- Dec 18, 2013
- 10
- 0
- 10,510
So I built my computer in the beginning of January (thanks to the tom's community for help with that btw), at or almost at the height of the R9 series shortages that were driving prices so high. At the time I "settled" for a GPU in order to get a solid foundation for a system I could upgrade the GPU in later.
This is the build as it currently stands:
CPU - AMD FX 8320
CPU Cooler - Cooler Master 212 Hyper Evo
GPU - Asus R9 270 DC2OC
Motherboard - Asus M5A99X evo R2.0
RAM - 8GB (2x4gb) Team Dark DDR3 1600 PC3 12800
Power Supply - Thermaltake Toughpower 750w 80plus Gold Certified
Case - Rosewill REDBONE steel ATX mid tower
Case Fans - 2 x 120mm 3x 120mm case slots available
So far it's been a great system. I'm definitely hooked on PC gaming now having decided neither the PS4 or Xbox One really deliver the "next gen" experience I was hoping for.
Right now I'm running a heavily modded Skyrim (realvision ENB) poorly unfortunately and I'm looking to be able to max out games like Watch Dogs and later The Division (I'm upgrading my RAM and planning to do some CPU overclocking). I game in 1080p because I project through my home theater system and won't be increasing that until 4k TVs are affordable. My goal is to be able to play on ultra settings at 1080p for the foreseeable future and then SLI/Crossfire to increase the lifespan. In terms of FPS I'm happy with 30fps if I'm getting the eye candy but I'd like to be able to hit 60fps as often as possible.
Right now I'm looking at 3 GPUs:
PNY GTX 770 4gb OC2 - Total cost to me would be $471.86
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133499
Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290 which would set me back about $556.59
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202103
Sapphire Tri-X OC R9 290 for $520.99
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202080
I'm open to other GPUs as well if anyone can find one in this price/performance range either from a Canadian retailer or a retailer that will ship to Canada (Newegg won't). At this point my concerns are that the GTX 770 even if I SLI it later might not age very well but, it is by far the cheapest option for me. I'm also a bit concerned about heat from the R9 290 cards. Right now everything runs cool (CPU at idle about 30 degrees Celsius, same with the GPU) under load the temperatures increase, but in general the system seems to run pretty cool. The AMD cards do come with free games, but none that I'm dying to have so it isn't a factor for me. I'm also a bit concerned that the AMD cards lack TXAA and PhysX. I don't know how much I can gain or lose from having/not having those features so some guidance would be great.
This is the build as it currently stands:
CPU - AMD FX 8320
CPU Cooler - Cooler Master 212 Hyper Evo
GPU - Asus R9 270 DC2OC
Motherboard - Asus M5A99X evo R2.0
RAM - 8GB (2x4gb) Team Dark DDR3 1600 PC3 12800
Power Supply - Thermaltake Toughpower 750w 80plus Gold Certified
Case - Rosewill REDBONE steel ATX mid tower
Case Fans - 2 x 120mm 3x 120mm case slots available
So far it's been a great system. I'm definitely hooked on PC gaming now having decided neither the PS4 or Xbox One really deliver the "next gen" experience I was hoping for.
Right now I'm running a heavily modded Skyrim (realvision ENB) poorly unfortunately and I'm looking to be able to max out games like Watch Dogs and later The Division (I'm upgrading my RAM and planning to do some CPU overclocking). I game in 1080p because I project through my home theater system and won't be increasing that until 4k TVs are affordable. My goal is to be able to play on ultra settings at 1080p for the foreseeable future and then SLI/Crossfire to increase the lifespan. In terms of FPS I'm happy with 30fps if I'm getting the eye candy but I'd like to be able to hit 60fps as often as possible.
Right now I'm looking at 3 GPUs:
PNY GTX 770 4gb OC2 - Total cost to me would be $471.86
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133499
Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290 which would set me back about $556.59
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202103
Sapphire Tri-X OC R9 290 for $520.99
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202080
I'm open to other GPUs as well if anyone can find one in this price/performance range either from a Canadian retailer or a retailer that will ship to Canada (Newegg won't). At this point my concerns are that the GTX 770 even if I SLI it later might not age very well but, it is by far the cheapest option for me. I'm also a bit concerned about heat from the R9 290 cards. Right now everything runs cool (CPU at idle about 30 degrees Celsius, same with the GPU) under load the temperatures increase, but in general the system seems to run pretty cool. The AMD cards do come with free games, but none that I'm dying to have so it isn't a factor for me. I'm also a bit concerned that the AMD cards lack TXAA and PhysX. I don't know how much I can gain or lose from having/not having those features so some guidance would be great.
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