Help £500 upgrade and don't know what to do..

Soldato
Joined
19 Sep 2007
Posts
3,149
I'm looking for a gpu and monitor upgrade but I really don't have a clue what to go for. My current setup is as follows:

3750k stock
Z77ma-g45
8 gb ram
240 gb ssd
460gtx 786mb
Samsung 223bw with a whopping resolution of 1050..
650a xfx psu

I'm trying to get back into gaming and am interested in the witcher 3, gta etc but I really don't know what to get. I realise that whatever I buy would be a decent upgrade but I just want to spend the money wisely. I've been waiting for the 390 deal but I am not sure as I've read it only supports hdmi 1.4 and my fear is that this would limit me on the future.

As for monitors I really have no clue all I know is I would like it larger than 22"


Any help is greatly appreciated!
 
Soldato
Joined
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5,182
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Lincolnshire
Depends if you want to stay green or go red?

I would personally go for the 970 and 144Hz monitor. :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 WindForce OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N970WF3OC-4GD) £257.99
1 x BenQ XL2411Z 24" TRUE 144Hz Flicker FREE 3D Vision 2.0 Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £229.99
Total : £487.98 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).




or for the red team, with a little more GPU power... (sticking with a £500 budget)

YOUR BASKET
1 x XFX Radeon R9 390X "DD Black Edition" 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (R9-390X-8DB6) £349.99
1 x Asus VE247H 24" Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor - Black £129.95
Total : £479.94 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).

 
Soldato
OP
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3,149
Haha that is the descision.. I have no preference brand wise, I just want value for money. That makes me feel old.. Would the 970 cope with 144hz @ 1080p?
 
Soldato
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Very easily. I think you would see an additional bonus by getting the 144Hz monitors. They make gaming so much more fluid and smooth. It's a different experience, let alone the higher res and more GPU power you would get.

Go for the 970 and BenQ 144Hz monitor... ;)
 
Soldato
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Location
Lincolnshire
Personally I would still stick with the 970. In some tests the 390 does marginally beat the 970 and the 8GB vRAM is nice.

However the 970 has lower power consumption and more overclock power. Nvidia also has tech such as PhysX while AMD don't.

Neither card would be a bad choice, it's purely down to personal preference. You might go for the 390 because of the extra vRAM, but depends on your past history with NV and AMD.

Either way they will perform very similar. :)

EDIT: I presume you are talking about this PowerColor R9 390?

EDIT2: Just come across this review and at higher res, even with less vRAM the 970 performs much better. I would stick with the 970 my friend!
 
Last edited:
Soldato
OP
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19 Sep 2007
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3,149
Right I've gone for the 970 BenQ looking forward to seeing an improvement over a 10 yr old monitor :D

thanks Sparx
 
Soldato
OP
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So all installed and running nice and sweet. Really please with the upgrade thanks Sparx.

Although I did wonder for a while what the 144hz difference was. That was until I realised that the monitor was set to 60hz...
 
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