X51 and 16nm cards (Pascal or AMD)

[socrates]

Hey, I just ordered an x51 R3 from Dell, waiting for it to arrive. It's the i7 6700k model with a GTX 970 and 16gb ram. I rekn I'll be good for a couple years, maybe even three with this setup, 1080p is still fine for now. The info out there seems to suggest that once you get an i7 processor to around 4.0 ghz, in-game performance increase from the CPU is negligible, so the only thing to really upgrade would be the GPU. I don't have a lot of technical experience with graphics cards, but it looks like the 16nm Pascal cards will require less power than 28nm Maxwell chips. Are people expecting the Pascal cards to be viable upgrades for the x51 systems? The small form factor of the x51 is huge for me, and I'd much rather upgrade a card internally than buy the graphics amplifier (with its bandwidth issues).

I'm curious because I read on here someone having problems with an r9 nano, and considering it's 150w tdp, that's unexpected. It does have a total system requirement of 600w vs the 970/980's 500w total system requirement, so that might have something to do with it, or maybe the problem lies with the 8pin connector.

Should we expect the Pascal cards to be ready to go with the x51? Or could there be some other limiting factor, like with the r9 nano card?

If the Pascal cards do work, then these little machines would turn out to be the ideal PC's, low power, low noise, high performance. Not to mention the aesthetics compared to some of those appliance sized beasts. The main knock against the x51 seems to have been it's lack of compatibility with high-end graphics cards, the Maxwell 970/980's changed this for a bit, but now with 980's failing to hit constant 60fps, it's obvious the x51 is sliding back down again.

Pascal cards could be the revolution for this machine; and this machine paired with a Pascal could be represent the future of PC gaming (lol).

 

[Dan.J]

Good question, I remember reading where a guy couldn't get a Nano to work as well ........power wise the Nano should be a non issue but there was some other issue that made it so the Nano wasn't reconized or something to that effect. I have a X51R3 and run a 980ti in the amp because I game at 1440P 144hz and the amp with driver swaps and such sucks but I really have no choice but to run it to get the FPS I'm after. I too hope that there is a lower power draw GPU that is supported in the near future that will perform on par or better then my 980ti and will fit in the X51......time will tell. So yes I have my fingers crossed for the new Pascal's as well.

 

[socrates]

Well, according to this site: http://www.crossmap.com/news/leaked...x80-geforce-x80ti-and-geforce-x80-titan-26253 the x80 will have a tdp of 175w, and will outperform a 980ti and likely a titan X as well, so I guess it depends on whether the x51 will support a 175w card. The gtx970 has a tdp of 145w and I know members here have gotten a gtx980 to work with its 165w tdp. The question becomes will the extra 10w of a 175w x80 be too much. I've read about the guy that put an r9 290 with its 275w tdp into his x51, which leads me to believe that it shouldn't be a problem, baring the physical dimensions of the card itself. Maybe the newer technology will require full length cards only, but hopefully not. Higher models like the x80ti are rated at 225w so they might be out of our reach, but again, if the r9 290 works..

Either way, I'm optimistic about the future.