Looking at a new Graphics Card. I'm worried about compatibility issues though.

[Alex Crouch]

Okay, to start off, here are my specs:

Motherboard: XFX nForce 780i SLI (about 4 years old) Link to specs: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813141005
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 2.66GHz
Graphics Card: nVidia XFX Geforce 9800 GTX/GTX+ 512MB
RAM Amount: 6 GB DDR2
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Okay, so now that those are there, I can start. I've been looking at new graphics cards recently to just update to 1 or 2 Gigs of memory and I found this one: http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-SUPERCLOCKED-Graphics-02G-P4-2653-KR/dp/B00966IU9W/ref=br_lf_m_1000858171_1_7_ttl?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=pc&pf_rd_p=1421659222&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=1000858171&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=111MG3SBH7SX0H60MK88

it's an EVGA Geforce 650 Superclocked with 2 GB of memory. It seems like a reasonable upgrade. But, what I'm concerned though is that the rest of my hardware is a bit.....outdated. It's all about 3 or 4 years old, and I'm worried that there might be a compatibility issue? Maybe my cpu isn't powerful enough or something? Should I focus on upgrading my motherboard and CPU now and worry about the graphics card later? I don't know, this is what i'm wondering.

I am also curious as to whether, it'll end up being an upgrade that is worth it. Will it make that much of a difference over the card I have now?
I currently run Skyrim at most settings being at medium. Will this allow me to crank those further up?

I'm a bit new to all of this (my current rig was built for me). Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Tanis]

I'd suggest "pcpartpicker".

If you put in all your parts it should tell you if any new additions will be incompatible.

 

[Supernova1138]

Unfortunately, the card you picked really isn't an upgrade over your 9800GTX+. It is only a little bit faster than your old card (around 10% faster), though it is much more power efficient, has more video memory (which it isn't fast enough to make use of) and DirectX 11 support (which it is also not really fast enough to make use of)

If you are looking for a real upgrade over a 9800GTX+ you should be looking at the GTX 650Ti or Radeon HD 7770 at absolute minimum. Anything less than that won't offer enough of a performance boost to really justify the expense in upgrading. The GTX 660 or Radeon HD 7850 would be an even bigger boost, and would allow you to run Skyrim on Ultra at 1080p. Be sure to get a card with 2GB of video memory if you want high res textures though.

PCI Express is backward compatible, you should have no problem running current cards on your system, though you may want to look into overclocking your CPU a bit if you get one of the higher end cards.

It would also help to know what sort of power supply you have. Though if you are running a 9800GTX+ fine, it should be sufficient for any midrange or lower modern GPU.

 

[Alex Crouch]

Unfortunately, the card you picked really isn't an upgrade over your 9800GTX+. It is only a little bit faster than your old card (around 10% faster), though it is much more power efficient, has more video memory (which it isn't fast enough to make use of) and DirectX 11 support (which it is also not really fast enough to make use of)

If you are looking for a real upgrade over a 9800GTX+ you should be looking at the GTX 650Ti or Radeon HD 7770 at absolute minimum. Anything less than that won't offer enough of a performance boost to really justify the expense in upgrading. The GTX 660 or Radeon HD 7850 would be an even bigger boost, and would allow you to run Skyrim on Ultra at 1080p. Be sure to get a card with 2GB of video memory if you want high res textures though.

PCI Express is backward compatible, you should have no problem running current cards on your system, though you may want to look into overclocking your CPU a bit if you get one of the higher end cards.

It would also help to know what sort of power supply you have. Though if you are running a 9800GTX+ fine, it should be sufficient for any midrange or lower modern GPU.

darn..that's disappointing. I'm trying to stick to a budget somewhat below $200. I know that's hard to do in getting a good graphics card, but it was something I was attempting. The 660 looks nice, but I can't really afford it right now. Looks like I'll have to wait a bit. Though, now I don't have to spend money I guess.

 

[Supernova1138]

Well if you can spend $200 right on the money this card will work:

http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-mini-Displayport-PCI-Express-Graphic-GV-R785OC-2GD/dp/B007PJTNYS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353546678&sr=8-1&keywords=Radeon+HD+7850

Keep your eyes peeled for Black Friday deals coming up, you may be able to find a Radeon HD 7850 or GTX 660 at or below $200.

At your budget, I would recommend AMD over Nvidia. Nvidia's only two really worthwhile cards this generation are the GTX 660 at $220 and and the GTX 670 at $380, with the 650Ti only really worth considering if $150 is the absolute maximum you are willing to spend. The rest of Nvidia's lineup tends to be overpriced for the performance they give compared to their competition.

Alternatively, if you can't afford that much, just save up some more money and upgrade later. The problem with upgrading a high end card, even one from four years ago is that you have to spend more to get a worthwhile upgrade. The lower end offerings right now are only slightly faster than what you have now.

 

[Alex Crouch]

Thanks. I think I'm going to hold off right now and save up. Probably wait and see what cyber monday holds in store as well. Oh, and I forgot to say I have a 750 W PSU. Also, you mentioned overclocking my cpu, i've never done that before. If i were to, is there a guide to do this? because i don't want to screw things up on that.

 

[Supernova1138]

You can find a guide to overclocking the Core 2 series CPUs here [http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/259899-29-core-overclocking-guide].

Be advised that if you do overclock your CPU, you will need to buy an aftermarket CPU cooler in order to keep the temperatures at acceptable levels. The stock Intel cooler is only good for stock speed, and nothing higher than that.