[SOLVED] Upgrade question EVGA GTX 970

[zcrowe]

Looking to upgrade my GTX 970 to something better to get a little more frames. Is there a good GPU that would improve my PC in the $200-$250 price range? Any opinions are appreciated, I am also quite new to building PCs. The 970 was given as a spare from a friend.

 

[General Kenobi]

Looking to upgrade my GTX 970 to something better to get a little more frames. Is there a good GPU that would improve my PC in the $200-$250 price range? Any opinions are appreciated, I am also quite new to building PCs. The 970 was given as a spare from a friend.

Hello there!!
Can you list your current system spec
Cpu
mobo
ram
storage
gpu
psu

 

[zcrowe]

Hello. Here are what my specs are: sorry, first time putting my specs together.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core Processor 3.60 GHz
MOBO: ASUS ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING AM4 AMD B450 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD
Ram: CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000
Storage: KINGSTON SA2000M8250G
WDC WD10EZEZ-22MFCA0
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
PSU: Corsair CX450M
Thanks for the reply.

 

[General Kenobi]

Hello. Here are what my specs are: sorry, first time putting my specs together.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core Processor 3.60 GHz
MOBO: ASUS ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING AM4 AMD B450 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD
Ram: CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000
Storage: KINGSTON SA2000M8250G
WDC WD10EZEZ-22MFCA0
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
Unsure on PSU. Thanks for the reply.

It's important to know your psu, check it once if it's some sketchy PSU you might wanna change that before you do anything else for that system.

 

[Joseph_138]

I would have to say a non-Ti 1070 would likely give you the uplift that you are looking for if your power supply can handle it. A 980 or a 1060 may not feel noticeably faster in many games. They would probably not be worth buying for the amount of performance that you would get over your existing card.

Here is a good video comparing performance across the 970, 980, 1060 and 1070 in some popular games.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYobGgJwDt0

 

[spentshells]

Well on your budget, you won't get ray tracing, You are looking at a 1660 super or ti, 5600xt
or a 1080 or 1070ti they would give the most performance and likely be cheaper than the new cards. Your current psu can handle a 970 it can handle any of those cards. You may want to upgrade it if you plan to purchase any of the cheaper cards, 1660super or 5600xt if you can get a deal on them.

 

[zcrowe]

It's important to know your psu, check it once if it's some sketchy PSU you might wanna change that before you do anything else for that system.

I have a Corsair CX450M

 

[zcrowe]

Well on your budget, you won't get ray tracing, You are looking at a 1660 super or ti, 5600xt
or a 1080 or 1070ti they would give the most performance and likely be cheaper than the new cards. Your current psu can handle a 970 it can handle any of those cards. You may want to upgrade it if you plan to purchase any of the cheaper cards, 1660super or 5600xt if you can get a deal on them.

Do you think ray tracing would be worth spending the extra couple dollars on? Also, my PSU is a Corsair CX450M.

 

[zcrowe]

I would have to say a non-Ti 1070 would likely give you the uplift that you are looking for if your power supply can handle it. A 980 or a 1060 may not feel noticeably faster in many games. They would probably not be worth buying for the amount of performance that you would get over your existing card.

Here is a good video comparing performance across the 970, 980, 1060 and 1070 in some popular games.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYobGgJwDt0

My PSU is a Corsair CX450M, if that helps at all.

 

[spentshells]

Do you think ray tracing would be worth spending the extra couple dollars on? Also, my PSU is a Corsair CX450M.

To be honest no, the extra for ray tracing isn't going to be worth it at this price point.
And wow maybe just look at the 1660super if that is your psu and it won't be upgraded.

If you are planning to buy before the new year, tomorrow is the day.

 

[Joseph_138]

I have a Corsair CX450M

The recommended minimum is a 450-500W for a 1070. If your PSU is old, you might be running it too close to the edge with that card because of wear. The problem is, that any card that outperforms a 970 by a decent margin, is going to have similar or greater power requirements. That's why I didn't recommend the 980 Ti or Titan X. They would be unusable with your PSU. A GTX 1660 Ti, as an example, is somewhat comparable to a GTX 1070, depending on what games you play, but has the same PSU requirement. The cards below that may not give the performance gains that you seem to want. It might be time to break down and replace the power supply then replace the video card at a later date if you can't afford to do both at the same time. A used PC with better specs than what you already have might also be an option if you can find one cheap enough.

 

[zcrowe]

To be honest no, the extra for ray tracing isn't going to be worth it at this price point.
And wow maybe just look at the 1660super if that is your psu and it won't be upgraded.

If you are planning to buy before the new year, tomorrow is the day.

Why do you say tomorrow? Also, is there a significant differnce between the 1660 Ti and super?

Edit: Forgot cyber Monday was a thing. LOL, thanks for the reminder!

 

[zcrowe]

The recommended minimum is a 450-500W for a 1070. If your PSU is old, you might be running it too close to the edge with that card because of wear. The problem is, that any card that outperforms a 970 by a decent margin, is going to have similar or greater power requirements. That's why I didn't recommend the 980 Ti or Titan X. They would be unusable with your PSU. A GTX 1660 Ti, as an example, is somewhat comparable to a GTX 1070, depending on what games you play, but has the same PSU requirement. The cards below that may not give the performance gains that you seem to want. It might be time to break down and replace the power supply then replace the video card at a later date if you can't afford to do both at the same time. A used PC with better specs than what you already have might also be an option if you can find one cheap enough.

Between the 1660 Ti, super, and 1070, which would you recommend? Thank you for the helpful advice.

 

[animekenji]

Between the 1660 Ti, super, and 1070, which would you recommend? Thank you for the helpful advice.

You also have drivers to consider. The GTX 16 cards are newer, so they should remain in driver support longer. At some point, the driver optimizations will begin to favor newer cards over older ones, so the 1070 may see a performance hit at some point in the future which might put the 1660 Ti noticeably above it. I might favor the 1660 Ti over the 1070 a little bit just because it's more future proof. If you go long periods between upgrades, that will be important. With the future in mind, I would say 1660 Ti, 1660 Super, 1070.

 

[zcrowe]

You also have drivers to consider. The GTX 16 cards are newer, so they should remain in driver support longer. At some point, the driver optimizations will begin to favor newer cards over older ones, so the 1070 may see a performance hit at some point in the future which might put the 1660 Ti noticeably above it. I might favor the 1660 Ti over the 1070 a little bit just because it's more future proof. If you go long periods between upgrades, that will be important. With the future in mind, I would say 1660 Ti, 1660 Super, 1070.

I appreciate the helpful advice. Is the performance of the 1070 noticeably better than the 1660 Ti, or are they similar enough to where it wouldn't matter?

 

[spentshells]

Why do you say tomorrow? Also, is there a significant differnce between the 1660 Ti and super?

Edit: Forgot cyber Monday was a thing. LOL, thanks for the reminder!

No real difference between the two,, mind you the 1660ti is better.
Mind you I just bought my son a 1070ti and it's better than the 1660ti and cheaper, but I was willing to buy it used.

 

[zcrowe]

No real difference between the two,, mind you the 1660ti is better.
Mind you I just bought my son a 1070ti and it's better than the 1660ti and cheaper, but I was willing to buy it used.

In your opinion, would the 1070 Ti or 1660 Ti be a better purchase?

 

[zcrowe]

If anyone is wondering i got the 1660 Ti.

 

[spentshells]

Oh depends on the price and how willing you arte to buy used, the 1070ti is faster.