Thinking of upgrading GTX970 to RX580 or rtx2060 CPU=i5/3570 - worth doing?

Stevarian

Limp Gawd
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Jun 13, 2002
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I recently started thinking of upgrading my video card (Gigabyte GTX 970) after helping my nephew build a new system.

My CPU is the I5 - 3570K.

I started researching cards, and it appears the best bang for your buck cards now are the RX 570/RX580 and the RTX2060. I know there are a few of the AMD cards that have a couple free games attached, and Division 2 is one of those games and is a title I would likely pickup when it comes out.

Would it be worthwhile to even upgrade the GPU considering the CPU? And if so, which card?

My monitor is a BenQ BL3200 with native resolution of 2560x1440.

I have mainly been playing Call of Duty Black Ops 4, Far Cry 5, Monster Hunter World and Forza Horizon 4 recently.

Thanks in advance!
 
Going to a 570/580 is really a lateral move for the most part. I'd look around for a good deal on a used 1070 if I was wanting to make that upgrade. You can grab them off eBay for a good price and sometimes on the FS/FT forum here for even better prices.
 
You can get a Vega 56 for RTX2060 money.

And a used 1070 for way less as suggested earlier.

Personally I would not trade out my 8GB VRAM 580 for a RTX2060 6gb vram.

A
 
Thanks for the responses. I am a little hesitant to buy used, but have been looking this afternoon here and ebay.

If I get a 1070 or Vega 56 or even a 2060, will my CPU be an issue though? I built the system in 2012, and then added the 970 in 2014. It still runs great, just would like some better performance in newer games.
 
If I get a 1070 or Vega 56 or even a 2060, will my CPU be an issue though?.

certainly your CPU will choke with modern tittles due to only 4 threads.. depending on your CPU clock that could be from acceptable bottleneck and minor stuttering to a severe one.. so a high overclock on those old systems it's always recommended (at least 4.3ghz will still play nice).. but at your resolution you will be mostly fine with it in vast majority of games. but AIM to not less than Vega56 or GTX 1070/RTX 2060 so the performance jump in the GPU department will be still high enough..
 
Cool...thanks. That was my main concern that I would not realize much of a performance jump by getting a new card. I plan to eventually build a new system, but not for a while.
 
New, I'd go for the RTX2060. Used, probably a GTX1070Ti or a GTX1080
 
2560x1440 is pretty high resolution so GPU upgrade is recommended imho.
To see how much CPU bound you are there is a very simple test that you can perforem: lower game resolution to eg. 1920x1080 and see how it improves frame rates in games that you play.

RTX 2060 should be about twice as fast as GTX 970 in raw power.
 
Similar boat, and just waiting a few weeks to see how the reviews of the 2060 rtx cards look on newegg and amazon. Make sure there's not a "bad batch" or what ever.
 
I ordered a 2060 from newegg...from some of the things I read, it sounds like the 2060 does very well at 2560x1440. I will run it a while to see if any issues, then try to sell my 970.
 
Should be a good pick. Can you o/c your CPU. Would be a good boost for the 2060 if you can.
 
I should be able to. I OC'd a bit when I first got everything, then turned everything down to stock and have ran it stock ever since. I will give that a shot too once I get the card.
 
That is a 60hz monitor and the i5 should have no problems handling 60fps for the games you listed.

If you ever plan on getting a high refresh rate monitor, you will want more CPU cores.

I am CPU bottlenecked in FC5 and FH4 unless I play at 60hz as I only own a quad core i7.
 
Before upgrading your card you should upgrade your CPU first as it will bottleneck your system in the future.
If you don't want to go for DDR4 platform as DDR4 rams are expensive then you can simply upgrade to i7 4790k with only MB upgradation and can use your previous builds rams.
And RX580 is a great card for 1440p gaming and they are going really cheap nowadays.
 
I plan to build a new system sometime in the future. The 2060 will be here in a couple of days, and fingers crossed, I will get a boost out of it. From the link amenx listed, it looks like the 2060 should provide a decent upgrade.
 
Stevarian - I wouldn't mind hearing how it goes. Unless there is a drastic price shift I'll be ordering up a 2060 to replace my 950 in the next week or so.

The RX580 maybe cheaper, but it seems to be on the losing end of the benchmark comparisons.
 
I will definitely post an update. I am running a few benchmarks to see where my machine sits now to make the comparison.
 
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