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Started by itsanss | | 2 answers
GPU upgrade .
Ready to upgrade my GPU. Currently have the Asus Radeon HD 5870. Was looking at the Radeon R9 280X. Any reason that this wouldn't be a good upgrade?

I bought the 5870 the day it was released, approximately 5 years ago. Eyefinity was still very new at the time and I had a lot of problems with it (crashing, freezing, etc.) I think there has been some marked improvements making the system more stable. My third, far right monitor has been unplugged for the last two years. I'm more than ready to start utilizing it again!!!

So, is the 280X a good choice for me and is there any particular brand better than others? Will likely order from NewEgg. The 280X seems pretty cheap (less than $300). Is there a reason for this or have late(r) model GPUs simply come down in price?

Thanks, ya'll!!





This is my current setup:

Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Antec CP-850 850W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - factory clock -

Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme 1366 RT CPU Cooler

ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound

ASUS EAH5870/G/2DIS/1GD5/A Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity

mushkin 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit for System Builders

LG Black 6X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 6X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA
Internal Blu-ray Burner 6X Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive Model GGW-H20LK

x3 - LG W2753V-PF Black 27" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Full HD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 400 cd/m2 50000:1 w/ Smart Package

Logitech G19 Black 104 Normal Keys USB Wired Standard Gaming Keyboard

RAZER DeathAdder Precision Optical Gaming Mouse - 3.5G Infrared Sensor




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October 18, 2014 4:42:16 AM

coozie7 said:
Sounds like a good idea to me.
Also consider the Nvidia GTX770, similar pricing, similar performance but it does suffer less of a performance hit if you use anti aliasing (as with all Nvidia cards), although the 4Gb version is more expensive it's a better long term option.
Depending on pricing, availability and budget you might want to move up a step or two and look at either the R9 290, GTX780 or GTX970 but I'd only consider those if you're going to game on dual monitors, otherwise a R9 280X/GTX770 is a fine choice.
This is how the cards stack up: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-graphics-card-revi... The new GTX970 comes in just above the GTX780 and a little below the GTX780Ti, assuming both cards are at reference speeds but the exact positioning depends on the exact card, some have a factory overclock, and rate closer to, if not slightly above, the GTX780Ti/R9 290X.
Last point: That Nehalem CPU is just crying out for an overclock, at least look into doing so because it's still a fine gaming CPU but will be even better with some tweaking.




Thanks for the reply. I think I will go with the R9 290X. I didn't see that one when I was first looking online via my smartphone. I would MUCH rather browse from my desktop! Anyway, will probably order one this weekend sometime. The GPU hierarchy chart was very helpful!!

Also, about the overclock - I bought the aftermarket CPU cooler the same time I bought all the parts to build this PC thinking that I'd someday tweak it a bit. Here it has been five years and it hasn't been done! lol I very well may see if I can figure it out as I've never done one before. I've briefly looked at a very detailed post on overclock.net that pretty much shows step by step how to overclock a i7 920. I think it's something I can manage. Maybe a new GPU and a tweak of the CPU is just what this thing needs. :-)
October 16, 2014 3:08:04 PM

Sounds like a good idea to me.
Also consider the Nvidia GTX770, similar pricing, similar performance but it does suffer less of a performance hit if you use anti aliasing (as with all Nvidia cards), although the 4Gb version is more expensive it's a better long term option.
Depending on pricing, availability and budget you might want to move up a step or two and look at either the R9 290, GTX780 or GTX970 but I'd only consider those if you're going to game on dual monitors, otherwise a R9 280X/GTX770 is a fine choice.
This is how the cards stack up: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-graphics-card-revi... The new GTX970 comes in just above the GTX780 and a little below the GTX780Ti, assuming both cards are at reference speeds but the exact positioning depends on the exact card, some have a factory overclock, and rate closer to, if not slightly above, the GTX780Ti/R9 290X.
Last point: That Nehalem CPU is just crying out for an overclock, at least look into doing so because it's still a fine gaming CPU but will be even better with some tweaking.

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