Graphics i7-960 graphic cards recommendation

Hello all,

It's been a while since I've looked into updating anything with my PC because I didn't need to, I still might not. That is where I come to you.

Currently i am running a i7-960 stock, Frio cpu cooler, with a GTX460 all in a Raven2 case playing Guild Wars 2, Payday2, Left 4 Dead 2 (basically, nothing too graphically demanding) and some light photo/video editing. I'm looking to purchase RIDE and was just wondering if an upgrade is in order at the same time.

I was looking at the newer graphic cards (ie GTX960) and then wondered about bottlenecking. And since that would probably be an issue, i'd have to swap out the processor (i7-4790). And with that obviously would have to include new motherboard and memory. then we'd be looking at a new computer at 1000$+ basically.

Finally comes my question for you all, thank you for your patience...

What is the best graphic card for the price that i can run properly with the i7-960 without getting a whole new set up?

thank you all in advance for your time and advices. Cheers

 

A GTX 970 or a radeon 290x. Just OC that 960 and jobs a goodun. You should get 3.5ghz out of it easy with that case and cooler.

Some people might recommend a new CPU, which would help you in a few games, but it's certainly not worth a $1000 total rig over haul. Let's face it, in 90% of cases the GPU is the limiting factor before the CPU is.

 

awesome, thx parge

 

as above, im on a lower end CPU than you and running games on high/max still with no problems.
Still plenty of life in it, just get a GTX 970 like everyone else lol. Im saving up for one atm.

 

TBH I don't think he even needs to OC the 960 because with turbo it's in the region of 3.4GHz already. Going from 3.4GHz to 4GHz is not worth the hassle IMO.

I've only recently put my X5650 back up to 4GHz and it's not because I needed it for gaming (which was fine at 2.8GHz believe it or not) - it's because I need it for Adobe and Maya! The difference in render times is night and day.

I agree that the 970 would be a good buy. Surprisingly it's still quite pricey but well worth it IMO as it should last a long time.

 

depending on the reolution of your screen, a 970 is your best bet.

If you're only running @ 1080 you could get away with something a bit cheaper, like a GTX 960 or 280X

 

I bought a 970 last month and I love it.

 

Don't discount the R9 280 or 280x - available for good prices at the moment.

 

Overclockers has an Asus 290x for £230 at the moment. It's pre-order for the 1st.

 

Good deal. Amazon are listing the vanilla Sapphire R9 280 for £142 here - in stock on 4 May.

Might be worth trying Flubit for a few quid off...