New CPU or GPU?

honosuseri said:
I suggested the MSI as it has a 3 year warranty and a black PCB to help tie in with the Asrock mobos colour scheme. The Gigabyte Windforce also has a 3 year warranty but is more expensive and has a blue PCB which might clash with your kit, as does the Sapphire but that has only a 2 year warranty ;)

The 280X is a refined 7970Ghz edition, you can use THIS to help you do comparisons.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's the website I was looking for :p
Thanks.
Aw, they don't have the R9 280X available for benchmarks yet on anandtech :(
 
Oh also nearly forgot, is there going to be anything else that I'm going to have to buy like any extra cables or anything? Just want to be sure.
 
Does anybody know how long the MSI R9 280X is on sale for? I just need to measure the dimensions of my case and current GPU to make sure that it'll fit.
Edit: Nvm, got it.
Thanks for the advice everyone!
 
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bennydragonboy said:
The MSI 280X is the best of the lot I would say.
Click to expand...

If they've got their VRM temps under control.

I returned a Sapphire 280X Vapor-X as it arrived with an open box (seals removed) and a bent/warped cooler... I also recently returned an Asus 280X DirectCU II TOP as the temps were too high and the cooler didn't look like it was mounted correctly (not flat against the GPU, an issue Asus had with their 7950/7970 DirectCU II cards).
 
One final thing just to be absolutely sure, will my motherboard be ok with the R9 280X?
Here's a link to the specs of it but it doesn't tell me whether or not it's PCIe 2.0 or 3.0 (I've seen that if it's 2.0 then the performance of the card will be hindered?)
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68 Pro3

I just want to make sure there'll be no bottlenecks in my system!

Edit: Found this in the specs section:
1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (blue @ x16 mode)
- 3 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots
- 2 x PCI slots
 
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Deehjay said:
One final thing just to be absolutely sure, will my motherboard be ok with the R9 280X?
Here's a link to the specs of it but it doesn't tell me whether or not it's PCIe 2.0 or 3.0 (I've seen that if it's 2.0 then the performance of the card will be hindered?)
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68 Pro3

I just want to make sure there'll be no bottlenecks in my system!

Edit: Found this in the specs section:
1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (blue @ x16 mode)
- 3 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots
- 2 x PCI slots
Click to expand...
There is very little if not any difference with a 280x running in a pcie2 or 3 slot. 1 or 2fps and you won't notice.
 
Get the GPU and try pushing the i5-2500 to 4.1ghz .... Your board should allow for it as I can do it with my i7 2600

Check this and the link in my sig for non-K OC

If you're not satisfied by the results .... upgrade the CPU
 
Subliminal Aura said:
Get the GPU and try pushing the i5-2500 to 4.1ghz .... Your board should allow for it as I can do it with my i7 2600

Check this and the link in my sig for non-K OC

If you're not satisfied by the results .... upgrade the CPU
Click to expand...

Is there going to be a big difference in FPS in games between keeping my i5-2500, or for instance getting an i5-3570k?
I'll probably upgrade my CPU in the future but judging from this picture the difference seems to be quite marginal;
http://i.imgur.com/O5axjN5.jpg
 
Deehjay said:
Is there going to be a big difference in FPS in games between keeping my i5-2500, or for instance getting an i5-3570k?
I'll probably upgrade my CPU in the future but judging from this picture the difference seems to be quite marginal;
http://i.imgur.com/O5axjN5.jpg
Click to expand...

I doubt you'll notice any difference when running both at stock clocks, but you can overclock the 3570k.
 
PowerPie5000 said:
I doubt you'll notice any difference when running both at stock clocks, but you can overclock the 3570k.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'll probably end up getting an Ivybridge 3570k later on in the year or even an i7 since they're still compatible with my Z68... or is it worth buying a 1150 mobo and getting a Haswell? Is there much of a difference in games between these two (overclocked)?

Subliminal Aura said:
Hasn't it been proved that BF4 is one of the only games to scale with the number of idle threads available ?
Click to expand...
Not really sure what this means but I doubt I'll be playing BF4 anyway, probably will end up selling the free copy I'll get with that GPU.
 
Deehjay said:
Yeah, I'll probably end up getting an Ivybridge 3570k later on in the year or even an i7 since they're still compatible with my Z68... or is it worth buying a 1150 mobo and getting a Haswell? Is there much of a difference in games between these two (overclocked)?
Click to expand...

If you're going to get the CPU later on down the line .... get a 3770k and be done with it.

Should last you a good few years before going for a complete platform change
 
Ok thanks for that regarding the CPU.

I think the PSU I'm going to be going for is the BeQuiet 600w 80+ Bronze someone linked in the previous page. Is this a good recommendation and will it be compatible with my motherboard?

Thanks again
 
Deehjay said:
Ok thanks for that regarding the CPU.

I think the PSU I'm going to be going for is the BeQuiet 600w 80+ Bronze someone linked in the previous page. Is this a good recommendation and will it be compatible with my motherboard?

Thanks again
Click to expand...

Yep, it'll be compatible with your board and the Be Quiet! range are pretty decent. Get the 3770k as it's all you'll need for at least the next couple of years... The 4770k really isn't worth it once you consider the cost of another mobo and then the hassle of reinstalling everything! And the fact there's no noticeable improvement over the 3770k ;).
 
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