Upgrading from GTX970

[Manical]

I am currently running a GTX970 Zotac graphics card, which works well but seems to be getting sluggish when playing some of the newer games. I have a $250-$400 budget available to dedicate to a new gpu and would like some recommendations as what to look into. I currently have an ASUS VH232 monitor (23" LCD 1080p).

 

Just incase, my cpu is an AMD FX-6300 (yes my cpu is behind but I only really game so I don't think that is much of an issue, please correct me if it really is).

 

Any recommendations are appreciated, thanks in advance. 

[knightslugger]

what do you mean sluggish? Can you elaborate? the 970 is still a pretty good GPU by today's standards.

 

It could very well be your CPU running out of steam.

[Vegetable]

Hey bro. Your FX 6300 is the reason you get sluggish. I had an FX 8350 at 5ghz with a 280mm AIO water cooler and it bottlenecked my GTX 970 as well as an R9 390X. Theyre just old and quite slow. The single core performance is garbage and it holds it back pretty badly. I'd have to recommend you get a new CPU/board/RAM with what money you have. 

[Zando_]

8 minutes ago, Vegetable said:

Hey bro. Your FX 6300 is the reason you get sluggish. I had an FX 8350 at 5ghz with a 280mm AIO water cooler and it bottlenecked my GTX 970 as well as an R9 390X. Theyre just old and quite slow. The single core performance is garbage and it holds it back pretty badly. I'd have to recommend you get a new CPU/board/RAM with what money you have. 

^^^ The 970 nearly equals a 1060 6GB IIRC (Yep, only 12% behind: http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-970-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1060-6GB/2577vs3639), so it's defo the CPU holding you back.

[Manical]

By sluggish I mean some games can be a bit blurry (recently Monster Hunter: World) and some chopping seems to be happening here and there.

 

Ran some benchmarks in Heaven and found I am getting 64fps with ultra, 8x and no tessellation while with normal tessellation I am getting ~54fps. I was really hoping it wasn't the cpu, as I have a Kraken AIO and not sure how it's going to work with the mounting on a new socket style. Seems like everyone so far is in agreement the cpu is likely what is holding me back.

[uncfan07]

yup, your cpu is the problem, I would recommend a Ryzen 1600. you will have to get new mobo and ram of course but you will see a big change in fps

[Zeitec]

2 hours ago, Manical said:

I am currently running a GTX970 Zotac graphics card, which works well but seems to be getting sluggish when playing some of the newer games. I have a $250-$400 budget available to dedicate to a new gpu and would like some recommendations as what to look into. I currently have an ASUS VH232 monitor (23" LCD 1080p).

 

Just incase, my cpu is an AMD FX-6300 (yes my cpu is behind but I only really game so I don't think that is much of an issue, please correct me if it really is).

 

Any recommendations are appreciated, thanks in advance. 

You're really bottlenecked by your CPU. For $400 you can get a Ryzen 5 1600 with a decent B350 board and 16gb of decent 3000mhz DDR4. You'd be significantly better off with that than a GPU upgrade. 

[Manical]

I am currently doing pricing as we speak, Ryzen is likely going to be my choice (just a fan of AMD I guess lol). Thank you everyone for the great help!

[Princess Luna]

upgrade to a ryzen 5 2600 and a b450 board then, at very least 8gb of fast memory, this will make your games run smoothly again, you are not limited by your GTX 970 at all, just the rest of the system.

[PlayStation 2]

i5-8400 and a 1070, if not a 1080 maybe?

[gbergeron]

2 hours ago, Vegetable said:

Hey bro. Your FX 6300 is the reason you get sluggish. I had an FX 8350 at 5ghz with a 280mm AIO water cooler and it bottlenecked my GTX 970 as well as an R9 390X. Theyre just old and quite slow. The single core performance is garbage and it holds it back pretty badly. I'd have to recommend you get a new CPU/board/RAM with what money you have. 

Well said.

[Manical]

3 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

i5-8400 and a 1070, if not a 1080 maybe?

The 1070/1080 is not within my budget I established.

[PlayStation 2]

Just now, Manical said:

The 1070/1080 is not within my budget I established.

Alright, well I'd shoot for a new CPU first.

