GPU upgrade on a friend's computer

[Drown]

Hello everyone, 

 

I've been asked to ask here about my friend's GPU upgrade. He has a budget of 350-400€ max, to replace the GPU and the PSU, and add a SSD if possible. 

 

Here are his current specs : 

 

CPU : Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 @2.83Ghz

Motherboard : Asus P5Q-E

RAM : 8Gb of DDR2-800 RAM

Graphics Card : Nvidia Geforce 9800GT

 

It's not some HP/Acer prebuilt computer, it was actually a custom built made a few years back. 

 

He lives in Slovenia, and has to order from this retailer : http://www.dinokomp.si/

It's in slovenian, but the components name is in english, so it's all right.

 

This is what I was thinking of : 

 

- Club 3D 7950 (it's the cheapest, although there's the XFX and Powercolor for not much more) http://www.dinokomp.si/produkt/club-3d-radeon-hd-7950-3gb-13series/

- SanDisk 128Gb SSD (I would prefer a Samsung 840, but it's 25e more)  http://www.dinokomp.si/produkt/sandisk-ssd-128gb/

- Corsair CX500W http://www.dinokomp.si/produkt/corsair-builder-series-cx500-80plus-bronze-500w/

 

For a total of 386 euros. There's some budget left, I could fit a XFX or Powercolor 7950.

 

What do you guys think of that? How's the Club3D 7950, I'm not familiar with it. What about the SSD? SanDisk make good stuff, but I don't know about their SSDs. Would 500W be enough for his computer?

He currently as some no-name PSU, so it's required to change it.

 

Feel free to propose any adjustements, do you think that overall, it's worth upgrading that sytem and that the improvements will make a big difference, or would the CPU/RAM bottleneck the performances?

 

Thank you very much!

 

[pummetje]

club3d is a solid brand im using their cards and they are good 

great support 

[ComputerNoob]

umm duh... Obviously get one of the new amd gpus. I think a r9 270 will fit in that budget, maybe even the r9 290x will fit in there.

[Drown]

umm duh... Obviously get one of the new amd gpus. I think a r9 270 will fit in that budget, maybe even the r9 290x will fit in there.

 

That's what I told him, wether he will listen to me or not I don't know. He wants to order tomorrow, I'll try to convince him, but I'd like advice on these upgrades first in case he goes for that.

[ComputerNoob]

That's what I told him, wether he will listen to me or not I don't know. He wants to order tomorrow, I'll try to convince him, but I'd like advice on these upgrades first in case he goes for that.

Tell him to get one, and to thank you later.

[Dravic]

umm duh... Obviously get one of the new amd gpus. I think a r9 270 will fit in that budget, maybe even the r9 290x will fit in there.

 

That's what I told him, wether he will listen to me or not I don't know. He wants to order tomorrow, I'll try to convince him, but I'd like advice on these upgrades first in case he goes for that.

 

R9 270x being a 7870 or 7870xt at most will be slower than 7950 so make him get 7950 now before the prices raise again.

 

And dont buy cheapo SSDs, buy a well-performing and long-lived one like this:

 

http://www.dinokomp.si/produkt/ocz-vector-128gb/

 

or Samsung 840 Evo or Plextor M5s.

[Drown]

R9 270x being a 7870 or 7870xt at most will be slower than 7950 so make him get 7950 now before the prices raise again.

 

Hmm, I remember reading that the 270X would be the equivalent of 7870/7870X, although I thought that it would be closer to the 7950 than that. If the 280X is a rebaged 7970Ghz, there's no next gen GPU that will be the equivalent, in terms of performance and pricing, to the 7950? Why would the price rise?

[CthulDude]

Club is great. I would put more money into the psu.

[Dravic]

Hmm, I remember reading that the 270X would be the equivalent of 7870/7870X, although I thought that it would be closer to the 7950 than that. If the 280X is a rebaged 7970Ghz, there's no next gen GPU that will be the equivalent, in terms of performance and pricing, to the 7950? Why would the price rise?

 

280x rebadged 7970 for 300$

270x rebadged 7870/7870xt (one of these GPU chips rebadged but we dont know which one yet, no improvements so performs exactly the same as current 7870/7870xt) - 200$

 

I'd guess IF they re-release 7950 it will be 280 (without "x") and cost 250$. 

 

You can imagine it's not really gonna be cheaper than the 7950 currently so no reason to wait.

[Drown]

@Dravic

 

Good point, I'm going to give him these facts and let him make his decision, I'm pretty sure he'll go for the 7950 and that will be it. Thanks =)

[Mo5]

Since he is from Slovenia (and I am too ) let him know of this deal: http://www.bolha.com/racunalnistvo/graficne-kartice/ati-graficne-kartice/powercolor-hd-7950-3gb-gddr5-1289490938.html?aclct=1380536759