[SOLVED] Upgrading GTX950

Oct 28, 2020
9
0
10
Looking to upgrade GPU so I can run higher graphics settings. I play Warthunder, Armored Warfare, heliborne. etc so nothing too gnarly. CPU is an A-8 7600 radeon 3.1GHz. 16 GB RAM. Money is no an issue, I just don't want to overdo it and get more card than i I need or can use. Also, I only have a 550W power supply. Should I upgrade that as well. It's pretty much brand new.
 
Solution
For your titles, it is plenty, but if you want more, definitely wait it out a bit, as we have 4th gen ryzen coming, next week. Regardless, a more powerful system.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($304.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($134.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 AORUS ELITE ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($57.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Silicon Power A60 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($97.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM...

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
550W doesn't tell us much. What model is it? Your are gaming at 1080/60hz? Are you in the usa?

If money isn't an issue, why are you gaming with an APU? What's the real budget?I'm going to guess you want a 580, or 2060/1660, etc. A $150-200 card.
 
Oct 28, 2020
9
0
10
Bro i'm on here because I don't even know what an APU is? I barely know enough to be dangerous. Some of you guys assume we know as much as you do. We don't. yes I'm in the USA, and yes 1080@60Hz, I may upgrade monitors as well but that'll be a little later.. The real budget is the sky's the limit, but I don't se the logic in replacing a 3 yr old system that otherwise workdsfine for playing the games I play. Just because you have it doesn't mean you have to spend it.
 
Bro i'm on here because I don't even know what an APU is? I barely know enough to be dangerous. Some of you guys assume we know as much as you do. We don't. yes I'm in the USA, and yes 1080@60Hz, I may upgrade monitors as well but that'll be a little later.. The real budget is the sky's the limit, but I don't se the logic in replacing a 3 yr old system that otherwise workdsfine for playing the games I play. Just because you have it doesn't mean you have to spend it.

Alright UncleBuzz, please tone it down a few notches. The moderator you are talking to has been on this forum for 14 years; he's not your bro, and he deserves everyone's respect. If you need help understanding what things mean, or are confused as to why someone is asking you something, just ask. Most of the people on here are solid and will help you out so long as you don't give them attitude. I'm also happy to help; we just need information to answer your questions better.
 
Oct 28, 2020
9
0
10
I gave the only info I know to give. I'm not in any way a tecchie or computer wizard. I just like to game and hate lag and came into some money. Sorry but "bro" to me is a term of respect and comradery, not an insult. My personal tech geek (daughter) is currently deployed in a high security area so she's a little tricky to contact and kinda out of the loop right now. I've looked at RTX 2060 but some forums tell me that's more than my CPU can keep up with. For a power supply I have no clue what is just that it's 550W. I do know that some GPU's can draw a lot more power than others, or at least that's what I've been told. As far as an APU, I still don't know what that is. I did see on another thread here a guy upgrading a GTX 950 and someone suggested a 1050ti 6GB. As far as I can find those don't exist. All I've been able to find in the 1050ti is 4GB, and the thread said not to buy that.
 
Bro i'm on here because I don't even know what an APU is? I barely know enough to be dangerous. Some of you guys assume we know as much as you do. We don't. yes I'm in the USA, and yes 1080@60Hz, I may upgrade monitors as well but that'll be a little later.. The real budget is the sky's the limit, but I don't se the logic in replacing a 3 yr old system that otherwise workdsfine for playing the games I play. Just because you have it doesn't mean you have to spend it.

APU stands for Accelerated Processing Unit; its the name AMD gives to its CPUs that have integrated graphics. This is different from their regular CPUs which have no integrated graphics. Because APUs are usually used only by people with severely constrained budgets, the moderator wanted to know why you are using a CPU with integrated graphics instead of a discrete (separate from the CPU) processor.

He asked if you are in the USA because prices/currency and thus the suggestions we make are based off of where you live. He asked what your target resolution and desired refresh rate is because that determines what GPUs we recommend.

