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| Ka-pi96 said: Hey PC doods, a couple questions... How hard is it to change a graphics card? Before when my computer has needed an upgrade I've just bought a brand new one, no idea how to do any upgrade stuff so... is it hard? And how much would an alright DX11 capable graphics card cost? I ask because I want a couple games in the Steam sale (Civ 6 and Total War: Warhammer specifically) but my graphics card can't handle DX11 so I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile getting them while they're on sale now and then getting a cheap graphics card in the near future... or if said graphics card wouldn't be particularly cheap yet so I'd be better off waiting. |
It depends on the games you are trying to play and the resolution you are targetting. For example, if you are targetting 1080p, than you can play most if not all games at max settings at 60fps with a 1060. If you are targetting 1440p, then you are gonna need a 1070 or higher. Now Civ 6 and Total War aren't very GPU intensive games since they rely much more on cpu. So depending on the setup you have, I'd check where the bottleneck is before upgrading but all in all, I'd suggest a minimum of a 1060 assuming your current gpu is a 960 or lower. The one caveat is if you were to buy a gpu right now, the gpus are currently overpriced because the miners which do cryptomining are buying all the gpus in droves so the supply is very limited for most gpus and thus, the price increase. A 1060 generally costs about $250 but right now if you buy one, it will cost $350-500 due to supply shortages.
Changing gpus is fairly easy. So if you want to remove the GPU, first unplug any cables attached to the GPU itself, then remove the screws that is attaches the GPU to the computer case:
And then just push down on the lever while pulling out your gpu.
You can find tons of 1-2 minute videos that can help you too if you need a better guide.
Before installing a new GPU, you need to first see how much power your power supply provides. If it's say 500Watts or more, usually it will be more than fine with a 1060. If it provides under 500W, then I'd be careful cause it will depend on the quaily of your psu and what GPU you are getting.
You also need to think about if you have enough 6+2 pin connectors avaliable for the GPU you are getting. They look like this:
When you are buying a GPU, it will tell you in the specifications how many 6+2 pin it needs and how much power it recommends.
Installing it is easy, most of the time, you can just push the gpu into the pci-e slot and it will work. Sometimes, you do need to push down the lever though. But there are tons of videos showing you how to do it.
Hope that helps.
PC Specs: CPU: 7800X3D || GPU: Sapphire 9070 || RAM: 32GB DDR5 6000 || Main SSD: WD 2TB SN850
