[SOLVED] need to know if my hardware can run the newest video cards and what to upgrade

[blackmasha]

i'm short on cash right now because I spend my money on other things, my computer however is 12 years old, tho I was upgrading it over the years (even changing the motherboard and cpu)

so I've given up on getting the 4k dream gaming machine, maybe next year when I can spend money on things I don't need again.

I need to know the minimum main parts I'm gonna need for at least a gtx 1080 TI. right now my parts are...

Motherboard - gigabyte b150m-d2v ddr3-cf

CPU - Intel core i5-6400 2.7 ghz (maybe 4 cores, im not sure)

RAM - 8.00 GB

video card - GT 1030

monitor - acer LCD monitor" model no. s221hhql (I think it is 12 years old XD but it works great)

my goal is to run all games above 60-120 fps (clean) on a minimum of 1080p because right now my current set up with my GT 1030 can run witcher 2 with only 30-40 fps.

if there is a way for me to pay a bit extra and play on 2k then even better. my requirement is mainly to be able to play all video games of current gen on max settings but not 2k (since it costs a lot more)

 

[jay32267]

I would upgrade your i5
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-6400+%40+2.70GHz&id=2578

To an i7-7700K which I think would run pretty well with a 1080 Ti.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-7700K+%40+4.20GHz&id=2874

Here are the CPUs for your MB.
http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Gigabyte/GA-B150M-D2V_DDR3(rev._1.0).html

 

[King_V]

I would say upgrade the video card first, but, try this out with whatever games you want to play:

- Play them at your monitor's native resolution (I think 1680x1050) and see what FPS you get
- Drop the resolution much lower, say 1280x720 for example, or even lower still, depending on what settings the game(s) in question allow

If your FPS is unchanged, then the CPU is holding you back. If the FPS goes up, then the GPU is holding you back.

It could be the GPU for some games, and the CPU for others, but I'm figuring it's going to be the GPU.

 

[blackmasha]

I would upgrade your i5
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-6400+%40+2.70GHz&id=2578

To an i7-7700K which I think would run pretty well with a 1080 Ti.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-7700K+%40+4.20GHz&id=2874

Here are the CPUs for your MB.
http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Gigabyte/GA-B150M-D2V_DDR3(rev._1.0).html

you want me to buy one of the best cpu out there before I even checked I reached my goals. I need to know if my current cpu does the job, and if not what to upgrade to. ofc i7-7700k will run pretty well with a 1080 ti, that's kinda obvious XD

 

[blackmasha]

I would say upgrade the video card first, but, try this out with whatever games you want to play:

- Play them at your monitor's native resolution (I think 1680x1050) and see what FPS you get
- Drop the resolution much lower, say 1280x720 for example, or even lower still, depending on what settings the game(s) in question allow

If your FPS is unchanged, then the CPU is holding you back. If the FPS goes up, then the GPU is holding you back.

It could be the GPU for some games, and the CPU for others, but I'm figuring it's going to be the GPU.

I think you meant with the video card I have right now, because I don't see that happening to a video card like 1080 ti. and indeed when I lower resolution or whatever it is, I gain higher fps, but that would make sense since I have a gt 1030, which is an amazing video card for how cheap it is.

I agree it would be logical to first buy the 1080 ti and then see if the cpu can handle it.

 

[jay32267]

"you want me to buy one of the best cpu out there before I even checked I reached my goals."

I don't think your current CPU has a chance and I think the 7700K is the best CPU for the job....so yes.
...and the 7700K is pretty far from one of the best cpus out there.

 

[King_V]

I would say upgrade the video card first, but, try this out with whatever games you want to play:

- Play them at your monitor's native resolution (I think 1680x1050) and see what FPS you get
- Drop the resolution much lower, say 1280x720 for example, or even lower still, depending on what settings the game(s) in question allow

If your FPS is unchanged, then the CPU is holding you back. If the FPS goes up, then the GPU is holding you back.

It could be the GPU for some games, and the CPU for others, but I'm figuring it's going to be the GPU.

I think you meant with the video card I have right now, because I don't see that happening to a video card like 1080 ti. and indeed when I lower resolution or whatever it is, I gain higher fps, but that would make sense since I have a gt 1030, which is an amazing video card for how cheap it is.

I agree it would be logical to first buy the 1080 ti and then see if the cpu can handle it.

