Question New GPU for an old(er) Gaming PC ?

[Kilrathie56]

Hello everyone, I'm in search of an upgrade to my current graphics card. I have an older (2016) Lenovo gaming pc that came with the nvidia geforce 1080. I'm looking for an upgrade and I'm not sure what is compatible with my current hardware. I also plan on ordering some additional ram, but any help/suggestions on other possible upgrades would be appreciated. Thanks! specs listed below.

Lenovo Ideacentre Y900 RE-34ISZ 90FK

Core i7-6700K (4C, 4.0 / 4.2GHz, 8MB)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5

Intel Z170 Chipset

16GB PC4-17000 2133MHz DDR4

2TB 7200rpm 3.5" + 256GB M.2 NVMe SSD

PSU: 625W Energy Star

Windows 10 Home 64

 

[Aeacus]

To what you're exactly looking to upgrade to? Since GTX 1080 is more than enough for 1080p gaming, even at current date.
Or, what's your monitor specs? Reso + FPS target would do too.

but any help/suggestions on other possible upgrades would be appreciated.

New PSU for sure.

What is your current PSU make and model btw? Since "Energy Star" isn't a model name, instead it's efficiency rating, similar to 80+ standard.
For example, my PSU is 650W 80+ Titanium. Can you tell me the make and model of my PSU?

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

So the PSU is 7 years old. I'd look into a replacement unit. Looking at the motherboard;

https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/H4e4ab51fb657417e84dfa88384b1e3e9u/High-Quality-For-Lenovo-IdeaCentre-Y900-Y900-34ISZ-Motherboard-Z170H4-LA-01AJ153-DDR4-MB-100-Tested.jpg

does not seem to have any proprietary connectors. So you're free to choose any aftermarket PSU.

What sort of a budget have you allocated for your GPU purchase? Just be wary that running the current gen GPU's might be a bad idea for a case like the one for your prebuilt.

If you're looking at a ram upgrade, you might want to pass on what you see under mainboard's tab for ZPU-Z, then go into BIOS and see if you're able to manipulate the ram frequency. If you can't manipulate them, as was the case with most prebuilt's locking users out from the BIOS with regards to tinkering/overclocking, then you've got no option to upgrade the ram.

 

[Kilrathie56]

To what you're exactly looking to upgrade to? Since GTX 1080 is more than enough for 1080p gaming, even at current date.
Or, what's your monitor specs? Reso + FPS target would do too.


New PSU for sure.

What is your current PSU make and model btw? Since "Energy Star" isn't a model name, instead it's efficiency rating, similar to 80+ standard.
For example, my PSU is 650W 80+ Titanium. Can you tell me the make and model of my PSU?

I’ll be honest the current set up does work well for most of the games I play. I have started playing Starfield and need to set everything at its lowest possible setting and I still occasionally crash the game. I know my pc is older and I’m worried it won’t be able to keep up with the newer games coming out. I have been looking at the GeForce rtx 3080 as there are some referbs for reasonable prices. Researching compatibility led me here with more questions. I don’t have a set budget so I am willing to upgrade components if I need to. But if I get to the point of needing to rebuild my entire pc then I’ll just save up some more and start over new.

 

[Kilrathie56]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

So the PSU is 7 years old. I'd look into a replacement unit. Looking at the motherboard;

https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/H4e4ab51fb657417e84dfa88384b1e3e9u/High-Quality-For-Lenovo-IdeaCentre-Y900-Y900-34ISZ-Motherboard-Z170H4-LA-01AJ153-DDR4-MB-100-Tested.jpg

does not seem to have any proprietary connectors. So you're free to choose any aftermarket PSU.

What sort of a budget have you allocated for your GPU purchase? Just be wary that running the current gen GPU's might be a bad idea for a case like the one for your prebuilt.

If you're looking at a ram upgrade, you might want to pass on what you see under mainboard's tab for ZPU-Z, then go into BIOS and see if you're able to manipulate the ram frequency. If you can't manipulate them, as was the case with most prebuilt's locking users out from the BIOS with regards to tinkering/overclocking, then you've got no option to upgrade the ram.

Current PSU is an AcBel model # FS8003

I’m not sure what specific information you need, if you tell me what to look for I’ll try to find it.
Hopefully this will provide you more info.
https://valid.x86.fr/bvvely

 

[stonecarver]

Memory 64GB max, PC4-17000 2133MHz DDR4, four 288-pin UDIMM sockets

https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/Lenovo_Desktops/ideacentre_Y900/ideacentre_Y900_Spec.PDF

If your going a used card on Nvidia side a RTX Just food for thought these two cards are % faster than your GTX 1080 both have raytracing and the RTX 4060 has Native DLSS.

But it's hard to say find a cheap RTX 2080 and your good as games need all the memory the card has. I would still pick up a RTX 2080 myself but that's just me.

GeForce RTX 4060
38%

GeForce RTX 2080
39%

And on AMD side If I needed to upgrade I would look for a RX 6800 XT or get a RX 7800 XT as AMD cards kicks some hard a$$ and have at least 16 Gb's of memory.

