Uggrading from a GTX 260 to a GTX 760

[asignor908]

I have a Dell Studio XPS 8000 with a Intel core I7 CPU 860 at 2.8ghz and 16 gigs ram, Nvidia GTX 260 and want to upgrade to a Nvidia GTX 760. I am running windows 7 ultimate. One of the Games I have some graphics issues with is Civ 5 Brave new world when moving around map it lags and as game progresses it lags even more on game speed. How much would that graphics card upgrade help me in speed and refresh rate etc. I am also running raid 0 and have an overall windows performace rating of 5.9 but that seems to be based on hard drive speed everything else is 7.4 or 7.1 at the lowest. All advice is welcome please. I am disabled vet use computer a lot for entertainment like gaming.

 

[rvilkman]

You will see a massive improvement in gameplay. Your framerates should triple.

 

[asignor908]

That sounds great, thanks. Is there anything else I should consider upgrading?

 

[rvilkman]

I think it's the best upgrade you can make at the moment.

Basically you could upgrade to a newer generation mobo and CPU, but the i7 you have now should still do fine with the GTX760 so no point in wasting money.

The one thing you could do is get an SSD as your OS drive. Like Samsung 840 EVO 250GB. Would make the OS more responsive and let you install games on the SSD as well.

 

[asignor908]

I think it's the best upgrade you can make at the moment.

Basically you could upgrade to a newer generation mobo and CPU, but the i7 you have now should still do fine with the GTX760 so no point in wasting money.

The one thing you could do is get an SSD as your OS drive. Like Samsung 840 EVO 250GB. Would make the OS more responsive and let you install games on the SSD as well.

 

[asignor908]

Good advise, but if I upgraded CPU wouldn't I have to change motherboard?

 

[oOSlushyOo]

If you are trying to go for the new Haswell processors you are going to need an LGA 1150 socket. So you would need a new motherboard in that instance.

 

[rvilkman]

Yeah cpu & mobo upgrade would have to happen at the same time and i am not certain it would give you that much benefit over the i7 you have now.
Thus there is a pretty big added cost from doing that so probably not worth it.

 

[asignor908]

I think it's the best upgrade you can make at the moment.

Basically you could upgrade to a newer generation mobo and CPU, but the i7 you have now should still do fine with the GTX760 so no point in wasting money.

The one thing you could do is get an SSD as your OS drive. Like Samsung 840 EVO 250GB. Would make the OS more responsive and let you install games on the SSD as well.

Yeah cpu & mobo upgrade would have to happen at the same time and i am not certain it would give you that much benefit over the i7 you have now.
Thus there is a pretty big added cost from doing that so probably not worth it.

 

[asignor908]

So at that point cost so high be better to buy a new computer I am assuming. If I did decide to go new just curious with what you'd recommend? Being on a fixed income I will just go with the 760 and maybe an SSD.
Thanks

 

[oOSlushyOo]

Really depends on your budget. I think you will find that with a good SSD and maybe a factory OC version of the 760, you will get some great performance boosts. Having the OS on a SSD makes booting a dream. Out of the box OC variants of the 760 seem to get some nice gains over the stock clock versions.

Side Note: per some experimentation with two EVGA 760's in SLI, you can get some stupidly high marks that rival even the infamous Titan for a fraction of the cost =P. Just some food for thought!

 

[magneezo]

Don't expect your scores to make a big difference in benchmarks. You will likely see a large improvement on In Game Performance. I upgraded from a GTS 250 OC to a GX 650 Ti Boost and I was somewhat impressed. Maybe with your i7 it will show vast improvements.


(I exchanged the 650Ti Boost for the R9 270x)

 

[asignor908]

Thanks everyone. I will start with the GPU and see I don't want to reinstall all the programs .

 

[oOSlushyOo]

Check some of the storage forums here. They might be able to make your transfer to SSD in the future relatively painless.

 

[asignor908]

Thanks I will

 

[asignor908]

As I said I have a Dell XPS 8000 pretty top end when new in 2010. Specs include Intel i7 2.8ghz 860 CPU, 16gig of ram, creative xfi xtreme sound card. Nudist GTX 260 which I am planning to upgrade to Nvidia GTX 760 or higher and some have suggested possibly dual cards would be even better. I may have to upgrade power supply don't know yet. Also two 500 gb 7500 rpm raid 0 hard drives. Run pretty good as is but I need the GPU upgrade for gaming. Some have also suggested upgrade to SSD to increase performance. As I mentioned I am a disabled vet with good days and bad because of my health issues which means I will have to pay to get some of this done from install stand point. So guys be honest what would you do and how much would you put in to this machine? I have been somewhat out of touch the last three years due to two back surgeries in 2010 that left me in a bad way and I am only now feeling like gaming again. So my question is upgrade or buy a new one? I am on a VA pension fixed income so I don't have money to burn. I could pay cash for the GPU upgrade maybe even dual cards and possibly a SSD upgrade if it wasn't to problematic. Meaning where I would have to do a lot of reinstalling of my programs and files which are back up on external drives. I need opinions and imput on this. If anyone says buy new please suggest a computer configuration, model you would purchase. I do have all the other little xtras on this like 16 in 1 media reader, DVD RW, etc. I know computers have come down a great deal but I don't want to waste money or get high interest payment. If there are questions about my system that I didn't mention please ask. Sorry I was so long winded here just need good advice. Thank you so much.

 

[monsta]

Just grab the GTX 760 or even a GTX 770, you will see a massive improvement in games, you seriously don't need to upgrade anything else, just enjoy your computer with the GTX 760/770 and later if you have the money you can upgrade to an SSD if you like.

 

[asignor908]

Just grab the GTX 760 or even a GTX 770, you will see a massive improvement in games, you seriously don't need to upgrade anything else, just enjoy your computer with the GTX 760/770 and later if you have the money you can upgrade to an SSD if you like.

 

[asignor908]

Ok, thanks for the direct advice. I just was afraid of making a mistake and wasting money. I am going to do. Thanks so much

 

[asignor908]

Thanks again for everyone's advice. I ended up getting Nvidia GTX 760 DDR5 and upgrade my power supply from 500 to a nice 850 high end for future upgrade. Some advance tech person from the so called geek squad said this upgrade won't show you any improvement in performance and on board video ram doesn't matter. Wow!

 

[oOSlushyOo]

That Geek Squad fella is a nub =P

 

[rvilkman]

Thanks again for everyone's advice. I ended up getting Nvidia GTX 760 DDR5 and upgrade my power supply from 500 to a nice 850 high end for future upgrade. Some advance tech person from the so called geek squad said this upgrade won't show you any improvement in performance and on board video ram doesn't matter. Wow!

So how much of an improvement did you get?

 

[asignor908]

I have to say I am disappointed
That I didn't do this sooner !!!!!'n