GPU upgrade? PS okay?

A

Actuary

2[H]4U
Joined
Feb 8, 2005
Messages
2,468
So I'd like to do some more PC gaming but my system is getting kind of dated. Current specs:

Asus p8p67
2500k
2x4 gb ddr3
Xfx 6870
Corsair tx 650w Psu
Crucial 128gb m4
Gaming on a 22" dell at 1680x1050

Gaming includes things like WoW, dota2, and hopefully some newer titles like doom, maybe titanfall 2, skyrim, etc.

I'd eventually like to go a little bigger on the monitor (like 27"). For now I imagine that the biggest thing holding me back is still the video card. Is that correct?

If so I'm strongly considering upgrading to maybe a 3gb 1060 because it seems like a pretty good price to performance card (I see it for $170 on amazon) that will tide me over for the next couple years. Is that card a good choice? Are there any better choices? Are there any particularly good deals right now for black Friday? Will my power supply be able to handle it? Thanks guys.
 
Last edited:
The PSU will be able to handle it sort of. While it was a good PSU back in it's day depending on how old it is all PSUs (even the best) degrade over the years. So if it's more than 4 years old I'd be skeptical about reusing it. Although a 1060 will use less power than that 6870 anyway so realistically I think you'll be okay with your current PSU. Though if you have the budget to buy a new one then it wouldn't hurt to replace it.

A 1060 will handle 1680x1050 gaming a lot, lot better than that 6870 and I am assuming you'll be going 1080P with a 27" monitor? If yes, then a 1060 will be plenty for that. If a higher resolution than 1080P then I might reconsider getting a 1070 since it seems you hold on to your hardware for a while.
 
Honestly, I would not even bother to upgrade the CPU, I use a i2500 and have no reason to upgrade it. Just upgrade the video card.

I only have 8 gb of memory also and don't have any issues.

I'm personally still waiting for a need to upgrade. But my 970 GTX was well worth it and I believe the 1060 performs as well so the 1060 will easily be worth it at that price.

Get the 1060 and call it a day. I game at 27" 1440p at high frame rates for all the games I play and you listed.
 
Seconding eddie500 here- your PSU is fine. I don't know what kind of experiences that Skillz has, but I've yet to have a PSU 'degrade' - I think mine is eight years old at this point and going strong. For reference, mine is only a 650W and it's running a 1070 SLI setup, so I think your 650 would be fine for the GPU of your choice.

If you can spring for it, I think the 6 GB 1060 or the 8 GB RX480 will have better legs on it than the 3 GB 1060. In today's right now games they'll likely be very similar, but eventually the VRAM will help. That said, in WoW, Dota2, Doom, and Skyrim the 3GB 1060 is fine. And gaming at 1050p is a little easier than at 1080p, but eventually you may get that new monitor.
 
sinisterDei said:
Seconding eddie500 here- your PSU is fine. I don't know what kind of experiences that Skillz has, but I've yet to have a PSU 'degrade' - I think mine is eight years old at this point and going strong. For reference, mine is only a 650W and it's running a 1070 SLI setup, so I think your 650 would be fine for the GPU of your choice.

If you can spring for it, I think the 6 GB 1060 or the 8 GB RX480 will have better legs on it than the 3 GB 1060. In today's right now games they'll likely be very similar, but eventually the VRAM will help. That said, in WoW, Dota2, Doom, and Skyrim the 3GB 1060 is fine. And gaming at 1050p is a little easier than at 1080p, but eventually you may get that new monitor.
Click to expand...

[H] did a review on a PSU that they tested 7 years prior. It showed that over time it did indeed degrade in it's performance. While not a whole lot, and while it was only one unit it still pointed out that nothing last forever. This includes even well built PSUs. They will degrade over time.

You wouldn't know any of that without the proper test equipment and most likely your PSU purchases have been overkill for your actual usage like most people who buy PSU's tend to do, myself included.

An 8 year old PSU is pushing it. It's your hardware though. So if it happens to go out and takes some of your hardware with it you can't say you wasn't informed.

I did overlook the 3GB of VRAM for the 1060 the OP is looking at. While it's fine for his current resolution I do agree that should he plan to upgrade to 1080P or higher he needs a card with more VRAM.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. I did decide to spend a bit more and got the 8gb 480 for $210 rather than the 3gb 1060 for $170. I think in the long run the extra ram will be nice, and it was only $40. Nabbed a 5gb hard drive since the deal at newegg was pretty good while I was at it. My PSU isn't quite that old, I want to say 3 years, maybe 4 at the max, but I do plan to swap it out for something newer in the not too distant future. I'm anticipating that maybe I'll upgrade my processor and get some more RAM in a year or 2, so definitely then at the latest.
 
I replaced my TX 650W about a year ago.

It was starting to get some massive coil whine.

When I removed it, the grill from the PSU had caused brown burn marks along the back of my case.

Def glad I replaced it when I did.
 
Skillz said:
[H] did a review on a PSU that they tested 7 years prior. It showed that over time it did indeed degrade in it's performance
Click to expand...

This is interesting, and I hadn't read this article up until now. Skillz is correct, I wouldn't know if my power supply has degraded in the manner displayed by the unit they tested. That said, for me personally at least, I am not stressing my PSU to its maximum point nor operating it at difficult voltages or temperatures, and for most of its life it's been fairly idle, so I'm not worried about it. It's certainly something to keep in mind though.

As for Actuary, glad to see you sprung for the 8GB card. I think you'll enjoy the GPU. And if you've not already overclocked your 2500k, then that's something to look into to get a bit more life out of that platform.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top