Looking to Upgrade My GPU

[custos7]

Case: Thermaltake Element T
MB : P8Z68-V PRO
HDD: Corsair Force 3 SSD / WDC Black 1TB / Green 2TB
CPU : i7 - 2600k
GPU : MSI gtx 560 twin frozr oc II (not ti)
RAM : 8GB kingston hyper 1600 (runs on 1333)
Monitor: Asus VG248QE

This PC is 4 years old. Cooling is stock, PSU replaced, I'm not sure what it is but here's a picture:

http://tinypic.com/r/256v2ab/8

Mainly I want to play GTA 5 at 144 fps at 1080p, I don't mind low settings; No AA, no bloom, low texture quality etc...

I've been checking market and benchmark results for GTX 960, GTX 970, GTX 980 and R9 290(x) for a while. I prefer Nvidia mostly because I have the stereoscopic googles for it.

I have a good idea what is better performance-wise but:

1) I don't know enough to anticipate prices dropping in the following 2-3 months.

2) Variants of these models; how much does it matter? I don't think I'll need 4GB+ with 1080p 1 montior gaming for example but what else to watch out for?

3) I don't know if my PSU would be enough for these new cards.

4) Would I need to OC -> ilquid cool my CPU to keep up with these cards?

5) I'm not sure which variant of which model would fit my Element T Mid tower.

6) Do I need to upgrade my RAM yet? If I do, can I socket a corsair next to a kingston for example?

 

[laviniuc]

Aerocool E85M - it's not the best out there, you should get a replacement with the new gpu, look for a bronze or gold certified psu from tiers 1-2 (600W or bigger should be plenty either graphics you go for)
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

 

[custos7]

Thanks, picked out "Seasonic SEA-S12II-620" (~88$) or "COOLER MASTER V750" (~165$) best prices where I live unfortunately. Seasonic should be sufficient yeah? There are some posts in the forums that suggests so.

Would appreciate if someone helped with the other questions.

 

[coozie7]

The Seasonic is a good choice but your case looks small, so I'll suggest you look for a modular PSU instead, it's not just for looks, it'll clear out all those unwanted wires and improve airflow which will improve cooling.

1: We don't know either, there's no way to accurately predict pricing but if your country has something like Black Monday or Cyber Friday then would be a good time to go hunting.

2:The main variations are cooling and factory overclock, if you want or like a quiet system, good cooling should be your first priority, factory overclocks can be a nice performance boost but I wouldn't pay too much extra for it. Cards like the GTX960 are too slow to make use of 4Gb of memory and for a 1080 display, even at ultra settings 4Gb is usually enough.

3: See above.

4: No.

5: Hard to be certain but if it's the Thermaltake case most cards will fit easily enough, just steer clear of the three fan maonsters and you should be fine.

6: No, but take a look at the settings, maybe the RAM installed is not running at a voltage the motherboard likes or normally supports, perhaps a BIOS tweak will get it running at the full 1600 MHz.

 

[Eggz]

For GTA V with 144 fps on 1080, you'll need the best card you can afford even if you turn down settings.

 

[custos7]

The Seasonic is a good choice but your case looks small, so I'll suggest you look for a modular PSU instead, it's not just for looks, it'll clear out all those unwanted wires and improve airflow which will improve cooling.

1: We don't know either, there's no way to accurately predict pricing but if your country has something like Black Monday or Cyber Friday then would be a good time to go hunting.

2:The main variations are cooling and factory overclock, if you want or like a quiet system, good cooling should be your first priority, factory overclocks can be a nice performance boost but I wouldn't pay too much extra for it. Cards like the GTX960 are too slow to make use of 4Gb of memory and for a 1080 display, even at ultra settings 4Gb is usually enough.

3: See above.

4: No.

5: Hard to be certain but if it's the Thermaltake case most cards will fit easily enough, just steer clear of the three fan maonsters and you should be fine.

6: No, but take a look at the settings, maybe the RAM installed is not running at a voltage the motherboard likes or normally supports, perhaps a BIOS tweak will get it running at the full 1600 MHz.

Thank you, very informative. You're right about the cables, they are take way too much space in my mid-tower. I'll research and try to find a modular PSU within my budget.

Unfortunately we don't have anything like Black Friday but here too prices may drop after or late november because it's all import anyway.

For RAM, I forced the speed to 1600 before but there were some problems and I wasn't sure it was related. While researching I learned the difference isn't much so reversed to 1333 instead of researching further

For GTA V with 144 fps on 1080, you'll need the best card you can afford even if you turn down settings.

980 (not ti) starts around 700$ here, I'll probably go for GTX 970, got 3 options:
MSI GTX970 GAMING 100ME 466$
Asus STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5 475$
Asus TURBO-GTX970-OC-4GD5 437$

If anyone has more pointers please do say, I feel ignorant about all these.

 

[coozie7]

If you're still watching, custos7 I'd go for either the MSI Gaming or Asus Strix, the Asus Turbo can be a little noisy under load.

 

[custos7]

If you're still watching, custos7 I'd go for either the MSI Gaming or Asus Strix, the Asus Turbo can be a little noisy under load.

Thanks for the heads up. I don't mind the sound too much if it's around the same level with my gtx msi 560.

Some other options that I didn't list with the reasons:
MSI GTX970 GAMING 4G (471$): Didn't see it before, price dropped or just added to the shops I was checking.
Galaxy GTX970 OC 4GB (440$): I haven't heard anything about galaxy but good things about Asus and MSI.
Galaxy GTX970 EX OC 4GB (444$) ^
Evga GTX970 SuperClock ACX 2.0 4GB (480$)
Evga GTX970 SSC ACX 2.0+ GDDR5 4GB (516$):
I actually wanted to try Evga but it's pushing my budget limit and doesn't have much support in Turkey, where I am, as far as I know.

I'd appreciate any suggestions and research/compare to previous 3 options.

 

[Eggz]

They all have the same chip and memory but are set to slightly different speeds. You can rule out the most expensive ones if you're worried about costs. That leaves MSI and Galaxy, which are both fine. MSI is more established, though, so there may be benefits if you need to use service - no telling for sure though. My personal experience with EVGA has been really good because you can just call and get a reasonably intelligent person on the phone easily, and that person will handle your issue without a fuss. But as far as the cards go, you can adjust the speed manually very easily. And even if you don't there won't be much (if any) perceivable performance difference.