None of us on here are trying to get you to waste your money; if you don't want to buy something, then obviously the choice is yours. Tell us what you want out of your system that it currently isn't doing for you and we'll do our best to recommend parts to you that based on our experiences should help you achieve the results you want.
 
I gave the only info I know to give. I'm not in any way a tecchie or computer wizard. I just like to game and hate lag and came into some money. Sorry but "bro" to me is a term of respect and comradery, not an insult. My personal tech geek (daughter) is currently deployed in a high security area so she's a little tricky to contact and kinda out of the loop right now. I've looked at RTX 2060 but some forums tell me that's more than my CPU can keep up with. As far as power supply I have no clue what is just that it's 550W. I do know that some GPU's can draw a lot more power than others, or at least that's what I've been told. As far as an APU, I still don't know what that is.

A RTX 2060 is a good GPU and actually one that I would recommend to you provided the rest of your computer is up to the task.

Power supplies are more than just their rated wattage; their ability to deliver that wattage consistently and cleanly is very important. Thus , some power supplies that appear to be good enough for a specific use case actually are a bad idea to use. Being that your power supply is of an unknown brand/model/age (age degrades their effectiveness over time as well) you might need to replace your power supply. See if you can open your PC and find out what model it is.

I looked up your CPU. Your CPU came out in 2014, 6 years ago, which makes it quite behind the curve for gaming. It has 4 physical cores and 4 threads (no hyperthreading) and thus isn't up to the task of rendering frames quickly enough to send them to a GPU without severely slowing down the GPU. That is why people are saying you need a better CPU.
 
Oct 28, 2020
9
0
10
So if I'm now upgrading the CPU, GPU ,and whatever else I need, am I just better off to bite the bullet & scrap it and buy a new machine? It kinda sounds like by the time I upgrade this I might be better off putting more bucks with it and buying something. Like I said, my gaming is not too extreme, most of the games I play are pretty mild as far as demands, I just want to be able to crank it up. being blind in my left eye makes it hard to see anyway, and low graphics just sucks. As far as the APU thing i really don't know. I don't think it has integrated graphics that I know of. Power supply is really no biggie. They're not that expensive anyway so I'll just get a new one and keep this one as a backup.
 
Last edited:
So if I'm now upgrading the CPU, GPU ,and whatever else I need, am I just better off to bite the bullet & scrap it and buy a new machine? It kinda sounds like by the time I upgrade this I might be better off putting more bucks with it and buying something.

As you said, you don't want to waste money and overbuild your system, I also don't want that, so we'll figure out what your needs are. None of the games you listed that you play are very graphically intensive (at least not for 1080p 60 Hz), so I'm going to ask you a few very specific questions in order to ascertain what you current and future needs might be.

  1. Do you plan on playing any other games in the near future that might be significantly more taxing than these three you listed?
  2. Do you plan on upgrading your 1080p 60 Hz monitor in the near future to something with either higher resolution or higher refresh rates (or both)? If you do, what resolution/refresh rate would you probably go with? (Let me know if you want advice on picking a good gaming monitor)
  3. Do you want to be able to play the games you play maxed out at the highest graphical settings, the highest refresh rate of your monitor and at the full resolution of your monitor (whether that's your current monitor or a monitor you plan to buy in the future)?
 

logainofhades

Titan
Moderator
So if I'm now upgrading the CPU, GPU ,and whatever else I need, am I just better off to bite the bullet & scrap it and buy a new machine? It kinda sounds like by the time I upgrade this I might be better off putting more bucks with it and buying something. Like I said, my gaming is not too extreme, most of the games I play are pretty mild as far as demands, I just want to be able to crank it up. being blind in my left eye makes it hard to see anyway, and low graphics just sucks. As far as the APU thing i really don't know. I don't think it has integrated graphics that I know of. Power supply is really no biggie. They're not that expensive anyway so I'll just get a new one and keep this one as a backup.

