Upgrade Advice (£200-300)

Associate
Joined
7 Jan 2011
Posts
527
Location
Derby
Hi guys,

I'm looking to upgrade some parts of my computer and wondered what you think would be best for using £200-300 on? Taking out the HDDs as these will be upgraded before December. Ideally wanting to see where I would see the best benefit from upgrading.

Graphics Card:
HIS ATI Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X PLUS Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express

Processor:
Intel Core i5-2500K (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor, currently sitting at 3.6GHz

Motherboard:
AsRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3

PSU:
Antec TruePower New Modular 650W '80 Plus Bronze'

Case:
Cooler Master HAF 912 - Black

CPU Watercooler:
Antec Kuhler H20 620

RAM:
16GB (4x4GB) Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
 
Associate
Joined
14 Sep 2011
Posts
720
If you can stretch a little more, this 290 is as great deal atm:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Red £329.99
Total : £339.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).


____
Or if you haven't got an SSD yet go for something like this:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 280X TurboDUO 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £229.99
1 x Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT256MX100SSD1) £79.99
Total : £319.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
Associate
OP
Joined
7 Jan 2011
Posts
527
Location
Derby
Thanks guys, in regards to the SSD I'm going to wait until later this year when the prices fall a bit more, as at the moment I don't really need to upgrade from my 120GB SSD!

The 280x looks like the good option, cost effective is something I'm always happy with! The only thing I am having issues with is the size of the size. With my current graphics card, I only have room for 2x hard drives. Which I guess wouldn't be an issue but ideally would have liked 1x120GB SSD, 1x 500GB SSD and my standard HDD for other crap!
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
7,781
Location
Surrey
Id say the 280X would be close to maxing out 1080p.

The 290 would be the ultimate 1080p and a good start for 144hz/1440p

I tend to agree

I've seen no appreciable difference between my boy's 280x and my 290 at 1080p - few frames here and there. This is right now though.

Will the 280x be as effective as the 290 in a years time? Probably not. If I had the cash (and I did - bought one a few months ago) I'd tend towards the 290. It's a great card for the cash and ought to last a while.
 
Associate
Joined
6 May 2011
Posts
1,467
Location
Milton Keynes
I went from a 7950 to a R9 290 and I could notice a difference at 1080p due to having a 120Hz monitor. I should imagine a 280X would be pretty good at 1080p though with the money saved being used on an SSD.
 
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