x51 - Choppy graphics & upgrade questions

[vanillaice]

hiya, new member here.

1. I bought my x51 back in 2012 - from what I understand its a i7-3770 so Ivy Bridge and is R1 (i think) Weird thing is my PSU is 330 (XM3C3) so is it possible to have R1 power board with 330watt psu?

2. Anyhow past few weeks its been real laggy - takes a while to open windows while web surfing - stutters when scrolling down pages just reading text (like it needs time to load the pages) - stutters when I type fast. Never did this before..does it sound like a video card issue? or a memory issue?

3. Ran dell diagnostics and it said the video card is fine - hard to believe tho.Before problems started the comp would sometimes randomly restart or crash when playing games on high settings - also had a crash with green and purple lines so assuming its the gpu dying? GPU is a GTX660 - temps are 57degrees celcius idle - goes up to 95degrees celcius when playing games and crashes around there - are those temps normal?

4. I use Speedfan to monitor my speeds and the fan that seems to be going "nuts" is "Fan1" idles at 2700rpm and goes up to 5000rpm under heavy load - anyone know which fan this is and which component it relates to on a x51?

5. With all these issues and my fans running like a Boeing jet I thought its time to upgrade / replace a possibly faulty GPU to a...

PNY GeForce GTX 960 XLR8 4GB Graphics Card VCGGTX9604XPB

Is this a correct upgrade for my R1 and 330watt machine? Anything I should be mindful of when using this card? is the 4gb better than the 2gb?

6. Would a better path be to upgrade to a R2 board and run a gtx980 reference design? Anyone running this setup with no issues on a R2 (or R1 if possible?) board?

 

[tangonaninc]

Best to upgrade to the R2 powerboard. It does not have the power limitations like the R1. I am planning on upgrading to GTX 980 myself, but might upgrade to 980 ti if I find it will work successfully by others. The GTX 980 will last for a while in the R2. You will have to remove or replace with smaller fan for the Blower style GTX 980 to fit.

 

[vanillaice]

So....i decided to try something a bit different and removed my side panel cleaned the video card and put it back in BUT KEPT THE PANEL OFF - fans seem to be running fine now - still choppy in games but no loud fan noise with the panel OFF - anyone know why this is the case?? is it safe to keep the panel off 24/7?

 

[venticore]

Upgrading your PB will give you more opitions to upgrade in the future if you plan to keep this PC for a longer time.
if your problem is related to excessive heat of the card then i think you should use MSI afterburner and made your own fan profile to keep the gpu cool and quite.
mine is running with the GTX 970 its an R2 tho but no heat or noise problems here it run just dead silent and the whole rig while gaming max @ 40 db.

 

[vanillaice]

**update - I replaced my vid card for a 960gtx no issues anymore - graphics are fine and running 2 monitors nps - will look at upgrading my x51 if any other issues pop up - it has served me well..

 

[Gennadiy]

Dear Vanillaice,
Did you upgrade a power board from R1 to R2 or not, before installed a GTX 960?
If you not upgraded will be able to write which part # of power board you have now?