Upgrading my GPU?

[MattMayhem]

So, I am a pretty low-budget person because I'm broke 90% of the time, and I am currently saving up for PC upgrades. Though they will be 1 at a time, and happen slowly, I kind of want to upgrade my GPU.

I currently have an R9 270x. It's an overclocked Sapphire model. I like it & all, but it does disappoint me sometimes. For example, one of my favorite games is Mechwarrior Online, and while playing I only get like 35 FPS (sometimes less) and I have to play on reduced settings too, which sucks.

I was wondering which GPU I should go for next? I'm looking for a "cheap" upgrade, not looking to spend like $1000 on a GPU, but a couple hundred would be okay. Maybe something a tier above a 270x? I'm not sure what that would even be.

My friend just bought a GTX 760 and he really loves it, I was wondering if that would be a good upgrade?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The 760 is a mere 12% faster

I can't see getting excited at anything less than 30%

$339 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127741

$459 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127746

 

[Gamma2Tech]

Just out of curiosity, what is your CPU? My friend has the same card and is a serious Mechwarrior Online Gamer and he gets 117fps (average, uncapped) He upgraded his CPU because it was bottle-necking.

 

[MattMayhem]

Thank you both for the responses guys, I appreciate it.

@JackNaylorPE; that graph, I was looking for that but was unable to find it, I guess my searching skills are sub-par, but thanks for posting.

I like that 770 you posted, maybe slightly higher than what I expected (price-wise) but I definitely would not mind that at all, gonna have to look into it.

@Gamma2Tech, I have an AMD FX 8320 running at 3.7GHz, sometimes overclocked to 4GHz when gaming. (but only thanks to a friend, I myself am a noob at overclocking)

I just don't get what the bottleneck is, or how I can find out what it is?

My friend plays MWO with me and he plays on high, and he has a crappier rig than me (No disrespect to him, he even calls his rig crappy all the time) he's running an FX 6300, 4GB RAM (1600MHz), and that new GTX 760 I mentioned.

Meanwhile I have:
FX 8320 (8-cores, 3.7GHz speed standard)
8GB RAM (1600MHz)
R9 270x (Running 1070MHz GPU core clock, memory clock 1400MHz)
1TB WD HDD (7200RPM)

How would I be able to tell my bottleneck? Also, if it's my CPU, how can I fix it? Would I have to upgrade, or perhaps just overclock it?

Any advice would be great, I'd love to NOT waste money on getting a GPU if it's not going to help.

What does your friend have for a CPU in his PC, Gamma2Tech?

 

[MattMayhem]

Oh and one more thing to mention, my PC does GREAT on other games. I can play games like Planetside 2 on high, Counterstrike GO, and several other games and get 60FPS like it's nothing (I tend to cap mine because I have a crappy-ish monitor, so 60FPS is fine for me)

Yet when I play MWO, I get sometimes down to like 28 FPS, even on LOW graphic settings.