is a 1660 Super a good upgrade for my current build?

[anotherNPC]

Budget (including currency): 5,000 MXN

Country: Mexico

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: I aim for occasional 1080p 60fps gaming in games like Overwatch 2 (mainly this one), League of Legends, Valorant and some other like Hades II, Age of Empires 2.

Current build: 

• Motherboard: GIgabyte GA-MA78G-DS3H rev 1.0 (PCIe 2.0)
• RAM: 8GB DDR2 800Mhz
• CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 960T 3.0 Ghz
• GPU: Nvidia GTX 750 1GB GDDR5
• SSD: Adata SU630 240 GB
• OS: Windows 10 22H2
• Power Supply: Edge Systems R500 500w (without 8-pin conectors, the link is just for image reference)
• Monitor: Insignia 24" 1080p 60Hz TV

 

Hi LTT community, well, basically what the title says, I'm thinking in buying a 2nd hand 1660 Super or Ti to upgrade my old computer, mainly I just want to game a couple of titles at 1080p 60fps, would the 1660 Super be a good fit or should I try something else? I know is a very old machine but right now I don't have enough budget to get a completely new one.

 

Thanks for the help.

[AppoapsisStudios]

the 16 series is a pretty good range, so it is a pretty good deal though I'm not sure if it would work well with the cpu- if possible I would also recommend upgrading your ram- or if there isn't support for more than 8gb ddr2, I'm not sure

[Tetras]

It is enormously faster, but you might be better off with a slower GTX 1050/1050 Ti or 1650 rather than a 1660 Super or Ti, since they don't require a power connector (if you buy the right one).

 

 

[anotherNPC]

5 minutes ago, AppoapsisStudios said:

the 16 series is a pretty good range, so it is a pretty good deal though I'm not sure if it would work well with the cpu- if possible I would also recommend upgrading your ram- or if there isn't support for more than 8gb ddr2, I'm not sure

According to what I could find in the motherboard's manual, that amount of RAM and that processor are about the highest the motherboard can support

 

 

4 minutes ago, Tetras said:

It is enormously faster, but you might be better off with a slower GTX 1050/1050 Ti or 1650 rather than a 1660 Super or Ti, since they don't require a power connector (if you buy the right one).

 

 

regarding the power connector I found out there are sata to 8pin adapters so external power may not be an issue (I hope), what I'm a little more concerned about is the power needs, would 500w be enough with the 1660 Super/Ti upgrade? thank you for the suggestion, I'll look if I can find a 1050  or 1650 2nd hand

[Tetras]

37 minutes ago, anotherNPC said:

regarding the power connector I found out there are sata to 8pin adapters so external power may not be an issue (I hope)

I can't recommend using one of those, except maybe for a card that doesn't need much extra power.

 

During the mining boom there were a lot of horror stories about using SATA adapters.

 

39 minutes ago, anotherNPC said:

would 500w be enough with the 1660 Super/Ti upgrade

A decent 500 watt PSU could handle it easily, but with old PSUs you have two problems:

1. They might not have much power on the rails the GPU draws from.

2. They might not cope well with power spikes. 

 

Chances are it'll be fine, but going beyond the existing power envelope with an old PSU is always a dice roll.

[anotherNPC]

so would it be better to get a new PSU that has the 8pin connector natively and if possible a little more watts? like 600w PSU?

 

Also, thanks for the warning about the power adapters. I didn't know.

[-rascal-]

50 minutes ago, anotherNPC said:

According to what I could find in the motherboard's manual, that amount of RAM and that processor are about the highest the motherboard can support

 

 

regarding the power connector I found out there are sata to 8pin adapters so external power may not be an issue (I hope), what I'm a little more concerned about is the power needs, would 500w be enough with the 1660 Super/Ti upgrade? thank you for the suggestion, I'll look if I can find a 1050  or 1650 2nd hand

 

The motherboard can support up to 16GB of DDR2 Memory, assuming in 4 x 4GB configuration.

The CPU, along with the entire Phenom II line-up, can support up to 32GB of RAM.

In your case, the limitation is with the older DDR2 780G chipset based motherboard.

It's also hard to find 8GB sticks of DDR2. Much easier to find 8GB and 16GB Memory sticks of DDR3.

(If you went with a DDR3-supporting  800-series or 900-series based motherboard, you can run with more Memory)

 

The motherboard you have is a lower mid-tier board, even at it's prime time.

Not worth getting a Phenom II X6 (e.g. 1055T), since it's such an old platform now.

 

I would NOT recommend using a SATA to PCI-E 8-pin adapters....

The SATA power interface was never designed to supply that much power -  PCI-E 8-pin is rated for up to 150W.

 

Go with the GPU upgrade, and run it until you MUST need to do a full CPU + Motherboard + RAM upgrade.

Phenom II X4 960T + GTX 1660, you could run with a quality 450W ~ 550W, with extra power to spare.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

48 minutes ago, Tetras said:

I can't recommend using one of those, except maybe for a card that doesn't need much extra power.

 

During the mining boom there were a lot of horror stories about using SATA adapters.

 

A decent 500 watt PSU could handle it easily, but with old PSUs you have two problems:

1. They might not have much power on the rails the GPU draws from.

2. They might not cope well with power spikes. 

 

Chances are it'll be fine, but going beyond the existing power envelope with an old PSU is always a dice roll.

Even before the mining boom, there are many horror stories where those SATA/Molex to PCIe or P4 power connectors caught on fire.