Video Card Help

suicid3Panda

Hey, Lewders!

I know for a fact that some of you are great when it comes to PC building and tech. I was wondering if you could offer suggestions on buying a new video card.

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I currently have a machine that was built for a media hub only, but its slowly becoming my main PC. Anyway, the video card I have right now is utter shit and its only even in my machine because the motherboard's on board video didn't want to work with Linux. Here's a screen cap of my "Windows Experience."

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It makes me cry.... help me out here... I get crazy screen artifacts, and I can't even launch Photoshop 100% of the time.

Cost isn't too much of an issue, but I want one that meets the system specs for the upcoming Oculus Rift
I currently have 8 GM of RAM and an Intel Processor.

[spoiler]
before you bag on my computer specs, remember it was originally just for music and stuff!!! >_<
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[/spoiler]

Ashley

iirc adobe likes nvidia so that's a start

Shiro

Nvidia gforce gtx 970 is a good card for its price.

suicid3Panda

16481
Nvidia gforce gtx 970 is a good card for its price.

you're the second person to reccomend that and it even fits with @[deleted]'s suggetion so......

Thanks!

losi

Many rendering applications like to use Nvidia's CUDA cores. The GTX 970 is a fantastic card for the price. But for raw performance, the R9 390 (same price) will beat the 970. Feel free to PM me all your questions if you want any help. I build pc's.

I can help you pick what board partner you'll like. EVGA, Zotac, MSI, Powercolor, Gigabyte, etc.

mayunaise

Before you get into graphics cards, what processor do you have? Knowing the rest of your specs would help in making sure that the gpu you do eventually get will not be bottlenecked.

losi

Rii wrote:
Before you get into graphics cards, what processor do you have? Knowing the rest of your specs would help in making sure that the gpu you do eventually get will not be bottlenecked.

Check his score. It's a 7.3 I'm betting it's like an i5 or so. Plenty of juice.

cortz

If you're on a budget and don't demand games to be maxed out at 1440p+, then you should take a look at the new Nvidia 950 for $160 which just game out a few days ago.

edit:
nvm if price isn't an issue then go for the 970 then lol.

Unless OP has a celeron then bottlenecking shouldn't be much of an issue.

suicid3Panda

@[deleted] @Rii I'm actually using an i3! I will have to upgrade becasue Oculus reccomends i5 or better, but I have been pleasantly surpirsed with the performance with the i3 thus far. Also, the second I consider replaceing the motherbooard, I will immediately find myself building an entirely new computer (this one is only 3 - 4 months old!)

losi

suicid3Panda wrote:
@[deleted] @Rii I'm actually using an i3! I will have to upgrade becasue Oculus reccomends i5 or better, but I have been pleasantly surpirsed with the performance with the i3 thus far. Also, the second I consider replaceing the motherbooard, I will immediately find myself building an entirely new computer (this one is only 3 - 4 months old!)

What mobo do you have? Can it support an i5? Gimme the part number and I can figure out the chipset and stuff for ya.

mayunaise

https://www.piriform.com/speccy/download
It wuld be nice if you ran speccy and screenshotted your specs, please and thanks.

suicid3Panda

losi wrote:
suicid3Panda wrote:
@[deleted] @Rii I'm actually using an i3! I will have to upgrade becasue Oculus reccomends i5 or better, but I have been pleasantly surpirsed with the performance with the i3 thus far. Also, the second I consider replaceing the motherbooard, I will immediately find myself building an entirely new computer (this one is only 3 - 4 months old!)

What mobo do you have? Can it support an i5? Gimme the part number and I can figure out the chipset and stuff for ya.

ASUS
Z97 Mark 2 Sabertooth

losi

suicid3Panda wrote:
losi wrote:
suicid3Panda wrote:
@[deleted] @Rii I'm actually using an i3! I will have to upgrade becasue Oculus reccomends i5 or better, but I have been pleasantly surpirsed with the performance with the i3 thus far. Also, the second I consider replaceing the motherbooard, I will immediately find myself building an entirely new computer (this one is only 3 - 4 months old!)

What mobo do you have? Can it support an i5? Gimme the part number and I can figure out the chipset and stuff for ya.

ASUS
Z97 Mark 2 Sabertooth

Oh shit. You got a z97? Sweet! You're set then dude. Z97 is the newest chipset for Haswell cpus. You can easily swap your i3 for an i5 or an i7. I'd recommend upgrading to an i5 4690k. It's around ₂₃₀$ and it's a great overclocker. The z97 chipset is perfect for OC'ing.

But for now, feel free to stick with your i3. It's fine for games, but not very good for rendering and such.

suicid3Panda

Rii wrote:
https://www.piriform.com/speccy/download
It wuld be nice if you ran speccy and screenshotted your specs, please and thanks.