Yes, that's correct. I neglected to mention that, but I meant with the current 1030 you have now.

For 2K I believe a 1080Ti would be overkill, unless you're really shooting for the 100+ fps goal. In that case, it or the 2080 would do the job well.

 

[blackmasha]

I would say upgrade the video card first, but, try this out with whatever games you want to play:

- Play them at your monitor's native resolution (I think 1680x1050) and see what FPS you get
- Drop the resolution much lower, say 1280x720 for example, or even lower still, depending on what settings the game(s) in question allow

If your FPS is unchanged, then the CPU is holding you back. If the FPS goes up, then the GPU is holding you back.

It could be the GPU for some games, and the CPU for others, but I'm figuring it's going to be the GPU.

I think you meant with the video card I have right now, because I don't see that happening to a video card like 1080 ti. and indeed when I lower resolution or whatever it is, I gain higher fps, but that would make sense since I have a gt 1030, which is an amazing video card for how cheap it is.

I agree it would be logical to first buy the 1080 ti and then see if the cpu can handle it.

Yes, that's correct. I neglected to mention that, but I meant with the current 1030 you have now.

For 2K I believe a 1080Ti would be overkill, unless you're really shooting for the 100+ fps goal. In that case, it or the 2080 would do the job well.

I am not sure about the cooling tho, someone told me I would need a water cooling system. I understand only fans, as in the 1080 ti comes with 2 or 3 fans plus the fan I have inside my computer. different gtx 1080 ti have different cooling inside of them and I don't really know what I need.

edit: actually I just found out that my country doesn't have gtx 1080 ti, and from amazon the prices are like twice from what they were when the damn video card came out which is insane. should I just buy the rtx 2080? because it seems weaker...

 

[King_V]

That doesn't sound right, not sure why someone would suggest it needs water cooling.

Anyway, the RTX 2080 is about on par with the 1080Ti in terms of performance, possibly slightly faster.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-rtx-2080-founders-edition,5809.html


But the real question is, what is your goal for your video card? Do you know for certain if you're getting a 2K monitor in the future? If so, what max refresh?

 

[TCA_ChinChin]

Upgrading the i5 to an i7-7700k would be a good start, and an RTX-2080 would be plenty to max out 2K gaming at high refresh rate. Problem is, those parts use a lot more power than your current CPU and GPU. What kind of power supply do you have? Might want to consider an upgrade for that if it can't handle an upgrade.

If your goal is just to be able to game on 2K (not extreme refresh rates or max qualities) then cards like the RX-580, GTX-1060, RTX-2060, GTX-1070, and many others would work very well to max out 1080p gaming and entry level 2K gaming for a lot cheaper than a GTX-1080ti or RTX-2080.

 

[blackmasha]

That doesn't sound right, not sure why someone would suggest it needs water cooling.

Anyway, the RTX 2080 is about on par with the 1080Ti in terms of performance, possibly slightly faster.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-rtx-2080-founders-edition,5809.html


But the real question is, what is your goal for your video card? Do you know for certain if you're getting a 2K monitor in the future? If so, what max refresh?

honestly right now I would like the cheapest video card to be able to play all the games at max. problem is that the card would probably be a 1070 or a 1070 TI but in my country it costs half of a gtx 1080 ti. funny enough I've checked and on the main nvidia website the video card RTX 2080 ti costs slightly more than the gtx 1080 ti in my country (which is mind blowing because these prices are so past stupid) and if 1070 ti costs half as a 1080 ti, then I might as well buy the RTX 2080 ti and forget about it for a long time

 

[King_V]

Given your current monitor is 1680x1050, I would say that a 1050 or 1050Ti would be the way to go, significantly cheaper. Your monitor can only do 60Hz, so anything more than 60fps is pointless.

If you see the AMD RX 560 or RX 570 cheaper than those, get them. The RX 560 performs about the same as the 1050, and the RX 570 is faster than the 1050Ti.

Make sure you have a reasonable quality power supply, though!

Those cards will be a lot cheaper than the 1070, 1070Ti, not to mention the 2080Ti. Then, after you've had time to save up for both whatever new monitor you're getting, and a new video card, well, likely prices will have come down a bit by that point.

