best graphic card to get the best result for dx 11

[Icehunter]

Not to highjack the thread but these are my current specs as well:

Intel i7-960
OCZ Gold OCZ3G1333LV12G 12GB DDR3 3X4GB DDR3-1333 CL 9-9-9-20 1.65V Triple Channel Memory Kit
ADATA XPG SX900 (128GB SSD)
AMD 6870
Antec EW 750w PSU

I know I can upgrade the GPU but this system has been a good little monster for almost 6 years. Will a GPU upgrade give me a constant 60 FPS?

[GunsBlazing]

Will a GPU upgrade give me a constant 60 FPS?

Probably. The 6870 is a bit dated, i believe it came out in 2010 or 2011. If you're getting at least 30 FPS out of that card, a GTX 960 should be enough to lock you in at 60 frames for $200-250. Performance per cost, the 960 really kicks ass. The 970 is a little less efficient per dollar spent, but its performance lead over the 960 is pretty huge. If you have the $300-360 to spend, then absolutely do it. You may consider waiting for tax returns, and snag one if you are on a tighter budget! Your game will look much better, and you should have no problems hitting 60 frames. In your case, your CPU likely is not bottle-necking, like most people's are. So many people will upgrade their GPUs but never touch their CPUs, so they usually have the reverse problem. That's probably because often enough, when it's time to upgrade your CPU you will also have to upgrade your motherboard to seat the newer generation of processors. That tends to scare away non-enthusiast pc builders, but it's not that bad. I did my first one a couple years ago, and thanks to youtube, it was laughably easy.

6870 Passmark:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gp...Radeon+HD+6870

960 Passmark:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gp...eForce+GTX+960

970 Pasmark:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gp...eForce+GTX+970

While the 960 is technically more bang for the buck, the 970 is absolutely amazing for its price range. That's the reason that so many people here in this thread use it. It's a hugely popular card. The 980 isn't even a huge improvement over the 970, and it'll usually set you back TWICE the price. The 970 will last you a lot longer than the 960. Games are starting to get to the point where they might begin to tax a 960 soon for the non-enthusiast gamer, but the 970 will be good for quite some time. If you're someone who is going to be running more monitors than the NSA at 4k resolution, then you obviously will want something bigger than the 970.

Edit to note; Some of the 970's are pretty massive. I went with Gigabyte's triple fan model, and it's nearly 12.5" long. This will not fit in some cases without cutting out some trays. I had to cut out a couple SSD trays, then went into my shop and fabricated trays that would seat two of my SSD's into a normal HDD slot to compensate. Make sure you get a model of the card that will fit in your case properly unless you have the means to modify/cut your case. All it really takes for most cases is a pair of tin snips. I wouldn't recommend using a dremel tool like so many people do, because you run the risk of showering your case with harmful metal fragments that you'll have to be sure to clean up 100%, for risk of damage to your components. Tin snips are a much cleaner option!

[Riardon]

@Icehunter Short answer Yes. You should update that old GPU if you want 60 fps at max settings.

[Alexander_Dragonfang]

Not to highjack the thread but these are my current specs as well:

Intel i7-960
OCZ Gold OCZ3G1333LV12G 12GB DDR3 3X4GB DDR3-1333 CL 9-9-9-20 1.65V Triple Channel Memory Kit
ADATA XPG SX900 (128GB SSD)
AMD 6870
Antec EW 750w PSU
I know I can upgrade the GPU but this system has been a good little monster for almost 6 years. Will a GPU upgrade give me a constant 60 FPS?

Near any new card will be a good upgrade for you. And starting with the 960 and above you will be getting 60 FPS on most scenarios. Crowded areas are as usually, the exception for MMORPGs... F**kng TERA... The sweetspot for GPUs still being the 970 or the R9 390. Pros and cons aside, 390 offers better performance and "future proofing" (8gb... tempting i kno!), 970 offers better power consumption, temperatures, noise (tho this is utterly dependant on the manufacturer) solid proven performance, higher quality build and much much much better driver support. But performance really balances that out and the decision is mostly dependant on what your case can take and if you care or not about the electricity bill at the end of the day.

