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Type90MBt

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May 2, 2015
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These are my current stats, my motherboard is useless so which one can I buy to support my setup again? My current motherboard is out of stock every where. I just wish to add more ram (16gb) and a better graphics card. I wish to keep the same setup if someone can help me find a motherboard that can accomadate these needs. I wish to have 2 ssds and 1 internal hdd. My games always crashed on my GTX 660 with drivers even though i tried many different recommended drivers. Please and thank you.

PC Buil Specs :

>Samsung 840 Series MZ-7TD120BW 120GB Solid State Drive - 2.5" Form Factor, SATA III, 530 MB/s Read Speed, 130 MB/s Write Speed

>Intel Core i5-3570K BX806237i53570K Processor - Quad Core, 6MB L3 Cache, 3.40GHz (3.80GHz Max Turbo), Socket H2 (LGA1155), 95W, Fan, Unlocked, Retail (I69-3570K )

>Cooler Master RR-212E-20PK-R1 Hyper 212 EVO Universal CPU Cooler - 120mm Fan w/ PWM, LGA 1366, 1156, 1155, 775, FM1, AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2

>EVGA GeForce GTX 660 FTW Signature 2 02G-P4-2663-KR Video Card - 2GB GDDR5, PCI-Express 3.0(x16), 1x Dual-link DVI-D, 1x Dual-link DVI-I, 1x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI, DirectX 11, SLI Ready, Dual-Slot

>GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H Intel 7 Series Motherboard - ATX, Socket H2 (LGA1155), Intel Z77 Express, 1600MHz DDR3, SATA III (6Gb/s), RAID, 8-Ch Audio, Gigabit LAN, USB 3.0, PCIe 3.0, CrossFireX/SLI

>Corsair CMPSU-600G 600-Watt Gaming Series GS600 Power Supply - ATX, 600W, 80 Plus, Blue LED, 140mm Fan

>Corsair CC-9011011-WW Carbide Series 400R Mid Tower Gaming Case - ATX, mATX, 4x Ext 5.25" Bays, 6x Int 3.5" Bays, 2x 120mm White LED Fans, 1x 120mm Fan, 2x USB 3.0 and 1x FireWire Front Ports

>Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX 8GB Desktop Memory Kit - DDR3, (2 x 4GB), PC3-12800, 1600MHz, CL9, Intel XMP Ready

>D-Link DWA-552 PCI Wireless Network Adapter - 300Mbps, 802.11n (Draft N)



 
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As long as you're willing to put up with the difficulties of using a multi-gpu setup, but you should get the same performance as you would with a gtx 970, so SLIing two 660s is well within your budget while giving you great performance. Again as long as you're willing to put up with the difficulties of using a multi-gpu setup, do this, and you will get excellent gaming performance.
 
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Well I had issues with this current video cards drivers and most games crashed. So a super clocked gtx 960-970 will better suite me since I cannot deal with further constant configurations.
 
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Ok so with the z75 As rock motherboard can I add just gtx 970? No sLi. Or a some other durable card that can be considered an upgrade to my current gtx 660?

Will I need to upgrade PSU if i install one GTX 970 on this As Rock Mobo?
 
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Yes you can. Although your CPU might bottleneck the gtx 970. I said might, should not be much though. Yes one 960 or 970 card is an upgrade. I would suggest going with the gtx 970. Here are the benchmarks for each card compared against your 660.

gtx 960 - http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-960-vs-GeForce-GTX-660

gtx 970 - http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-970-vs-GeForce-GTX-660

Now. I don't mean to make your decision harder. I just want you to have all the information possible for you. You can also use AMD GPU's. You could get a R9 290 Radeon card cheaper than the GTX 970.
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($329.99 @ NCIX)
Here are charts showing comparisons and total wattage used by the R9 290.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7481/the-amd-radeon-r9-290-review/15

http://www.hwcompare.com/18034/geforce-gtx-970-vs-radeon-r9-290/

If you went that route. If you upgraded to a bigger power supply. You could put another R9 290 in you rig for dual 290's.
If you want my opinion. You don't get double the power. That is a myth. Going that route means new power supply which can get expensive as well. Then there are the headaches and problems that come with adding another card. meaning more power, errors, heat ect ect. I am a big believer of buy one good to high powered card. Upgrade couple years down the road. Just FYI, Nvidia cards 99% of the time run cooler and use less power than there AMD brethren. No you will not need to upgrade your Power Supply Unit. The GTX 970 only draws about 190 watts under max load.
I hope this helps you out and gives you a clearer picture.
 
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I concur. The best card to get for 1080p gaming for the money is a gtx 970. Upgrading your psu would just be more money then you want to spend if you want to get an r9 290x. The gtx 970 only draws about 150 watts on its own, as opposed to around 350 for the r9 290x. Your total system should be less than 400 watts with a 970, your temps will be excellent with a good model (like the Asus Strix or Msi Twin Frozr), and you WILL get 60 fps, 1080p, ultra graphics in any game, excluding crysis 3 and perhaps the Witcher 3.
 
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Thank you cleanshot911. I just don't see recommending high end AMD cards to most people right now. Their biggest pro's are. 1. Cost, AMD being cheaper most the time, but if you need to upgrade your power supply then that goes right out the window. 2. Great at surround monitor set up and 4k gaming. Recent studies and polls I have read. Suggests that only 6 percent game with surround monitor setup and only between 2 - 4 percent game at fake and/or true 4k. The majority is still 1080p. That is until 4k monitors come down in price. Although recent news has stated we might see 8k by the end of 2016 or middle 2017. I have nothing against AMD(other than horrible driver issues.) I just think to many people try to future proof rigs and that is hard to do. Look at what tomb raider, Battlefield 4 and Metro Last Light are pulling. Even some high end AMD cards struggle at the max setting and 4k mark.
 
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Thank you guys for all your help and is I appreciate every bit of it and so far I will go for the Gtx970 as mentioned by cleanshot911 and dark_strike and i will get the asrock extreme z77 mother board. There will be no compatibility issues?

Last one, motherboard. Can you guys link me two compatible motherboards? I know the asrock z75 (110$) and asrock extreme z77 (200$) but i might pick up another 8gb of ram and make it 16gb on my current system. I dont know if the Z75 has 4 slots or not since i have two 4gb rams. Which ram and which is the best bang for the buck motherboard? with current setup. Thank you.
 
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No problem, you're welcome. No there shouldn't be any any compatibility issues between a z77 motherboard and gtx 970, as long as you have a PCIe x 16 slot for the card to fit into. I would also make sure that your BIOS is updated as well to ensure there are no issues whatsoever. As for the ram, I would just get more of what you have if you're satisfied with it. If you got better ram, like something that was 1866Mhz or 2133Mhz, it would only run at 1600Mhz because you paired it wth 1600Mhz ram. So Really, as long as it goes for a good price, you might as well get more of what you already have. And yes both motherboards have four ram slots. P.S. both boards have a PCIe x 16 slot, so you're good to go.
 
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Thank you very much for clarifying everything. I will go and make the purchase, Again thank you everyone and especially cleanshot_911 and dark strike for the guidance, I will inform everyone once my build is ready. Cheers
 
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