Some (possible!) upgrade advice

[Agent Orange]

Hey lads,

I was wondering if you might be able to have a look at a thread I started in General Hardware and offer some advice, in case you don't wander over there:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18593209

Do you think I would benefit more with another R9 290 on the second PCI 3 lane (so running X8 X8) or a mobo, CPU, RAM upgrade? I'm now thinking the second R9 290 is a better way to go to future-proof, given I basically only game, and occasional mining. I suppose I was worried about the mobo and CPU aging but it seems the advances from Intel etc are slowing a bit.

Even if there is a new AMD architecture at the end of the year I think I would still be pretty happy with 2 R9 290's which a while ago I never thought possible! Would be my first venture into multi GPU.

Cheers for any and all advice!

 

[Agent Orange]

Oh I forgot I would probably need to upgrade my PSU - CoolerMaster 650W. Right?

 

[Agent Orange]

Hmm ok yeah maybe I might do the CPU, mobo and RAM now, and get the 2nd GPU down the track with a new PSU. Would the i5 4670K be better with 2 290's CF?

Thanks!

 

[Agent Orange]

Ok thanks for the advice. I'm surprised because everywhere I read says that modern games can't utilise the hyperthreading on the i7's. But by the sound of it, it's needed when running X-Fire. I haven't heard that, so thanks!

I'm now thinking an i7 3770k with some faster RAM might be a good option, so that I don't have to upgrade my motherboard, and can still look at X-Fire and new PSU later in the year.