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Alienware x51 upgrade - gtx 970


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R9 is a good series hardware wise... Still ATI drivers though, and that's the problem. The drivers often require months to have fixes for instabilities, have trouble updating correctly, and requires having software installed that uses a considerable amount of system RAM. Nvidia software takes up about 40mb of RAM, ATI Catalyst Control continually uses between 400mb and 900mb. The hardware is getting better, but the software is still horrible.

 

 

Honestly I've never experienced any of this "AMD is the bane of the world" with my 4350, 4890, 4870X2, or 290X. I've had no problems with updates, install/uninstall, and the only "software requirement" they impose is .NET (which a lot of other stuff requires too, so I assume it is installed on most everyone's PCs). I've not experienced "require months to have fixes" in at least a decade either, and they also tend not to break older games/applications as willingly/often as nVidia does. As far as 290X for this system - it would be fantastic in terms of performance, price, and so forth. But then there's the power and cooling requirements inside of an SFF build; I wouldn't want to try powering up a 290X with only a 330W PSU, and even with a quieter/better-cooled model like the XFX/MSI/Gigabyte options, it may still produce too much heat (heat is more than "temperatures") for the SFF case to handle. Fury Nano may still be a good consideration though, but AMD seems to be perrenially unpopular these days.

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AMD is not in my range. I have limited power, only 330W, and I chose the 970 because it looks like the best thing I can put in my pc. Multiple sources claim it works. My question was whether the models that I've chosen are good, and if not, what is.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Sorry, didn't see the bump to the thread. :blush: If you've already confirmed that the base/reference GTX 970 is good to go with the upgraded PSU, I think that EVGA should be fine as it looks pretty much bog-standard. The ACX card may or may not perform better in terms of cooling - I'm not sure if the "double fan" style cooler would still be an advantage in a cramped case. Generally, if in doubt, I would tend to go with a reference-style card, like the one you've linked. Worst to worst you're just returning it to Newegg, which in my experience has never been much of a hassle.

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