 

[blackmasha]

Upgrading the i5 to an i7-7700k would be a good start, and an RTX-2080 would be plenty to max out 2K gaming at high refresh rate. Problem is, those parts use a lot more power than your current CPU and GPU. What kind of power supply do you have? Might want to consider an upgrade for that if it can't handle an upgrade.

If your goal is just to be able to game on 2K (not extreme refresh rates or max qualities) then cards like the RX-580, GTX-1060, RTX-2060, GTX-1070, and many others would work very well to max out 1080p gaming and entry level 2K gaming for a lot cheaper than a GTX-1080ti or RTX-2080.

I would buy the rtx 2060 which has a price of 1060 in my country (it's stupid I know). but it's not in stock from the main website. in terms of 1070 I would love to get one, seems like the 1060 is not good enough while the 1070 has 8vram which sounds perfect. but... the 1070 costs like half of what the gtx 1080 ti cost in my country, so it would be a waste. funny enough because again... the prices in my country are full blown unexplained. the RTX 2080 ti cost (in the nvdia website) like the 1080 ti in my country (again... no logic)

I just wanna play all new games at max, forget 4k, hell I never played witcher 3 because my 660 ti stopped working, and now im stuck with a cheap 1030 because that's all i could offered at the time.

I can buy the RTX 2080 ti right now for the 1.2k dollars founders edition. it would cost almost as the gtx 1080 ti in my country. but it seems like to much for not knowing if I'm going to upgrade in a year or 2 and start playing on 4k...

 

[King_V]

Honestly, I think that the 2060 would be good for 2k (using that because you mentioned it near the end of your original post)...it performs about in the realm of the 1070Ti, and the 1070 non-Ti is an average 60fps max details card.

And if the 2060 is going for 1060 prices, assuming the 1060 is not overpriced, that's a great deal.

Skip the high end stuff. But, honestly, if you're going to keep your monitor for at least another year, don't even go to the 1060. Save some money now, get one of the cards I mentioned in my last post (the 1050 and RX 560 perform about the same level as the 660Ti, whereas the 1050Ti performs better than it, and the RX 570 performs better than the 1050Ti, and in the same range as the 1060 3GB version).

What country are you in?

 

[blackmasha]

Given your current monitor is 1680x1050, I would say that a 1050 or 1050Ti would be the way to go, significantly cheaper. Your monitor can only do 60Hz, so anything more than 60fps is pointless.

If you see the AMD RX 560 or RX 570 cheaper than those, get them. The RX 560 performs about the same as the 1050, and the RX 570 is faster than the 1050Ti.

Make sure you have a reasonable quality power supply, though!

Those cards will be a lot cheaper than the 1070, 1070Ti, not to mention the 2080Ti. Then, after you've had time to save up for both whatever new monitor you're getting, and a new video card, well, likely prices will have come down a bit by that point.

I thought about it, but I have a gt 1030 right now, upgrading to a 1050 ti will do nothing. I've seen the fps checks on ultra witcher 3 and didn't like what I saw. all I need is the ability to play everything maxed and maybe 2k sometimes if the game allows it. which is why 1070 was perfect, the 1060 just isn't going to do that. problem are the prices, and if I buy 1070 I might as well get the 1080 ti or rtx 2080 ti since they cost the same in my country (wish the 1080 ti was cheaper but nope)

 

[blackmasha]

Honestly, I think that the 2060 would be good for 2k (using that because you mentioned it near the end of your original post)...it performs about in the realm of the 1070Ti, and the 1070 non-Ti is an average 60fps max details card.

And if the 2060 is going for 1060 prices, assuming the 1060 is not overpriced, that's a great deal.

Skip the high end stuff. But, honestly, if you're going to keep your monitor for at least another year, don't even go to the 1060. Save some money now, get one of the cards I mentioned in my last post (the 1050 and RX 560 perform about the same level as the 660Ti, whereas the 1050Ti performs better than it, and the RX 570 performs better than the 1050Ti, and in the same range as the 1060 3GB version).

What country are you in?

the 1050 ti does nothing, I have a gt 1030 like I said, not gonna pay money to buy a slightly better video card that won't play witcher 3 on ultra.

I live in Israel, 1060 is cheap, problem is that it's cheap with the 3vram, not the 6vram I will need. and the 8vram 1070 is very close in price to that (prices here are damn retarded)

 

[King_V]

Why would 2k matter? 2k is 2560x1440, or, if ultrawide, 2560x1080.

