Hi, I would like to upgrade my PC so that it can run games at either 2560x1440 or 2560x1080, as i will be upgrading my monitor around christmass this year and im aware that there is NO WAY my current PC will be able to run games at either of these resolutions.
so I am going to upgrade the Graphics card.
I'm getting a lot of mixed information as to what will give me the best performance though, I have Looked into many, many options and I honestly cannot tell which would work best for me, so I'd really appreacite some outside input on this.
I built my PC back in mid-2012 so although it was decent then its fairly outdated now.
My current PC specs are:
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Processor: i5-3450 CPU @ 3.10GHz (3.5GHz turbo) Stock intel CPU cooler (plan to upgrade at some point because its ugly)
8192MB RAM @ 1600MHz GPU: XFX AMD HD 7850 Double dissapation 2GB (slightly overclocked)
Motherboard: ASUS P8H61-M LE (only on PCI 16X Slot) PSU: OCZ-MOD Xstream 600w 80+ bronze (semi-modular)
HDD's: 80GB seagate barracuda 7200rpm (OS) + 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm
The most I would spend on the graphics card upgrade would be £450, but I'm open to going up to £650 for a new psu and motherboard as that would make my pc better overall
The options i have looked into to make this thing run games smoothly at 1440p were:
1. The Asus gtx 760 mars. even though my motherboard isnt sli compatible, if they both GPU's are on the same card it should work? also the performance of this card seems to rival the 780ti which is impressive given i found it online for £390. I see a lot of people saying that this card will be weaker than a gtx 780 or 780ti because of its limited 2gb or ram, but all the benchmarks ive seen done by, tiny tom logan, linus, and others such as tastyPCTV show the mars equaling the gtx 780ti even at 1440p, so im not sure if these supposed limitations are actually affecting the card, it seems a very strong choice to me.
2. GTX 780 Poseidon, this card looks great, I would air cool it and overclock it and looking at benchmarks it seems to do nearly as well as the mars 760 but with more GDDR5, so it would be more futureproof, especially considering i could upgrade to liqiud cooling it in the future.
3. AMD 290, or 290x depending on which i can afford, i was looking at the msi lightning r9 290x and is around £400, it seems to be the fastest one, but would a regular 290x play 1440P games at 50-60fps?
4. Purchase two more hd 7850's as they are £99 each, however, this would require a new motherboard and powersupply, so may end up costing as much as a more expensive gpu.
5. Dual sli Asus 760 striker 4gb cards. These cards also look very compelling for their price which seems to be around £220 and I think out of all the options these are likely to give the best performance as they arent hindered by the 2x2gb of GDDR5 that the mars card has. However again, would need new mobo and psu, so the cost would probably be nearer £550-600 to make this work.
Lastly I thought about waiting for GTX 900 series to come out in hopes that the gtx 780ti becomes more affordable as its current price of around £470 is too high and i think dual 760 strkers or the 760 mars would deliver better performance.
If anyone could tell me which one of these setups would likely gain me the most performance at 1440p for games such as: skyrim, bioshock infinate, BF4, star citizen and other tirple A titles that would be great. I dont need the games to run maxed out and would settle for medium-high if it was at 1440p.
Any feedback, experience or opinons would be valued and appreciated, thanks.
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