Help with upgrading?

[vintagelego]

Okay, I'm gonna start by saying I'm not an educated computer pro. I didn't go to school for this, I just have a passing understanding. I'd gladly buy a premade computer from a company if I didn't know how much of an obnoxious rip of it would be. So please don't hate me if I ask stupid questions.

That being said, I'm looking at the Radeon 280X and 290 for upgrades from my GTX 550ti, but I'm confused about whether or not it will be compatible with my motherboard and cpu.

I have a Gigabyte z68AP-d3 LGa 1155 motherboard and an intel i5-2500K processor 3.30.

From what I understand, both of those cards are PCI 3.0 Express, which my motherboard supports (I think?) but not with my current processor?

Am I right? And if my processor is compatible, would it bottleneck my performance anyway?

Thoughts?

 

[robax91]

Go for the 280x if you can get a good deal. Not sure if a 290 is worth it unless you find a crazy cheap one that won't overheat...

A 280x is the same as a 7970 basically.

Sapphire is good and it's priced aggressively.

SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 280X 3GB 384-Bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202046&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

 

[vintagelego]

Go for the 280x if you can get a good deal. Not sure if a 290 is worth it unless you find a crazy cheap one that won't overheat...

Is the 280x compatible tho?

 

[robax91]

PCI E is a standard... any GPU will work with that board. 2.0 vs 3.0 is basically an extra feature that doesn't really have much affect unless you are running a huge system (like 4790k with quad SLI you might see a tangible and noticable difference.)

 

[vintagelego]

Go for the 280x if you can get a good deal. Not sure if a 290 is worth it unless you find a crazy cheap one that won't overheat...

A 280x is the same as a 7970 basically.

Sapphire is good and it's priced aggressively.

SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 280X 3GB 384-Bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202046&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

PCI E is a standard... any GPU will work with that board. 2.0 vs 3.0 is basically an extra feature that doesn't really have much affect unless you are running a huge system (like 4790k with quad SLI you might see a tangible and noticable difference.)

Okay, thank you!

But one more potentially stupid question, what is the difference between the sapphire and this 280x? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?SID=7198a8c296c44bc2bfcde38a82e523b0&AID=10440897&PID=1225267&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-cables-_-na-_-na&Item=N82E16814131533&cm_re=PowerColor_TurboDuo_AXR9_280X-_-14-131-533-_-Product&cm_sp=

 

[robax91]

Nothing really. One card or the other might have better specs, but with hardware you always play the silicon lottery... meaning specs aside it depends on the actual card you get. Both would preform the same in games, only noise levels might be a noticeable thing. I'd just get the cheapest one you can find. Generally the longer the card, the larger the heatsink which translates into less noise.

 

[robax91]

Ok, I just checked, the only noteworthy thing that is different is that one has dual DVI and the other has dual mini display output. This only matters if you are wanting to run more than 2 monitors.

Power Color----

Ports

HDMI
1 x HDMI

DisplayPort
2 x Mini DisplayPort

DVI
1 x DVI-I

General

Max Resolution
VGA: 2048 x 1536
DVI: 2560 x 1600
DisplayPort: 4096 x 2160
HDMI: 4096 x 2160

Sapphire----

Ports

HDMI
1 x HDMI

DisplayPort
1 x DisplayPort

DVI
1 x DL DVI-I, 1 x DL DVI-D

General

Max Resolution
D-Sub(VGA): 2048x1536

DL-DVI: 2500x1600

HDMI 1.4a: 4096x2160

DisplayPort 1.2: 4096x2160

 

[robax91]

If you are wanting to game at higher than 1080p, then you should get the 290. Here is a very affordable 290.

$320 GIGABYTE Radeon R9 290 4GB 512-Bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125505&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

 

[vintagelego]

If you are wanting to game at higher than 1080p, then you should get the 290. Here is a very affordable 290.

$320 GIGABYTE Radeon R9 290 4GB 512-Bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125505&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Thank you so much!