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Video Card Upgrade


raymac46

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Newegg had one of their ShellShocker specials on today so I decided to make a small upgrade in the video card I have in my main Windows desktop. Went from GTX 650 to GTX 950. It's marginally faster, provides DX12, and has the newer power sipping Maxwell GPU technology. I didn't go much higher in GPU power because the desktop is 4 years old and I'd probably bottleneck the video card with my old Sandy Bridge CPU.

Hopefully I can keep the old desktop going a few more years.

What's also good is I can replace the creaky old GT 440 video in one of my Linux desktops with the GTX 650. Video card musical slots. :bounce:

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GTX 970 is really awesome - great for multiple screens and 1440p. However I have only one screen and 1080p max so I think the 950 will do me.

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securitybreach

GTX 970 is really awesome - great for multiple screens and 1440p.

 

Not just 1440p but also 2160p (4k).

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My GTX970 works great on 27" 4K monitor. Except for some Flash videos although others are fine. Core2Duo CPU works hard with Flash so that may be the bottleneck. Thinking of upgrading to a new i5 Skylake system soon. B) Funds permitting. :rolleyes: Not as expensive as I first imagined though. Gigabyte H170-D3H, i5-6500 and 16GB RAM only about $AU500 and I have PS, graphics card, case etc.

 

 

GTX1070 has just been released and is nearly twice as fast in lots of tests. And the GTX1080 hits the ball out of the park with bonus of amazing performance-per-watt.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia-gtx-1080&num=1

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Got the new card installed. of course Windows 10 took about 10 minutes to identify the card even though the same Nvidia driver it needs was already installed. Finally working at the right resolution.

I put the old card - GTX 650 - into my old Athlon X2 desktop and it was all set as soon as I booted up. Of course that was with Linux - would you expect anything else? :bounce:

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After a day or so I'm pleased with the new GTX 950. It seems to work well with my old Sandy Bridge CPU. My train sims look smooth and realistic at 1080p and the card runs about 20 degrees C cooler. It's also quieter in normal use so She Who Must Be Obeyed likes it for her Facebook and other web surfing activities. :thumbup:

It's not a powerhouse like the new GTX 1070 but that card costs over $625 Canadian so I don't think it's a realistic upgrade for an older system.

The older GTX 650 is likely overkill in a 10 year old box with an Athlon X2 4600+ but the power supply supports it, it looks fine and I won't be worrying much about gaming bottlenecks there. :w00tx100:

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