What Should I Upgrade?

[PooPotato]

After Christmas I will have a little bit of money on my hands (approx. $350), and I am thinking about upgrading my PC in one way or the other.  Here are my specs:

 

MB: MSI Gaming 970

CPU: AMD FX 8350 (w/ Cooler Master Seidon 120m)

GPU: MSI Radeon R9 280

RAM: 16GB G.Skill

HDD: WD Caviar Blue 1TB

SSD: SanDisk 128 GB

PSU: EVGA Supernova NEX 650G

Case: Thermaltake Overseer RX-1 Snow Edition

 

Things I'm happy with:

PC starts up at lightning speed

Extremely cool temps

 

 

Things I'm unhappy with (generally gaming gripes):

Shadow settings destroy my performance on some of my games.  I have to leave them turned off or the game is unplayable.

Underwhelming performance on newer games (Battlefield 4, Star Wars Battlefront).

 

 

I'm assuming that most of these problems would be alleviated with a better GPU, and I do have one in mind (MSI Radeon R9 390, $330 on Newegg).  However, I am relatively new to PC building/gaming in general (I finished my first build in September), so  my knowledge of this subject is rather limited.  I would love to hear feedback on this.

[grayblizzard]

After Christmas I will have a little bit of money on my hands (approx. $350), and I am thinking about upgrading my PC in one way or the other.  Here are my specs:

 

MB: MSI Gaming 970

CPU: AMD FX 8350 (w/ Cooler Master Seidon 120m)

GPU: MSI Radeon R9 280

RAM: 16GB G.Skill

HDD: WD Caviar Blue 1TB

SSD: SanDisk 128 GB

PSU: EVGA Supernova NEX 650G

Case: Thermaltake Overseer RX-1 Snow Edition

 

Things I'm happy with:

PC starts up at lightning speed

Extremely cool temps

 

 

Things I'm unhappy with (generally gaming gripes):

Shadow settings destroy my performance on some of my games.  I have to leave them turned off or the game is unplayable.

Underwhelming performance on newer games (Battlefield 4, Star Wars Battlefront).

 

 

I'm assuming that most of these problems would be alleviated with a better GPU, and I do have one in mind (MSI Radeon R9 390, $330 on Newegg).  However, I am relatively new to PC building/gaming in general (I finished my first build in September), so  my knowledge of this subject is rather limited.  I would love to hear feedback on this.

new GPU!

 

gtx970 or r9 390

[zlolslavez]

I personally think you need a CPU upgrade, so you could get a skylake cpu +mb that supports ddr3 ram

[incarnate]

I'd say get an r9 390

[stealth80]

shadows is exposing a weak GPU, grab a 390/970 as others have said

[PooPotato]

I personally think you need a CPU upgrade, so you could get a skylake cpu +mb that supports ddr3 ram

I'm planning on switching to Intel once I get enough money for a new MB and CPU.  I was mainly looking at the Devil's Canyon i7 4790K, considering that the Skylake doesn't really have that much better performance than the 4790k, but I haven't even looked at the Haswell.  However, if I want to future proof my build, I imagine I'll have to go with the Skylake.

[PooPotato]

Thanks for the awesome replies guys.

[zlolslavez]

I'm planning on switching to Intel once I get enough money for a new MB and CPU.  I was mainly looking at the Devil's Canyon i7 4790K, considering that the Skylake doesn't really have that much better performance than the 4790k, but I haven't even looked at the Haswell.  However, if I want to future proof my build, I imagine I'll have to go with the Skylake.

 

I mean, the cost of a z97+4790k isn't too much far off from a z170+6600k

[Belgarathian]

R9 390 or 390x depending on your budget.

[jimakos234]

cpu/mobo, after that sell the gpu and buy a better one (the 280 is still good tho),maybe a 390/390x

and a psu if u have the money to spend?

[App4that]

I mean, the cost of a z97+4790k isn't too much far off from a z170+6600k

The 4790k is much better CPU than the 6600k.

[ernorator]

The 4790k is much better CPU than the 6600k.

no it is not

 

PooPotato

For Your cpu gtx 970 is better as for today. AMD cpu's work better with nvidia gpu's. 

 

sry for site in Polish but graph tells it all - summary amd cpu / intel cpu / amd gpu / nvidia gpu

 

http://www.purepc.pl/karty_graficzne/test_zestawow_core_i5_4460_vs_fx_8300_oraz_gtx_970_vs_r9_390?page=0,25

[App4that]

no it is not

PooPotato

For Your cpu gtx 970 is better as for today. AMD cpu's work better with nvidia gpu's.

sry for site in Polish but graph tells it all - summary amd cpu / intel cpu / amd gpu / nvidia gpu

http://www.purepc.pl/karty_graficzne/test_zestawow_core_i5_4460_vs_fx_8300_oraz_gtx_970_vs_r9_390?page=0,25

Yes it is LOL. What are you smoking and may I please have some. It's been a long day.

[zlolslavez]

The 4790k is much better CPU than the 6600k.

I meant 6700k, which ultimately still isn't much better, if at all to the 4790k, but I would still like to switch to Skylake soon even if that means using a DDR3 board.

[jimakos234]

I meant 6700k, which ultimately still isn't much better, if at all to the 4790k, but I would still like to switch to Skylake soon even if that means using a DDR3 board.

ddr3 on skylake can damage the memory controller of the cpu, due to the ddr3  higher voltage

[App4that]

I meant 6700k, which ultimately still isn't much better, if at all to the 4790k, but I would still like to switch to Skylake soon even if that means using a DDR3 board.

Nothing wrong with Skylake other than it being a horrible price to performance option. And there are plenty of people using DDR3 with Skylake, nothing wrong with that ether.

[zlolslavez]

Nothing wrong with Skylake other than it being a horrible price to performance option. And there are plenty of people using DDR3 with Skylake, nothing wrong with that ether.

I didn't say there was anything wrong with that, infact I am currently running DDR3 + Skylake (underclocked to 1.35)

 

If my other statements contradict this, I was talking in the perspective of the OP, I myself already own a H110 board + i5-6500.

[ernorator]

Yes it is LOL. What are you smoking and may I please have some. It's been a long day.

 

Yes it was a long day...i swear it was 6700k when i was writing my post

 

4790k is better than 6600k coz i7 is better than i5...and yes for gaming to. 

[App4that]

Yes it was a long day...i swear it was 6700k when i was writing my post

4790k is better than 6600k coz i7 is better than i5...and yes for gaming to.

No worries. The 6600k can actually beat a 4790k in some games if using uber speed DDR4. Not that vanilla 2133 shiet. But bang for the buck the 4790k is king. Just got mine for 299us out the door.