Recommendations for upgrading Radeon 4890 (His 280 vs MSI 280)

Vrman

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Oct 11, 2009
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Edit:
Found these two current deals for the same price
His IceQ OC R9 280 3G http://
MSI R9 280 3G http://

If anyone can recommend one over the other based on performance and cooling I would also appreciate it. Also if the card will work with my current case and psu setup

Original Post:
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: This week or next

BUDGET RANGE:
GPU: $150-200, though would go up to $250 if there is a real difference in performance
Case: <$100
Cooling: <$100

USAGE: Just for Gaming - Any and all games (Skyrim, AC 4, Endless Legend, Civ Revolution, NBA 2K15) Would prefer to future proof for at least a year or 2

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY:
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4890 100269HDMI Video Card
Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS:
AMD Phenom II X4 945 3.0GHz
GIGABYTE GA-MA785G-UD3H ATX AMD Motherboard
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel
Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Computer Case
No Cooling (except built in case fans)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Any

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: US

PARTS PREFERENCES: None

OVERCLOCKING: No Idea how to SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No Idea what it is

Hey everyone,

I am finally thinking of upgrading my old Radeon HD 4890 graphics card and wanted some suggestions. I built my previous PC using this community's guidance in 2009 and had an amazing desktop that I could play all my games on until recently. But now its gotten somewhat obsolete.

My main concern(other than the price) is horrible overheating. My pc currently overheats like crazy (causes sweating in a central AC house) and has been doing so since the beginning. I would love some advice on some kind of liquid cooling in the ~$100 range that would work with my Antec case or even suggestions on a case (~$100) case that can support adequate cooling.

I am very flexible about my pc(I know most of the parts are really ancient) so any and all advice or suggestions are welcome since I know very little about all the different components.
 

JBDelta

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Aug 13, 2014
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I would say go with whichever one is cheaper. Right now, things are looking pretty good for the HIS R9 280, at $179.99 that's essentially a steal because the R9 270x normally retails for around $180-200! If you don't like the cooling, I'd highly suggest purchasing an Arctic Xtreme IV in the future. (BTW, you might want to upgrade your RAM to at least 6 gigs, most of today's games and even past games like Skyrim and Medal of Honor require more memory usage than 4GB, but if that's your budget then just upgrade in the future.)

Also, SLI and CrossFire are both programs from NVidia and AMD which let's you put two or more GPUs linked together with what is called a bridge into your system which draws equal power from those GPUs giving you more graphics processing power than what you would have with a singe graphics card!

Hope this helps!
 

JBDelta

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Aug 13, 2014
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Actually, the MSIR9 280 is the steal for $159.99, but if the deal for that expires then get the HIS variant. Btw, MSI has some of the best cooling out there and is a big brand name, so I hope you're able to get in on that deal man!