Motherboard System Model: CM6330_CM6630_CM6730_CM6830_M11AA-8
I have about $300 to spend and would like to buy a good graphics card, but the thing I'm worried about is my power supply (do I have enough power) and my motherboard (I don't even know what would be compatible with my motherboard). My current graphics card literally I pretty much just plugged it in and updated the drivers and was done. There weren't even any cables or anything to deal with. I'm looking for pretty much any Graphics Card that can run some of the best games on the highest settings, works with my motherboard/isn't too demanding for my psu and is around $300. If there are none like this, then what do I need to upgrade first?
Yeah, it (PSU) can handle any single GPU you throw at it. Also, yes, GPU upgrade is what you should be looking at. Your CPU is fine, no need for an upgrade. What Noburt suggested would be my choice as well, 960 or a 380X for 1920x1080 resolution. It's gonna be a nice upgrade.
Just make sure your case has room for the GPU, these are a little bit bigger cards than GTX 750's. The reference GTX 750 length is 5.7 inches or 145mm. The cards linked above, the GTX 970 is ~10 inches long or 257mm.
I might also add that you might wanna consider to take a look at what kind of fans your computer has. Especially if you end up going with a GTX 970 or R9 390, they're more power hungry cards so having adequate ventilation is important. If you don't know, share some pictures showing the inside of the case.
Edit: Regarding the i7, anything that's Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge will work. eg. i7-2xxx or i7-3xxx. But I will recommend you to watch these first.
Depending on the game, having faster RAM can have an impact on the performance. But the differences are gonna be smaller. GPU is the biggest thing that's gonna improve the gaming performance of your system.
I don't know what you do, but for a good i7 I'd go with the 3770 or 3770k if you plan to overclock. Me personally, I'd wait until the new AMD CPU's. Also, like @shadowvengence22 said, there are going to be new GPU's soon so I'd recommend waiting until then.
If you need pictures of the inside of my case I can show you. I'm considering the gtx 970 the guy from earlier recommended, but what would give me the best gaming performance? If my graphics card was much longer I don't think it would really fit.
I would recommend the 390 because it is just slightly better, has 8gb of VRAM, the same price and if drivers get better you could get better performance. Keep in mind you'll have to remove some of the hard drive bays. But don't expect to overclock with the motherboard that you have now. I'd recommend just getting something new instead of keeping the 1150 CPU.
H61 is the chipset of the motherboard. You do not need to upgrade your motherboard unless it doesn't offer something you need, like more SATA ports for more hard drives or SSD's, or more USB ports and so forth.
The reason I mentioned H61 chipset is that if you buy an i7-3770K and expect to overclock it, it's not gonna work. K with Intel CPU's means unlocked multiplier. In other words it means that the CPU can be overclocked. For you to be able to overclock an i7-3770K as an example, you would need a motherboard with a chipset that supports overclocking. These chipsets are: P67, Z68, Z77. If I were you, I wouldn't bother upgrading the CPU. What is gonna give you the biggest improvement to gaming performance? GPU upgrade.
No, I don't need pictures as I'm familiar with that case. It has two fans out of the box, one in the front and one in the back. That's fine. If (IF) you have temperature issues, you can add one more fan to the front blowing air into the case. Also the case supports graphics card upto 270mm long or 10.62 inches. That means most of the graphics card on the market will fit. But still check the length of the graphics card before you buy it.
What will give you the best gaming performance? A 980 Ti. But that's well out of your budget. If you're gaming on 1920x1080 resolution, a GTX 960 or an R9 390 will be a very nice upgrade for you. So if you want to save some $$'s, do that. But having more graphics card grunt than you need is never a bad thing. My recommendation is to always buy the fastest single GPU you can afford. So if you can afford the GTX 970 or R9 390, then do that.
Okay, so will both of those cards be able to go right into my computer? Do they have cables and stuff I will have to connect? Also what about this card?
It's a R9 390 except it has 3 fans. Does this it mean it will be better cooled/quieter? If I remove the hard drive cages then my case can fit up to 390 mm gpu. Is 3 fan > 2? I just see so many different r9 390's that I don't know which one is the best for the price. Will 3 fans require more power?
3 fans will probably require more power but the difference is negligible your psu should be fine for any 1 card application the thing you will need to look into is length because of the extra fan it will be longer. You don't need to worry about power with your psu and only 1 gpu you should be fine. You will need to connect a power cable to your gpu the psu should have come with a 6 pin power connector for the graphics card.
Yes, they can go right into your case but you're gonna have to plug in 2 PCI-e power cables to the card.
The PCI-e power cables have connectors that look like these. Usually they have PCI-e label on them. If they do not have labels on them, do NOT force the connector if it doesn't fit. If it's the right connector and it is orientated the right way, it will just plug in with ease. If in doubt, look at the individual pins and make sure they match, or ask for help.
Your TX650M has 2x 6+2pin connectors. That means you can have a card with either 6+6, 6+8 or 8+8 power connectors. GTX 970's or R9 390's usually require either 6+8 pin or 8+8 pin.
More does not always equal better. Of course 3 fans will require more power than 2 fans but the difference is negligible. The GPU (R9 390) itself is going to draw 230-275W under full gaming load. A single fan is a few watts. Read: drop in the bucket.
But the card you linked just happens to be one of the best R9 390's out there. Sapphire happens to make very good coolers. Here's a review, almost as quiet as the watercooled Fury X.
Okay so I would basically put the graphics card into the slot and then my power supply has 2 6+2 pin connecters that go straight into the card and that's all I have to do when it comes to putting the card in?
