New graphic card for my PC --> GTX960?

(bottleneck question)

Hi,

I plan on upgrading my graphic card after using the GTX460 for 5 years. I play games, some new, some old. As you can probably tell, I don't think I'm a hardcore gamer as I hear people usually upgrade their video card every 2-3 years.
I'm considering the GTX960 now as it will be a nice upgrade from the 460 and for a price that meets my budget. I will not get a $400 card and also worth mentionning: I will stick with nVidia.

Now for what I'm looking for and my reasons for upgrading. First, I must say the 460 still does the job very well. I play recent games like Battlefield 4, Rust, and will play Battlefront when it comes out. I run Battlefield 4 at Low settings but with a stable 60FPS or so, and Rust at the second lowest setting in 5 available ones (I haven't looked at the FPS but it runs fine). So even though I'm enjoying my games, after 5 years I'd like to make an upgrade the run higher settings. I do not need to run all games at max settings, but I don't want the lowest and I want a stable 60FPS. I play in 1080p. I hear the 960 can run Battlefield 4 at Max settings (so the one under Ultra settings) at 60FPS. So basically, I know the GTX960 meets what I'm looking for, but I want to know if the card fits well my PC build. I know a lot of games are also CPU intensive and I'd like to know if the two will co-exist well (once again for the needs I explained above). Here are the complete specs of my PC:

Mainboard : Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H
Chipset : AMD 880G
Processor : AMD Phenom II X6 1075T @ 2800 MHz (max : 7035)
Physical Memory : 8192 MB DDR3-SDRAM
Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
Hard Disk : Western Digital WD1002FAEX-00Y9A0 ATA Device (1000GB)
Hard Disk : Western Digital WD5002AALX-00J37A0 ATA Device (500GB)
DVD-Rom Drive : HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH22NP21
Monitor Type : Acer Acer X233H - 23 inches
Network Card : Realtek Semiconductor RTL8168/8111 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
Operating System : Windows 7 Home Premium Home Edition Media Center 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
DirectX : Version 11.00
Windows Performance Index : 5.9 on 7.9
Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two
Power Supply: 750W

I understand all these informations are not necessary for my questions but I wanted to make sure. Will the GTX960 run well with this?
I will not buy a new CPU though as I can't afford it, so I just want to find what are the options. I don't even know if my CPU is a good one or not.

Conclusion: I do not want to buy a card too expensive, $300 and less is good but I also want a valuable upgrade from the 460, which is why I stopped looking at the 750 TI for example. (the price difference between the 750 and 960 is not big enough to not take the 960)

A huge thanks to anyone who would answer.

if your looking at about $300, at 1080 I woiuld look at the 970, awsome card and around $30 over budget.

Agreed on a 970 to give you a nice upgrade that should last you a good few years for what your requirements are

Thanks to both of you.
Although, I should mention I'm located in Canada and prices are a bit up. GTX 970 here is over $400. It would indeed be a good card but it doesn't seem I can find it for cheaper than this.

I think there's a GTX 970 on sale on Newegg for $300 right now

I couldn't find the 970 on sale on newegg, but I don't think it could handle my CPU.
Answered your PM Thunder.

So basically after looking a bit around the web I suppose my question is a "bottleneck" one, will my CPU have a problem with the 960?

Thx again.

Sorry, I was looking at the USA Newegg.

You'll have a bottleneck, but it'll still perform just fine.

If you are looking for good and cheap GTX960 then Gigabyte ITX is really nice. At least I'm satisfied with my card. Runs cool and quiet ( can't really hear it on open test rig with normal day noise around ). No coil while even after OC and overvoltage. It's also probably the cheapest GTX960 on the market.

Cor1815 said:

I couldn't find the 970 on sale on newegg, but I don't think it could handle my CPU.
Answered your PM Thunder.

So basically after looking a bit around the web I suppose my question is a "bottleneck" one, will my CPU have a problem with the 960?

Thx again.

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I'm not quite sure you'll have a bottleneck with a 960 or even a 970 graphics card. I'm running an AMD 965 at stock clocks, under-volted with a 970 and I get 99% graphics card usage, with modern games. I would go with the 970 for 1080p for sure. It's worth the few extra dollars.

I think I prefer to go with a 960 as I'm pretty uncertain for the 970 with my CPU, but the main reason remains that it's $100 more expensive than the 960 in Canada (which makes it around $425).
I'm not sure I'd want the 960 Gigabyte card you mentionned Woomack, since if I go with a 960 I'd prefer the find a high performance one rather than the cheapest.

Which brings me to ask which 960 I should get. On newegg Canada I see the SuperSC 2GB at $255 and the SuperSC 4GB at $310. I'd be willing to pay these extra dollars if it's worth it.
What does the 4GB bring compared to the 2GB, is it simply generally better or is this for higher resolution (once again I play in 1080p). And would the bottleneck with my CPU be more important if I take the SuperSC 4GB?

