[SOLVED] What would be the best Gpu that i could pair with my limited system?

[Jayj2000]

I am limited to my psu being a 350 watt flex atx 1u and there hard to find, unreliable and expensive. What would be the best graphics card i could pair with my system? I was thinking about the gtx 1650 and would this be a substantial enough upgrade to notice until i get a new system within the next 2 years?

My Specs:
I5-7400 @3.3
16gb ddr4 @2400
Msi gtx 1050 2gb
Mobo - MS-B9071
Psu - fsp group 350 watt bronze 80+
1tb hdd

 

[99StefanRO]

Hi. Your PSU is really low, having only 350 watts. Normally I would recommend going for the 1660 since it's a great card, but that PSU is a very huge limitation. There is no chance of you being able to get at least a 450w one? As far as I read, the 1650 is 50% faster than the 1050 and you will probably notice a substantial difference, but do not expect a massive gain. It will totally be better and you will feel it though.

In conclusion, go for the 1650 if you really need an upgrade or start by buying a good PSU first and then planning a GPU upgrade.

 

[Jayj2000]

Hi. Your PSU is really low, having only 350 watts. Normally I would recommend going for the 1660 since it's a great card, but that PSU is a very huge limitation. There is no chance of you being able to get at least a 450w one? As far as I read, the 1650 is 50% faster than the 1050 and you will probably notice a substantial difference, but do not expect a massive gain. It will totally be better and you will feel it though.

In conclusion, go for the 1650 if you really need an upgrade or start by buying a good PSU first and then planning a GPU upgrade.

It’s only temporary as a would like to sell this system and get another with money I have been saving within the next 1-2 years.

As long as it can do 1080p 60fps medium to high I don’t mind but I also remembered is there not supposed to be a 1650 ti coming soon?

 

[Phaaze88]

Yea, that psu does need to go, but whether changing the gpu will do anything for you depends on the games you play.
There's no real gains to be had if the majority of the games you play happen to be cpu bound. A faster gpu won't fix this.

Play your games, and monitor the usage of each of the cpu cores and gpu usage with Msi Afterburner.
If you find that one or two of your cores are sitting at 100%, then you need a cpu upgrade more than a gpu one. Vice versa, it's the other way around.
No two games are made the same, so you should test them all, or at least the ones you primarily play.

 

[99StefanRO]

There's no real gains to be had if the majority of the games you play happen to be cpu bound. A faster gpu won't fix this.
If you find that one or two of your cores are sitting at 100%, then you need a cpu upgrade more than a gpu one.

Half right, half wrong. He is indeed CPU limited, but the 7400 will handle the 1650 ok for two years in my opinion, I've used 7th gen i5s in a gaming PC with a 1060 and it was ok. Yes, it went up to 100% usage (while on the old 1050Ti wasn't doing it), but the performance gains were consistent.

He doesn't need a CPU upgrade more than a GPU one because none of them are good for their purpose. The CPU will handle more GPU while that GPU is just a bare minimum to play with low graphics at decent performance. He needs to upgrade everything in there, honestly, but the GPU will make a difference right now.

JayJ, you can try switching to Ryzen when you have the budget, that's what I did, changed my i5 7600 to Ryzen 2600 and it was cheaper and better.

 

[Jayj2000]

Half right, half wrong. He is indeed CPU limited, but the 7400 will handle the 1650 ok for two years in my opinion, I've used 7th gen i5s in a gaming PC with a 1060 and it was ok. Yes, it went up to 100% usage (while on the old 1050Ti wasn't doing it), but the performance gains were consistent.

He doesn't need a CPU upgrade more than a GPU one because none of them are good for their purpose. The CPU will handle more GPU while that GPU is just a bare minimum to play with low graphics at decent performance. He needs to upgrade everything in there, honestly, but the GPU will make a difference right now.

JayJ, you can try switching to Ryzen when you have the budget, that's what I did, changed my i5 7600 to Ryzen 2600 and it was cheaper and better.

Yes when I get another system I will choose one with better upgrade paths as I didn’t no much about components when I bought it but for now I think the 1650 will do just 1 year and a half. Also I do not plan on heavy gaming throughout this time and like I said I’m happy with optimised settings and 60fps anyway I also think that vram usage was holding me back in most games and as I have just started in a graphic design job that will be my main focus. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Jayj2000]

Yea, that psu does need to go, but whether changing the gpu will do anything for you depends on the games you play.
There's no real gains to be had if the majority of the games you play happen to be cpu bound. A faster gpu won't fix this.