Look at it that your buying a GPU for your next upgrade "newer system" so except that you will get awesome gameplay but you will get lower FPS that your current CPU can only push out. Nothing wrong with that just keep it in mind.

 

[stonecarver]

I have been looking at the GeForce rtx 3080 as there are some referbs for reasonable prices

If you do go for a RTX 3080 and bump up memory I think you will be happy. Enjoy and happy gaming

 

[Flayed]

Maybe something like this:
PCPartPicker Part List

Video Card: XFX Speedster SWFT 319 Radeon RX 6800 16 GB Video Card ($399.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 - TT Premium Edition 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $484.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-10-11 02:48 EDT-0400

 

[Aeacus]

I have started playing Starfield and need to set everything at its lowest possible setting and I still occasionally crash the game.

Unless you don't get crashes on most games, i'd say it's the game issue.

But if I get to the point of needing to rebuild my entire pc then I’ll just save up some more and start over new.

It would be more sensible option, since your FPS will be held back by what your CPU can provide. Meaning that you can't keep upgrading your GPU for forever.

Also, at current moment, when you play, which of the two is maxed out? CPU or GPU? If both, time to look towards new whole build. Same is when CPU is maxed out but GPU isn't. But if only your GPU is maxed out, then you'd have a bit headroom before CPU maxes out. But not much and you'd hit the CPU limit with ease with RTX 3080 or equal GPU.

So, i suggest completely new build, including new PSU, since your AcBel Polytech PSU is low quality, if not even crap quality PSU. And it's old too (kinda miracle that it still works). For good PSU, look towards Seasonic Focus/PRIME or Corsair RMx/RMi/HXi/AXi.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Starfield can be pretty CPU-dependent. I'm CPU-limited even at 4K Ultra when I'm in New Atlantis. I know this because changing from 4K Ultra to 4K Low has no effect on my FPS, nor does turning on FSR at any of its levels. I worry that upgrading your GPU might not do much, at least, not in Starfield.

What I would recommend is, instead of blowing your entire wad (of cash) on an RTX 3080, perhaps getting a platform upgrade (assuming that your motherboard is ATX or µATX) with a more modest GPU. It's not like it will take much to get a day-and-night difference in platform experience from an i7-6700K.

I don't know where in the world you are so I can't check for you but look at your local used market for these products:

CPU: R5-5600/5600X
MOBO: any B550 motherboard
RAM: 16GB DDR4
GPU: RX 6700 XT / 6750 XT

I think that this would give better balance to your PC overall and would definitely give way better 1080p performance in Starfield than you have now.

 

[Kilrathie56]

Thank you everyone for your replies and suggestions. I will probably change out my PSU because of the current ones age and apparently crap quality. Last night I actually did a little bit of testing and ran Starfield with all the settings on ultra and pulled up my Task Manager to watch the performance percentages. After the initial spike in loading the game, I ran a few minutes of combat gameplay and checked both the CPU and GPU were running below 30 percent. However my memory was nearly maxed out averaging 85-95 percent. So my question now is, am I overthinking my problem and just need to add some additional ram? Is Starfield just super memory intensive and it’s using all that’s available? Currently I have 1-16gb card installed and after looking I know I can 3 more cards up to 64gbs. Is the simple and easiest solution the best answer?

 

[stonecarver]

Is the simple and easiest solution the best answer?

Put it this way if I found your system as is on the used marked, Buy it load up the memory. Fresh windows. Lean out windows and optimize. Still a perfect gaming beast. Be playing Starfield by the end of the day.

Sure there is faster and better but you already own it USE IT to the max.

When you do in the future upgrade keep this one as a back up.

So yes get some memory and enjoy your gaming.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Thank you everyone for your replies and suggestions. I will probably change out my PSU because of the current ones age and apparently crap quality. Last night I actually did a little bit of testing and ran Starfield with all the settings on ultra and pulled up my Task Manager to watch the performance percentages. After the initial spike in loading the game, I ran a few minutes of combat gameplay and checked both the CPU and GPU were running below 30 percent. However my memory was nearly maxed out averaging 85-95 percent. So my question now is, am I overthinking my problem and just need to add some additional ram? Is Starfield just super memory intensive and it’s using all that’s available? Currently I have 1-16gb card installed and after looking I know I can 3 more cards up to 64gbs. Is the simple and easiest solution the best answer?

You only have one DIMM? Hell yeah, get another one! Running in single-channel mode can be very crippling to gaming performance, especially in a demanding game like Starfield.

That might just be your problem. Putting in a second 16GB DIMM will cause your PC to run in dual-channel mode and that will definitely improve your gaming experience!

 

[punkncat]

Unless you have plans to update the core of this system within the next few to up to maybe 6 months, I wouldn't change a thing. Even the sketchy power supply. If it ain't broke...

Starfield is terribly optimized right now and runs like crap even on many systems that are more than capable IME. I would not let this game, at this current time, be the only motivator for spending towards a graphics card and better PSU that your CPU is going to struggle to utilize.

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