Viability of upgrading 6y/o build

[AkimboEG]

Hi all,

I've been thinking about upgrading my old rig with some new hardware.
The build is about six years old and looks like this:

Gigabyte EX58-UD5
Intel i7 940 @ 2.93Ghz
Sapphire Radeon HD4870
3*2Gb Corsair CM3X2G1333C9
WD 2TB Caviar Green + WD 512GB Caviar Blue

I'll be replacing the GPU (which recently kicked the bucket) and buying another 6Gb of RAM.

The memory I'm good with. Another 3 Corsair sticks for ~$75.

I've been looking at the recent charts and prices, and decided an R9 280x is probably a smart investment and within my price range. Do you guys agree? And more importantly, will it work on my MOBO? Specs say it's a "PCI-E 3.0 x16" connection, which I'm pretty sure wasn't a thing when my board came out. I know it's physically identical, but have no idea if it will actually work.

Any feedback would be appreciated.
Cheers,
AkimboEG

 

[n3cw4rr10r]

If your budget is $300 the R9 280X and if your budget is $400 R9 290. And yes your motherboard supports all gpus. What about your PSU? Will it support the new gpus?

 

[AkimboEG]

If your budget is $300 the R9 280X and if your budget is $400 R9 290. And yes your motherboard supports all gpus. What about your PSU? Will it support the new gpus?

Good point. It's a Hiper Type R Mk-II 680W.

 

[n3cw4rr10r]

Its not going to work. You need 30A on a single 12V rail for a R9 280X. Yours only has ~18A per 12V.