Upgrading from a 970 4gb

[Ingenious TROLL]

Hi guys,

Thanks in advance to anyone taking the time to read or reply.

It’s that time again when the upgrade urge has started to itch. I’m aware new cards are due this year/into next year but still interested in opinions or advice please.

I’m looking to spend around £500.

Ideally an ASUS card in keeping with my build style.

I want to get the best balance of graphics and FPS at a 1440p resolution.

Cant remember what sort of compatibility issues I may have with the socket type of my build but I suspect that limits my RAM above anything else.

Specs:

i7 4790k 4.4Ghz
16gb DDR3 1600Mhz
Asus ROG Maximus VII Ranger
750W PSU

Cheers,

 

[MissChief]

Save you money and Consider a full system upgrade at the end of the year.

 

[Ingenious TROLL]

Interesting, it’s an older build but I thought it still might have some clout left in it haha.

 

[MissChief]

Interesting, it’s an older build but I thought it still might have some clout left in it haha.

Well, it does to an extent, but I wouldn't spend £500 on a graphics card for that build. You'll get maybe £70-80 for your 970 so call it £580.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £129.95
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £179.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B32= £89.99
• 1 x Asus Radeon RX 580 Arez Dual OC 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £169.99

Total: £581.02 (includes shipping: £11.10)


However the 580 won't run well at 1440p. You need to spend a bit more than that.

just about everything is available cheaper elsewhere, Price rises are ridiculous atm.

A Ryzen 5 1600AF (OCUK don't sell them), MSI B450 Tomahawk max & 16GB of the same RAM can be had for much less elsewhere if you look around. Leaving you £250 or so for a graphics card. But even then a £250 card isn't going to perform that well at 1440p either. But then if you've been using your 970 at 1440p you'll notice a significant increase using a 1660 Super for example.​

 

[Joxeon]

I would go with something like this while selling your current CPU ram and motherboard which should fetch around £200-250 so net spend maybe as low as 120-150 then save / add to what you have left over as new Gpus are expected around September when a 3070 should give rtx 2080ti like perf for around 5-600 quid.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £179.99
• 1 x MSI B450M Mortar MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard= £109.99
• 1 x Team Group Dark T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Grey (TDGED4= £79.99

Total: £380.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)​

​

 

[nomadd]

Interesting, it’s an older build but I thought it still might have some clout left in it haha.

In most games, you'll be fine with just a GPU upgrade in that machine. I had a [email protected] and with my GTX970 it was perfect at 1080p; I still use that machine to this day. I upgraded the GPU to a 1080Ti, as I knew I was going to do an upgrade to a new nachine eventually but didn't have the cash at the time. It was terrific for 1440p gaming with just the GPU upgrade.

I've since upgraded to a 9900k@5GHz. Yes, that does drive a 1080Ti (or similar) to the max., but I'd still recommend getting a good GPU now and moving it over to a new machine when you are ready - especially with so much new stuff about to drop this year. A 2070 Super would be in your price bracket. Sure, your current rig won't "max" it in games, but it will give you what you want if all you are looking to do is jump up to 1440p.

 

[TNA]

Hi guys,

Thanks in advance to anyone taking the time to read or reply.

It’s that time again when the upgrade urge has started to itch. I’m aware new cards are due this year/into next year but still interested in opinions or advice please.

I’m looking to spend around £500.

Ideally an ASUS card in keeping with my build style.

I want to get the best balance of graphics and FPS at a 1440p resolution.

Cant remember what sort of compatibility issues I may have with the socket type of my build but I suspect that limits my RAM above anything else.

Specs:

i7 4790k 4.4Ghz
16gb DDR3 1600Mhz
Asus ROG Maximus VII Ranger
750W PSU

Cheers,

What is your fps target? If you are happy with 60fps then your CPU will likely be fine. If you want to be hitting double that or more then yeah you might want to get a new CPU. As for GPU, you waited this long just wait a few more months and get a new gen card or grab an outgoing current gen used card on the cheap.

 

[Armageus]

In most games, you'll be fine with just a GPU upgrade in that machine. I had a [email protected] and with my GTX970 it was perfect at 1080p; I still use that machine to this day. I upgraded the GPU to a 1080Ti, as I knew I was going to do an upgrade to a new nachine eventually but didn't have the cash at the time. It was terrific for 1440p gaming with just the GPU upgrade.