Play your games, and monitor the usage of each of the cpu cores and gpu usage with Msi Afterburner.
If you find that one or two of your cores are sitting at 100%, then you need a cpu upgrade more than a gpu one. Vice versa, it's the other way around.
No two games are made the same, so you should test them all, or at least the ones you primarily play.

I have checked and in most games cpu usage is around 60 - 85%

 

[Phaaze88]

I have checked and in most games cpu usage is around 60 - 85%

Oh. Well, it should be fine to get the 1650 then.
Unless...

Are those numbers the overall cpu usage, or the highest from a single core at any given time?

 

[Jayj2000]

Oh. Well, it should be fine to get the 1650 then.
Unless...

Are those numbers the overall cpu usage, or the highest from a single core at any given time?

Overall

 

[Phaaze88]

Overall

It needs to be checked for each core. The 7400 has 4 cores and 4 threads = 8 logical processors.
65% of 8 = 5.2, or 5 LPs and 20% of another
85% of 8 = 6.8, or 6 LPs and 80% of another
Some games only utilize a couple, or a few LPs. If these are constantly being pegged at 90 - 100%, then the cpu's performance is limited by those threads, and a gpu upgrade won't change much in this situation.

Play those games again, but open task manager, select the performance tab, and click on cpu.
Right-click on the right side of the window, with the graph and other info, highlight 'change graph info', and select logical processors.
With that, you will know for sure if your cpu can really handle with a stronger gpu or not.
Even a single constantly maxed out thread can be enough to make you cpu limited.

 

[Jayj2000]

It needs to be checked for each core. The 7400 has 4 cores and 4 threads = 8 logical processors.
65% of 8 = 5.2, or 5 LPs and 20% of another
85% of 8 = 6.8, or 6 LPs and 80% of another
Some games only utilize a couple, or a few LPs. If these are constantly being pegged at 90 - 100%, then the cpu's performance is limited by those threads, and a gpu upgrade won't change much in this situation.

Play those games again, but open task manager, select the performance tab, and click on cpu.
Right-click on the right side of the window, with the graph and other info, highlight 'change graph info', and select logical processors.
With that, you will know for sure if your cpu can really handle with a stronger gpu or not.
Even a single constantly maxed out thread can be enough to make you cpu limited.

Each core is anywhere from 65% to 85% but i never see any maxed out this also whilst gaming on an ultrawide at 2560 x 1080 with the games set to medium as thats my limit with the 1050.

 

[King_V]

I generally lean in the direction that, at the moment, the GPU is the more limiting factor when it comes to 1080p @ 60fps gaming.

But - the PSU is of concern - What is the exact model of the PSU? Can you give us the data (either by typing it out, or by photographing and posting) from the label on the PSU?

Does the PSU have any 6 or 8 pin PCIe connectors?

It needs to be checked for each core. The 7400 has 4 cores and 4 threads = 8 logical processors.

I'm not sure I follow - I could be mistaken, but I thought the number of logical processors was equal to the number of threads.

 

[Phaaze88]

Each core is anywhere from 65% to 85% but i never see any maxed out this also whilst gaming on an ultrawide at 2560 x 1080 with the games set to medium as thats my limit with the 1050.

Great! Then you can proceed with the gpu upgrade.

I'm not sure I follow - I could be mistaken, but I thought the number of logical processors was equal to the number of threads.

No, you're right. While looking at the processors on my own cpu, I added his for some reason...

 

[Jayj2000]

I generally lean in the direction that, at the moment, the GPU is the more limiting factor when it comes to 1080p @ 60fps gaming.

But - the PSU is of concern - What is the exact model of the PSU? Can you give us the data (either by typing it out, or by photographing and posting) from the label on the PSU?

Does the PSU have any 6 or 8 pin PCIe connectors?




I'm not sure I follow - I could be mistaken, but I thought the number of logical processors was equal to the number of threads.

I think the psu is custom made for manufacturers. It’s the fsp group 350 watt 1u. It’s quite small, smaller that sff-l and pretty much Unupgradable even though msi states the system to be upgradable which it’s far from so as long a it lasts till I get a new system I’m happy. Thanks anyway