Upgrading GPU & Overclocking Help

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Heskey, Oct 27, 2014.

  1. Heskey

    Heskey Private First Class

    Hi all,

    Back in 2012 I was helped in building my computer.

    It's specs are:

    CPU: Intel 3rd Generation Core i5-3570K CPU (4 x 3.40GHz, Ivy Bridge, Socket 1155, 6Mb L3 Cache, Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0)
    MOBO: ASUS P8Z77-V
    RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL9 XMP
    GPU: ATI Radeon Sapphire HD 7870 2GB GDDR5 OC
    PSU: Corsair 650W Professional Series Gold AX650
    COOLING: Cooler Master 12cm SickleFlow System Fan x2
    CASE: Coolermaster Storm Enforcer Mid Tower ATX Case
    HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB 7200 RPM Internal HDD
    SSD: Corsair Force Series 120GB SSD

    It's been pretty good up to now but the GPU is 2 years old and I'm not able to run certain games as graphically high as I'd like to. I've recently bought an Xbox 360 PC game pad so I can play Shadow of Mordor, and I want to experience it in all its graphical glory (though I understand its ultra-specs are unreasonably high).

    I've been reading the last two days, and the Nvidia GTX 970 is the GPU to go for, in terms of bang for buck - and it's new; released mid-September 2014. Everywhere is raving about it.

    I've never SLI'd / Crossfired, and to be honest I don't have the cash to burn for that sort of setup, and I'm not sure if my case/mobo/CPU fan will allow the space for 2x GPU. The 970 is 3/4 the performance of its big brother, the 980, but about 1/2 the price is what I'm reading, and if I were to ever SLI, 2 970s would outperform a 980.

    So, which one do I go for? I've read a few reviews that say the ASUS Strix is a reliable brand and model, but is pipped for performance by MSI's version if you can find it cheaper (Scan.co.uk sells it for £10 cheaper).

    But then the Gigabyte Gaming G1 is supposedly the best of them all, although apparently the fan won't stop even on idle.

    I'm 99.9% certain that the GTX 970 is the card to go for, given everything I've read - but is the Gigabyte Gaming G1 the after-market version to go for? The price difference between the 3 seems to be neither here-nor-there. I've not heard much about the other brands, except a couple of previously reputable companies dropped a clanger on this particular card (EVGA in particular).

    I read PC Gamer, and it's "PC GAMER RIG" this month features the GTX 770 now that it's come down in price to 225... I know this card has been raved about for the last 2 years, so I figure for 75 pounds more, its next generation could be brilliant.

    The next consideration was, will my CPU bottleneck this brand new card? And the answer is apparently not. Gamespot benchmarked this GPU with the same CPU, and a few threads say my CPU is still excellent and will last for some years to come provided it's overclocked right, and will not bottleneck a GTX 970.

    The final question comes down to overclocking and cooling. I don't have water cooling, I just have an after-market (not stock) CPU fan cooler, and I think 5 fans inside the case.

    I've never tinkered with overclocking and cooling much; the technicality and instability of it all has frightened me from doing anything with it really - I OC'd my current CPU and card when I got it but started to experience some game crashes back in January '14 so put the settings back to default and it's been fine since.

    If I get this new GPU and maintain the current CPU, could/should I overclock them with your guidance?

    TL;DR

    1.) HD 7870 to GTX 970?
    2.) Gigabyte GTX 970 Gaming G1?
    3.) i5-3570K CPU?
    4.) Additional cooling needs?
    5.) Overclocking?

    Lastly, should I consider a fresh reformat to boost performance? It's not particularly sluggish but everything is nice fresh. I just hate backing things up, reinstalling, and re-configuring settings.
     

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