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sorry for all the delays... im doing this in between calls, I'm at work

suicid3Panda

losi wrote:
suicid3Panda wrote:
losi wrote:
suicid3Panda wrote:
@[deleted] @Rii I'm actually using an i3! I will have to upgrade becasue Oculus reccomends i5 or better, but I have been pleasantly surpirsed with the performance with the i3 thus far. Also, the second I consider replaceing the motherbooard, I will immediately find myself building an entirely new computer (this one is only 3 - 4 months old!)

What mobo do you have? Can it support an i5? Gimme the part number and I can figure out the chipset and stuff for ya.

ASUS
Z97 Mark 2 Sabertooth

Oh shit. You got a z97? Sweet! You're set then dude. Z97 is the newest chipset for Haswell cpus. You can easily swap your i3 for an i5 or an i7. I'd recommend upgrading to an i5 4690k. It's around ₂₃₀$ and it's a great overclocker. The z97 chipset is perfect for OC'ing.

But for now, feel free to stick with your i3. It's fine for games, but not very good for rendering and such.

I have a money spending fetish. I get tingly when people tell me to buy stuff.

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losi

suicid3Panda wrote:
losi wrote:
suicid3Panda wrote:
losi wrote:
What mobo do you have? Can it support an i5? Gimme the part number and I can figure out the chipset and stuff for ya.

ASUS
Z97 Mark 2 Sabertooth

Oh shit. You got a z97? Sweet! You're set then dude. Z97 is the newest chipset for Haswell cpus. You can easily swap your i3 for an i5 or an i7. I'd recommend upgrading to an i5 4690k. It's around ₂₃₀$ and it's a great overclocker. The z97 chipset is perfect for OC'ing.

But for now, feel free to stick with your i3. It's fine for games, but not very good for rendering and such.

I have a money spending fetish. I get tingly when people tell me to buy stuff.

Loading Image

You're cute. <3 The oculus is gonna be some major fun.

Oh btw. What power supply do you have?

suicid3Panda

losi wrote:
suicid3Panda wrote:
losi wrote:
suicid3Panda wrote:
ASUS
Z97 Mark 2 Sabertooth

Oh shit. You got a z97? Sweet! You're set then dude. Z97 is the newest chipset for Haswell cpus. You can easily swap your i3 for an i5 or an i7. I'd recommend upgrading to an i5 4690k. It's around ₂₃₀$ and it's a great overclocker. The z97 chipset is perfect for OC'ing.

But for now, feel free to stick with your i3. It's fine for games, but not very good for rendering and such.

I have a money spending fetish. I get tingly when people tell me to buy stuff.

Loading Image

You're cute. <3 The oculus is gonna be some major fun.

Oh btw. What power supply do you have?

I don't know... and I dont know the wattage. I wanna say that I was told it would be fine for whatever I put in it, but I got no clue. I have to check again to see if I can get the wattage form looking at the PSU itself.

mayunaise

suicid3Panda wrote:
losi wrote:
suicid3Panda wrote:
losi wrote:
Oh shit. You got a z97? Sweet! You're set then dude. Z97 is the newest chipset for Haswell cpus. You can easily swap your i3 for an i5 or an i7. I'd recommend upgrading to an i5 4690k. It's around ₂₃₀$ and it's a great overclocker. The z97 chipset is perfect for OC'ing.

But for now, feel free to stick with your i3. It's fine for games, but not very good for rendering and such.

I have a money spending fetish. I get tingly when people tell me to buy stuff.

Loading Image

You're cute. <3 The oculus is gonna be some major fun.

Oh btw. What power supply do you have?

I don't know... and I dont know the wattage. I wanna say that I was told it would be fine for whatever I put in it, but I got no clue. I have to check again to see if I can get the wattage form looking at the PSU itself.

You should be able to, or just run the product number in google and see what you get.
If its about 450-500W+ you should be good for the upgrade.
You might wanna consider upgrading to an i5 4670k or an i7, as the i3 will reach its limit much nearer than the 970, and will bottleneck it.
So those are my two cents.

suicid3Panda

Rii wrote:
suicid3Panda wrote:
losi wrote:
suicid3Panda wrote:
I have a money spending fetish. I get tingly when people tell me to buy stuff.

Loading Image

You're cute. <3 The oculus is gonna be some major fun.

Oh btw. What power supply do you have?

I don't know... and I dont know the wattage. I wanna say that I was told it would be fine for whatever I put in it, but I got no clue. I have to check again to see if I can get the wattage form looking at the PSU itself.

You should be able to, or just run the product number in google and see what you get.
If its about 450-500W+ you should be good for the upgrade.
You might wanna consider upgrading to an i5 4670k or an i7, as the i3 will reach its limit much nearer than the 970, and will bottleneck it.
So those are my two cents.

two cents received

thanks!

cortz

https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/powering-the-rift/

Following that, if you want the 'recommended' rift experience you'll want to upgrade to an i5 and grab the 970 while you're at it.