Thanks a lot for all the answers

Edit: This might be a stupid question, but does the 960 fit into the Antec Nine Hundred Two case?

The 960 cards you mentioned are 10 inch cards, which should fit fine, but you may have to move a hard drive if it is mounted at the same level as the PCIe slot you are using for the graphics card. As far as 2 GB vs 4 GB, at 1080p it is not a problem right now, but video memory use has been rising since the release of the new consoles. My guess is that you'll still be ok for the next few years, but you may have to start turning down textures from ultra to high or adjusting other things (I can't tell the difference 99% of the time anyway). For the price difference you showed, I personally would save the money and put it toward the next upgrade, but it's up to you.

The best deals I saw from newegg canada were:

$227 MSI 2GB after promo code and $20 rebate
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127844

$281 EVGA 4 GB after promo code and $20 rebate
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487128

$294.50 ASUS 4GB after promo code
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121928

All had free shipping.

If you have the 902 v3, it can fit up to:

Maximum video card size: 16.0" / 406 mm

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You may need to remove a drive cage though. Their site doesn't mention a 'with hdd cage' type config.

As far as 2 GB vs 4 GB, at 1080p it is not a problem right now

Click to expand...

It isn't?
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/718118-How-much-GDDR-do-I-need-to-run-my-game

That thread was from 2012 BTW. There are plenty of titles these days that when running on Ultra settings, particularly with AA which is needed at 1080p, that will eclipse 2GB. I would not buy anything less than a 3GB card for 1080p gaming today if my budget allowed.

Afterburner memory readings are not accurate as to how much memory is being used. Many games now will request (this is what afterburner reports) more memory than what it is actually using. Guru3d had some good tests on this.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_geforce_gtx_960_g1_gaming_4gb_review,14.html

Despite afterburner reporting over 3 GB of memory usage in SoM at 1440p on the 4 GB model, there was zero difference between the 4 GB and 2 GB models. They even checked the frame time measurements (in milliseconds). They also tested Alien Isolation which had the same results. Their Thief test did show worse stutters on the 2 GB model (at 1440p) indicating the game was using more than 2 GB of RAM, but the settings were pushing the fps too low to be playable to begin with.

At 1080p it shouldn't be a problem right now unless you're running modded games with ultra res textures or something, but as I mentioned earlier, you will probably get to a point where you have to turn down texture or other settings to not exceed 2 GB but can you really tell the difference between the two highest texture settings in most games? I can't. If that bothers you, definitely go for the 4 GB model. Personal opinion, I think I would want a faster card in general before 2 GB became too big a problem for me, but that's up to each person to decide.

I'm not going to argue.


Get a 3gb+ card if you can swing it. 2gb,even at 1080p can already be long in the tooth.

I'd suggest against 2GB for 1080p, especially if you want to play current AAA titles.

EarthDog said:

I'm not going to argue.


Get a 3gb+ card if you can swing it. 2gb,even at 1080p can already be long in the tooth.

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didnt we talk about this? just giving ya a hard time man!

960 would be a good choice, i know this is in the NV section. I am going to ask anyway, have you considered the new R9 380? at newegg.ca you can pick up the 2gb version for starting $249ca or the 4gb version for starting $289. for the small price difference and it being in your budget the R9 380 will have equal performance in some games and a bit higher in others vs the 960 plus you get 4gb.
HIS R9 380 2GB ICEQ X2 REVIEW

even at 1080P with the way game engines are going and if you like playing at high settings the extra V-ram will help.

Evilsizer, thx for your suggestion. I looked at the card, but I simply prefer to stay with nVidia. There may be no reason to it, but it's a personal preference. They haven't disappointed me in the past so I will keep trusting them for now. The R9 380 is also a card that just came out and I usually prefer to wait a while before buying new components to see if people will respond well to it or not. (Yea, I go the safer way, lol.)

After considering all the answers here and what I'm looking for I went ahead and bought the GTX 960 on newegg for $315 CND tax included (and free shipping) with the 3% off promo code:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487128&cm_re=gtx_960-_-14-487-128-_-Product

All the replies definitely helped me a lot and made me understand the differences between the different cards and what would be best for my PC, while also confirming if my other components could work with the card. I checked again the specific model of my case and it is the v3 of the Antec Nine Hundred Two, and checked the motherboard to see if it was compatible.

I don't know if that's a thing here, when I get and use the card I could post here to do a quick report of how it performs, but perhaps not if it's not the place for it.

Thanks a lot

The r9 380 is actually an r9 285 rebrand so it it has been out for a while.

EarthDog said:

The r9 380 is actually an room 185 rebrand so it it has been out for a while.

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Your phone autocorrected, this should be R9 285 instead of room 185.

The 960 is an overpriced card given its performance in comparison to comparable amd cards. If brand preference is that meaningful to you, then the 960 is a fine choice.

The reason to go 970 is longevity. A 970 will last you a SIGNIFICANT amount of time longer than a 960, especially if you grabbed the 2gb version. If you can hack it, grab a 970, if even a used one.