fine in PCIE2.0 slots without being throttled by the PCIE2.0 bus. The performance gains are negligible (<10% framerate gains in most instances, in a benchmark done by HardOCP), but it would be forward thinking to make your next mobo/cpu upgrade PCIE3.0 compatible.

Go with the 4GB card. Slightly more future proof, not significantly more expensive. The PCIE2.0 bus won't limit your ability to overclock, so if you want to do that, go for it, just make sure you have the adequate cooling to do so.

Current Haswell boards still use DDR3, so you should be able to carry over. Won't be seeing DDR4 yet for a bit.
 
Solution
When you're saying "performance gains are negligible" are you talking about the GTX760 in a PCI3.0 slot versus PCI 2.0 or are you talking about performance gains being negligible for gtx760 vs gtx570 in a pci2.0 slot?
 
The PCIE3.0 performance gain really starts to show itself in SLI solutions more so than in single-card solutions. So if you intend on buying a second 760 down the road, that would be the time to make sure you're on 3.0 bus.