New graphics card

[rcfant89]

I have a spare system that I am going to give my brother to game on. It's pretty new (about a year old) and it was around 800 bucks. Has a corsair 430M psu, i3 (I think 4330), 8 gigs ram but no GPU.

I am wondering what GPU he should buy to put in it and game on. I am a little worried that the PSU won't have quick the wattage for something good but it should be ok right?

I was thinking about the R9 380. The 4GB version is only 30 bucks more on newegg at 240 bucks. So my question is, will that card be ok with a corsair 430 watt psu? And is there any other card better for the money (around 250 bucks or less)?

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[spentshells]

With that psu the best card you will want is a gtx 960

 

[VanillaSprinkles]

It will not be enough juice for a 380

 

[VanillaSprinkles]

With that psu the best card you will want is a gtx 960

Yeah, I agree, Maxwell has a much lower TDP

 

[maxalge]

I have a spare system that I am going to give my brother to game on. It's pretty new (about a year old) and it was around 800 bucks. Has a corsair 430M psu, i3 (I think 4330), 8 gigs ram but no GPU.

I am wondering what GPU he should buy to put in it and game on. I am a little worried that the PSU won't have quick the wattage for something good but it should be ok right?

I was thinking about the R9 380. The 4GB version is only 30 bucks more on newegg at 240 bucks. So my question is, will that card be ok with a corsair 430 watt psu? And is there any other card better for the money (around 250 bucks or less)?

Thanks for the help guys.

a 380 would be too much for that psu.

a gtx 960 (make sure it is a version that only requires a single pci cable, either 6-pin or 8-pin) should run.

 

[Chester Rico]

R9 380 specs say 500w PSU minimum. Might still run okay if you're lucky, but I'd get a cheaper, lower powered card or grab a bigger PSU instead.

 

[spentshells]

There are very few that require a 8 pin or a 6 pin and an 8 pin (yes there is one with both)

 

[rcfant89]

Thanks for the reply. I see a benchmark from MW Technology that says idle is 112 W for the GTX 960 and 113 W for the R9 (whole system). And under load (again for the whole system) it is 368 W vs 371 W. And that system is more high end than this one so the difference is basically non existent. Plus toms says the best GPU for the ~200 range is the R9 380.

If you have some stats or data, I'm all ears. I am open to another route, just want to know why first. Thank you.

 

[rcfant89]

See: https://i.gyazo.com/67d2ae5fa989c27cf8b6abdad8581d80.jpg

 

[fyend]

Thanks for the reply. I see a benchmark from MW Technology that says idle is 112 W for the GTX 960 and 113 W for the R9 (whole system). And under load (again for the whole system) it is 368 W vs 371 W. And that system is more high end than this one so the difference is basically non existent. Plus toms says the best GPU for the ~200 range is the R9 380.

If you have some stats or data, I'm all ears. I am open to another route, just want to know why first. Thank you.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/asus-radeon-r9-380-strix-review,5.html

 

[maxalge]

Thanks for the reply. I see a benchmark from MW Technology that says idle is 112 W for the GTX 960 and 113 W for the R9 (whole system). And under load (again for the whole system) it is 368 W vs 371 W. And that system is more high end than this one so the difference is basically non existent. Plus toms says the best GPU for the ~200 range is the R9 380.

If you have some stats or data, I'm all ears. I am open to another route, just want to know why first. Thank you.

cx series have poor capacitors, they tend to go early. They are a tier 4 power supply, for non gaming pc's.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html



grab a gtx 960, or upgrade your power supply.

Otherwise you ARE playing russian roulette with your pc components.

 

[spentshells]

160watts for the gtx 960

234 watts for the 380

these are load measurements.

 

[rcfant89]

Alright that sounds good. The difference between wattage shown on that graph seems pretty large, 196 watts vs 119.

So now that we have decided 960, which brand?

 

[rcfant89]

I like the idea of paying another 30 bucks for twice the memory (4 gig card):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487128&cm_re=gtx_960-_-14-487-128-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487133&cm_re=gtx_960-_-14-487-133-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127860&cm_re=gtx_960-_-14-127-860-_-Product

Assuming it won't add too much wattage?

 

[spentshells]

I'm not sure that is a wise investment. Are you playing at a resolution above 1080P? if not what games are you going to be playing?

 

[rcfant89]

No, 1080 would probably be the highest resolution for this. Probably BF4, GTA V, stuff like that. Thanks again.

 

[spentshells]

Well GTA 5 can go over 2GB so can Assassins creed untiy. Battlefield will never cross two GB. The performance difference isn't usually more than 4-5 frames in the most extreme situations. It avoids some hitching when you are crossing the frame buffer. I'd watch some of the youtube vidoes to see if it is worth it to you. Personally I wouldn't but a lot of people would think its a good way to go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DciW-EPXY8o

 

[rcfant89]

Alright but as far as brands, MSI, ASUS, Zotac, Gigabyte, etc. Which brand would be optimum?

Edit: And also, the CPU is i3-4330. Is that gonna bottleneck on the 960?

 

[spentshells]

If it were me? Oh I would go with evga! Otherwise MSI. Really every brand you listed is fine. Watch out though Gigabyte has more of 8 pin and 8 + 6 pin models.

 

[rcfant89]

Ok sounds good thanks

 

[rcfant89]

I got the EVGA GTX960 as suggested but I have one more quick question before I call it a day. I ran a quick benchmark and the FPS looks great. Temperatures though are at around 72 degrees Celsius. Is that perfectly fine or is that high? Seems high to me. Let me know if I should be worried and take steps. Thank you.

 

[spentshells]

It is fine but that seems quite high, Ill assume you went with a single fan model.

In torture tests it appears quite typical

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-960,4038-10.html


I would try to place an input fan mear it or simply turn up the fan. it's likely running around 30% move it to 40% or so. It will likely come down a few/maybe 5 degrees. This isn't typical for gaming so I'd just maybe add a fan on the side of the case to pull in cool air.

 

[rcfant89]

The case is open actually and the fans are going. I went with the triple fan version, but it is factory OC'd. It's the EVGA supersc version. The temp was with the benchmark running, it ran for a while and temp stayed around 70-72.

 

[spentshells]

Then just dial up the fan speed.