GPU upgrade.

Matty_M_Sport · 14 Oct 2021 at 13:34

Hi guys - Bit of a PC noob, I'm fairly tech savvy but I don't really have the time to pump a lot of time nor money due to other hobbies and work!

On my second PC now, started in 2013. Bought my second in 2016. It currently has an
I5 4690k @3.5
GTX 960 2GB
8GB Ram
AsRock Z97 Pro4 Mobo
600W PSU.

Been looking at updating to a new PC but the current state of the market dictates that I can't afford to spend what I'd like on a brand new PC, I just want to buff up my VRAM capabilites, I.e give me a bit graphical room on DCS, Warzone and Horizon 5 (when it drops) so I'm looking at just upgrading my GPU to match what I currently have specs wise.

I have been looking at used/mint condition 1070Tis? Would you advise trying one of these in my machine? I believe there would be minimum bottleneck?

Tia,

Matt

mickyflinn · 14 Oct 2021 at 13:54

A 1070ti would be a decent upgrade and your pc will be fine, what model psu is it ?

You mite want to add another 8gb of ram is that 1x 8gb or 2x 4gb you already have ?

Matty_M_Sport · 14 Oct 2021 at 14:01

mickyflinn said:
A 1070ti would be a decent upgrade and your pc will be fine, what model psu is it ?

You mite want to add another 8gb of ram is that 1x 8gb or 2x 4gb you already have ?

That's the plan funnily, it's 2x4, was planning on finding 2x8 from the same era, same speed just higher RAM!

Can't remember precisely what model PSU it is, will check when I'm home from work!

mickyflinn · 14 Oct 2021 at 14:04

Matty_M_Sport said:
That's the plan funnily, it's 2x4, was planning on finding 2x8 from the same era, same speed just higher RAM!

Can't remember precisely what model PSU it is, will check when I'm home from work!

If its a cheap budget psu would advise you to get a decent one especially getting a more poweful gpu.

Haz123 · 14 Oct 2021 at 14:05

A 1070ti will be a worthwhile upgrade and not to crazy considering your CPU.

The only issue is price. I know GPU prices are insane but I would not want to pay too much for a 5 year old card when you can get 3060ti FE for £360 that is far more powerful, new and has warranty.

Matty_M_Sport · 14 Oct 2021 at 14:28

Haz123 said:
A 1070ti will be a worthwhile upgrade and not to crazy considering your CPU.

The only issue is price. I know GPU prices are insane but I would not want to pay too much for a 5 year old card when you can get 3060ti FE for £360 that is far more powerful, new and has warranty.

Wow! That would be something, although, wouldn't a 3060 play havoc with my current specs? With the shortage of cards I can't find a 3060ti anywhere for that price?

Haz123 · 14 Oct 2021 at 14:38

You have to get a Founders Edition card from Nvidia to get it at that price, the AIB cards sold by other retailers are subject to market forces and prices are insane.
Install Telegram and join the FE partalert channel. You will then receive a notification when the Nvidia cards come into stock and you have only a few mins to get one before they sell out.

A 3000 series card would not be ideal for your current specs because of driver overload and Nv cards get worse performance than AMD cards with less powerful cpus but you would then have a decent card for any future upgrades. If there is one thing this shortage has taught us is to look to the long term because you just do not know how long you will be using certain components.

Matty_M_Sport · 14 Oct 2021 at 15:06

Haz123 said:
You have to get a Founders Edition card from Nvidia to get it at that price, the AIB cards sold by other retailers are subject to market forces and prices are insane.
Install Telegram and join the FE partalert channel. You will then receive a notification when the Nvidia cards come into stock and you have only a few mins to get one before they sell out.

A 3000 series card would not be ideal for your current specs because of driver overload and Nv cards get worse performance than AMD cards with less powerful cpus but you would then have a decent card for any future upgrades. If there is one thing this shortage has taught us is to look to the long term because you just do not know how long you will be using certain components.

Ah I see! There's two cards I'm torn between that are currently for sale around the £300/350 Mark, one a 1070ti FE and one a Gigabyte 1070ti. Torn between which one to go for. As I only get to use my PC for gaming one night a week, I can't justify dropping £900+ for a decent rig that I won't be 100% happy with. Spoke to the bloke at my local PC builder who actually built this machine and he said he's charging £300/400 more than he usually would for a PC with certain specs. To me makes more sense to hold on on what is already a decent PC and just buff up a few parts here and there!

Haz123 · 14 Oct 2021 at 15:42

I would highly recommend you intall Telegram and try to get a 3060ti FE rather than spend £300+ on a 1070ti. The current market is deeply frustrating and the founders edition cards are currently the only sensibly priced option.

I do not think the situation will improve with the release of the 4000/7000 series either. They are both rumoured to be on the TSMC 5nm fab which is highly saught after , it will be brand new fab process so yields unknown and no doubt very expensive. They are also rumoured to be very very expensive and power hungry but the performance is expected to be immense.

It is insanity to think that I paid £400 for a 1080 5 years ago and I could almost get my money back today

Matty_M_Sport · 14 Oct 2021 at 15:50

Haz123 said:
I would highly recommend you intall Telegram and try to get a 3060ti FE rather than spend £300+ on a 1070ti. The current market is deeply frustrating and the founders edition cards are currently the only sensibly priced option.

I do not think the situation will improve with the release of the 4000/7000 series either. They are both rumoured to be on the TSMC 5nm fab which is highly saught after , it will be brand new fab process so yields unknown and no doubt very expensive. They are also rumoured to be very very expensive and power hungry but the performance is expected to be immense.

It is insanity to think that I paid £400 for a 1080 5 years ago and I could almost get my money back today

Absolutely crazy! Thanks for the help! I will definitely do that - what about the rest of the components though? Im not really at a stage to be able to upgrade my Mobo and CPU at the same time - which leads me to the whole new PC/crazy prices conundrum!

Haz123 · 14 Oct 2021 at 16:00

Your 4 core CPU is a problem for sure but CPU+mobo+ram are readily available and new sensible options are coming onto market in the future.
You can upgrade those components far easier than GPU.

5600x + B550 mobo + 16gb DDR4 can be picked up for under £500 at anytime you like. Or go Intel or wait for Alderlake,lots of options.