I've since upgraded to a 9900k@5GHz. Yes, that does drive a 1080Ti (or similar) to the max., but I'd still recommend getting a good GPU now and moving it over to a new machine when you are ready - especially with so much new stuff about to drop this year. A 2070 Super would be in your price bracket. Sure, your current rig won't "max" it in games, but it will give you what you want if all you are looking to do is jump up to 1440p.

Second that - whilst your current CPU *may* bottleneck a faster GPU in *certain* games (e.g. the very latest games that properly scale with 8 or more threads), you'll still get an increase across the board, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU is more of a factor. A lot of people however overstate bottlenecks and either end up spending too much (by upgrading all at once) or are put off upgrading at all (because they think there is no benefit without a CPU upgrade).

With regards to an upgrade from a GTX970, something like an RX580 above isn't going to give you much of a jump in performance.
Realistically something like a RTX2060 or an AMD RX5700 is the minimum to consider for a decent increase.

The below site gives a quick comparison with how older cards (such as your 970) stack up against new generations
https://www.logicalincrements.com/articles/graphicscardcomparison

 

[Jimmy Weirdarms]

Yeah I wouldn't bother upgrading the full system unless you have some specific itch there. Choices at around £500 -
1. Get an RTX 2070 Super
2. Get an AMD 5700XT, which has no hardware raytracing and is not quite as quick as the 2070S in most benchmarks, but is considerably cheaper
3. Wait for Nvidia's 30 series cards to drop later this year (probably) or AMD's new cards early next year (probably)


Honestly, as much as we have no idea when any new cards are going to drop, I'd probably wait just a little longer. Unless it just has to be right now. In which case 2070S, IMHO.

 

[Poneros]

Don't listen to the people saying you need a platform upgrade, that's the dumbest advice I've heard. A 4790k is still rocking it with no issues & GPU bottlenecks are still the main issue, and will remain like that, even at 1440p. Remember, the #1 requirements increase is always the GPU, because it's the easiest to push and doesn't fundamentally change the game design.

You can find a 2070 Super for £499, that's what I'd recommend, it's the Gigabyte Windforce model tho (which is great). Some might say wait for new GPUs to arrive, but I don't think anything will arrive this year for £500. So just buy a 2070 Super and enjoy.

 

[Freddie1980]

Core I7's are still pretty decent gaming CPU's but for a setup that old I would looking at 1660 TI, 5600XT 6Gb or 5700 8Gb.

 

[Armageus]

Core I7's are still pretty decent gaming CPU's but for a setup that old I would looking at 1660 TI, 5600XT 6Gb or 5700 8Gb.

Why?

EDIT:
Why gimp yourself into buying another graphics card later, rather than just the best you can afford now and upgrading the CPU a little further down the line?

 

[nomadd]

Why?

EDIT:
Why gimp yourself into buying another graphics card later, rather than just the best you can afford now and upgrading the CPU a little further down the line?

Because some people just like wasting other peoples money. It's like being married.

 

[Tommy_Here]

All - I've had a TitanXp clocked over 2ghz (3840 version) with my 4790k at 4.9ghz 1080p it was bottleneck yes but at 1440p & 4k ( which this GPU should be used for ) my 4790k kept up pretty damn well.... yes you may benefit from a better CPU but still....it keeps up well...I'm willing to pair up a 3080 with my 4790k but will eventually upgrade to Zen3 when it's launched...

 

[Fyter]

All - I've had a TitanXp clocked over 2ghz (3840 version) with my 4790k at 4.9ghz 1080p it was bottleneck yes but at 1440p & 4k ( which this GPU should be used for ) my 4790k kept up pretty damn well.... yes you may benefit from a better CPU but still....it keeps up well...I'm willing to pair up a 3080 with my 4790k but will eventually upgrade to Zen3 when it's launched...

Thats good, in that case I think my 5820K @ 4.5ghz will last a long time before the need to upgrade. I plan on getting a rtx 3070/3080 or AMD RX 6700/XT to pair along with the current CPU.

 

[Ingenious TROLL]

Cheers all I really appreciate everyone’s opinions. I was looking at 2070S in all honesty so good to know I could get that in my build to later upgrade the other items and having had invested in a decent GPU.

 

[LeMson]

Bad time to be buying a gfx card, they have gone up too much in price, and new cards are coming in a few months, keep saving and keep an eye on 3070 news and amd's alternatives, could even go ps5 lol