Upgrading desktop + GPU

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy new GPU for my desktop and I'm having a hard time deciding. My current rig, which I built four years ago:

ASRock h77 pro4/mvp
Intel Core i5 3570 3.4GHz 22nm
Geil Evo Corsa DDR3 1600MHz CL9 2x8GB
Kingston V300 120GB
Barracuda 7200.14 1TB SATA3
NZXT PHANTOM 410 Blanca
Thermaltake contac 39
FSP RAIDER-550 80+ BRONZE

Which GPU would you recommend to avoid bottlenecks as much as possible? Ideally I would like to play current AAA titles, say The Witcher 3, at least in high and 60 fps. But I'm not much of an expert in Pc Gaming as I've always used a Playstation, so perhaps it's simply not possible with my set-up and I'm delusional.

Would you recommend upgrading any other component at all? I'm getting a new SSD as the one I have is almost full, but I wasn't planning on updating anything else for the next few years unless it was necessary.

Thank you for your help.

 

geforce 960 should do it fine

 

Is it me, or did you not list the GPU you currently have in that machine? Regarding the CPU, information I've found suggests that you should be getting 3.5Ghz when all four cores are active - I think this will be ok for 60Hz/60fps gaming (although on some CPU demanding games you might get a few dips below 60fps), but if you were aiming for 120Hz/120fps then this CPU would not be good enough. I would upgrade just the GPU. Depends how much you want to spend - I would get a GTX 1060 as a minimum which runs current games at good settings without a problem, and then if you wanted more future proofing & the guarantee to lock out every game at 60fps at 1080p resolution then I'd get the GTX 1070. I'd avoid the GTX 1080 as it's not much of a performance increase over the GTX 1070 and it costs way more. I have the GTX 1070 in my rig I built a couple of months ago - it's fantastic that GPU, perfect for 144Hz/144fps 1080p resolution gaming.

Here are some gaming benchmarks for GTX 1060 (scroll to bottom of page for gaming benchmarks):
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-1060.167603.0.html

And here are the same ones for the GTX 1070:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-1070-Desktop.165776.0.html

 

Thank you for your answers.

You're absolutely right, I did not. Thing is I do not have any GPU currently. I was on a budget when I built the PC so I decided to delay the purchase of the GPU a few months. Four years later, I think it's long overdue.

Thanks for the links to the benchmarks for the two cards, they are indeed very useful. Any particular brand any of you recommend? I still have to figure out whether to get the 1060 or the 1070. The latter is clearly more powerful and more future-proof. On the other hand, I don't want my CPU to be a bottleneck in the near future so I may plan on upgrading the CPU in three years or so, in which case perhaps it'd be better to get the 1060 now and upgrade it together with the CPU later.

Any thoughts?

 

For upgrading your CPU further down the line in a few years: your motherboard is gonna limit you in this respect, I think I heard that Intel will be changing the socket of their newest CPUs, so your motherboard will no longer be compatible. Thinking about it, if you're committed to replacing your whole rig (including your GPU) in a couple of years, then it probably makes more sense to get the 1060 now to tide you over - you will have to lower details in some games over that time to achieve 60fps, but often times games don't look that much better at max settings vs high or medium settings. In terms of brands, I know that people like EVGA for their customer support & warranties, but if you're only keeping the card for a couple of years then this is less important - when I bought my 1070 I tried to go with the best looking deal in terms of performance & value - I looked at reviews on Guru3d & elsewhere before buying the card to make comparisons of temperatures & performance. I was initially gonna go with an EVGA 1070 because it was the cheapest at the time (while still offering good cooling), but through my research I found out about the hot VRM problem they had at the time (they don't have this problem anymore with recent revisions). I would get a card with a 3rd party cooling solution - so not the standard Founders Edition from NVidia; by doing this you'll get higher clocks & cooler temperatures.

 

I'm liking the ASUS STRIX cards right now, though a couple of my co-workers swear by their MSI cards

 

I remember liking the look of some of those cards, I went with a Zotac 1070 Amp Edition just because it was the cheapest while at higher clocks & then when I looked at product reviews from websites like Guru3d I saw that it performed well so decided to go with that one. My first reaction when buying these types of things is just looking at the best deals & then googling the specifics on that card to learn how it stacks up against the competition.

 

Also a good choice. To be honest now that EVGA has done away with the ACX coolers there's really no bad options any more except the reference cards, and even those have their uses.

 

Yeah, the reference cards are good for getting the heat out of the case - useful for sli systems I hear, although I have never owned an sli system myself, this is the first desktop I've built.

 

Exactly, also for small form factors or sideways setups. Any time there's nowhere for the air to go.

 

Thank you both for your insight, it is very helpful.

As you can see I don't know much about GPUs and it's kind of confusing when there are many models that look the same to me. Take the 1070 Gygabyte for instance, there are like 5 different configurations with fairly different prices. The 1070 XTREME runs for $440 while the 1070 Windforce OC is only $370. As if it wasn't difficult enough to decide among models (1060, 1070, 1080...) or brands (Asus, EVGA...), I also have to choose among styles within the same brand! No wonder I've been using a Playstation my whole life, plug and play Having said that, I really look forward to start gaming in a PC and learn more about this world.

Do you guys think the RX 480 is worth considering? The Asus RX 480 STRIX 8GB is selling for $214 at Amazon, which is slightly cheaper than the 1060 and considerably cheaper than the 1070.

When it's time to upgrade my CPU I'll also change the MOBO and the RAM.

 

RX 480 could be worth it, about the same performance as GTX 1060, but consumes just a little more power. Here are some reviews, but make sure you choose the 6GB version of the 1060 rather than the 3GB version:
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_geforce_gtx_1060_gaming_x_3gb_review,28.html (this is a link to the 3GB version, but you can find 6GB version on same website)
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_radeon_rx_480_g1_gaming_review,5.html

 

RX isn't bad. It's price competitive with the 1060, benches a little slower but those I don't imagine you're chasing a couple of extra numbers in a benchmark. In real world gaming you're unlikely to notice much of a difference.

 

If you game in 1080p, the GTX 1060 is fine, however if you want to game in 1080P and have a G-Sync monitor, the overhead of the GTX1070 is nice to have. If you game in WQHD with G-Sync then get a GTX1080.

Most of the non stock cooler models are similar. I would get the one with the best value or discount. The only models that a very different are the EVGA Classified models which are in a class by themselves.

 

And if you game in 4K wait for the rumored 1080 TI