Looking to upgrade my desktops GPU (current Xfire 6950s)

[michael.tj.elli]

Hey there folks, my friends looking to upgrade his GPU and wants some advice. He currently has 2 Radeon 6950s running in crossfire but is looking to upgrade as he's not a fan of the dual setup. He has a budget of roughly £200 but could stretch if necessary.

He's looked at the price range of some cards and it seems its between the gtx 770 and and the r9 280x? He is not sure which one to get and is also really confused with all the different "brands"? that sell them like gigabyte and asus, not sure on the differences and what is better.

Not sure if this helps but his specs are, so I think the newer cards would work fine?

ASUS® P8Z68-V PRO: USB 3.0, SATA 6GB/s, NVIDIA®SLI™, ATI®CrossFireX™

CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE

Intel® Core™i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics


Ive had a look at this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-115-GI&tool=3 . Would this be a good option for a 770? or are there better 280s etc.

Thanks in advance

 

[Jony27]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-220-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1842

Comes with 3 games to chosoe from and a 60GB SSD!
Cooler looks the bomb too imo.

 

[Resa69]

Best bet would be a brand new 280x or used 290, very good cards for the money

 

[michael.tj.elli]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-220-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1842

Comes with 3 games to chosoe from and a 60GB SSD!
Cooler looks the bomb too imo.

That does seem like a really good deal but, I have most of those games unfortunately and I wouldn't really know what to do with the SSD. Wouldnt I have to re-install my OS and everything onto it. Personally for me it seems like more hassle than its worth.

Purely on performance, is this card better than the 770 I linked?

 

[Jony27]

Sell on the games and/or the SSD = profit

 

[michael.tj.elli]

Best bet would be a brand new 280x or used 290, very good cards for the money

I am guessing the 290 completely outperforms the other 2 but will buying a used graphics card have any major problems? I heard a lot of the used ones were used for bitcoin farming 24/7, would this cause damage ?

So is the 280x better performing than what I linked ? Can you reccomend any specific cards with links ? . Its all somewhat confusing for me with the same GPU's having multiple specs and cooling etc

 

[Jony27]

It wins some, lose some. It depends what games you play most and if AMD?Nvidia features appeal to you more than the other brand offers.
http://anandtech.com/bench/product/1041?vs=1037

 

[michael.tj.elli]

It wins some, lose some. It depends what games you play most and if AMD?Nvidia features appeal to you more than the other brand offers.
http://anandtech.com/bench/product/1041?vs=1037

Oh this site is awesome thanks, I guess I will just be playing most of the triple A's coming out and would like to do it at high/ultra ish.

Apologies for the bombardment of questions but, do you think I should get and AMD card to make use of mantle in the future, or will the increase in performance be insignificant.

 

[AlamoX]

if you can strech for 300 get a 290, so if you are going for 280 better wait couple weeks, and get the new 285 that is supposed to be released in august

 

[nails666]

I have xfire 6950 myself at the moment, would the performance of a single 280x really be much of an improvement apart from the generally better usage of a single card setup?

 

[michael.tj.elli]

if you can strech for 300 get a 290, so if you are going for 280 better wait couple weeks, and get the new 285 that is supposed to be released in august

I think I am just going to do that, its a better investment I reckon and the longevity of the gpu is important for me.

 

[Mean Mr Mustard]

I have xfire 6950 myself at the moment, would the performance of a single 280x really be much of an improvement apart from the generally better usage of a single card setup?

Probably a minor improvement in performance (6950 xfire is roughly equal to single 7950 or whatever the R9 equivalent is) and then there's the single card benefits on top. If I was looking to upgrade from xfire 6950 now though I'd be looking at a 290 or similar for a noticeable increase in performance.

 

[michael.tj.elli]

Probably a minor improvement in performance (6950 xfire is roughly equal to single 7950 or whatever the R9 equivalent is) and then there's the single card benefits on top. If I was looking to upgrade from xfire 6950 now though I'd be looking at a 290 or similar for a noticeable increase in performance.

Yeah I am thinking of getting this 290 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-166-PC&tool=3 What do you think of this model/brand?

It comes with x2 4gb ram too!

 

[AlamoX]

Yeah I am thinking of getting this 290 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=gx-166-pc&tool=3 what do you think of this model/brand?

it comes with x2 4gb ram too!

didnt see review on that powercolor card, and im not fan of powercolor.
to me best r9 290 is the sapphire vaporx for about 20£ more.
the card http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=gx-344-sp&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752
the review http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru.../66491-sapphire-r9-290-vapor-x-oc-review.html