Smartphone or a new graphic card ?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
P

peter191

Honorable
Nov 9, 2013
20
0
10,510
hello friends!
this is my first post here in tomshardware!
recently i had some money to spend and i am confused where to spend, i have a pc which is having pretty old video card, so i wanted to know should i buy a new nexus 5 smartphone or a new graphic card ?

my current pc specs is :

processor- i5 2500k

mobo- asrock b75

gpu- 9500gt 1gb ddr2

ram - 4gb

hardisk - 500gb

psu- coolermaster extreme 500w

at present i am having apple iphone 3gs.
so as i mention before should i buy a new smartphone or a new gpu ?
 
Solution
rolandzhang3
In my opinion I'd upgrade the PC, and those parts won't get outdated very quickly haha.

What's the big advantage that the new smartphone will give you over your old one? it's just a question of how much it's worth to you 😀

For $450 the best you could do right now would be a Radeon r9 290 and a new PSU, I'd wait a few weeks or so for the aftermarket cooling designs to hit the market, the current ones run at 95 degrees.
Sort by date Sort by votes
Depends what you want or use more, upgrading to play newer games coming out or getting a new smartphone.

That system is quite upgradeable, adding 4GB more RAM, and a new GPU and it will be playing modern games without a problem.

The only shame is that b75 motherboard doesn't allow you to take advantage of the 2500k's unlocked multiplier, so overclocking isn't an option so far, fortunately it's a great gaming CPU that'd last you a while.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

thanks for such a quick reply!
i am having around 450$ with me , yet confuse which way to go .
as far as pc is concern when i bought this i was not having idea about which motherboard i should pair it to get best performance
i just bought the mobo because socket was matching so i thougt it will work. please help me where to go ,and if i go with a gpu upgrade what thing i need to buy to run modern games?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The GPU would be the main concern if you want to play modern games, you could think about changing motherboards when you feel like overclocking later.

You could spend around less than $200 or so on a decent gaming card and save up for that new smartphone as well, then you can get both 😀

Looking at your power supply, it only has a single PCI-E connector and it's a cooler master (which isn't really the most trusted brand for PSUs) so this upgrade would be worthwhile.

If you live in the US then this is a fairly good deal
This 7870 XT runs pretty warm but is the best performer in its price range (performs close to a $240 7950)
The 550W PSU should also be good enough for any future GPU upgrades
Then again, adding 4GB more of ram should also be a nice upgrade (I didn't include it because I don't know your RAM brand/configuration and frequency)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1ZAd1

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake SMART 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($52.43 @ Mwave)
Total: $192.42
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-09 03:11 EST-0500)

 
Upvote 0 Downvote

friend the problem is i don't want to buy 2 mid range gadgets so that they both get outdated quickly.
in your opinion should i upgrade my pc or buy a new smartphone ?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
In my opinion I'd upgrade the PC, and those parts won't get outdated very quickly haha.

What's the big advantage that the new smartphone will give you over your old one? it's just a question of how much it's worth to you 😀

For $450 the best you could do right now would be a Radeon r9 290 and a new PSU, I'd wait a few weeks or so for the aftermarket cooling designs to hit the market, the current ones run at 95 degrees.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
thanks. i just wanted to know how will radeon r9 290 will run games like bf4, cod ghost in 1080p ? my biggest reason of buying a new smartphone was to play games and enjoy the whole new experience of android. and please can you tell what brand of gpu and psu to buy ,personally i like seasonic as there psu is having good review.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The 290 will be maxing those games at 1080p with little to no problem, just wait for new cooling designs to come out and buy those, wouldn't want a card running over 90c.

I'd pay attention to EVGA, MSI, ASUS and Gigabyte for the GPU brand and the generally recommended PSU brands are Seasonic, Antec, Corsair and EVGA.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote


Then that"s really great i thought we need gtx titan to maxout any game @ 1080p so please can you tell me the pricing of the gpu and psu ?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A 290 performs very close to a titan anyway. The titan isn't a gaming card anymore, it's there for designers given its special tech.

Here you go

Also when I said maxing out, bear in mind no card can max AA for every game you play haha, especially ones like Crysis 3

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1ZCgH

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card ($405.91 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $465.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-09 06:44 EST-0500)

As I mentioned, wait a while for the non-reference cooling designs to come out before buying the 290, wouldn't want to buy a card that runs at 95c for your system 😛
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom