The little things people dont know - Upgrade pitfalls

Hamfist · 19 Apr 2016 at 08:20

Take photos, of the box, of the card, any other contents. Do this as you unpack it. Hopefully you won't need them, but they are good to have.

SkeeterUK · 19 Apr 2016 at 08:42

I would uninstall the drivers regardless with DDU (google it if needbe) and install some fresh ones. Always nice to have clean fresh drivers when changing cards.

About your bios maybe needing a update for the 970 otherwise it might hang at boot. If your on ME8 bios i think u should be ok, if its ME7 then updating bios might well be needed.

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=252160.0

pastymuncher · 19 Apr 2016 at 08:49

Get that 2500k overclocked as well. It's sacrilege to have one of the finest cpu's of recent years sitting at stock!!

SkeeterUK · 19 Apr 2016 at 09:06

Tho dont clock it when updating the bios, do it after.

Gibbonlord · 19 Apr 2016 at 09:20

I think I am going to start by just replacing the card. I will then update the drivers- it seems to me that it has always been best to uninstall then replace then add new drivers but possibly that is not so necessary now.

The bios I hope will be fine. I have never messed with that before so don't want to now if I can avoid it!

Overclocking! Well I know it's possible but you are talking to someone who is on a forum asking how to change a gfx card!! So perhaps that's for another day.

FrankJH · 19 Apr 2016 at 09:20

Confused Stu said:
Chalk up another victim of number 4. At least 3 times that I remember! I also found the PCI-E latch was much easier to deal with on my old P8P67 after I'd forgotten about it for the last time and it broke off.

No4 has caught me out too many times to remember (although admittedly its usually seconds rather than the 15 minutes mentioned earlier to realise what brainfart has occured).

I have to admit the PCIE latch is getting more and more awkward to get to imo, Im sure some motherboards make it much more difficult than it needs to be

SkeeterUK · 19 Apr 2016 at 09:31

You have to check which bios your currently on and see if its too old. Otherwise all that hardwork, for you, will be in vein if it turns out you did need to update the bios due to it hanging at bootup.

Its not that hard, even do it through windows should be ok.

And for future ref, if you overclock ur cpu, make sure you have a good aftermarket cooler or a water AIO cooler. Stock cooler aint too good with oc cpus.

Muz333 · 19 Apr 2016 at 10:25

smogsy said:
3. dont forget the latch that holds the GPU in place

I remember the first time I removed a GPU, after a couple of drinks but still...

Gibbonlord · 19 Apr 2016 at 10:42

SkeeterUK- okay I will check the bios is uptodate first.
I then plan to just power down and do the card swap. Then power up and update the drivers if necessary.

I am hoping the move from mold 560ti to 970 will make everything glorious for at least a while but it's good to know overclocking is a possibility for the future
I do appreciate all of the advice I'm getting here.

Kelt · 19 Apr 2016 at 10:59

Another vote here for using DDU. I never used to for years, but recently, was having a problem with my utterly stable GPU overclock being not so stable with the latest drivers. Using DDU sorted it, so that's my preferred driver update method now.

Gibbonlord · 19 Apr 2016 at 13:11

Having looked into it messing with the bios seems very high risk so I'm going to leave that and hope for the best.
I'm torn between uninstalling drivers before switching cards and just switching the cards and doing a driver upgrade when it powers back on. My understanding of Windows 10 it is designed to upgrade hardware automatically?

Gibbonlord · 19 Apr 2016 at 17:58

Well it turns out OC have failed me and my delivery didn't arrive (even though I paid for courier!) so I suppose that gives me a bit more time to plan what I'll do! :-(

BS Dave · 20 Apr 2016 at 09:10

Have you still got that 4gb of memory? I'd consider getting 8gb to replace or add to your 4.

SkeeterUK · 20 Apr 2016 at 11:17

Agreed, 4gb was ok for xp, 8gb is recommended since win 7 and on.

r7slayer · 20 Apr 2016 at 11:20

smogsy said:
1. you dont need new drivers unless yours are very old.
2. remember the power connectors for your 970
3. dont forget the latch that holds the GPU in place
4 ( i always forget) unplug your Monitor cables before taking out your gpu

Never done any of them but i have tried taking out my GPU only to find the screws are still in place on the PCI bracket lol.

*WHY WONT IT COME OUT... OH S**** wait... dammit, dam screws lol.*

Gibbonlord · 20 Apr 2016 at 23:35

Yes I bought another 4Gb a little while ago so 8gb in total. Although to be honest it didn't seem to make a great difference.

Gibbonlord · 20 Apr 2016 at 23:36

In other news, OC had made some mistake with the order so it will now (hopefully) arrive Friday.

BS Dave · 21 Apr 2016 at 10:02

Gibbonlord said:
Yes I bought another 4Gb a little while ago so 8gb in total. Although to be honest it didn't seem to make a great difference.

It won't make things faster so much as stop things stuttering or slowing down, if that makes sense.

~>Dg<~ · 21 Apr 2016 at 10:23

i would just put new card in first.i think you will probably need to update the bios.

if you put the new card in and its a black screen dont panic it will probably be that.

find motherboard vendor and a usb stick.its simple.

Gibbonlord · 22 Apr 2016 at 19:53

It begins. It is the night of The Upgrading.

Hold me, Overclockers. I'm going in...