Will this work well!

[Oli_The_Anarchist]

Hiya guys! I have just finished upgrading my pc after using a piece of crap AMD system with a gt 730 :O oh my god it was bad!

So I have
Intel i5 4690k running stock atm with a cooler master seidon water cooler
Asus z87-k motherboard
8 gb crucial ballisitix RAM
Seagate Barracuda 500gb Hard drive
Kingston 120 gb SSD
Fan controller with 4 fans hooked up to it
Evga 500w plus PSU

You will notice something is missing! Now the graphics card has been a mess about, sadly I have had to get the graphics card second hand to save some money and I will only be getting it second hand! I have roughly £120 to spend which I know isn't great and I do plan on upgrading PSU and graphics card again next year, mobo and processor will go strong for a good few years. Any way I got a 7870 xt which is a decent Graphics card and I got it for £85 however it was sadly faulty so I had to return it and now I am stuck on what to do, the main two graphics cards I have been looking at are the 7970 for £120 and the 7950 for £100 basically which will be the best to go for to go with my PSU and last 2 years and also perform well, btw there is no way of me getting a new PSU the PSU is staying put!

Here is the page I am looking on https://uk.webuy.com/search/index.php?sortOn=sellprice_asc&stext=*&section=&catid=892&price=73-950&op=0-950

I have around 120-130 to spend cheers!

 

[logainofhades]

I would not run a 7970, with that low end PSU. Your safest option, without upgrading the PSU now, and given your budget, is a GTX 950.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB SSC ACX 2.0 Video Card (£127.00 @ Aria PC)
Total: £127.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-30 14:42 BST+0100

 

[Oli_The_Anarchist]

sadly I have vouchers for the shop in the link so cannot buy from anywhere else and they do not have 950 in stock! I will go through all the cards they have however on another site someone said the PSU will be alright! But I completely understand why you would not run it!

 

[logainofhades]

The PSU is a tier 3 unit, you really should have a tier 1 or tier 2. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

 

[Oli_The_Anarchist]

yeah I know for next time! I will be upgrading it next year sometime for a more reliable one!

 

[Barty1884]

How about the R9 270x ? 105quid
https://uk.webuy.com/product.php?sku=SGRAATIR9270X2GA#.Vgv20PlVhBc

You're losing a bit, as a far as memory vs the 7970 (as the 270x is only 2GB, not 3) but get higher clock speeds. It should put less load on your PSU and still perform pretty well and last you a while.

You want to keep the load off your PSU, the best you can. Tier 3 is not horrible, but there can be issues - and running at full strain on the PSU for significant periods of time can do it.

As long as you keep away from overclocking and long full-load situations, your PSU should hold out.

Just because it should hold out, doesn't mean it shouldn't be next on your list to replace ASAP.

 

[Oli_The_Anarchist]

I went for the 7970 in the end but thank you for your advice and yes that is next on my list after mouse and keyboard, they are both dell -.- it makes me want to cry -.- it will put load on my PSU and I will really keep an eye but I have good cooling in the system and will make sure I have a temp probe on the PSU but thanks for the advice guys!! it really is appretiate it even though I did decide otherwise!!! But I will definitely take your advice on the PSU!