Best video Card Upgrade for me Rig?

[jman15]

I have had a Saphire Radeon HD 6770 for for about 9 years? I believe it has 4gb (I run DXdiag and the display says there is 4095mb) although I distinctly remember buying it as a 1gb.

It seems to be doing okay running most games but my computer gets SUPER loud when running something like Bioshock Infinite. I assume that means I need a video card that isn't ancient.

So:

1) Is the video card a good upgrade to make given my current rig?

2) What video card that is compatible with my mobo is going to get me the most bang for my buck? Looking around the 150 range. I assume there is a significant upgrade in that range because I spent about 120 on this card 8-9 years ago.

 

[C4C]

You left out what mobo you have..

 

[Darren]

The 6770 isn't anywhere close to 9 years old, those came out in 2011.

Also I'm willing to bet that sound you're hearing is your CPU ramping up, not your GPU. Very well could be the GPU, but those AMD stock air coolers are garbage and get pretty noisy, especially if they're dusty. Get a can of compressed air or an air compressor and blast out your components (with the machine unplugged). Particularly the heatsink and fan on your CPU and GPU.

Now if you want a performance bump, by all means get a new GPU, but your sound issue is most likely going to be improved or fixed entirely by a good dusting. A replacement CPU cooler would also solve the problem if all you're trying to fix is the noise.

 

[Okedokey]

Increase case air flow by adding extra fans to extract hot air and impulse cold air.

 

[beers]

ets SUPER loud when running something like Bioshock Infinite. I assume that means I need a video card that isn't ancient.

That doesn't really make any sense. Even newer GPUs run at high fan rates on intensive environments.

I'd make sure you've actually dusted it out at some point, if you haven't there's likely a dirty ancient tomb's worth of dust in there.

Also, the card most likely has 1 GB. DXdiag shows additional RAM in the 'Approx Total Memory' that is outside of the specific card's RAM. You can use a tool such as GPU-Z to verify.

 

[jman15]

The 6770 isn't anywhere close to 9 years old, those came out in 2011.

Also I'm willing to bet that sound you're hearing is your CPU ramping up, not your GPU. Very well could be the GPU, but those AMD stock air coolers are garbage and get pretty noisy, especially if they're dusty. Get a can of compressed air or an air compressor and blast out your components (with the machine unplugged). Particularly the heatsink and fan on your CPU and GPU.

Now if you want a performance bump, by all means get a new GPU, but your sound issue is most likely going to be improved or fixed entirely by a good dusting. A replacement CPU cooler would also solve the problem if all you're trying to fix is the noise.

Good info to know. I don't recall buying a new card since college, but maybe I did. I am forgetful. I know I paid 120 for the card I got whenever it was.

I will definitely get a good dusting done tonight to see if that helps. Any suggestions on new GPUs or do you think one is not necessary?
Any suggestions on a CPU cooler? Are they easy to install? I built this computer but is has been 4 or 5 years since I put it together. Actually as I am writing this I do I believe I bought this video card around that time because I started playing League of Legends then and I was having major frame rate issues (14-15 FPS).

 

[Darren]

Yeah you probably got it not long after it came out. I bought a 5770 in September of 2011 for about the same price. They're an identical card and price was pretty similar.

CPU cooler's are actually, in my opinion, the hardest thing to install, but still not "hard". Depending on the cooler and socket primarily. Higher end coolers require you to remove the bracket already on the motherboard and use their own mounting technique. Something like the one should just use the same mounting mechanism already on the board and already has the thermal paste preapplied, so it should be pretty easy overall. Those AM3 sockets just have an arm that hooks on one end then a lever that clamps it down. Can be a bit finnicky but really not too bad at all. The cooler already on there should be mounted the same way, so just note how the arm works when you remove it. Also be sure to clean the CPU with rubbing alcohol to remove the old thermal paste.

http://www.amazon.com/ARCTIC-Freeze...TF8&qid=1442333023&sr=1-4&keywords=cpu+cooler

Now if you want or need a new GPU is totally up to you. What games do you play? What settings and framerate do you want to achieve? The 6770 is getting along in age, but it still keeps up alright. The newest titles will struggle even on med-low settings, but it all really depends on what you play. Also take into consideration what games are being held back by your CPU, as a new GPU won't do much if the CPU is a bottleneck. Again, dependent on what you play.

