Gaming PC Upgrade - Unsure of what needs upgraded

[Dhennings]

Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: this week (the closer the better)

Budget Range: $1000-$2000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Surfing, Every day use.

Are you buying a monitor: No

Current Parts:

-Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
-AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core
-ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard
-OCZ Platinum Edition 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
-Antec Signature SG-850 850W Power Supply
-Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16
-500g HD
-80g SSD

Parts to Upgrade: Here is where I hit a wall, I dont know what is too dated and what I can keep. I want a new video card for sure, I would like to be able to handle full graphics on new games again, I have just started experiencing issues recently running max settings on my current setup. I am not opposed to switching to nvidia and intel, What do I need to make my computer run current and future games maxed settings for the next couple years.

Do you need to buy OS: Yes (if i upgrade from windows 7)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Usually shop on newegg.com or tigerdirect.com

Location: Sacramento, CA USA

Parts Preferences: Kinda dependant on what is needed at this point.

Overclocking: I get so worried about this, i usually dont mess with anything, would love to get the most out of my computer though. Maybe a guide recommendation?

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Your Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050

Additional Comments: Really unsure of what has to go and what can last a couple more years, thanks for any and all assistance.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I play a variety of different games, love to try new games... as such, with the latest set of games (arkham origins, assassins creed 4, and the more recent games this year) I have seen my system slow a lot, and unable to run max settings. Now bumping them down slighty does the trick and I am running pretty high frames, but I want to bump the machine back up to max again like when I built it originally.

 

[rvilkman]

PSU and case you can keep, those are still top notch.
No need to upgrade from Windows 7, although some newer games get a slight benefit running on windows 8.

As for the rest, while some are still usable (drives and GPU) you will get better performance from new parts.

The next question is do you want to go AMD or Intel ?

These will absolutely destroy everything on 1650x1080, so you might want to upgrade your monitor at some point.

The builds are listed with Nvidia GPU's (GTX770) as in the high end they are the reasonably priced choice at the moment due to some availability issues with the R9 280X. If it was available at the $300 range, it would be just as good of a choice.

AMD Build:
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2mnpP
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2mnpP/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2mnpP/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($139.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($124.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($159.95 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.48 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($335.30 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1009.67
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-18 15:31 EST-0500)

Intel build:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2mntx
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2mntx/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2mntx/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($159.95 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.48 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($335.30 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1119.68
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-18 15:33 EST-0500)

 

[Dhennings]

Any major differences between amd and intel, Gains and losses between the 2? How long will the 770 or the 280x likely last me (ultra settings), no need to go bigger on that end?

 

[rvilkman]

The AMD has better multithreaded performance, intel currently is better for gaming due to it's better per core performance.
Both still run games just fine

Well if you are not upgrading your monitor they should last you a while. You can of course go bigger, but the next level up is quite a jump in price.
For 1920x1080 for things like Crysis, Farcry and BF4 you maybe could use some extra umph.
But for example for 1920x1080 GTX770 runs BF4 at 49 min fps / 59 avg fps.

Custom cooled R9 290 and 290X are coming early next year. And if the pricing is in the $400-450 range for R9 290 and $550-600 for the R9 290X then those would of course be options. On the NVidia front GTX780's are in the $500-530 range, but the R9 290 is actually faster. Then GTX 780Ti is in the 650-700 range and the R9 290X trades blows with it pretty equally. So if available and custom cooled, the AMD is the better choice price/performance wise.

So if you want to spend more money on the graphics, go right ahead, you will get more performance. But currently your choices for good cards are a bit limited pretty much to GTX770, GTX780 and GTX780Ti. Check out some tests for them for the games that you are looking to play and see what gives you the performance you want, otherwise either setup is able to run what you want.

Or you can simply upgrade the rest and make do with the 6970 for now and upgrade when hopefully the availability and pricing will be better at the beginning of the year. As it is still a quite capable card, and actually in some games your performance might be limited by your CPU.

 

[Dhennings]

with the newly announced cards, anything you would suggest changing? I should add the games im looking to play on ultra are watch dogs, the division, titanfall.

 

[Dhennings]

Pulling the trigger on the upgrade in the next couple weeks, have the new custom cooled cards come out yet? If so, what would you change in my build to throw in an r9 290. A monitor upgrade is definitely coming soon as well.