Alienware x51 upgrade - gtx 970

[MRTENTACLES]

Hey

I was looking to buy these two items to upgrade my alienware x51 r2 pc from a gtx745.

(Australian)

http://www.newegg.com/global/au/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487069

And

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-Original-Dell-Alienware-M18x-Precision-XM3C3-330W-AC-Adapter-Y90RR-332-1432-/161450467761

 

I was wondering if there is anything I should know before buying, thanks.

[obobski]

GTX 970 has the "memory bug" - much better to get GTX 960 or GTX 980, or a Radeon, as the 970 will have issues when trying to use all of its VRAM at once (its more of a 3-3.5GB card than a 4GB card, basically).

 

As far as the upgrade itself - is this the X51 that's a little SFF? It probably won't like that card in terms of cooling or power very much, and a 330W PSU is probably insufficient depending on what other hardware you have installed in the machine. If I remember correctly, Alienware currently ships their SFF machines with up to GTX 960, and that would be a good option to consider. GTX 750 Ti would also likely work very well. You may also keep an eye on the new Radeon Fury Nano, which is supposed to be small, low power, and high performance as well.

[MRTENTACLES]

I know that the card will fit inside as it's a reference design 9.5 inch gpu, same as my current one. VRAM isn't really an issue for me and anyway, the 960 and 750ti both have 2gb VRAM, so 3.5 is better. In terms of power, my specs are

Intel i5 3.2 gh

1 Tb hard drive

8gb ram.

Others have reported a successful install with 330w and if I am correct the 670, a gpu listed on the alienware x51s purchase options, uses 170, a lot more than 145 of the 970.

 

Not arguing, just informing you. Thanks for the reply.

[MRTENTACLES]

Also, the fury nano uses 175w.

[obobski]

I know that the card will fit inside as it's a reference design 9.5 inch gpu, same as my current one. VRAM isn't really an issue for me and anyway, the 960 and 750ti both have 2gb VRAM, so 3.5 is better. In terms of power, my specs are

Intel i5 3.2 gh

1 Tb hard drive

8gb ram.

Others have reported a successful install with 330w and if I am correct the 670, a gpu listed on the alienware x51s purchase options, uses 170, a lot more than 145 of the 970.

 

Not arguing, just informing you. Thanks for the reply.

 

If people are reporting it works, then I'd go with that (I admittedly didn't google it up - just made a guess based on working on SFFs in the past). The GTX 670 isn't, afaik, a current option for the X51 though (current X51s come with GTX 960 or a Radeon). There are 4GB 960s as well, but honestly 4GB of VRAM is significantly overhyped (and has been for some time), especially if you aren't hooking up to a 4K monitor.

[MRTENTACLES]

So I should buy then?

[obobski]

I'm tempted to ask "what is your end goal" before you purchase anything - IOW, sure it should work if you've got confirmed reports saying it does, but do you actually need that performance increase, or can you do something cheaper (e.g. a 4GB 960, or a 750 Ti, or whatever) that will accomplish what you want, or whatever? I know that's kind of a vague question - just something to think about before pulling the trigger.

[MRTENTACLES]

I'm looking to play new games like witcher 3, fallout 4, arkham knight etc and heavily modded skurim with enb with minimum 40fps. Right now my gtx 745 runs dying light at 30 on lowest settings. That's really disappointing for me. I would like to be safe for at least 3 years or more running at playable fps on highest/second highest settings.

(Keep in mind that I am willing to turn settings to medium or turn things like aa or draw distance down, especially in years to come - I'm not too ambitious or expecting)

[obobski]

I'm looking to play new games like witcher 3, fallout 4, arkham knight etc and heavily modded skurim with enb with minimum 40fps. Right now my gtx 745 runs dying light at 30 on lowest settings. That's really disappointing for me. I would like to be safe for at least 3 years or more running at playable fps on highest/second highest settings.

(Keep in mind that I am willing to turn settings to medium or turn things like aa or draw distance down, especially in years to come - I'm not too ambitious or expecting)

 

I would say expecting "at least 3 years or more at highest settings" is over-ambitious. That isn't to say GTX 960 or 970 or whatever wouldn't improve over the 745, but you're talking about unreleased games which have unknown system requierments, and hoping for max settings out of the box with hardware that can't provide that for some modern games. I'm not trying to be discouraging here, just realistic. The 970 *would* be a great improvement over the 745, but so would any of the other cards mentioned (even including the 750 Ti), and that's still very much worth considering for games of today, but let whatever is going to happen in 3 years, happen (and be taken care of) in 3 years.

[MRTENTACLES]

Oh of course. I said that I wouldn't mind turning down settings and running at lower settings. I'm not expecting that. But it would certainly be better than what I have, as you said.