I would say a new system is probably in your best interest. Your A8 7600 is going to hold back any decent graphics upgrade, and there are no upgrades, that will drop into your motherboard, that would improve your situation. We need to know the make/model of the power supply. It should have a sticker on it, with said information. Since it is new, if it is a decent quality unit, it can be reused. Storage could be reused, and possibly the case, depending on type.
 
Oct 28, 2020
9
0
10
  1. no, I pretty much play the games i listed and a couple or very similar ones. No VR or anything too crazy.
  2. Probably. One monitor has a small line it it so yes, I'll probably look at some monitors in the future too. I haven't gotten that far so I haven't looked yet.
3.Yes. I want to crank the graphics as high as I can get them and get decent FPS. I despise lag. Right now I'm lucky to get 50 FPS on minimum settings.
 

logainofhades

Titan
Moderator
A starter system, for you to consider.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($118.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($94.99 @ B&H)
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($57.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Silicon Power A60 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($97.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4 GB OC Video Card ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT H500 ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ NZXT)
Power Supply: Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $654.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-28 09:42 EDT-0400
 
Oct 28, 2020
9
0
10
A starter system, for you to consider.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($118.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($94.99 @ B&H)
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($57.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Silicon Power A60 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($97.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4 GB OC Video Card ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT H500 ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ NZXT)
Power Supply: Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $654.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-28 09:42 EDT-0400

Sorry if I'm a little skeptical. Compared to what I've seen shopping, it seems awfully cheap for a good gaming system. Like half the price of most I've seen. Is this something that's going to last me a few years or will I be sinking more money into it in 6 months? Honestly a "starter" system is probably not what I'm looking for. I want bang for the buck and the bucks aren't really limited. I've always had Mustangs, now that I can afford it, I want a Porsche or at least a Corvette. At the same time I don't want to blow money on a system that my games really don't need.

.
 

logainofhades

Titan
Moderator
For your titles, it is plenty, but if you want more, definitely wait it out a bit, as we have 4th gen ryzen coming, next week. Regardless, a more powerful system.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($304.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($134.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 AORUS ELITE ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($57.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Silicon Power A60 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($97.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB Founders Edition Video Card ($500.00)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox NR600 (w/o ODD) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1480.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-28 10:08 EDT-0400
 
Solution
Oct 28, 2020
9
0
10
For your titles, it is plenty, but if you want more, definitely wait it out a bit, as we have 4th gen ryzen coming, next week. Regardless, a more powerful system.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($304.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($134.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 AORUS ELITE ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($57.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Silicon Power A60 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($97.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB Founders Edition Video Card ($500.00)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox NR600 (w/o ODD) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1480.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-28 10:08 EDT-0400

This may seems like a silly question (probably is) but why 2 hard drives?
 
This may seems like a silly question (probably is) but why 2 hard drives?

The first one is a solid state nvme drive, which is very fast and allows for quick boot up and quick loading of all your games.

The second one is a traditional hard drive. it has twice the space of the SSD, yet its almost half as expensive. The benefit to you is that you have fast storage for the things that need to be fast, and a large amount of inexpensive storage where speed isn't important.
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
Whoa. That escalated pretty quick. For the person trying to mod, thanks but no need. Please use the report button and leave it alone. If the OP was a giant jerk and replied negatively to your post things could have got ugly. We agreed to verbal abuse when we agreed to do this.

For the OP, or original poster, i don't see the need for a new machine. Your APU/CPU is based on really old tech that has been greatly improved on, but as you said your demands aren't that great. I already correctly guessed your monitor size and suggested gpu upgrade, the 2060. That card is at the extreme upper end of what I'd pair with your APU.

I would normal say just upgrade the gpu, but the psu could be an issue. You have a lower end system so the psu could be lower end as well. You've called it a 500W, 550W, and said you don't know which it is. Before i suggest a gpu i always like knowing what the psu is. Not because i want to gloat about how much better mine is, but because i don't want to harm your system. If you take the side of your tower off you can see the big box with wires coming out. Will probably say something like thermaltake, antec, seasonic, etc. With of course the wattage listed somewhere. If you can give us the model number that would be great.

