Next upgrade?

Gimpymoo

Gimpymoo

Gimpymoo

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Joined
31 May 2005
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Nottingham
I got the upgrade bug just before Christmas, I upgraded from a Quad Core Phenom II to a more modern Haswell. I kept my old Corsair 1600 RAM.

My Current VGA is 6950 2GB (BIOS modded to 6970).

My current monitor setup is 2 x 22" 16:10 (1680 x 1050) HP w2207 (30,370 and 28,674 hours) and which back in the day were superb monitors and have not skipped a beat but I am sure the tech has since been surpassed?

Just after Christmas, I installed my first SSD, which was again a nice improvement.

Now, I again have the "itch" and am torn.

The computer is used for normal stuff, gaming, web browsing and other bits and bobs. Nothing too specific or specialist.

My thoughts at the moment are:

Faster RAM
No idea what performance gains I would see, but it would be faster, which is good, right?

New VGA
I have been looking at the R9 290 BUT at 1680x1050, would that be overkill/waste for my now puny monitors?

New Monitor
Have started to play more local co-op games with the kids and 3 of us around a 22" screen is not easiest at times and seeing new monitors than mine, they do look a little "dull" in comparison, especially compared to LED backlit etc. CCFL was good back in the day - lol.

Any monitor would have to be of course BIGGER but then I am limited by the 6950(70) and wonder what resolution I could goto before taking a hit, I expect the jump from 1680x1050 to 1080p would offer some performance hit, nevermind a higher resolution on a larger screen.

I am a gamer at heart, play Arma 3, sports games, platformers, and a mixed bag of stuff really.

Appreciate any input.

Thanks.
 
What is your budget?

Getting faster RAM is a good idea for running Haswell, they prefer faster RAM and will give you a more efficient system.

A new graphics card would be a great addition to your setup. If you think the 290 would be too much, the 280x is a great alternative. The 290 is quicker then a 780Ti, use that as your benchmark :)

I would also recommend a 1080p monitor. I upgraded to a 1080p display after running a 1050 for ages, what a difference the HD makes. Games look great!
 
£300.

For clarification, knowing this place, that includes the upto £350 buffer ;)

I should point out that I know I need all 3 of the mentioned upgrades, but with the above budget, I am expecting to upgrade only one.
 
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snips86x said:
What is your budget?

Getting faster RAM is a good idea for running Haswell, they prefer faster RAM and will give you a more efficient system.

A new graphics card would be a great addition to your setup. If you think the 290 would be too much, the 280x is a great alternative. The 290 is quicker then a 780Ti, use that as your benchmark :)

I would also recommend a 1080p monitor. I upgraded to a 1080p display after running a 1050 for ages, what a difference the HD makes. Games look great!
Click to expand...


There might be a few scenarios that a 290 is quicker than a 780ti, but the Nvidia card would be faster in most. The 280X/290 cards represent the best value though.
 
Gimpymoo said:
Would the RAM make a noticeable "real world" difference with the Haswell then?
Click to expand...

I think its a swings & roundabouts kind of scenario.

If you are video editing, photo editing, benching you may see a more noticeable difference, but the general value maybe negligible. It will make a more efficient system however.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3/6

If you can stretch, a monitor & GPU would be a good upgrade. I was going to post one, but it came to £375 :)

lee32uk said:
There might be a few scenarios that a 290 is quicker than a 780ti, but the Nvidia card would be faster in most. The 280X/290 cards represent the best value though.
Click to expand...

It would also depend on the games you are playing. Mantle has a very positive effect with Windows 8 and BF4, as an example. This would otherwise not be gained with the green team. Not saying they are bad, I think they are great cards, but the price vs performance is shocking compared to the AMD cards.
 
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