Random major fps drop (from60 to 20) in games

[spagheta]

Hello, I'm having some problems with my pc , i don't know if it's from my gpu or something else.. .
This is my spec: i3-530 2.9Ghz
8gb 1333 ddr3 , gts 250 512mb, gigabyte ga-h55m-ud2h and a 650w psu ..
My resolution is 1680x1050.
When i'm playing games sometimes i have a drop of 40 fps or smthing like that .. from constant value of 60 fps , i drop around 15-20 , and that's very annoying especialy when i play multiplayer games . I thought it may be the gpu , i have it for more than 3 years. Should i change it? And if yes what would you recommend me ? I have around 300-350 $ and i want to keep it for atleast 3 years like my old one cause they are preety expensive.

 

[iyzik]

Yeah I would look into a new gpu. For 300-350$ I'd get a 7950 or a GTX 660. They trade blows in various games but I think in the end the 7950 is slightly faster.

 

[spagheta]

Yea, thanks, but the problem is in my country (Romania) the gpu's are more expensive than US so for 350$ i can get a 7870 or 660 .

 

[iyzik]

Yea, thanks, but the problem is in my country (Romania) the gpu's are more expensive than US so for 350$ i can get a 7870 or 660 .

These trade blows as well (with the non Ti atleast). The 660 is faster in bf3 and borderlands 2, and the 7870 is faster in Skyrim and metro 2033 as well as many more for both sides. The 660 has PhysX and Transparency AA while the 7870 can overclock like a monster. Transparency AA is cool but not super necessary as I have found with my 550 Ti and PhysX is...well...doesn't really mean much becuase most games give you the option to run it in software mode anyway so you can still have PhysX features with an AMD card they just run off your CPU. Plus how many games even use it besides Bordrlands 2?? 3....4?

So all in all if I you are ok with overclocking, I'd get the 7870 personally, if not then the 660.