Old PC. Need to replace GTX970 for now..

[SCHOOL]

     Built this rig for a cockpit several years ago. It actually plays fine in SP but I am unable to fly in MP. I am not ready for a new build this year. Just want a new graphics card to drop in and get back online. Not looking to pull power unit either so card should be good with an older 600w. Looking at the 3060 card or rc 5700xt / 6000. 
$250 budget and would love some links…not big on used gear either.

Non VR obviously but didn’t know where else to post. 
specs below.

many thanks….

GTX970
I5 4690
Gigabyte GA-H97-D3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
16gb ram
600w EVGA Bronze power supply 600b

Edited September 3, 2023 by SCHOOL

[Rudel_chw]

8 minutes ago, SCHOOL said:

It actually plays fine in SP but I am unable to fly in MP. I am not ready for a new build this year.

 

I believe that you need a RAM increase to 32 GB, more than a new graphics card, particularly if the performance on Single Player is enough.

[SCHOOL]

64 GB is pretty reasonable now. Do you recommend skipping 32 and going to 64GB?
I really only fly on the non combat aerobatic servers.

Also wondering if there is any RAM limit to this motherboard.

Edited September 3, 2023 by SCHOOL

[Rudel_chw]

7 minutes ago, SCHOOL said:

64 GB is pretty reasonable now. Do you recommend skipping 32 GB?

 

Your motherboard uses old DDR3 memory, so I wouldn't really invest too much, I'd purchase enough 2nd hand memory to reach 32 GB.. your motherboard has 4 ram slots, if 2 of them are free then you would need just 2 dimms of 8 GB to achieve the 32

Edited September 3, 2023 by Rudel_chw

[nikoel]

9 hours ago, SCHOOL said:

     Built this rig for a cockpit several years ago. It actually plays fine in SP but I am unable to fly in MP. I am not ready for a new build this year. Just want a new graphics card to drop in and get back online. Not looking to pull power unit either so card should be good with an older 600w. Looking at the 3060 card or rc 5700xt / 6000. 
$250 budget and would love some links…not big on used gear either.

Non VR obviously but didn’t know where else to post. 
specs below.

many thanks….

GTX970
I5 4690
Gigabyte GA-H97-D3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
16gb ram
600w EVGA Bronze power supply 600b

 

RX 6650XT or 7600 (technically $15 out of your pricerange but close enough) - forget everything else at that price-point

[Rudel_chw]

13 hours ago, SCHOOL said:

Also wondering if there is any RAM limit to this motherboard.

Checked it and 32 GB is its limit:

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-H97-D3H-rev-10/sp#sp

also, modern graphics cards use PCI Express 4.0 and your motherboard is 3.0 … but as the standards are back-compatible the new card should work, but with a performance penalty.

Edited September 4, 2023 by Rudel_chw

[kksnowbear]

1 hour ago, Rudel_chw said:

also, modern graphics cards use PCI Express 4.0 and your motherboard is 3.0 … but as the standards are back-compatible the new card should work, but with a performance penalty.

I am very nearly certain there's no such thing as a $250 GPU that will saturate PCIe 3.0 bandwidth at 16 lanes.  Unless/until you approach very high-end GPUs (like 3080 and up) the GPU just doesn't have the horsepower to move more data than PCIe 3.0 x16 can handle.  And of course, those aren't $250 cards    

Even with most very high-end cards, the difference is pretty small, typically around 3% I think (though there are isolated exception cases; certain specific games at very high res, etc,)

The real issue would be that, long before you have to worry about saturating the GPU bandwidth on that board, you'll be choking a high-end GPU to death with a (*very*) limited CPU in the 4690 (and this applies even if you went to the fastest CPU that board will run).

Just my $0.02 FWIW

To the OP: In your particular circumstances, IMHO you should reconsider used hardware.  There are reputable sources that offer warranty, etc...it's not all some fleaBay crap-shoot.  Of course, it's a matter of personal preference, and this is strictly my opinion - but I've been building custom PCs for several decades now (mostly used hardware) to include some for members right here in this very forum/running DCS, no complaints whatsoever.  Just gotta find the right guy

Edited September 4, 2023 by kksnowbear

[SCHOOL]

Great information guys. Will look into the used sellers. I am usually fine with used and a warranty or return policy. The mining GPU issue brought up here had me a bit concerned. Grabbed the ddr3 memory to make 32 and will look into a GPU next after online testing.