Hello all, 8 months ago advice here really helped me out, so I'm back CPU: i5 3550 Ram: 8gb Screen resolution: 1920*1080 I had GTX460 SLI but one of the cards just gave up (had artifacts, freezes etc. So I took it out, everything is well since I took it out). As a result, I now have a single GTX460, which isn't really enough to play games. I wanna buy Sapphire Toxic R9 280X, it's at $425 here or Powercolor R9 280X TurboDuo OC at $350. So which way should I go: 1) Bake the broken GTX460 in the oven, hope to get another few months out of it. 2) Just buy R9 280X (Please state Powercolor or Sapphire) 3) Wait for the new cards (though there are no previews or reviews for them, and these new cards were supposedly gonna come out in spring). Will the new cards be worth it? Will they just give us overclocked versions of current GPUs or will they have really new technology behind them? Any advice is welcome. Thank you in advance.
What games do you play with your i3 550 CPU? I've never heard of it before, but it seems to be a dual-core. If you're really unsatisfied with a single 460, then sell off the other one and pick up the PowerColor for $350, however... If I were you, I'd recommend waiting until September 2nd, at which time the new R9 285 will be released. ...Keep in mind the 285 has 2GB of VRAM (instead of the 3GB in the 280X). The reviews aren't yet released, but I'd say it's going to be ~10% slower than the 280X, but it requires less 60 less watts, plus the price is only $250! The card is a new AMD design, and is going to be very affordable considering the facts (and I'd recommended it to be paired with your i3 550, if you're worried about your budget) AMD quotes the R9 285 to be ~15% faster than Nvidia's GTX 760 for games.
sorry, it's a i5 3550, basically a 3570k without overclocking capabilities. and the prices you post will be 30% higher in my country :bang: so it would not be good to wait for that card =)
OK good, because I was scratching my head as to why anyone would pair an i3 550 with a 280X, unless they simply love AA/MSAA, etc...
I did go from a single GTX 460 to a R9 280x. Performance wise, i'm very happy with the result BUT, i switched to a R9 280x because my 460 was already in bad shape, it needed the oven method every 3-4 months on mine. It all depends on your need. If your 460 Sli were great for the games YOU were playing, you should really try the oven method. It can fix your card for a small time or a long time (some card really just work after that without the need of redoing it apparently). Or even buy a used 460. In my country, they are sold 50€ used. I would also be carefull with ATI cards, some 3D games/emulators got ugly glitch. If i had to pick a card right now, i would have choose an GTX 770, only for this reason. BUT this card is (way) more expensive where i live, so i don't regreat at all my choice, but it's still worth checking out.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8592918&CatId=7387 get it while its hot
