No bottleneck at all. For 1080p max settings. The only game i get below 60 fps (55) at 1080 with gtx970 is Crysis 3.
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If you are not in hurry wait a couple of months until the new cards are coming. There will be probably a price drop for the old ones and you can go for a gtx980.
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Or if you wait until the Pascal cards come out in a few months, your money will be used much more effectively and you will be able to game at beyond 60 fps at ultra. If that doesn't interest you, then buying a next-generation GPU for the same amount of money as a present day GTX 970, then you will be able to have a good experience with the same card for a much longer period of time. Buying a GTX 970 would only be able to reliably play almost all games at 1080p for another 2-3 years. By waiting a few months, you can extend the longevity of your purchase by at least another year, if not more.
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Well, it's the CPU I already have in my pc. I don't have the money to get both a CPU and a GPU, so I want to get a GPU. My CPU should be able to handle most things, but I know that it might not run everything perfect. (I can already play GTA V btw, just on 720p high settings).
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CPU is good, about 95% chance that will not affect the new GPU (5% to make some space, so that why i said probably :D). Most people buy CPU for same or even more money than GPU, which i never did and never had problem with it (AMD platform, now Phenom II 4x 965 BE). So go ahead, and enjoy that boost ;).
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You have a problem with your PC then. GTAV runs easily on 4gb. 8gb is unnecessary for 99.99999% of gaming. 16gb is only utilized by editing and recording..
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Although I do not share the editing and recording sentiment, I do agree that 8 GB should be enough for gaming. Most people that game are not doing any extensive multi-tasking during that time... but if you were then you could chomp up a great deal of RAM. I've nearly maxed out my 16 GB in my work machine having Excel crunching a vlookup against 500K records (10,000,000+ cells). Granted, my process may only be focussed on 1,000,000 of those sells, but Excel doesn't work well with that amount of data in one sheet. As far as the problem with the OPs rig; that PSU is not only small at 300W... if it is old then it is cranking out even less than that. Personally, I wouldn't go lower than a 650W if upgrading.
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Before any GPU upgrade I think it's worth taking some time to check what in your PC is the bottleneck a.k.a. the part that is currently the slowest in the setup. You really should do that to avoid wasting money and getting dissappointed.
Here's a nice little page with some tips: http://www.maximumpc.com/will-your-cpu-bottleneck-your-graphics-card/#page-1
It's not the most accurate way of measuring for a botlteneck but a good rough indicator.
Basically comes down to running a performance meter for your CPU which logs % of CPU usage realtime in a graph for review.
At the same time have gpu-z running an output for % of GPU usage (and likely memory bus usage as well).
Add a meter for % of RAM usage if you want to take that into account.
Then play your most heavy games that you got for a couple of hours. Then compare the results.
You should notice quite quickly which part(s) spike to close to 100% usage when a game gets intense scenes. For example if you cpu is around 30% and your GPU around 95% then that oughtta tell you enough :P If it's the other way around or if your RAM is constantly full up and it gets close to diskswapping then you can tell too and in that case a GPU upgrade isnt worthwhile.
From your specs I'd estimate that your GPU upgrade will be worthwhile. Your CPU shouldn't be going up that high unless it's been abused like hell.
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pcpartpicker.com can calculate all the wattage you need when u specify all the parts of your PC you'll be using, it will let you know if your power supply is adequate,
by the way, since 4K and also VR are becoming popular, it might be a good idea to get a card with sufficient video memory and performance for those activities, I'd personally wait for a while if it were up to me.
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True, well, it seems like you are wanting a system similar to this http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YYj2qs
If you manage to discover what your power supply model is, just customize it in the list on the page, as well as the rest of the components. then next to the lightning bolt up the top of the page, you can see the wattage of the whole system.
also useful for comparing other systems, components, as well as suppliers.
