Question on I7 and video cards!

[dragnwarrior1]

Hello i have a question....i have an old i7-930 @ 2.8ghz cpu i didnt over clock it my board has the pci -express 3.0 so how high can i go on graphics cards without bottle necks? i would like to put a gtx 900 ish card in there or at least a card with 4gb but dont want to do so if it would bottle neck the system....any tips/hints would be appreciated thanks!

 

[LogicalProcessing]

Hello i have a question....i have an old i7-930 @ 2.8ghz cpu i didnt over clock it my board has the pci -express 3.0 so how high can i go on graphics cards without bottle necks? i would like to put a gtx 900 ish card in there or at least a card with 4gb but dont want to do so if it would bottle neck the system....any tips/hints would be appreciated thanks!

Hey! After researching the design of the i7 930 and doing some comparison and performance tests, you may experience some bottlenecking but not much. I used to own a i7 930 myself, it was the greatest little processor I've owned, it was back when the GTX 295's were a big deal, I had them running in three way SLI. I ran that processor when I also got my two GTX 680's. When I switched processors, I didn't notice any major difference in the FPS or performance.

 

[cdabc123]

i would get a 960, 970 if you want to push it

 

[k1114]

Sabertooth x58 is pcie 2.0 but that won't matter. Why don't you oc? You won't have any problems with a better card. The new 1070 will be out soon.

 

[dragnwarrior1]

overclocking is something that really scares me to try...and i don't want to fry my chip so thats mainly why i don't...but ya i do have the sabertooth x58 so wwould i be doing harm by getting a gtx 960 thats what im really looking at

im using the gtx 660 atm i started with a gtx 460 at the time when i built my pc was decent for it

 

[LogicalProcessing]

overclocking is something that really scares me to try...and i don't want to fry my chip so thats mainly why i don't...but ya i do have the sabertooth x58 so wwould i be doing harm by getting a gtx 960 thats what im really looking at

im using the gtx 660 atm i started with a gtx 460 at the time when i built my pc was decent for it

Oh well if you're just going for the 960 then you shouldn't have anything to worry about!

Overclocking is fun and it can be complicated. I would not recommend doing it unless you have read through quite a few articles on the subject!

 

[dragnwarrior1]

ok cool i just wasnt sure how much i could go without having to worry about bottle necks but last thing someone said my sabertooth x58 is pcie 2.0 is that going to be a bottle neck to the 960?

 

[k1114]

You can't fry your chip unless you jack up the voltage way too high. A simple guide will tell you the max. All your fears are unfounded.

 

[dragnwarrior1]

so basically would the slot bog me down because i only have pci-2.0 instead of 3.0 is my main question or what would be the best card my mobo would handle

 

[k1114]

A 1080 so you have nothing to worry about as far as a 960 goes.

 

[dragnwarrior1]

so theres no bottleneck for buying a pcie 3.0 card? and if so what is the lowest card you would reccomend just trying to find the best bang for my buck

 

[k1114]

Is a 960 too much?

 

[SoNic67]

A GTX960 is just fine with that CPU.
Also, you can replace that CPU - on eBay there are very cheap upgrades for that socket. Verify with motherboard manufacturer of what CPU's are supported.