What would you do??

Wetbench4 · 30-10-2014 7:04pm #1

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice. I have about €250 - €300 to spend on an upgrade and I'm caught between a monitor and new GPU and I can't decide.

My current rig which I built almost exactly 2 yr's ago is ;
--- i5-3570k @ 4.2GHz
--- ASRock Z77 Pro3
--- Hyper EVO 212
--- Club 3D Radeon HD 7870-2GB
--- 8GB Corsair Vengeance Low Profile
--- Asus Xonar DG
--- Samsung 840 EVO 250GB
--- Barracuda 7200 1000GB
--- BitFenix Shinobi Windowed Black
--- Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W
--- Logitech G400 & MS SideWinder X4

I was on a tight budget so I went without a proper monitor and used a 40" bravia full HD TV as my display. Its great for all the screen space and I have an armchair behind my desk chair which, when paired with an Xbox controller, is amazingly comfy for steam big screen mode. But it is a little too big when playing some keyboard & mouse games.

The GPU is pretty middle of the road but is holding out well once i got the right drivers that suited it. It was crashing to blackscreen a lot on certain games until I used catalyst drivers 14.4. Works perfect on those drivers and I can even get good over-clocking on certain games which would have crashed it before.

I could buy something like this--> http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BPL0558/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE, and put the TV I have up high on a bracket, and put monitor underneath on the desk, and just use the TV for steam BS. I'm thinking that 24" would be too small after using 40" for so long, so it would have to be 27". I'm not up to scratch on monitors so maybe my choice is bad, open to suggestions.

Or should I just keep using the TV and blow it on a faster GPU???
What should I/would you do?

ShadowHearth · 30-10-2014 7:17pm

I would go with GPU. 970 would fit in your budget. That little minx of a card will make 7870 look like ancient floppy disc. Then sell 7870 and maybe add another few quid and you can get yourself a cheap 1080 monitor.

BloodBath · 30-10-2014 7:21pm

Yeah I'd probably go for a R9 290 or a gtx 970 then get a 29" 2560x1080p or 27" 2560x1440 monitor at a later date.

Wetbench4 · 30-10-2014 7:24pm

Just had a quick look at 970's on hwvs, cheapest is €340, that might be pushing the budget a bit much though.

BloodBath · 30-10-2014 7:25pm

This is a great deal.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Radeon-DirectCU-Graphics-GDDR5-Express/dp/B00HOW1Q46/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1414691501&sr=8-2-fkmr1&keywords=shapire+290

Wetbench4 · 30-10-2014 7:28pm

BloodBath wrote: »

This is a great deal.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Radeon-DirectCU-Graphics-GDDR5-Express/dp/B00HOW1Q46/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1414691501&sr=8-2-fkmr1&keywords=shapire+290

That comes in @ €283, not bad. Whats it like performance wise vs the stock 970

BloodBath · 30-10-2014 7:29pm

€265 according to xe.com. Use your bank for the currency conversion, not Amazon. It's cheaper that way.

Very close. Maybe 10% off.

It will run a bit hotter and louder than a 290 though. Maybe consider adding a couple of additional case fans.

Wetbench4 · 30-10-2014 8:20pm

No votes for the monitor, will have to research into those ones you suggested though, for future reference( It will be a hard sell to the wife, but I'll cross that bridge when i come to it;))

Thanks for the help lads, I think I'll go with the 290, looks like great bang for buck

Wetbench4 · 01-11-2014 12:11am

Well I went and bought this r9290 this evening. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00HOW1Q46/ref=ox_ya_os_product_refresh_T1

I must have got the last cheap one because it cost me £215 but the price now is gone up to £270. Money still hasn't left my account though, is that normal?

Just one more question. Will my 550w PSU be comfortable running it?

Also found a great comparison of all the current cards here--> http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?page=0&itemid=1337

What would you do??

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