Need advice on GPU upgrade for 7 year old system

[Akiba]

Hi,
I'm looking to salvage my old rig for my son. I have two ati radeon 4850s bridged together that i need to upgrade so he can play no man's sky (which requires open GL 4.5). The old cards only support up to open GL 3.3.

Looks like i need to get an ATI radeon 7870. Will my motherboard and CPU support that? The computer is a custom rig by AVA Direct I got in 2009.

Here are my specs:

Windows 10 home
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67 GHz 2668 MHz 4 Core(s), 8 logical processor(s)
ACPI x64 bit op system
16 GB installed RAM
ASUS P6T series x58 chipset rev 393.05

Should i get the 7870?

Please help an old gamer

 

[Lochekey]

I would honestly look at a slightly newer card as that card appears to be the bare minimum to play that game.

Do you know what power supply is in the rig?
What type of budget are you trying to work in?


I am still running an I7-860 with a GTX 960 to play my games.

 

[trents]

As long as the motherboard has a full length PCI-e slot it should support any modern video card.

 

[Akiba]

I would honestly look at a slightly newer card as that card appears to be the bare minimum to play that game.

Do you know what power supply is in the rig?
What type of budget are you trying to work in?


I am still running an I7-860 with a GTX 960 to play my games.

Thanks for helping. I have a 750 watt power supply and i probably should not spend more than 200 I would think for this old of a rig? I could buy a used card though. Any better suggestions?
-akiba

- - - Updated - - -

 

[Akiba]

As long as the motherboard has a full length PCI-e slot it should support any modern video card.

Do i have to worry about bus interface PCIe2.0 versus 3.0 for the older versus newer graphics cards? The ati radeon 4850 cards are PCIe 2.0 x16 and those obviously fit. The newer cards are PCIe 3.0 x16 and above - will they fit? it sounds like your comment above means yes.

 

[trents]

A nice up to date video card could be moved to another rig at a later date. If you must stay at under $200 look at the Radeon 470. If you can spend a little more, go for the Radeon 480.

 

[wingman99]

I would go for the RX 470, you will like it a lot.

 

[Lochekey]

For that money you could be looking at a GTX 1060 as well. Here is one for sale at $170 after rebate. I would personally take the 1060 over the 470 and it would be a toss up between the 1060 and the 480. In either case your existing system should handle these cards fine without any major issues.

Should have asked this earlier but what resolution are you planning to play at, I have been assuming 1080?

 

[trents]

Do i have to worry about bus interface PCIe2.0 versus 3.0 for the older versus newer graphics cards? The ati radeon 4850 cards are PCIe 2.0 x16 and those obviously fit. The newer cards are PCIe 3.0 x16 and above - will they fit? it sounds like your comment above means yes.

Not an issue. The real life performance difference between PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 2.0 is almost nothing and there is no compatibility problem.

 

[Akiba]

Thanks guys! Yah, 1080 resolution. I'll look at the 470,480, and 1060 and get one of those. You have been a big help!
-Akiba