If you already have a good quality 500-600w 80+ gold or higher rating PSU, you will probably be fine. but it's always worth getting one with more power than you need, than the opposite.
fun fact: Silverstone, an OEM supplier of several leading name brands including Antec, NZXT, Corsair, etc, are not a bad choice and are great value if you get it by their own label.
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We need to know manufacturer and model of his PSU, because many of them don't have even 50% of their declared power.
Calculate needed power I can without any programs. Besides any program does not count many things such as HDD starter current, 5v load and etc.
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Can you pull off left side panel from your PC case and read manufacturer and a model on side of your power supply or better make a photo?
But better do this on turned off computer, because some time this side panel fall in case and crack some parts, especialy fans.
I hope you know how to do this and how PSU looks like? :D
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Power Supply Unit
If you live in North America - you have alternate 110 Volts in your wall plug, and PC components need DC 3.3 , 5 and 12 Volts - PSU make this volts for them.
If you set new more powerful videocart with bigger power consumption - PSU can be overloaded and even burn (if he not have special protection). And in worst scenario - he burn PC components also. In best scenario - PC will just shotdown when you start playing (when videocard wil maximize her powerconsumption.
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+1
Even though the 970 is not as power-hungry as its AMD counterparts, it's way more demanding than the 640. The PSU is crucial.
And to answer your question, if you bought that card, it would most likely be held back by the CPU than the other way around. If you're looking for an immediate upgrade, I'd say a 2GB 750Ti would give you a tremendous increase in performance over the 640, and would probably not require a PSU replacement, while allowing to save for the next generation of cards to be launched later this year.
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If you do not understand how it's work or do not know how to do it - ask parents or computer specialist.) Because you can easly crack something.)
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Looks like you have a rather basic one.
I have a Corsair TX750. Its a 750 watt 80plus bronze power supply. 5 year warranty and I have had it over 5 years now with no issues at all.
If you get a new video card you will need a new power supply as I don't believe the one you have will do.
This is my suggestion. Get a good brand name power supply with a good warranty on it. Because if your power supply dies it can take everything its connected to with it. I've seen it happen.
Get a modular power supply. This means you only need to plug in the cables you actually need and keeps things neat.
Get at least 650 to 750 watt power supply. The reason I suggest this is the bigger the power supply the less its actually going to work. You don't want to run a power supply near its limit all the time. The further from its limit it is, the cooler its going to run, the cooler it runs all the time the longer its going to last.
Go for an 80plus platinum power supply if you can. There are 4 levels, bronze, silver, gold and platinum. With 80plus it means that at least 80 percent of the power that goes into the power supply will be used for actual power and 20% or less will be wasted as heat. The higher the level the higher the percentage it usually has. Basically a 80plus bronze will usually be around 80% to 85% efficient. A 80plus platinum will usually be around 95% or more efficient. and the others will be somewhere in between.
And don't worry about the wattage, just because its a 750 watt power supply doesn't mean it will always be using that amount. It only uses what the computer needs, but if the computer needs more because you put a better video card in say, then more power will be there.
Edit
Forgot to mention, my power supply is good for a room temp up to 50C. So if it gets really hot in your area and you don't have AC, you might want to consider looking into how hot of an air temp the power supply can run in.
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There is no programs what can show what PSU you have.) Only visual recognise.
There is good brand PC what shows (for example) 500 Watts, but easly works with 550 Wats in days. And there is low brand or unknown PSU what shows 500 Wats, but burn out like a firework at 250-300 watts of load.
https://youtu.be/f6snWfd1v7M
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The i5 4440 is totaly fine. No worrys about this. Also 8gb ram should work for the nearly future. But maybe you should think about AMD (390 maybe?) the 970 is a bit "fake" http://www.pcgamer.com/why-nvidias-gtx-970-slows-down-using-more-than-35gb-vram/
And if you look at new games they all like to use a lot of vram.
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The problem is, that even on 1080 new games loooove vram. So you will have some problems if they will go over the 3,5gb.
