Need some advice before upgrade my GPU

[lsvictory]

Dear all PC master experts, i would like to seek advice from you all...
Im looking forward to upgrade my GPU from GTX650ti 1gb vram , to replace by another advanced GPU card (GTX 970/ 3.5 gb vram).

My CPU is Core i5-4440 (3.1 ghz), do you think its enough to push GTX 970 to maximum full potential ?

My ram is currently 6gb( 2gb+4gb ), im very likely to upgrade to 12gb(8gb+4gb),btw how does memory affect gaming exp? does it impact GPU more or CPU more ? Do i need more than 8gb ?

i only use single monitor (1920x1080)

 

[jd_w98]

Your CPU is powerful enough to push most mid to high end gpu's without any issue. I would definitely recommend upgrading your ram like you've planned to at least 8gb. Most games today are recommending 8gb of ram and below that you may run into some issues. Memory speed is not a huge deal in 99% of games either so don't worry about that.

 

[LilTwist]

Depends on how much money you want to spend for the gpu, right now Nvidia leads the race for price to performance and performance in general atm. Also, upgrade your ram to 8Gb or 16Gb not 12Gb you will get better performance with matching sticks of ram 1600 or 1866, 1333 will work also just too slow for me.

 

[LilTwist]

Also, for the price of a gtx 970 you could get a gtx 1060 6Gb which performs better than the 970. If you do get a gtx 1060 don't get the 1060 3Gb, don't know why they called it the 1060 they should have just called it the gtx 1050 because it wasn't just ram they shaved off of it.

 

[lsvictory]

i dont need 16gb, as i dont run any other intensive program like recording, but im just pure gaming, so either 8gb or 12gb...

What i dont understand is , why you mentioned 8gb is better than 12gb ?

My current ram slot is 2gb + 4gb (only limited to 2 slots) , so im planning to keep the 4gb and replace the 2gb with new 8gb...

So do you mean the ram must be tally like (4gb + 4gb) or (8gb +8gb), otherwise it will mess up or something

 

[LilTwist]

No it wont mess up It's just something i'v always followed that matching sticks of ram have better performance. Maybe things are changing and I don't know about it yet. Either way, If you feel comfortable with 12Gb then go with it but 8Gb minimum is what you want for gaming.

 

[lsvictory]

One more thing , could you tell the difference between these two card? Both are MSI Gtx 1060 6gb OC

http://www.lelong.com.my/msi-geforce-gtx-1060-oc-6gb-gddr5-192bit-gtx-1060-6gt-oc-easyit2u-182558530-2017-09-Sale-P.htm

http://www.lelong.com.my/msi-geforce-gtx-1060-6gt-oc-brightstaronline-F194519-2007-01-Sale-I.htm

 

[LilTwist]

The non Armor version has less ports for displays but if you are only using 1 monitor that shouldn't be an issue, other than that they are practically identical. Save yourself some money and go for the cheaper one if you are not going to do the whole Nvidia surround thing.

 

[lsvictory]

Thank you LilTwist and jd_w98, you all saved my day !
Many many thanks to you all xD

 

[LilTwist]

No problem friend. Enjoy.