Question Upgrade advice MSI GeForce GTX970

[Specktor]

Hi all

My GFX card has started to have issues and I've been out of the game for a while so it would be super helpful to get some advice as to what I would be able to replace or upgrade my current card with, I'm not looking for anything top end but rather something I could hopefully just drop into my current rig without changing anything else at this stage.

The rest of the rig is aging but gets the job done:
MB: MSI Z170A Krait Gaming Z170
Memory: 16GB 2400MHz DDR4
CPU: Intel Core i7 6700K
PSU: Corsair Silent Series RM750 750W
GFX: MSI GeForce GTX970 4GB

Any help would be super appreciated!

 

[punkncat]

Your power supply (aside from age) should be good for anything up to the 3080 or ~the 6800 level of card. Probably best to look at price and ergo and pick what you like from there or down.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

What budget are you working with? The amd rx 6600 is a good value around 300. But things depend on your budget.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

RX 6600 or RX 6600 XT should be a good upgrade IMO.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Agreed. On a budget the 6600 is a great card. Though if you are ok with taking changes check this out.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1253879809...1QoO_yZSxW&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Just a week or so ago I paid $430 for a 6700xt. Great card for that money!

 

[Specktor]

Thanks for all the awesome advice so far, budget i'm happy to stretch even to 400 or even a bit more, my main concern is if the psu I have will have the right connectors for much newer cards

 

[John Chesterfield]

That's a good quality power supply and should have all you need provided you buy a brand new one.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

For a card, you could check into this rx 6600 for example. There are other cards also. Other cards you could consider would be the rtx 3050 which I wouldn’t recommend due to it costing more than the 6600 and not performing as well.

https://www.newegg.com/msi-radeon-rx-6600-mech-2x-8g/p/N82E16814137690

You could go with something like this 3060, but it’s about 80 bucks more for not much more performance. For a little less you could get the 6600 xt, which I think is faster than the 3060, but the 6600 non xt is just a few points behind

https://www.newegg.com/msi-geforce-rtx-3060-rtx-3060-ventus-2x-12g-oc/p/N82E16814137632


This review of the 6600 should give an idea of its performance relative to other cards. However if you want ray tracing then you’d want to look more at nvidia, though in this price range cards may not be as good at ray tracing anyway. But just something to be aware of.

Disclaimer, this is up to your own risk. A couple of weeks ago I purchased my 6700xt through eBay for $430. Just poking around I’ve seen some the last couple of days under 400. With that kind of card you could get into 1440p gaming a bit if you wanted. But used hardware is used so it’s up to your own comfort level. Any of the cards from the rtx 3050 to an rx 6600 or above should be a nice upgrade from a gtx 970.

 

[AreH]

I had similar dilemma and finally went with 6600 xt. 6600 was 80 EUR cheaper here where I live but reason I decided to go with xt version was 1440p monitor. Yes I know 6600 xt is 1080p card but 6700 xt was way over my budget, not to talk about Nvidia cards which are here much more expensive than AMD (e.g. Tuf 3060 is 630 EUR while 6600 xt nitro+ is 500 EUR). In my opinion 6600 is excellent card with better price - performance value than 6600 xt. So, if you are to game at 1080p and have a tight budget you can freely go with 6600. Best luck!

 

[Nighthawk117]

Thanks for all the awesome advice so far, budget i'm happy to stretch even to 400 or even a bit more, my main concern is if the psu I have will have the right connectors for much newer cards

The Corsair RM750 seems to have space for 2 x 8 pin PCI-E power cables. Be aware new Nvidia GPU's are launching soon, however it will likely be the end of the year that you will be able to get hold of the RTX 4060.

If you were buying now, as others have suggested the RX 6600 is a good budget pick. If you can spend a bit more then I would go for the Nvidia 3060 or RX 6600XT. If ray tracing and DLSS is of any importance to you then you would want the 3060.