I wouldn't bother with the 1650s. I don't know of any 6gb model. A 1660S or other such card would be good. Waiting for AMDs next big card is also a good idea. Finally people run multiple hard drives because they put windows and games on the faster SSD, while docs, music, etc goes on the slower HDD.
 
Oct 28, 2020
9
0
10
Whoa. That escalated pretty quick. For the person trying to mod, thanks but no need. Please use the report button and leave it alone. If the OP was a giant jerk and replied negatively to your post things could have got ugly. We agreed to verbal abuse when we agreed to do this.

For the OP, or original poster, i don't see the need for a new machine. Your APU/CPU is based on really old tech that has been greatly improved on, but as you said your demands aren't that great. I already correctly guessed your monitor size and suggested gpu upgrade, the 2060. That card is at the extreme upper end of what I'd pair with your APU.

I would normal say just upgrade the gpu, but the psu could be an issue. You have a lower end system so the psu could be lower end as well. You've called it a 500W, 550W, and said you don't know which it is. Before i suggest a gpu i always like knowing what the psu is. Not because i want to gloat about how much better mine is, but because i don't want to harm your system. If you take the side of your tower off you can see the big box with wires coming out. Will probably say something like thermaltake, antec, seasonic, etc. With of course the wattage listed somewhere. If you can give us the model number that would be great.

I wouldn't bother with the 1650s. I don't know of any 6gb model. A 1660S or other such card would be good. Waiting for AMDs next big card is also a good idea. Finally people run multiple hard drives because they put windows and games on the faster SSD, while docs, music, etc goes on the slower HDD.
Thanks. I had already pretty much decided to replace the PSU since I really don't know its age and capabilities and my machine runs a LOT. It's also extremely dusty where I live and I have 4 dogs. You get the idea. It just makes sense to replace it. Good ones aren't that much and the risk of damage just isn't worth it. Been down that road before. I'm thinking the RTX2060 6GB is the way to go. Now my only question is, when I decide to upgrade monitors, something along these lines, https://www.bestbuy.com/site/viotek...9-inch-gaming-monitor/6423538.p?skuId=6423538, will it make any difference before I eventually end up with a new machine or should I just stick with what I have for now?
 
Last edited:
Thanks. I had already pretty much decided to replace the PSU since I really don't know its age and capabilities and my machine runs a LOT. It just makes sense to replace it. Good ones aren't that much and the risk of damage just isn't worth it. Been down that road before. I'm thinking the RTX2060 6GB is the way to go. Now my only question is, when I decide to upgrade monitors, something along these lines, https://www.bestbuy.com/site/viotek...9-inch-gaming-monitor/6423538.p?skuId=6423538, will it make any difference before I eventually end up with a new machine or should I just stick with what I have for now?

The monitor looks pretty decent (120 Hz refresh rate, G-sync compatible) but the resolution is a bit low for my tastes for a panel that large. In addition, the higher your frame rate, the heavier the workload on your CPU; going over 60 fps will likely begin to introduce stutters and lag as you will be CPU bottlenecked at some point.

Translation: that monitor would pair great with a RTX 2060, but not so great with your CPU. A workaround in this scenario would be to limit your frame rate through the Nvidia control panel to 60 fps to keep you from overworking your CPU.
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
I'm not sure which thread I'm in. Do you have more than one monitor? If you do, avoid curved monitors.

I mostly agree that 1080 isn't a good idea on a 29" monitor. I had some 26" monitors and that was about as big as I'd go. 29" is really 4k territory.

I wouldn't worry about the cpu and 4k. Going up in res puts the load on the gpu. Cpu load doesn't really change. There are people who game at 4k with an i3 and 2080. It works because you need a strong gpu to handle that. A 2060 well be fine.