Upgrade or rebuild?

[KiKaZz74]

So can u guys recommend a decent monitor? $250 max is what I have. And if I added a gpu would it be best to go with same model or can I do slightly different? Overall I'm happy but id like to be able to run slightly higher settings at a better resolution. And fps. Ram is 1866mhz but for the life of me I can get anything to overclock on the MOBO. It hates CPU overclock. And gpu overclock messes with the games. Ram resets to half speed all the time. 933mhz. Idk y. Go into bios and change this at startup and never get it to work. Any ideas on that? pSu I know can handle. Im only pulling 350w on a bad day. Most efficient at 80-90% load they also say. Kharkov. Do you have a stable overclock you could share? I'm almost wondering if the MOBO is the bottleneck anymore.

[KiKaZz74]

I plan on doing monitor anyways. Just need some ideas on what to get but do I need to upgrade gpu to handle it. Thats what im asking. Upgrade or add?

[KiKaZz74]

Guess I'll ask here since you guys have good opinions. Should I go to Windows 10? Different computer but doing updates and wanna go if it's worth it. It's my laptop that I use for engineering at school. So lots of CAD work on Solidworks. Would I benefit from upgrading to it?

[RooTxBeeR]

Do not add. Not all games even utilize multiple GPU's so if they get stuck on a game you want to play that can't. Well it will not look as good as you want. I would suggest Nvidia for gpu's. I have 2 r9 290's and a gtx 960. The new AMD cards are still FIJI boards and the 290's run hot as absolute bawls. If you can wait til the next come around of GPU's I think that would be the best bet. But if you end up doing a cpu/mobo/ram upgrade, dd4 is the new ram so you would want to get that since ddr3 is old now.

[Carnines]

Guess I'll ask here since you guys have good opinions. Should I go to Windows 10? Different computer but doing updates and wanna go if it's worth it. It's my laptop that I use for engineering at school. So lots of CAD work on Solidworks. Would I benefit from upgrading to it?

I love Windows 10. Got it for 35 bucks

[KiKaZz74]

The games that were named are the only ones that really get played. And as far as I know they all handle multiple gpu setups. I like Nvidia but after origin did the mantle thing for bf4 it's been much better. Amd is also cheaper and I'm setup to run it with the programs and such. Control center and all that. Only reason I wanna stick with them. I just don't know what to look at for their GPUs anymore. R7 R9 and RX? Differences between them? If I matched a new one to my 7870 GHz what model would match it for beat compatibility?

[RooTxBeeR]

I honestly don't know how AMD crossfire tech works when using different models. So I would have no answer for you on which to pick to pair with it. That is an old card though, shit I have even been trying to sell my r9 290's and no bites. Those are even old and they are somewhat new. If you want to get an AMD GPU. Look at their latest releases because those will have the best software compatibility for what is currently out and it will have the most recent tech for gpu's. Get what ever would be in your budget and I am sure you wont be disappointed. Just make sure which ever you get is compatible with your water set up, as well, check reviews.

[KiKaZz74]

Well nvm on win 10 unless it really is special. Never upgraded and lost my free upgrade so id rather not now unless it really is worth it like I said. Id wanna do win10pro as a straight upgrade from win7pro

[KiKaZz74]

Ok so what I had just read I'm kinda loving the rx480. Anyone played with those yet? That seems like it's gonna be the best bang for the buck. Specs and test put it up there with the 1080. But at $250 not $700. So right now that's what I'm leaning towards. Reference version is my favorite tbh. Looks sleek. What are the top 3 brands for GPU and what are some to avoid?

The one I was looking at was the sapphire brand black edition reference. Or is it better to have an open chassis and multiple fans?

[Karkov]

EVGA is where it's at. Top of the line IMO and honor their warranty better then you could imagine. they usually are the priciest

Although I have been using Sapphire Tech since 2003 and prolly, well easily 12+ cards and NEVER even one issue. If you can find a Sapphire card for a good price or whatever I wouldn't hesitate to buy it. Black or GHz edition or founder edition or OC edition or whatever they call it are usually best and have a little tweaking from the factory but i once went from a 7850 normal to 7870 GHz edition and there was no performance gains so I personally don't believe in those editions much unless you go with a different brand/type/era etc. of GPU (I have limited knowledge on this subject)

The RX480 will be better for you yes, choice is yours. I wouldn't throw too many new parts at an old computer though. Draw the line there IMO (new GPU)

the 1080 is best performing card there is right now basically, it's also the newest.

AMD=bang for you buck

Nvidia=better/best technology performance IMO but comes with a steeper price

^^ just talking generally.

I would forget about Windows 10 if I was you until you make a new computer all together. Stick with 7 for now, you aren't missing out on anything.

Open GPU with more fans will be fine. I wouldn't bother liquid cooling your GPU either. (too much $ for what you get)

I in no way am an expert, but I have been building my own PC's since 2003 (4 gigs of RAM in 03' say what?!) and used to try and build a new one every year until i stopped gaming around 2011 but I still keep up with stuff a little and always try to have an updated PC. I will be first to admit I am wrong with things I have said, I only talk from my own personal experiences. Take what I say with a grain of salt because others might have difference experiences that you could also learn from.

With that being said I still am adamant that TV's are not good for gaming and they always revert to 60hz refresh rate and even if it was a 4k/2k/1080P it's not better than an actual monitor but you are using 720 and that IS* your bottle neck of performance right now. Personally I would start with that before a GPU swap. That's just me. Also the CPU plays a role in FPS in certain games too, it's not all GPU (thought it mostly is). You are running a quad core which is just fine, they are great! but newer and newer games you wanna play are made to utilize 6 (and eventually core processors (not saying this is happening yet in any games) so if you keep playing newest games on a 4 year old computer (or however old you said it was)......well you know how it goes

Also, I have run a R 290 and R 290x and I personally don't think they run that hot. I can OC them pretty high to the verge of being unstable and only if I try to do I ever get them as high as 70C but normally they run 50's and sometimes 60's just on air cooling. Now those aren't low temps by any means but seems on par for so many other cards over the years as well. I wouldn't get one again because their performance is meh....