Quick Question about computer upgrades

[SadExchange]

I currently have a Nvidia 275 GTX that is approximately 5+ years old and I'm looking to upgrade it.  I'm not in the mind of spending a ton of money and have been checking out different possibilities.  One of the major contenders would be Nvidia 750 Ti Superclocked.  Runs about $160 which is kind of the price point I'm looking at.  I'm aware it's not the latest and greatest, but do you guys believe it would be a decent upgrade.  I know sometimes with newer cards in mid-range, they're not typically "upgrades" compared to prior versions, but thinking that Nvidia has had numerous series between, including the 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, and soon to be 800's, I'm thinking it would be a decent card.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Orogun01]

You should check to see if it won't clash with the rest of your rig, if it's the same age as your card it might get you into trouble down the line.
I remember having a few video cards burn out because the rest of the rig wasn't up to par.

[Humanoid]

It'll work fine. Just be aware that the 750Ti is somewhat of an odd duck, it's brand new, indeed the newest product on the market, but is built around efficiency, not raw grunt. It was released as almost what could be called a demonstration of their next gen architecture and the theoretical gains it offers.

 

The state of play is that at the ~$150 mark, it's the 750Ti vs the AMD R7 265 (or the HD7850, it's essentially the same product). The 750Ti impressively only eats about half the power of the 265 - approximately 75W to almost 150W - but is 15-20% slower for the same price. So really it's a matter of where your priorities lie. For the record, your current GTX 275 was a notoriously hungry card, probably near 200W, so there's no doubt your system could power either new option.

 

 

EDIT: Don't worry about the upgrading from old high-end to new mid-range thing. The new cards will pants your old card - about triple the speed of the 275.

Edited April 7, 2014 by Humanoid

[Keyrock]

The 750Ti will indeed run circles around yor 275, provided you CPU won't be a bottleneck.  It is a major upgrade.  The 750Ti won't max out Battlefield 4 or anything like that, but it will run pretty much anything at 1080p on lowered settings and max out many less intensive/older games, again, assuming your CPU won't be a bottleneck.

Edited April 7, 2014 by Keyrock

[SadExchange]

I have a AMD quad at 3.2 and 8 GB of Ram, so I think it'll be fine for my comp.  I have noticed the R265 while looking for cards.  While PSU is definitely not an issue due to currently having a 275 GTX which uses 219 W, I think I side more towards the 750 ti for a couple reasons being running cooler, hopefully quieter, and giving the chance to also add in another hard drive for more storage with more PSU space.

 

Looking through benchmark tests, I see that the 265 does perform better on most games, however it doesn't appear to be too much better and honestly, after playing with the 275 which sounds like an airplane lately, I'd be happy with the numbers I've seen by the 750 ti at the very least.  Plus, from what I understand, you can overclock the 750 ti more easily and with more stability.  And as well, I've been a fan of Nvidia for a long time and as I know that's not the best thing to always be loyal to, I've had good luck.  

 

Also, thanks for your opinions.  I really enjoy this board and appreciate the knowledge you guys have and the conversations and suggestions provided.

 

Looking forward to some semi-older games and newer games on a newer card like this for sure.  Like Divinity: Original Sin for sure

[SadExchange]

With this card, do you think maxing out Skyrim with some graphic mods would be possible though?  Would like to try for sure.

[Humanoid]

If you mean the high resolution texture packs, then yeah, 2GB is plenty (1GB might struggle). If you mean all those mods that add extra fancy effects - not sure, I've never tried them.

 

Skyrim vanilla wasn't all that demanding I've found. Played the bulk of my time with it back when I had a 1GB HD5850, and at 2560x1440 with 2xAA it ran perfectly fine on high details (not that I remember what settings it actually offers).

[Bokishi]

Depends which mods you use. With the most extreme grass and enb mods I could only manage 1080p on my circa 2012 rig

[SadExchange]

That's good to hear. I'm not expecting miracles out of this, especially with the cost of the card but I think it'll serve it's purpose for a good decent enough time. I'll be glad to have a computer that doesn't sound like an airplane that raises my electric bill. Lol. It'll be hear Wednesday so I'll see how it works out and let you guys know.

 

Although I found benchmarks for the 265, I didn't find many player reviews probably due to being so new so I'm happy with my choice, especially when coming from the 275 gtx. Thanks again for your thoughts

[Sarex]

Watch out for the 12v rail power cables, and if your psu has enough amps in them to run the card. Also worth checking is if you MB has PCI-e 2 or 1. These where the things I watched for when I bought my 560Ti for my rig (which is also 5-6 years old).

[SadExchange]

Is there an easy way to check on what my motherboard can handle as far as PCI 1 or 2?

 

My motherboard is the ASUS M4A77TD Pro, which I believe is PCI 2.0 capable. And this card does not need power, which will be nice.

Edited April 8, 2014 by SadExchange

[Sarex]

Sure just give me the model of you MB and I will tell you what PCI-e you have. Though I have PCI-e 1.1 on mine and the 560Ti is designated for PCI-e 2.0 and I have no issues(though performance could be affected, no way to know until I get a new MB). The more important thing is the 12v rails, if those are not powerful enough expect system crashes.

 

edit: you can also download this tool http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ and check the bus interface. The number after @ should be the version of you mb PCI-e slot.

Edited April 8, 2014 by Sarex

[Humanoid]

PCI-E regardless of version is backwards compatible. You have no worries there no matter what. There might be a completely insignificant speed penalty that might come out if benchmarked, but it's irrelevant in day to day use.

 

No way that power will be an issue either.

[Keyrock]

Is there an easy way to check on what my motherboard can handle as far as PCI 1 or 2?

 

My motherboard is the ASUS M4A77TD Pro, which I believe is PCI 2.0 capable. And this card does not need power, which will be nice.

Yes, that mobo does indeed have PCI-E 2.0 which will work just fine for the 750Ti.  I highly doubt the max transfer rate of PCI-E 2.0 will limit the 750Ti in any significant way, if at all.

[SadExchange]

Thanks guys for your help!  Appreciate it.  Got it in the mail today, waiting on a HDMI to VGA cord tomorrow for the second monitor to hook everything up.  Pretty excited about it.