Your system is actually almost identical to my machine when I first built it. I had a Phenom II 955 and a 5770. Was a good starting machine, although I've since upgraded a bit. A few of my parts are still the same though.

 

[jman15]

Yeah you probably got it not long after it came out. I bought a 5770 in September of 2011 for about the same price. They're an identical card and price was pretty similar.

CPU cooler's are actually, in my opinion, the hardest thing to install, but still not "hard". Depending on the cooler and socket primarily. Higher end coolers require you to remove the bracket already on the motherboard and use their own mounting technique. Something like the one should just use the same mounting mechanism already on the board and already has the thermal paste preapplied, so it should be pretty easy overall. Those AM3 sockets just have an arm that hooks on one end then a lever that clamps it down. Can be a bit finnicky but really not too bad at all. The cooler already on there should be mounted the same way, so just note how the arm works when you remove it. Also be sure to clean the CPU with rubbing alcohol to remove the old thermal paste.

http://www.amazon.com/ARCTIC-Freeze...TF8&qid=1442333023&sr=1-4&keywords=cpu+cooler

Now if you want or need a new GPU is totally up to you. What games do you play? What settings and framerate do you want to achieve? The 6770 is getting along in age, but it still keeps up alright. The newest titles will struggle even on med-low settings, but it all really depends on what you play. Also take into consideration what games are being held back by your CPU, as a new GPU won't do much if the CPU is a bottleneck. Again, dependent on what you play.

Your system is actually almost identical to my machine when I first built it. I had a Phenom II 955 and a 5770. Was a good starting machine, although I've since upgraded a bit. A few of my parts are still the same though.

I play League of Legends, Wolfenstein, Far Cry, Borderlands, Witcher 3 etc.

Any suggestions on CPU/GPU replacements would be great. I haven't really kept up with this stuff for the last 5 or so years due to family and work stuff. If my current rig just needs a CPU cooler great, if you think a new CPU or GPU would benefit me that would be good to know. I'd rather not replace my mobo if I can help it, so if there are CPU/GPU that would work fine with my mobo that would be ideal.

 

[Darren]

The motherboard is limited to 95 watt CPU's, which put you at a 6350. Not really worth the price for 2 extra cores and marginal gains in core efficiency. If you want to upgrade it, you'll need a new board.

New GPU would benefit you for sure since you play Witcher 3. I'm surprised the 6770 can play it much at all. A GTX 950 would be a good fit for a GPU upgrade at around 150 USD.

Dust your machine before you spend any money though.

 

[jman15]

The motherboard is limited to 95 watt CPU's, which put you at a 6350. Not really worth the price for 2 extra cores and marginal gains in core efficiency. If you want to upgrade it, you'll need a new board.

New GPU would benefit you for sure since you play Witcher 3. I'm surprised the 6770 can play it much at all. A GTX 950 would be a good fit for a GPU upgrade at around 150 USD.

Dust your machine before you spend any money though.

Awesome, thanks so much for all the help man. You rock.

 

[Okedokey]

Yes, before spending money get the basics right. A clean install of windows, latest motherboard bios and chipset drivers, latest drivers for everything else. Set up a fixed correct sized page file preferably on another physical drive and ensure that you use ReadyBoost if you are not using a SSD.

Then install all applications restarting at every request (don't do too many things at once). Put the antivirus on at the end.

Then completely update windows again, restarting at every point. Update Direct X and graphics drivers and ensure BIOS settings are optimised for your machine and hardware.

Clean and replace thermal paste on the CPU and dust out everything particularly fans and dust filters. Cable routeing should enable the best air flow and make sure you have either a push or a pull fan perference. That is either more fans pushing air in than out, or more fans pulling air out than pushing in. The first will prevent dust from being collected in the case simply by extraction of air, the second will be more thermally effective.

Defrag HDD and optmise SSDs.

You get the idea.