HD 4890 upgrade needed with i7 920

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syclone

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Aug 14, 2008
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Hi Folks,

I am looking to either build a new system or upgrade the current one. I thinking of just upgrading the old HD 4890. If I just upgrade the GPU am I bottle necked somewhere else? Suggestions?

Goals: Play games like Skyrim, Dragon Age, and Racing games, surf net, minor MS Office Work

Case: Antec 900
CPU: I7 920 overclocked at 3.8
Motherboard: Ashrock Extreme x58 1366
Memory: 6GB OCZ
HD: 750 7K 32M SATA 2
PSU: Corsair 750TX
GPU: Sapphire RT HD 4890 2GB

Thanks!
 
Solution
coozie7
It's an older rig, but still capable, I'm playing on a i5 750 with a gentle OC (3.4GHZ from 2.6) with an equally overclocked HD7950 (950/1400 from 800/1250) and don't have to make too many compromises with graphics settings to play even heavy calibre games like Metro 2033/LL, FC3, Max Payne 3 or Tomb Raider smoothly, so you're good to go with the GPU upgrade.
Fairly recently AMD 'updated' their lineup: The HD7950 became the R9 280 and the HD7970 became the R9 280X, there is some tweaks but really just that: Tweaks, so if you find one of the old cards cheap, grab it, just be aware AMD cards need good cooling to be quiet and, well, cool!
It's really down to you now, your system can handle the R9 280X/HD7970 or Nvidia GTX770 if you're...
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MrBoomBoom

Honorable
Jul 3, 2013
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I don't think you'll need to build an entirely new system. Your i7 is aging, but I think it'll last a while. After all, it is clocked at 3.8 Ghz.
I would suggest upgrading your GPU though. What's your budget?
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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Jun 2, 2007
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It's an older rig, but still capable, I'm playing on a i5 750 with a gentle OC (3.4GHZ from 2.6) with an equally overclocked HD7950 (950/1400 from 800/1250) and don't have to make too many compromises with graphics settings to play even heavy calibre games like Metro 2033/LL, FC3, Max Payne 3 or Tomb Raider smoothly, so you're good to go with the GPU upgrade.
Fairly recently AMD 'updated' their lineup: The HD7950 became the R9 280 and the HD7970 became the R9 280X, there is some tweaks but really just that: Tweaks, so if you find one of the old cards cheap, grab it, just be aware AMD cards need good cooling to be quiet and, well, cool!
It's really down to you now, your system can handle the R9 280X/HD7970 or Nvidia GTX770 if you're looking for maximum settings or the far less expensive R9 280/HD7950 or Nvidia GT760 will do nicely at slightly at slightly lower settings.
Me, I made the decision last year and went for a HD7950 and don't regret it one bit.
 
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MrBoomBoom

Honorable
Jul 3, 2013
238
1
10,710
For 300 bucks, you can get a pretty decent card. I'd say the best bang for your buck would be a GTX 770 (little over $300 if I remember correctly), a GTX 760, or an AMD R9 280X.

I'm usually an AMD fanboy just because I feel like you get a little more performance per dollar, but those GTX 760/770s are just too good to pass up. They stay ridiculously cool for something so powerful, they're VERY efficient, and also look freakin' awesome stylish.

The R9 280X beats the 760 and they're about the same price (http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-280X-vs-GeForce-GTX-760). Spend the extra 30 bucks and get the 770. It performs substantially better than the 280X (http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-280X-vs-GeForce-GTX-770).

Hope this helps :D
 
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