Need a little help upgrading GPU (Maxwell)

Hardware GPU
1

Alright so I have some general questions about upgrading I was hoping someone could answer. Here are my specs http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/Matthew12106/saved/d86p99 

Just a little backstory, as you can see I'm currently rockin a Msi r7950 Boost OC. It's a good performer but the temps and the noise.... ehhh

So I was planning on getting a r9 r290 but I held of because of the 900 series plus although my 550w would be ok for a r9 290 I just wanted more headroom maybe for OCing my Cpu. I'm so happy I did as the 970 seems like an amazing value card! cool and quiet just want I want

 

Question 1: What do you have to do on the software side of upgrading your gpu. So I'm using AMD  so I know I can't just swap the cards out and everything will work. I think, but I'm not sure when I downloaded the 14.4 amd drivers it told me and showed my how to install Catalyst control center and the drivers and stuff here is the     link . So is that everything I have to do than just throw in the card and than install nvidia drivers

 

Question 2: I'm pretty sure I already know the answer to this but I am going to ask anyway. I know nvidia say that you should have 500w minimum and other vendors are saying 550w for there cards but I know they like to exaggerate the hell out of that maybe for people with a low quality PSU. However I think my XFX Core Edition 550w PSU should be fine. So when I get this card I should have a ton of headroom for overclocking my cpu to hell right? My current card has a 200tdp and this only has 150 so I should be gaining even more headroom and should have no problems in terms of power ever...

 

Question 3 (General MAXWELL questions): When the hell will the 970 starts selling in the UK? Also so some of these aftermarket people like gigabyte are beefing up the power connections I guess for better overclocking. But it seemed a bit strange to me are TWO 8 pins really nessesary for the 980 which is a TWO 6 pin card??? I thought if they were going to beef it up they would add like a 8 Pin and a 6 pin like they did the the 970 which would be the card I am getting if I go with gigabyte. Also the Strix 970 GPU interests me. Although it only has one 8 Pin??? will it be getting enough power gigabyte has that plus a 6 pin, where they just going overkill???

 

Gigabyte 980 with its two 8 pins

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the gigabyte 970 pretty much looks the same just with a 8 and a 6 pin

 

Strix 970 with it's one 8 pin

AOv3PWt.jpg

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Keep in mind non-reference coolers not necessarily better yeah, what I saw of that gigabyte one was not so impressive cooling, the reference cooler is actually really good, and its a blower SO IT EJECTS THE HOT AIR OUTSIDE OF THE CASE!

6PIN = 75W

8PIN = 150W

970 Would be the minimum I would really recomend for the 2560x1440 although 285 or GTX 960 might do on lower settings, but I would worry about ram and 285 not so much an upgrade for you. By the time you get a 4GB 960 may as well probably of gotten a 970.

 

980 not so mucj more performance on stock, overclocks very well though, probably can expect pretty much 60FPS on all current games at 2560x1440 with overclock. GTX 970 performs around the same as R9 290 before OC, but it OCs to around stock 980 which is pretty good and beats 780TI.

 

970 definitely is better value for money, although the 980 does seem pretty cool being able to run pretty much all games at max at 60fps if OCd, but they make sure you pay for that. The 970 giving almosrt as much performance seems very good, you could always SLI if needed yes?

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Do you really need to upgrade ?

Maybe consider crossfire 7950's , they can be gotten for ~120€ second hand , and perform pretty good .

Although an aftermarket 970 would be the best single gpu solution .

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I want to see if those blowers get noisy when OC, and how hard they are to clean, the blowers look very good, then SLI later :p Am thinking FYI and obviously about 2560x1440+ Oculus Rifts or Eqv, because they want to have good amounts of FPS to run smoothly apparently. Witcher 3 with Occulus Rift etc,, etc,, should be good.

Just have to tilt camera up FYI like you do with webcam after use, so only thing they (NSA whatever) can get is mic, which FYI can get from headset or deskmic.

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As I said I don't like the temps or noise

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Plus I would need a new PSU. So in that case it would be cheaper to get the 970

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Then gtx 970 it is .

Maybe look for second hand gtx 780 / 780 ti or R9 290 , although you would be getting slightly lower fps , you might save $$ ( Don't know how important that is for you ) .