Okay, I've been building for a while. I put two Athlon MP 1600's on a motherboard once and somehow the 20pin atx connector melted to the mobo. So I've been around a little while, but I need help. I have some money for college to spend. Of course, some of that is going to upgrade my computer. I'm running an AMD a8 6600k. It can OC to 4.5ghz and stay cool with my Hyper 212 evo. I've been researching upgrading, and of course I thought the $330 4790k was my answer. Then I saw some benchmarks showing my a8 @ 4.5ghz, when paired with discrete GPU, a powerful one like a 780 gtx or r9 290x, is just as fast almost. About 95% as fast. By this point I was already thinking an i5 would of been enough. Do I even need to upgrade my CPU? what do you think? It would save a lot of money by not getting a whole new mobo and processor. Would the performance be worth it @ 1080p? Second, the GPU. At first the R9 290, oc'ed, seems plenty powerful enough, especially for the money. Then I saw benchies on an EVGA 780 GTX Ti Classified with the core @ 1300 mhz and memory at 7400 mhz, on air. Jesus, thats a huge clock difference compared even to the OC'ed r9 290. But it costs roughly twice as much. $380 vs $700. Is 25% fps, roughly, in the best situations, worth $420? Help me guys. I'm starting to realize I could keep this quadcore at 4.5ghz, put in an r9 290, oc it and for the total cost of $380 be close enough to an: i5, or i7, with a 780 gtx ti, at roughly $1000 with mobo. What do? Get the 780 gtx ti classy, oc'ed to heaven's doorstep? Would that be worth it without buying a new CPU? Is it worth it at all compared to an r9 290 for so much cheaper? Should I spend the money to upgrade the cpu and mobo? If so, should I go all the way and get the i7 @ 4.0 ghz stock, 4.4 turbo? Jeez, I could lock that thing in @ 4.6ghz and call it a day. So I want opinions, and facts. I'd love to hear what you all think is worth what, for how much money. Also, those of you who have owned both, being the CPU's or GPU's, tell me what you think. Was the performance difference worth the cash?
Best way to figure out if you need to bother upgrading the CPU\MB would be to monitor CPU usage with MSI AfterBurner while playing your games. If you experience fps drops below your unplayable limit caused by high\maxed CPU usage, then it could be worth it. You'll need to give more info like: games you're playing, rez\refresh rate, v-sync on or off, do you prefer consistent sync'd frames, etc. The Classified isn't worth the extra cost for gaming alone, if you like to tweak voltages\clocks for higher BM numbers then it is the card to get. For a gamer on a budget, the 290 (x) would be the better card imo.
Stay away from Coolmax dude!I use to work at MicroCenter and I cant even begin to tell you some of the horror stories ive seen and heard about coolmax!None of the guys in sales would sell you a coolmax unless they hated you or something, id be suprised if that psu can even push 300 watts honestly! Get yourself a decent Psu and a R9 290 you schould be good to go.I had a Coolermaster gx series psu did well for me,coolermaster makes decent power supplies.Currently I have a Corsair Hx 850 this is by far my favirot psu ive owned, the quality is just awsome, you also have Xfx they make good power supplies,Lepa G is good, Seasonic is good, SilverStone is good, Iam not sure if NZXT makes one but i think its white? Very nice looking not sure in the quality tough.
Yea I've read the PSU explodes and fries everything in the case. just typing that sentence is a wonder. Anyway's, I've got a Corsair 750 pegged. I'm going with an EVGA 780 GTX Ti and the i7 4790k, with a Noctua DH-14 inside an Enthoo Luxe. The mobo will be Asus maximus vii hero.