Help with an upgrade choice

Tom_Walker12 · Apr 20, 2015

So i'm thinking of upgrading my pc i have ~£400 to spend and will mainly be playing CS:GO, GTA V plus so others at 1080p

I have a A8-5600K Oc'd to 4.7GHz using the IGPU right now.

Was thinking of getting a 960 because i only have 430Watt psu so no R9 280X or i could get a 970 but my cpu would bottleneck the gpu. I could get a new psu.

Wondering what you guys think it would be best to buy.
Thanks in Advance.

mrmez · Apr 20, 2015

970 + PSU.

Keep the change and save up for a new mobo/cpu. When you do upgrade, you can keep the card and PSU.

badboyrog2 · Apr 20, 2015

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/RjgKgs
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/RjgKgs/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor (£87.75 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£68.36 @ Scan.co.uk)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£259.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £416.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-20 09:07 BST+0100

or

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/mjKxQ7
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/mjKxQ7/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor (£87.75 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£68.36 @ Scan.co.uk)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£169.98 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: XFX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£63.82 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £389.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-20 09:25 BST+0100

i do not know how much ram you have?
and which psu too?

mrmez · Apr 20, 2015

A 970 wants 500w.
You'd want a top tier 430w PSU, or you'll be pushing it hard.

kwa-e · Apr 20, 2015

@badboyrog You did not include a power supply in your build, OP has a 430W and it will be cutting it close.

Here are two options you may want to consider, the 970 has about 30% more performance compared to the 280x, but in turn is about 100 Pounds more.

Included the same power supply in both builds, 620W is definitely more than enough to run a single 970 or 280X, with tons of overclocking room to spare.

It is up to you to decide.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£274.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£64.47 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £339.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-20 09:19 BST+0100

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280X 3GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Video Card (£174.17 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£64.47 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £238.64
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-20 09:14 BST+0100

NOTE: Make sure your case is has enough room to accommodate the XFX 280X though, it is HUGE (But there are other options, like MSI's 280X Twin Frozr which is around the same price)

EDIT: What motherboard do you have? the 860K should give you a decent boost in performance if it supports it,
But going with an FX 6300 or I3-4150 will definitely be a better choice.

Tom_Walker12 · Apr 20, 2015

Thanks for help everyone. Will be getting the top option and then upgrading my CPU

badboyrog2 · Apr 20, 2015

''@badboyrog You did not include a power supply in your build, OP has a 430W and it will be cutting it close.''

the rig use 300W max , he can give a try
but it depend if his psu have 2 pci-e connector of course

LucoTF · Apr 20, 2015

Tom_Walker12 :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.94 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£62.36 @ Scan.co.uk)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 285 2GB Video Card (£129.94 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£51.54 @ Aria PC)
Total: £399.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-20 09:41 BST+0100

kwa-e · Apr 20, 2015

LucoTF's build is solid and is a great choice and should give you great performance for around 400 Pounds.

Going with a 970 + i5 4460 will give you 35-40% more performance, but is turn a lot more expensive (400GBP VS 550GBP), so it's up to you to decide on this.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£143.99 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£68.36 @ Scan.co.uk)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£274.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£64.47 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £551.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-20 10:00 BST+0100

badboyrog2 · Apr 20, 2015

the r9 285 is a lot slower then the r9 280x... i can not see the point here?? and only 2gb vram

LucoTF · Apr 20, 2015

badboyrog2 :

it's an i5 build, that's the point. The 285 is a solid card and 2gb vs 3gb isn't currently an issue @ 1080p but the r9 280 is around the same prirce if you really want a 3gb card - it's just the 280 has a higher tdp and the 280 / 280x won't support freesync (which for CSGO players would actually be a big deal I think?)

kwa-e · Apr 20, 2015

The 280X is only about 5-15% faster than the 285 at 1080P and costs about %25 more, both cards are good choices overall but the 285 gives great price/performance.

And 2GB's of memory is plenty for 1080P.

Overall if all you want is solid performance at 400GBP LucoTF's build is a solid choice and will definitely play CS:GO at ultra,
But if you're planning to play AAA games the 970 build I posted above may be something you might want to consider, and will easily play current AAA games at High-Ultra.

badboyrog2 · Apr 20, 2015

''The 280X is only about 5-15% faster than the 285 at 1080P and costs about %25 more, both cards are good choices overall but the 285 gives great price/performance.''

http://media.bestofmicro.com/M/K/475148/gallery/Avg-Perf_w_600.png

LucoTF · Apr 20, 2015

I do like the i3 and gtx 970 idea rog, and you could even do it for under the £400 budget if you used an i3-4130 and a h81 / b85 board. OP actually has plenty of options for that sort of budget.

kwa-e · Apr 20, 2015

The Asus strix is being compared to the stock 285,

And as Luco said, your builds are pretty good.

sora · Apr 20, 2015

OP, I would personally go with the GTX 960 as that is probably the most the power supply could handle!

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Help with an upgrade choice

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