Graphics card upgrade + Questions

[DCAzrael]

Hey guys,

 

I am Azrael and new to the forums.

I want to upgrade my GPU this or next month and I am unsure about some thing.

 

Here my current System specs:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1075T

Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3

Memory: 12288 MBytes G Skill F3-10666

Graphics: GIGABYTE Radeon HD 6870, 1024 MB GDDR5 SDRAM

SSD: OCZ-VERTEX3

SSD: OCZ-VERTEX3

HDD1: SAMSUNG HD501LJ

HDD2: ST3500320AS

HDD3: WD5000AAKS

HDD4: SAMSUNG HD250HJ

HDD5: SAMSUNG HM500JI

Drive: LG GSA-H12N

Sound: Creative SB Recon3D

PSU: Silent Pro M500

Monitor: 2x LG2361v @1080p

 

I know, there is a lot of weirdness there, but the rig will only live for about another 7 months.

 

For the meantime I just need a GPU upgrade, because I suffer from huge FPS drops in most current games (due to the 1GB Memory I guess).

 

I thought about a R9 280X or a GTX 770 (Brands I thought of would be ASUS Gigabyte and MSI).

I don't really care about true Audio and since there are only a few Mantle supported games announced that is not a selling factor either.

 

If possible I would like to keep the PSU, but I don't want to get my hopes up.

What would be the better Bang for the Buck? (including PSU, if necessary)

 

Thanks for the help.

[cjeffcoatjr]

The 280X. You would keep the PSU with both. I would look at the DCUII or Matrix 280x from ASUS, they have the best cooling/noise/performance ratio. 

[TheRuke]

R9-280X

[DCAzrael]

Awesome, thanks.

 

Since I want to replace most of my HDDs any good suggestions for a good non-expensive one?

[-rascal-]

Why does your computer only have another 7 months to live??? What??

 

Between the GTX 770 and R9-280X, both are quite close in performance, so it's almost whether you want to go with the "Green" side or the "Red" side. Personally, R9-280X.

 

As for HDD's, I'd recommend Western Digital's Caviar Black drives. Grab two or three (or more) 1TB drives...or....something like a single (more if you want) 4TB.

(split it up into two 2GB partitions for more speed)

 

I personally own three of this particular model of the WD black 1TB's (WD1002FAEX), and I have no had a single issue with them so far.

[Najuno]

Yeah the R9-280X would be the best call for that rig and you can keep it for a good long while in the future.

[WoodenMarker]

If you want to keep the psu, save your money and get a 7950 and oc it past a stock 280x. You won't be able to oc the 280x much on that psu and you'd be paying more than you need to for the performance. 

[DCAzrael]

Thanks again.

The rig will only live 7 Month, because it will will be slaughtered and sold.

I will build a new rig with a new platform (Intel), new cooling system and new case.

 

The only thing I would consider keeping would be the GPU and the HDD that I buy.

 

Thanks so much for all the input.

 

 

If you want to keep the psu, save your money and get a 7950 and oc it past a stock 280x. You won't be able to oc the 280x much on that psu and you'd be paying more than you need to for the performance. 

 

Regarding this.

I don't plan to OC the card in this Rig anymore and will most likely use the GPU in a new build until I buy something better/sell it to someone to buy something better.

 

Thanks though.

[brownninja97]

The 280X. You would keep the PSU with both. I would look at the DCUII or Matrix 280x from ASUS, they have the best cooling/noise/performance ratio. 

The matrix is good, the dcuII is a saggy mofo, the msi cards are normally cheaper and provide the same performance, also customer service is like comparing Cit to Corsair, Cit being Asus and my evidence comes from only only myself but thousands of pissed off guys on the internet, asus seems to have more issues then some other companies regarding customer service, I remember back in August I called them up as I had been waiting on a gt 640 to be sent back to me which had seemed to have disappeared for a month and one of guys told me to piss off. 

[DCAzrael]

Thanks again for the answers.

 

I decided to go for this card:

Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Toxic OC 3072MB

 

With this card I think my 500W PSU will be at max all the time and since I want a more silent one I decided to get this:

Corsair RM Series RM 650 '80+ Gold' 650W

 

Since I plan a new build, both will be a part of it and I since wanted to build a Black Orange Themed Rig this works perfect for me.

 

Thanks again for your advice.