Upgrade GTX 295 help

UPDATE: So I've opted not to settle for a new but cheaper graphics card and decided to settle with my few performance issues until I can save up for a really good upgrade. I've decided against AMD cards because I'm a bit annoyed by their lack of Physx support and so many games I play have that as a factor. I'm going to save up until I can afford that's truly worthy as a successor. So as a GTX295 user which new nvidia card out now will be the best upgrade that will blow my mind and will be good enough for a intel i7 920 to handle? $300-$500 price range.

So I think it's finally about time I upgrade my GTX295 as I've been having nothing but hiccups and performance issues with it lately. While it was originally a beastly card the best upgrade for me right now would probably be to buy a super expensive card that'll last me five years but I don't have $500+ to dish out right. In fact I'm looking to get a $200 card today and if anything upgrade again in about two years or so. So I've been thinking about the Radeon R9 270x for $200. In fact I think of doing an instore pick up of the XFX Radeo R9 270X from Best Buy to be exact. Also maybe considering throwing down an extra $50 for a GTX 760. So is this upgrade worth it or should I shop for something else?

Thanks for any input in advance.

200$ you can get a 280 for that

Really? I find only the 270x at that price.

This. Now that the 285 came out at $250, you can find some 280 at around $200 after rebates. Also according to Tom's Hardware after reviewing the 285 and retesting other cards around it they came to the conclusion that the 760 at $250 isn't that big of a deal compared to a 270X at $200.

so I should get the 270x for $200 than the 760 for $250? This is showing me that 760 outclasses the 270x by a bit or is the price bump just not worth it?

189$

188$

Asus or Sapphire

settled on this

yay or nay?

Nay.

Why are you stuck on buying your card at Bestbuy? You can get a 280 for less!

Nay, no need in 4Gb version, and no need in X version.

because I need to pick up today. Can't wait anymore.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-radeon-r9-280-graphic-card-874-mhz-core-3-gb-gddr5-sdram-pci-express-3-0/1310710016.p?id=mp1310710016&skuId=1310710016&st=r9%20280&cp=1&lp=1#tab=buyingOptions ?

Isn't that a downgrade? Go for 4GB 760, it overclocks nicely.

I've decided to be patient. I want something more beastly now. And Nvidia. Help me out. lol

If you want something more beasty you should grab R9 290 by Gigabyte for 350$

I don't want an AMD card at all anymore. What's a comparable nvidia card with same power for same price?

@blazinpuertoroc: Same power,same price for NVIDIA doesn't exist. The closest to the 280 is the 760 which is usually around 240$

Not sure why you don't want AMD anymore...3gb of VRAM,cheaper,3 free games

For the same price of R9 290? you can forget about that, the best part of AMD GPUs right now is the price/performance ratio, the only thing comes close to R9 290 is GTX780 which costs 420$

But you can go with Nvidia if you want to: you've got GTX750Ti for 130$, GTX760 at 220$ and GTX770 at 300$

If you buy a new graphics card you get support for dx11, which means you can enjoy games like Crysis 3 which is a great and emotional game which almost left me in tears.

@MonsieurX: I don't doubt their power for the price one bit but I cannot stand their software and lack of Phsyx support. But I've been looking into it. The power of the 290 is stunning.

I'm considering getting an AMD card again. Lol. For 1080p gaming which is going to get me a better bang for the buck? 280 or dishing out more for 290 that will last me longer?

@blazinpuertoroc:

R9 280 for 165 dollars AR and no tax in most states. Better than any r9 270x and comes with 3 free games.

The price for performance is unbeat at this price.

Details for getting it at 165 dollars are here

290 without a doubt.

My understanding is if you have a decent cpu, new games with the new physx code will actually run better if you set it to run off the cpu instead of the gpu.

I only lose about 1-2 fps on average in the metro redux benchmarks with physx on vs off with an overclocked i7 950.

@topgunmv: will I have any bottlenecking issues with a stock 920 and R9 290?

A little bit, especially if the game is cpu bound.

I'd juice that thing some if you're comfortable with overclocking.

Most cases you'll be fine either way.

You will have severe bottleneck issues at games that use 1 or 2 threads. So you really need to OC that CPU to 4.0 - 4.2GHz and you will be fine.

3Ghz is not that good for todays gaming, you can buy 760K for 80$ and it's with 4Ghz.

If you can manage to OC that CPU somehow as close as you can to 4Ghz then you'd be fine.

wow the 760K (AMD Athlon X4 760K) is inferior to the i7 920, be careful what you recommend.