Rise of the Tomb Raider, the new Hitman, The Division and on and on and on...
I can understand, that people love the "green" side but the 970 is just not as good as it could be for that money.
Also, what LittleBibo said + AMD has (at least for now) the better DX12 support.
The problem on waiting is: you can always wait for the better price, the next gen... If you want something and you have the money you should go for it. If you don't want it or don't have the money: wait.
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Personally, I'd say try to save up a bit more and got the 980ti route, as it'll keep you going for a bit more in the long run, but even so, you should be fine with that build! definitely look into upgrading the MOBO and CPU next though, but i think it'll last you easily another 2-3 years at least, RAM you'll be fine on as well.
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Well, the 980 is a lot more expensive and I'd rather use that extra money on a new amp (or at least, start saving for it). The next upgrade will indeed probably be the CPU, but not for a while. If it works, I don't see a reason to upgrade that right now.
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Don't get me wrong, the 970 will suit you fine if you just want an upgrade, but don't expect to stay ontop of things for long, it will begin to show it's age much faster than a 980(ti), but that's an objective fact for 95% of all things dealing with computers XD if you want something to last longer, you gotta pay for it~
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pretty much XD but ya, if you want the upgrade now, 970 will do you just fine all things considered ^_^ I've done plenty of builds for friends on a budget and gave them a 970.
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Well, I don't want to upgrade necesarrily now. I wanted to upgrade 6 months ago but lacked the funds to do so. And since I now have a steady source of income, which will be even more when I finish my study and get a job, I don't really care for waiting for prices to drop :p.
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XD I still have things I want to upgrade as well, but I'm still job hunting (HS degree aint worth diddly it seems :/ everyone wants a 4 year) or for my MCN to tell me there's another sponsorship offer for a decent amount~
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FYI, I have a power bias~
Mobo: Asus rampage V Extreme
CPU: 5960x OCed to 4.6GHz (water cooled)
GPU: 980ti x2
RAM: 32GB
Granted, my reasoning behind this rig is A: I want absolutely no bottlenecks when I play games so I can review them objectively, if there is an issue with the game, I need to make sure it's with the game itself and not my computer. B: Disney sponsored it cause I'm with Maker Studios, so ya, why not put what I can into the $5k given to me? Not like I was allowed to use it on anything else~
But still, regardless, if you wanted the best Frames per dollar value, you'd go with a 950, but I would say stay far away from that piece of crap, as it won't do diddly shit for you overall. I don't care about the price, I care about the overall performance, the 980ti is objectively better than the 970, end of fact. If you really want a disclaimer from me, here it is:
Warning, all advice I give is to give you an objectively higher performance computer that will last into the future for some time. Where as there are builds that will be more value oriented, they are objectively worse than what I suggest in overall performance. Computers aren't cheap, and I don't have the mindset of value over performance, I have a power bias and try to give you the most power for your budget.
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Trust me, if it was in my budget, I would have, but I only had $5k, so ya XP but hey, if I had unlimited money, I would get a quantum computer~!
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So, Disney gave you $5k for a computer, so everyone else should spend $5k too? There's some logic...
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tries to see where I implied that one should spend $5k.... see where I stated that I was sponsored the budget... sees where I said I would like to put more into it if I had unlimited budget.... sees where I state having a power bias.... fails to find anything even remotely implying one should spend that much of their own money on a computer
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No probs. There may be some games where your processor might be considered a bottleneck, but that would be because they need a horrendous amount of processing power. Fallout 4 with mods and 1000 Supermutants etc.
But whenever that time may come, you could always upgrade to an i7; more cores and hyperthreading.
The most important thing: what kind of Power Supply is in your PC? Hopefully not some no-name with 800 watts which are a stable as a villa made out of straw and pape-maché.
Edit: Also KateKate's tip. Going down the AMD route would open the possibility of adapting v-sync monitors. The AMD route is the official supported standard for the future and cheaper than Nvidia's implementation. Nvidia's is not compatible with AMD.