Edit to note; Some of the 970's are pretty massive. I went with Gigabyte's triple fan model, and it's nearly 12.5" long. This will not fit in some cases without cutting out some trays. I had to cut out a couple SSD trays, then went into my shop and fabricated trays that would seat two of my SSD's into a normal HDD slot to compensate. Make sure you get a model of the card that will fit in your case properly unless you have the means to modify/cut your case. All it really takes for most cases is a pair of tin snips. I wouldn't recommend using a dremel tool like so many people do, because you run the risk of showering your case with harmful metal fragments that you'll have to be sure to clean up 100%, for risk of damage to your components. Tin snips are a much cleaner option!

People who bought cases before 2011 has been utterly screwed in the last years by XXL GPUs. We saw it coming tho, but still, now the average is longer than many estandar cases can support...

[Icehunter]

Thanks for the replies!

Looks like I need a new case...

http://www.coolermaster.com/case/mid...advanced-usb3/

My current one only supports 11.96 inches. Will I have an issue sticking a PCI3 card into a PCI2 motherboard? I have a Gigabyte X58A UD3R.

[Alexander_Dragonfang]

VGA card length:304mm, 11.96 inch

You can fit in there most of the 970s or 390s unless we talking about 3 fans models. An EVGA 970 or an MSi 390 should fit in there without problems. About the motherboard compatibility. People always has doubts about PCIe3 vs 2.
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/ar...rformance-518/

PCIe3 cards don`t have any issue with being insterted on PCIe2 slots.

[GunsBlazing]

VGA card length:304mm, 11.96 inch

You can fit in there most of the 970s or 390s unless we talking about 3 fans models.

They are correct, most models of the GTX 970 will fit in a case that has clearance for 11.96 inches.

The EVGA version that they mentioned is one of the most popular 970s and also one of the top rated. I prefer the three fan model cuz I am big on components having as much self-cooling as possible. It's usually overkill, but i like to be safe!

EVGA GTX 970: It's 10.10" in length.

Gigabyte GTX 970: This is the three fan model that I use. It is another very popular model, and is 12.28" in length.

970 offers better power consumption, temperatures, noise (tho this is utterly dependant on the manufacturer) solid proven performance, higher quality build and much much much better driver support.

Yes, the 970 i use is very quiet. I was shocked, really, with the fan bank being so large. It also draws a noticeable amount less power than my older card i replaced with it, while offering significantly better performance. The BIGGEST change i noticed was in fact, the drivers, though. I have always been on the AMD side, for cards. I valued pricepoint over all else, and AMD often had the better deals in the past. I got so tired of catalyst drivers being optimized poorly for the games i played, so i finally swapped to Nvidia, and my AMD fandom immediately faded away. I'll never discount an AMD card if it's a great buy, but i have to admit, even as someone who always preferred AMD, Nvidia really does handle driver updates way better.

Aaaaside from the time in 1.0 (it may have been 1.0 beta) when Nvidia drivers caused certain nvidia cards to melt while playing FFXIV... WHOOPS! That was a mistake xD IIRC, it was something that caused the fans to stop running on the cards.

[TouchandFeel]

3 fans on the cards are good and can help with temps, just make sure you have a good push-pull fan set up to provide proper airflow so cool air is fed to the cards while hot air is exhausted out, otherwise you're just cycling hot air that will continue to build heat.

If you have a side panel vent, it is pretty popular to put an intake fan to blow cool air directly onto the cards, but I have found without proper exhaust doing this can provide less cooling than using it as an out facing exhaust. It works awesome though if you set up a proper exhaust near the cards, so you have the side panel intake blowing on the card while something like a rear exhaust pulls hot air generated out.

Since many cards don't really exhaust air out their back, I had to do a simple mod for an exhaust for my cards so I could get air being pulled out directly behind them at the back of the case.
Basically what I did was get a good 140mm fan (mine is a Noctua) and then I got some good/decently strong washer magnets that fit and attached them to the fan so that I could mount the fan on the back of my case over where the back of the cards are. Then I removed any of the covers for the pci slots in the back to open up more space for air to flow and be pulled out. I also had to get a 90 degree HDMI adapter for my HDMI cable since the fan is sitting over where the cables plug in.

I'll have to take some pics at some point to show some of the modding that I have done to my comp.

[Icehunter]

Yeah this is my ancient beastie.



I might have to get new fans as they are dusted up (only dusted 3x in 5 years) >.>

I have 2 in front, bottom, 2 top, rear, PSU and GPU fans.

Is there any direction to avoid heat per some previous posts?

[MilesSaintboroguh]

Dust will cause things to heat up, so dust your insides more often! Also, don't keep the PC near any heat sources and make sure the fans/vents have enough space to breathe.