GFX Upgrade

riggerz

riggerz

riggerz

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Joined
6 Oct 2020
Posts
24
I've been drooling over the new generation of gfx cards announced by nvidia recently which has led me to wonder whether my machine is worth upgrading or just save up for an entire new rig. I really want to increase my gfx performance, mainly for Warzone (which is basically all I play atm). Running diagnostics over the last few days, GPU and VRAM are maxed out the whole time, so it's clear to me my GFX card is bottlnecking my performance. I run basically everything on low settings at 1920 x 1080 resolution and it looks horrible and i'm getting direct x crashes when the gpu gets over about 77.

my machine is this:
Aerocool V2X Red Edition Midi-Tower - Black / Red
Asus Z170-K Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard
Intel Core i5-6600K 3.9GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail
Team Group Elite 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C16 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (TPKD48GM2400HC16DC0
Akasa AK-CC4009EP01 Venom Pico Compact CPU Cooler
Samsung 120GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E120B/EU
Seagate 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST2000DM001)
OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM
MSI Radeon R9 380 Gaming 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black
TP-Link 300Mbps Wireless N PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN881ND)
Microsoft Windows 10 64-Bit DVD - OEM (MS-KW9-00139)

I'm looking at spending somewhere £200-£300 to upgrade - or not bother and wait a year or two to generate £1500 or so for a new machine.

The cards i'm looking at for upgrade are something like a GTX 1660 super, but not sure whether it will work in my machine (PSU?) or fit in my case!

any advice appreciated
 
Would definitely see a huge uplift upgrading your card - just annoying timing as we are probably a few months away from seeing £2-300 cards from the new nvidia and amd generations - 1660 super should be something like double the performance of the 380 though, wouldn’t have any compatibility issues.

think warzone strongly benefits from faster ram too (3000MHz+). Could try overclocking yours or a 16GB kit runs about £50-£60 nowadays, should be able to upgrade for minimal outlay after selling
 
Your case supports graphics card up to 315mm in length so 1660 super will fit .

You should double your fps over the rx 380.

Your psu is fine

Looking at your spec you need a larger ssd and get your games on that.
 
bagel said:
Would definitely see a huge uplift upgrading your card - just annoying timing as we are probably a few months away from seeing £2-300 cards from the new nvidia and amd generations - 1660 super should be something like double the performance of the 380 though, wouldn’t have any compatibility issues.

think warzone strongly benefits from faster ram too (3000MHz+). Could try overclocking yours or a 16GB kit runs about £50-£60 nowadays, should be able to upgrade for minimal outlay after selling
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Thanks for the advice. Overclocking is something i've never tried due to my paranoia about busting the components. Might be tempted to try it as when i upgraded to 16gb from 8gb the performance change on Warzone was massive. i'll find an idiot's guide
 
riggerz said:
Thanks for the advice. Overclocking is something i've never tried due to my paranoia about busting the components. Might be tempted to try it as when i upgraded to 16gb from 8gb the performance change on Warzone was massive. i'll find an idiot's guide
Click to expand...
Look for xmp profile in the bios you mite be able to set it to a higher speed.
 
Ok so I bought the gtx 1660 and upgraded to 3600mhz ddr4. I managed to get it all working last night with a couple of hiccups. This morning it took the pc a couple of goes to boot but only had it on briefly to attend to a spreadsheet. However tonight, it won’t boot. Case fans spin but no lights on keyboard or mouse. Must be a psu failure?
 
Looks like your mobo only supports RAM up to 3466 MHz.

Either return/swap your new RAM or try to downclock it to 3200 MHz.

Can you try with your old RAM to see if it works ok, maybe rule out PSU and new GPU.
 
freddie64 said:
Looks like your mobo only supports RAM up to 3466 MHz.

Either return/swap your new RAM or try to downclock it to 3200 MHz.

Can you try with your old RAM to see if it works ok, maybe rule out PSU and new GPU.
Click to expand...
Tried the old ram. No change. Wish I’d never bothered now !
 
What about with the old GPU as well?

Wonder if a bios update would help (if not on the latest). Obviously only do this if you can get your PC running stable.
 
freddie64 said:
What about with the old GPU as well?

Wonder if a bios update would help (if not on the latest). Obviously only do this if you can get your PC running stable.
Click to expand...
I updated the bios trying to get the mobo to run the ram at 3600mhz which I managed to do and initially ran up fine. I’ll try the old gpu later on. The fact that no lights on keyboard and mouse is making me think more of psu issue or maybe mobo now
 
first thing you should test is to put old stuff back.. if that doesn't help try all stock settings etc
load your bios defaults
 
While you motherboard can run ram at a 3400mhz there is no guarantee it will do that as this is overclocked., which can be unstable without some fine tinkering.

Reset everything to stock.
 
mickyflinn said:
While you motherboard can run ram at a 3400mhz there is no guarantee it will do that as this is overclocked., which can be unstable without some fine tinkering.

Reset everything to stock.
Click to expand...
I have the original 2400mhz back in now until I can sort it out. Still will not boot!
 
riggerz said:
I have the original 2400mhz back in now until I can sort it out. Still will not boot!
Click to expand...
Reset the cmos on the motherboard leave the power cable out of the wall for 5 mins.

If this doesnt work try taking the graphics card out and using the onboard which I think you have, remember to put the cable in the motherboard

Check all cables
 
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with no boot its a much bigger problem... are you sure you didn't unplug some cables accidentally when you changed the hardware
 
Chaos666 said:
with no boot its a much bigger problem... are you sure you didn't unplug some cables accidentally when you changed the hardware
Click to expand...
Yeah pretty certain. Only unplugged the 2x 6 pin connector from old gpu and plugged 6+2 into new. Everything else was untouched other than the ram which I think must be idiot proof!
 
sometimes sitting the ram correctly is the issue..
idk what you skills are but in that case i would advise taking everything out of the case and rebuilding outside.. make sure everything is connected
 
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