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Yeah, my CPU will need an upgrade at some point. I do play a lot of Total War, which requires quite a bit of CPU, but as of now, it works just fine.
Also, as Total War is my favorite game series and they are famous for not supporting AMD well, I'll probably just go for the 970 for now.
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A quick scan of the comments tells me nobody suggested you to wait a little bit. So I will. :) The next gen GPU's will be available this summer. If you can wait, do. Prices of the older cards will drop considerably and the next gen is a massive performance boost. So you can;t go wrong either way
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It's been suggested a couple of times and my answer was that I simply don't care for more performance. I'd rather get a new GPU now (or at least the end of the month) and then start saving for a good guitar amp, which should take me quite a while.
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But will I be able to use it effectively with my CPU (intel i5-4440;
Yes.
Also, if I get the GTX 970, what setting should I be able play most modern games on?
720p: Ultra
768p: Ultra
1080p: High/Ultra
1440p: Medium/High
Assuming you also expand the memory to at least to 8 GB. Preferably 12 GB or more. Games are getting BIG recently.
But seriously, check your PSU. If it's not a high-quality 500 W one or some low-class 750 W+ one, then you need a new power supply as well. If you do, probably Corsair's RMi/RMx series are currently the cheapest highest-tier category. (Don't get the "normal" RM or Cx series from them though.)
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1080p: High/Ultra
That's awesome! I don't plan on doing anything on a higher res, so that's great! As for the memory, I do play some new games now and they work fine (on 720p medium settings), so I don't think I'll need to upgrade it just yet.
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I suggest you to wait and save money for summer release of the new gen GPU's. I'm planning to get a 1070.
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It's been suggested a couple of times and my answer was that I simply don't care for more performance. I'd rather get a new GPU now (or at least the end of the month) and then start saving for a good guitar amp, which should take me quite a while.
Sorry, getting a lot of those comments, so I'll just quote myself :p
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You're good to go!
CPU is no problem, no bottleneck here. If anything, 8 GB system RAM will limit first :)
As others pointed out, this summer arrives the new generation of nVidia GPUs.
But if you want to play now, the GTX 970 is the best choice. No other card currently beats its performance per value.
Personally, I don't think the PSU should be an issue. If your PC is a complete system and hasn't been build by you (or a friend), it's a lot easier to find out the product name/id and the manufacturer, then it should be possible to get the info on the PSU from there.
Very important, your target resolution, i.e. the native resolution that you run your display with. The most common one is 1920x1080, or also known as 1080p. That is the right match for the GTX 970. This should ran all current games with Max or Ultra settings, with maybe only a few exceptions or running some custom mods and manually tweaking game engine settings. But there are almost always some exceptions ;)
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i5-4440 is totally fine with 970, you just need to check if your power supply can handle it. Also next time you get some cash for another upgrade, get 8 more gigs of ram.
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Your CPU/Mobo/Ram combintion should last for the task. Congratz: no other things necessary exepct you should close attention to your power supply being ab to handle a 970... its pretty power consuming but you should reserve still about 180watts for GPU alone. Also take a bit care that the airflow in your case is as least obstructed as possible. It already been said: new GFX cards coming in but they'll start pricey and just offer a modest increase over last generation but still will affect pricing of a possible 970.
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Consider at 40€ at lowest. You needn't much just not low end crap that goes boom when hit with heavy load. Signs for well laid out supplys are that they offer good protection circuitry and good 12v amps (together more than 30A... 40A is safe ... might be split into 2 rails but modern type goes into 1 strong rail instead of 2 weaker ones). Look for deals and slashed prices for higher priced ones. Understand that you don't need to sink too much into... if it works its fine. Shooting for too high wattages not advised. Keep away.from Bequiet! They loved to die early even when told that their new ones shouldnt do so.
