Upgrade suggestions

[will13]

Over last few months I've been thinking of getting a new build, to replace my i5 2500K and 7970.

I've sorta narrowed it down to xfire PCS+ 290's, 780Ti SLI (not sure on vendor) and maybe 295x2, however with the 800 series rumored for sep. release would that be worth the wait?

Reason for upgrade is just my 7970 isn't cutting it in some games at 1440p, at the moment I'm having to play Skyrim at 1080p to get 50FPS (thats because of ENB and mods but still)

Any advice appreciated

 

[will13]

Why not get another 7970/280x? Theyre dirt cheap used atm.

To be honest I just don't know if it'll be enough, at the moment I'm playing a lot of skyrim and I'd need pretty good scaling to make another 7970 useful at 1440p, because at moment I get 30FPS and under just in riverwood

A pair of 290's for £600.

In Xfire they are not far behind the 780TI's for £400 less, you also get XDMA on the 290's so no need to worry about SLI/CF bridges, you can put the cards as far apart as your motherboard allows.

If you going to be spending £1000+ on the 780TI's then the 295X2 is better.

The GTX 800 series is an unknown, it might be good value and awesome performance, or it might not be any faster than a 780TI and cost the same or more, given its Nvidia the later is likely to be more true if not less for more money.

Yeah the 290's are the ones that appeal to me most, even more so since a lot of games this year I want to play have mantle

I just though 780Ti's SLI would be pretty good in skyrim judging by single card differences

 

[will13]

There is other games I will be playing, I was just giving skyrim as a example since its the game I've played the most recently.

I guess the only games I don't play on PC is FPS

 

[will13]

Skyrim isnt the best example. Its still a bit of a gamble as I think its very cpu dependent even if you got dual 780ti's you might still not be getting the performance you want

Just checked and according to my last run with skyrim, I was using 36% CPU and 74% GPU on average at 1080p, if that helps?

 

[will13]

Overclocked? if your going for BIG GPU CF/SLI i think you should think about spending some of the budget on a nice new i7 and get the 290's

Yeah I was gonna go with a totally new build with 4790K, my 2500K is OC'ed to 4.2

 

[will13]

oops, you got me this time



Do it well, new CPU and Motherboard, you should have enough left out of your £1000 it looks like you were willing to spend for the 290's, they are awesome GPU's, way faster individually than a 7970. about +35%

Hmm maybe I should ask on here before I place order for new build, see if you guys can make anything better?

 

[will13]

Ask stulid to spec you a build

Maybe been gone too long from these forums but what are you implying?

Always, get as much input as you can

I'll put it in general hardware I guess?

 

[will13]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus Maximus VII Ranger - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£34 Saving** £375.94
2 x Powercolor Radeon R9 290 PCS+ OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE AMD 8GB 2400MHz Memory Kit £305.99 (£611.98)
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 1300W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £149.99
2 x Crucial MX100 512GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter CT512MX100SSD1) £149.99 (£299.98)
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £98.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £89.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy Cable Bundle - Red £21.95
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 8pin PCI-E extension 45cm - Red £6.98
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 6pin PCI-E extension 45cm - Red £6.49
Total : £1,677.24 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Well thats the build if you guys wanna pick over it

 

[will13]

Hmm I can get Tri-x's for £550, shame I'd lose the free ram

 

[will13]

Its a big case so plenty of room in it, its just a shame the motherboard is not that long, one with 4 16x PCIe slots so you could put one in slot 1 and the other in slot 4... i think they would have enough room to breath.

That'd be x79 though right?

Is the MSI 290 decent? just thinking it'd fit the colour scheme

 

[will13]

The MSI's are fine ^^^ they had fan troble in the past but i think that has now been sorted.

--

X97 here with 4. though while its states x16 it says its running at x4? i don't get that, its either 16x or its not?

Also has free RAM...

We need Matt to see how Slot 4 works with the 290's

Yeah I don't get that myself, but still nice its a Gigabyte board never had 1 fail me.

Good to know about MSI cards, might pick 2 of them up if its better then going 2 PCS+

 

[will13]

Orange should work, I think Bitfenix sells orange alchemy cables.

Also thanks for the help up to now guys, so glad I never just put a order in otherwise would've probably been returning stuff ha

 

[will13]

Second time you've mentioned getting a slimier card...??
Honestly no idea what putting slime on a graphics cards does

I mean, if the gaps too tight he could get a slimmer card?

Helps it slide in that cramped area..

 

[will13]

Yeah I think the Tri-X would be better for crossfire.
Or reference cards and some noise cancelling headphones.

Thanks, its why i asked, they are big and you had two, his case choice is better than yours (no disrespect) i don't know if that will help, but its all good info, he might still be better off with smaller slimier cards like the MSI or Tri-X.

Yeah starting to think it may be better just going for the 2 slot cards, probably run cooler and offer more MB choice

 

[will13]

I dunno if this is a mistake but http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-238-MS surely a good buy?

 

[will13]

Would OcUK cancel the order if I ordered 2 of those in separate orders?

 

[will13]

Instead of or as well as?

Just phone them up and tell them you have changed your mind and want the MSI one instead of... or with.

Well I haven't put the order in yet, was just thinking of ordering 1 of them with the parts, and then another on its own, since its limited to 1 per order