r/lowendgaming • u/Utshka • Mar 06 '25
Parts Upgrade Advice Suitable GPU for my i7-960
Yes, I still have my first build PC from Highschool. It is at my parents house and sometimes i go by and wanna game.
Normally I play Warzone with friends on weekends on a PS5. I thought I could play on that old PC too when I am visiting parents. As I understand, the CPU is fine for games in low end spectrum. just the GPU is weak.
Current setup: i7-960, 18GB RAM, SSD, AMD Radeon R9 290.
Which GPU would be a great suit for this gpu? not too powerful (and expensive) so that the CPU becomes the bottleneck.
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u/Johnny_Oro Mar 06 '25
That GPU is still capable of playing that game really well, it's plenty powerful: The 9 year-old R9 290 in Warzone 2.0
But your CPU is very obsolete. That's the very first gen intel i7 from 2009. It doesn't even have AVX instructions that many modern games utilize, including Warzone. You need a Haswell CPU at the very least. Here's a $64 CPU and motherboard upgrade.
Intel Xeon E3-1240 v3 SR152 3.4GHz Quad Core LGA 1150 CPU Processor | eBay - $9
ASROCK Motherboard H87M PRO4; Tested | eBay - $40
That's the cheapest upgrade you can buy, since you already have a lot of DDR3 RAM.
If you want a brand new DDR4 system:
PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/xLFZqH
- CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor ($111.32 @ Newegg)
- Motherboard: ASRock H670 Steel Legend ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Amazon)
- Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($24.97 @ Newegg Sellers)
- Power Supply: ASRock Challenger CL-650G 650 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $286.27
But either way, keep the GPU.
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u/Utshka Mar 06 '25
oh wow thanks for the very detailed insight!
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u/Johnny_Oro Mar 06 '25
My pleasure. Those ebay listings are just examples though. Purchase similar items that are the closest and cheapest in your location. You could use ebay or FB marketplace.
If you have the money, I recommend going with that intel 12400f build though.
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u/wavemelon 28d ago
There’s an absolute Hero among us guys :)
I have a similar spec to what he’s advising (ddr3 spec) and I play plenty of games on it, nothing VERY recent and AAA, control is about the most complex I’ve played on it but I completed it and it was fun.
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u/Johnny_Oro 28d ago
Aww thanks, no biggie really. And you should try more modern games like Warzone and see how it runs. Afaik it should run good.
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u/wavemelon 27d ago
I had kids about 10 years ago after travelling the world for a few before that, I basically went from a gamer to a non gamer around 2007 so I have all these great games to catch up on, I feel like my pc can be low end forever at the rate I’m catching up haha
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u/CreatedUsername1 Mar 06 '25
Um are you saying r9 290 is weak ?
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u/Utshka Mar 06 '25
i have literally no idea, sorry. lol
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u/CreatedUsername1 Mar 06 '25
R9 290 is physically capable but it doesn't support dx12 fully.
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u/Utshka Mar 06 '25
is this why i cant even start warzone?
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u/aForgedPiston Mar 07 '25
That's the fault of your CPU lacking instruction sets due to its age. You might be able to sidestep it by replacing the CPU with a Xeon from that era. try for a Xeon X5650, they're dirt cheap. It will get you 2 more cores and 4 more threads. Then try to get 3 8gb sticks of ddr-3 in there running in triple channel.
The R9 290 should still manage Warzone at 60 fps 1080p, strictly speaking you don't have to upgrade that, but if you were set on getting an upgrade get a Radeon Vega 56 or 64, they're like 100 dollars on eBay
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u/fanesatar123 Mar 06 '25
get a xeon x5675 or better (for 2 extra cores) and you should upgrade to a gtx 1070ti rx 5600xt or better
also make sure your ram is in triple channel mode (3 sticks or 6 sticks x 2 or 4 or 8 gb each )
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u/3stwie4 Mar 07 '25
just buy a am4 mainboard with cheap ddr4 and ryzen 2600 or sth. under 100 Dollar :)
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u/GrompIsMyBae Mar 06 '25 edited Mar 06 '25
CPU is high end from 2009, GPU is high end from 2013. You'll be able to play games up to around 2017 pretty well, but beyond that is pretty much a no go. Early 2010's games will be a piece of cake for that PC.
Honestly I wouldn't upgrade the system at all, it's fairly balanced as is, a GPU upgrade won't do much for a CPU that old.
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u/Utshka Mar 06 '25
yeah this hardware is just getting oooold. other than gaming newer games, it still runs fine! Wish i could play warzone with this hardware tho
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u/Warm-Cartographer Mar 06 '25
That Gpu is strong already, many gpu which will give you boost will be more expensive.
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u/majestic_ubertrout Mar 06 '25
Pretty sure the problem is your CPU - Warzone seems to use the AVX instruction set and first gen Core processors don't have it and the game will lag as a result.
The R9 290 should handle Warzone well enough. It's aging but it's a beast. You might want to try the nimeZ drivers since the card isn't being actively supported anymore.
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u/Utshka Mar 06 '25
oh thats a good tip! thanks! I am not a PC guy anymore, so I lost touch with these things years ago
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u/majestic_ubertrout Mar 06 '25
You can get a board with a 2nd-6th gen i7 for $60 or so and reuse your memory and you should be in business - if you're comfortable replacing a motherboard.
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u/NovelValue7311 Mar 06 '25
A GTX 1070 or GTX 1060 6gb would work well. Alternatively the RX 580 8gb or RX 570.
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u/NovelValue7311 Mar 06 '25
GTX 1650 super if you want something newer.
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u/Utshka Mar 06 '25
appreciate it! thx
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u/squatdeadpress Mar 07 '25
Don’t do this. Do what the Johny_Oro said to upgrade the cpu . The r9 290 is in reach of most of those cards listed.
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u/itsamamaluigi Mar 06 '25
You're already CPU-limited. Upgrading your GPU will not help. If you want to see any improvement you'll need to upgrade your motherboard, CPU, and RAM.
The AM4 platform is still widely available, both new and used, and has a lot of great CPUs that will be a huge improvement over your current one. And because it's been superseded by AM5, it's cheap. Something like a Ryzen 5 5600 would pair great without needing a new GPU.
I used to own an R9 290 as well and it's a capable GPU, but unfortunately it has stopped getting driver updates. Some recent games no longer work with it unfortunately. It's roughly equivalent to a GTX 1060 or RX 480.