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GTX 970 4Gb can maximum consumpt >200 Watts, overclock version can raise this number easily.
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_970_Gaming/25.html
So you will need minimum 500 Watt good brand PSU wich will cost near $100. Or 600-650Watts is better, also good brand.
But if you planning SLI (two videocards working together - you will need 800-1000 Watts PSU.
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I don't know which brands present in your town. Can you give me url to your local store?
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Well, in my town there are no hardware stores. The closest one is probably 20 kilometres or so away. But I'll probably be buying it online. tweakers.net is a site that is used a lot around here (and that's what I'll be using as well).
EDIT: Just found this one. Would that be any good? (I honestly have no clue at all, I guess I might want to ask someone I know to help me find one...)
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Enermax, Seasonic, Corsair (by Seasonic).
http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/353354/seasonic-s12g-550w.html for example.
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Modular = you plug in the cables you need.
Non-modular = every cable is in there and you have to somehow manage them, whether you need them or not.
The good news is, practically all good PSUs are modular by now.
Also, while Corsair's C-series may look cheap, but it is cheap because it is not good. Buy the R-series (RMi or RMx only) or the H-series.
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Okay. If I want to go for a RMx, how much watt would you recommend? I see that it starts at 550, so should I go with that or go with a 650?
I also found this. Would that one do, or is it not good enough? I'm kind of worried, since it's like half the price of a Corsair, but the reviews say it's good.
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R9 280 is from different League.) Xeon E3-1270 v2 also have lower TDP.
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Endeed, I wrote 500 Watts minimum.) How much time your system works with this load?
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24/7. Quality matters, not quantity.
Even with the highest overclock you'll never hit a power consumption higher than, lets say, 400-450 W (this would hypothesize that your chips are golden samples and overclock like a beast, which probably isn't the case anyway). Therefore, there is no need to buy anything that is much higher than the consumption.
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About modular - you have answer.)
About your PSU (picture) - 240Watts for 12 volt rail is very poore for nowdays PC. It will be good if he have 200 watts.
12 volt rail - it's main power line in nowdays computers. She powering CPU, mainboard and videocard.
This PSU defently not handle gtx 970.
p.s. sorry I am not at home now, so I can't.respond quick.
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Another question - do you have UPS (uninterruptible power supply)? That thing powering your PC if power suddenly line shutdown.
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So your PC plug in directly in wallplug, right? Nothing like this https://www.google.com.ua/search?q=apc+ups&biw=1680&bih=837&site=webhp&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiYuqSyif3LAhULVSwKHaGtB5EQ_AUIBigB
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Most of the UPS devices offer built peak fuses and circuits have additional filtering and smoothing the input voltage. And this is very important because the input voltage of the network may vary. In the long term is a good investment.
Congratulations on the upcoming upgrade Dnomyar96:)
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I want to upgrade my GPU (I have a GT 640, 4GB now) to a GTX 970. But will I be able to use it effectively with my CPU (intel i5-4440; 3,10 GHz; 8 GB RAM) or will it just bottleneck (or whatever it's called) it?
Also, if I get the GTX 970, what setting should I be able play most modern games on?
Thanks for your help!
EDIT: Seems like my main concern would be the PSU (power supply unit). I need to look at what I have, since I don't know what's currently in my pc. Also: thanks for all the reactions! Really appreciate it.
EDIT2: Added a picture of my PSU. Seems like I need to upgrade my PSU as well. Any advice on what to get or what direction to look? This is the first time I'm dealing with PSU's, so I'm kind of scared that I make a wrong decision.
EDIT3: I'll probably go with this PSU. Thanks again everyone!
GA's for LVL 2+ (sorry too lazy atm to make proper links :p):
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/L9Fqf/nuclear-throne
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/Jcqv9/nova-111
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/b1QVk/avalanche-2-super-avalanche
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/i0vZA/stikbold-a-dodgeball-adventure
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