Your monitor is 1680x1050 and cannot display anything more than 60fps. It requires far less graphical processing power to play at a certain number of frames per second compared to 2k resolutions.

 

[blackmasha]

Why would 2k matter? 2k is 2560x1440, or, if ultrawide, 2560x1080.

Your monitor is 1680x1050 and cannot display anything more than 60fps. It requires far less graphical processing power to play at a certain number of frames per second compared to 2k resolutions.

agreed, but a 1050 ti still won't play everything 60 fps ultra. a 1060 will, but i'm not sure 3vram is gonna cut it so probably the 6vram version

 

[King_V]

Maybe not, but most games, especially since your monitor only has 85% of the number of pixels that a standard 1920x1080 monitor has.

And, again, depending on where you're located, an RX570 might well be available for the same price, or less, than a 1050Ti, and will manage 60fps.

 

[blackmasha]

Maybe not, but most games, especially since your monitor only has 85% of the number of pixels that a standard 1920x1080 monitor has.

And, again, depending on where you're located, an RX570 might well be available for the same price, or less, than a 1050Ti, and will manage 60fps.

the RX 570 has 4giga which some new games might go above, either way the price in my country is very close to the 1060. so... without much of a choice I suppose I will buy a 1060 and hope witcher 3 will run on 60 fps on ultra (even in towns). tho in the youtube videos I've seen people had their i5 6400 oc with 4hz and I have no idea how because it looks like it wasn't meant to be overclocked in the first place. so my fps might be lower than the ones in the videos because of it.

 

[blackmasha]

I finally decided to get a GTX 1060 6vram and hope for the best, wish me luck and thanks everyone who gave answers!

 

[King_V]

You're welcome - glad to be of help.

 

[blackmasha]

You're welcome - glad to be of help.

don't worry I will keep bugging you, like now.

could it be that the new video card slows down my computer? just tried gta V on everything maxed and almost always 60 fps (it's freaking crazy for me) only when I turn to face the sun fps drops to 50+ in the middle of the city (lots of npc/cars) which is still great because I have maxed settings I have no idea what they even do (I just maxed everything for fun XD) back to my question. everything else, as in desktop, works kinda slow, pretty sure I've deleted old drivers, tho I still have the Nvidia Physx and physx system software from 2017-2018 tho no idea what it does, should I delete it?

could my i5 6400 not handle the new video card?

also they gave me a disk with aorus engine to install for the gtx 1060 6vram windforce (whatever that is). anyway I started to install this program but it takes forever, even after an hour it was 50% so I decided to try msi afterburner, never used it but at least I can see temp of the video card. as far as I know 85 or less is fine (people told me but I have no idea), didn't touch the fan speed or try to overclock, since I prefer the card as it is. also 3 years warranty but not against being dead, because apparently they don't cover the only thing that can happen to a video card, which is overheating and burning to death.

 

[King_V]

Can the installation a new, more powerful video card while leaving everything else the same (rest of the hardware the same, settings the same, etc) slow down your computer? No. Absolutely impossible UNLESS you have a heat/airflow issue in your case.

Here's what I'd suggest (extra-safe, extra paranoid):
- Download the latest video drivers, from Nvidia's site, which I believe does include PhysX
- Download the latest DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller)
- Go to System -> Apps and uninstall PhysX
- Reboot in Safe Mode
- Run DDU to completely uninstall the drivers
- Reboot
- Install the Nvidia drivers.
- Don't play with the Aorus software or Afterburner just yet to adjust anything . . however, I think MSI Afterburner can be used to monitor GPU and CPU usage and temperatures as well? Not sure, I've never used it.

And you should be good to go.

Using monitoring hardware (Afterburner, if monitoring is one of the features it has), you can see if there's any sort of temperature issue, or either the CPU or GPU maxing out and staying maxed out while playing. If so, report back, otherwise, well, I know in some games when you suddenly turn somewhere, textures might need to be loaded and there could be brief slowdowns, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Monitoring RAM usage as well, might be a good idea, since SOME games are starting to need more than 8GB RAM (I don't think that's the case for GTA V, though).

Some games, though, are more CPU intensive, others are more GPU intensive. It might be possible that for GTA V, that one area might be a little much for it, but I haven't played GTA V, so couldn't say.