If you can save for later then I'd do that; the 970 isn't a slouch by any means.

[Manical]

2 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

Alright, well I'd shoot for a new CPU first.

If you can save for later then I'd do that; the 970 isn't a slouch by any means.

Yea I plan to save up for a new GPU, maybe try to snag one after the RTX drops, as the prices should drop or second hand should prices should be fairly good.

[Manical]

4 minutes ago, LOOK OVER HERE said:

You should plan to save up for a new CPU. The 970 is about as powerful as a GTX 1060, so it should play any game at 1080p without issue on medium or high settings. Your CPU is probably the bottleneck here. Try this: Run a game on it and open up Task Manager. If the CPU usage regularly hits 100%, it's the processor that is the issue. Check your storage too. If it's an HDD on ye olde prebuilts it could also be that.

It's the CPU, it does always hit 100% and i'm running on a SSD that was from a year ago, so I am going to get a new CPU. This is my current checkout...

 

Ryzen 5 2600 (was only $10 more than the 1600)

MSI B350 TOMAHAWK

CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4

 

So my total with coupon and shipping looks to be $410.80.

 

Good deal?

[Biggerboot]

3 minutes ago, Manical said:

Good deal?

Not bad, but that motherboard may need a bios update to work with the cpu, unless it's advertised as being Ryzen 2000 ready.

Where are you buying?

[Manical]

Just now, Biggerboot said:

Not bad, but that motherboard may need a bios update to work with the cpu, unless it's advertised as being pre-flashed.

Where are you buying?

Newegg, I get free 2 day shipping with them.

[Manical]

hmmm, the Q&A section seems to imply that you will need to bios update to support 2000 series.

[Biggerboot]

5 minutes ago, Manical said:

hmmm, the Q&A section seems to imply that you will need to bios update to support 2000 series.

Some people are going to tell you AMD boot kit.  I would just get a b450 and call it a day.  It's better not to cheap out too hard on the board with Ryzen.  Your ram will thank you later.

[Manical]

1 minute ago, Biggerboot said:

Some people are going to tell you AMD boot kit.  I would just get a b450 and call it a day.  It's better not to cheap out too hard on the board with Ryzen.  Your ram will thank you later.

hmmm, I might have to cut back on the memory for that, as I don't actually have 2 days of shipping plus the 7-10 days for AMD to sent a boot kit, I do work on this PC that needs to get back up and running.

[Biggerboot]

5 minutes ago, Manical said:

hmmm, I might have to cut back on the memory for that, as I don't actually have 2 days of shipping plus the 7-10 days for AMD to sent a boot kit, I do work on this PC that needs to get back up and running.

Another option is just to downgrade to a 1600.  It actually comes with a better stock cooler than the 2600 so you could oc and get it close to a stock 2600.

But here, I think this board would be fine for a 2600 and high speed ram: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813144192

Look at your board's QVL when choosing ram.  I'd go no slower than 2666 mhz.

[Manical]

3 minutes ago, Biggerboot said:

Another option is just to downgrade to a 1600.  It actually comes with a better stock cooler than the 2600 so you could get it close to a stock 2600.

But here, I think this board would be fine: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813144192

Look at your board's QVL when choosing ram.  I'd go no slower than 2666 mhz.

I was just looking at that, was comparing the B450 Gaming Plus and the B450-A, seems the only different is color unless I am missing something.

[Biggerboot]

3 minutes ago, Manical said:

I was just looking at that, was comparing the B450 Gaming Plus and the B450-A, seems the only different is color unless I am missing something.

Mostly I think.  The gaming has stormi, which allows you to use an ssd for cache (this is AMD's answer to optane).

You don't really need it imo.

[Manical]

9 minutes ago, Biggerboot said:

Mostly I think.  The gaming has stormi, which allows you to use an ssd for cache (this is AMD's answer to optane).

You don't really need it imo.

Yea the B450-A is actually $8 more (after rebate) than the B350 Tomahawk, so that doesn't break the bank. So now I have the Ryzen 5 2600, B450-A, and same memory. I might finally be good to order this tonight haha.

[Manical]

Ok I have ordered everything, I can't express enough how much help you all have been! I will update this once I get the parts installed and running. THANK YOU!!!