need advice on upgrading my pc.

a reply to: BornAgainAlien

My case is really big my cards only take up half the width and not even a quarter of the length,I have really good fans in for cooling.
PSU is 500w.

AMD R9 290. Have 2 running in Crossfire . Works so well I started DAI the other day (with full goodies). Stepped away for a while , came back not realizing it and started up another high powered game. Was only after playing for a while with no problem that I realized I had 2 major games running at the same time.

a reply to: boymonkey74

Having a big case with enough cooling is at least something.

In case of a 500W PSU, you have to check out the specs (amperes on the rails) and go for a not that power hungry graphics card.

CPU needs to be upgraded to something more powerful, use the link I gave you earlier.

So find out what brand power supply and check out if it will do, find an AMD CPU higher up in the gaming hierarchy chart, and look for a powerful graphics card which is relatively low on power consumption (probably a NVIDIA and a non OC version (OC versions tend to consume much more power in general)).

And buying both the CPU and GPU used or refurbished can pay off, I have done that many times.

a reply to: BornAgainAlien

Been looking at a AMD FX-6300 for my cpu upgrade then maybe a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 GPU.
May also upgrade my power also.

a reply to: boymonkey74

FX-6300 is a good CPU .... I'm using one , you may want to invest in a fan for it because the stock fan is typically noisy, it's not terrible but it can be annoying
The price to performance ratio is great , in my opinion the CPU is great.

a reply to: boymonkey74

If you upgrade your power supply anyway, it doesn`t matter that much which graphic card you buy.

But, if you look at 4K screen gaming, you need more as 2GB video memory...only higher resolution screen makes you have to lower your screen settings also.

For a single graphic card set up, 600W minimum (it also doesn`t have to be more as that) is good, power supplies should not be stressed too much. I personally use always Corsair power supplies, this one will do.

With a GeForce GTX 960, you won`t need a different power supply actually, it has a really low power use.

But I would advice you to read up about 4K gaming, it`s a high resolution which means you have to lower your in game setting considerably with a card like GeForce GTX 960, which makes the game look not that good (to go for 4K gaming, you need to have way more graphics power to go for high graphic settings (double even more powerful cards))....the whole, "ready for 4K gaming" is nothing more as a fake sell point if games become nothing more as a slide show even with pretty low graphic settings.

With PSU rating look at your requirements that they give you on the box and consider that about 2/3 rds of the max rating of a psu as efficiency will drop as the closer to the max so if you have a requirement of about 600 then a PSU with about 1000 will do it with ease and allow a bit of room (bit like taking a 1l car and a 2l car down the M6 and seeing which one will suffer more doing 70) and don't get the cheap chinese ones as they generally never have the extra bits to cover when they do die they don't take out everything connected to it.

also slap in as much ram as possible as it will cache as much as possible, but the motherboard is the ultimate point of failure as everything has to pass through it so make sure the bios is flashed upto date along with drivers etc

Or would it be cheaper if I saved a little more and bought one from overclockers? I dunno?.

a reply to: boymonkey74

No, best not to get stuff from overclockers, not everyone knows what he`s doing and you might end up with stuff which has gotten a bit too hot.

You can look around at the internet if there are people close by who sell second hand stuff, or some online stores sell refurbished stuff (send back to the factory which has been made/or which has been ordered and send back) to safe a few bucks...you can end up with a lot better equipment for the same money.

If you want to go 4K with decent settings, you need 2 even more expensive cards, make really sure you have very good cooling (those cards draw a lot of power and by so make lots of heat), get an even more expensive power supply and CPU. So besides having a lot higher electric bill, the costs of the components will also go up big time. And using two cards can also be a bit of pain in the ass with drivers.

I personally stick with just a 24 inch screen and put the settings as hight as possible...and my graphic card is even better as what you pointed out...if I wanted to go for 4K gaming I would need at least another of those cards and an even better PSU (mine is 650W).

a reply to: boymonkey74

star citizen

I haven't been keeping up on that, how's it going? I pledged a few ships and should probably look into setting up my gaming laptop. Not sure if it's up to snuff though.

a reply to: boymonkey74

Your CPU isn't that bad. You almost-assuredly will need a new PSU to run some of the latest cards.

I see a lot of talk about nVidia cards, but almost no talk about AMD cards, which is hogwash. I've been running an HD7970 since release and not had any recent game seriously tax the card. I'm running GTA V on max and it's nice and smooth. When games do start taxing my GPU, I'll just get a second one and Crossfire it.

If you can find a HD7970, that will get you an inexpensive start to playing the latest games on high or max settings. Or even cheaper would be two HD5870's (which I also have) Crossfired which would equal the same GPU power as a single HD7970.

You don't need to get the latest and greatest GPU to enjoy the newest games on high or max. But you will definitely need a new PSU to use the HD7970 as I believe it's 550W minimum for that particular card.

originally posted by: Domo1
I haven't been keeping up on that, how's it going? I pledged a few ships and should probably look into setting up my gaming laptop. Not sure if it's up to snuff though.

It's going great, and absolutely cannot wait to play it. Maybe this will whet your whistle:

a reply to: _BoneZ_

You don't need to get the latest and greatest GPU to enjoy the newest games on high or max.

It depends on what games you play and at what settings.

You don't need to get the latest and greatest GPU to enjoy the newest games on high or max. But you will definitely need a new PSU to use the HD7970 as I believe it's 550W minimum for that particular card.

...hence the reason I was pointing him towards a NVIDIA.

I have got an R9-290 OC myself, but AMD chips use more power as the NVIDIA chips. So if he sticks with the PSU he has, NVIDIA is his best choice.

Crossfire and AMD can be a crappy experience with drivers, that`s why I ditched my HD5870 instead of putting another one next to it.

Depending on what card he`s going to buy, his CPU will hold back his graphic card with a bit of a serious card.

a reply to: _BoneZ_

Freaking awesome!

So excited for it. Man I can't even remember what ships I have. The 300 something and I think the cheap one with the weapons load out.

My GTX 560 TI took a crap and it was past the warranty. I figured it needed a reflow but that costs as much as another card. So, I put it in the oven for 30 minutes at 250 degrees and it works now. I'm such a cheap bastard.

a reply to: Domo1

I keep updating my star citizen ATS page with more info domo check it out.
We really must start thinking of an ATS org guys.