In fact the i7 920 with a OC at 4.2GHz is comparable to the AMD FX 9590 (the faster and most expensive AMD CPU, 4.7GHz, 8 cores).

Also the i7 920 4.2GHz have much greater single thread performance than the AMD FX 9590, which is more important for gaming.

What TC need to do is simply OC his i7.

I didn't recommend the 760K, I was just pointing out that you can buy a cheap CPU nowdays that got 4Ghz that is what recommended for gaming today.

If he can OC his CPU that is better and of course will cost much less.

EDIT: both CPUs might be at the same level of performance in gaming and the 760K might even pass it, the i7 is faster with editing of course, but we're not talking about it do we?

For gaming the i7 920 @4.2GHz is faster than the AMD FX 9590 (fastest AMD CPU), let alone the 760K.

GHz means nothing when you compare different CPU architecture, we all know that intel CPU's have way higher IPC.

First of all, last time Intel and I checked the i7 920, it had 2,66Ghz stock clock.

Secondly. Ghz has a low meaning if you don't compare same architecture and same threaded CPU. AMD especially struggles to reach Kentsfield/Conroe performance per GHz per core. Nehalem has way more performance per GHz per core than anything AMD has to offer or has offered ever...

And lastly. @blazinpuertoroc, this is the worst time of the year to buy a new GPU with $200 or more.

Since you wanted something beastly and Nvidia branded, Nvidia is going to release two new GPUs soon (around 10th to 19th September, rumors going around these numbers), the GTX970 and GTX980. If these GPUs don't meet your wallet requirements, a few weeks after they are going to release GTX960.

So have patience a couple of weeks, even if you don't want to buy them, they will drop the prices like domino of most existed gaming cards.

@Coseniath: Thanks. It's probably gonna be a bit before I can buy one over $400 anyway so I'll keep waiting a little bit.

But yeah everyone is saying I should overclock my CPU....ohhh man. Too chicken shit to do it but I'll guess I'll look into it. Might as well just build a whole new rig at this point. lol

Nothing to be afraid mate. You can tell us your (cpu cooler, motherboard model, and ram mhz) to help you here to OC your CPU, you will surprise to see how easy and safe it is.

For example I have my i7 920 OC to 4.1GHz for the last 6 years, without any issues.

@MK-Professor: still using a stock i7 cooler. It's a i7920 stock at 2.67GHZ, motherboard is a GIGABYTE EX58-UD3R, and I have 6GB of RAM and CPUZ is telling me the NB Frequency is 2131.7MHZ though it sometimes drops to 2130.5MHZ and that DRAM Frequency is 532.9MHZ. Is everything checking out so far?

and hot damn, I'd love to get my CPU running that beastly.

Also I been thinking about getting the GTX 770. I know it isn't as beastly as an r9 290 but it look looking like a good upgrade right now for a bit less money considering I only game in 1080p. Or nah nah chill?

or is a 280x more future proof cause it's 3gb? I also hear nvidia is gonna drop the price of the 770 to like $275.

You can't really OC with the stock cooler, a good cpu cooler will cost you around $50 (you can also use it on a newer cpus if you upgrade in the future), Also do you have 1600MHz RAM? (the 532.9MHZ(1066MHz) you see in the CPUZ is the frequency of your ram as it is right now, but it is not the stock frequency of your ram)

The GTX 770 4GB is too expensive(for the performance they offer), and i definitely don't recommend a GPU with only 2GB especially if you planning to keep it for 3 years. GTX780 or R9 290 are better choices. Before you buy, wait a few weeks for the new gpus.

For $275 GTX770 is a great choice, but in a week this will go down even more. if you are so impatient, then go for it.

But VideoCardz already revealed some numbers of the new GPUs and if they are not trolling, we are gonna see price drops.

GTX960 should be a little lower.

Rumors also about pricing is that the prices will go down to GTX5xx and GTX6xx levels.

GTX980 = $400-$500

GTX970 = $300-$350

GTX960 = $200-$250

@MK-Professor: where can I check my stock RAM frequency? It's been over 5 years since I bought it.

CPU-Z -> SPD -> Part Number (will say the model of the ram)

@MK-Professor: part is G.SKILL F3-10666CL9S-2GBNQ.

CPUZ is telling me it's 667 MHZ next to the Max bandwith. I'm guessing that means it's 1333 MHZ

That is ok, just remember to use the lowest memory multi (x8) when you OC, because if you try to OC your RAM will make things harder.

Until you buy a decent cpu cooler don't OC.

@blazinpuertoroc:

Some reading on ocing first gen i7's.

http://www.overclockers.com/3-step-guide-overclock-core-i3-i5-i7/