Is this upgrade worth it?

[DesiPower]

Reason for upgrade, well there is no particular reason, maybe the next battlefield... Just want to get better benchmark and faster response from the computer. Lately, even after fresh OS install, it has been acting a little sluggish... from boot to opening application, to loading games, everything... Total cost of upgrade ~ $475, maybe get $75 from trading old parts...

Motherboard -
ASUS P8Z68-V LE to ASRock Z77 Extreme4

Video card -
Radeon HD 6850 to Radeon R9 280

SSD -
MX100 - 850 Pro (both 120(8) gb)

Other hardware that will not be changed -
i5-2500k
CORSAIR XMS3 16GB RAM
Antec NeoECO 620W PSU
No intentions of OCing


One supplemental question - The 3 game packs that come with these video cards, are the ebay-able?

 

[Ken g6]

Why switch mobos from a Z68 to a Z77? That's insignificant.

You're swapping a MX100 for an 850 Pro? Well, maybe, but how full is the drive? Maybe see if you can get it less than 50% full? Also, upgrading to a 256GB MX100 would get you almost as much raw write speed improvement as the 850 Pro.

If you want to upgrade for gaming, you now have plenty for a GTX 970, and maybe you can even fit an SSD.

 

[DesiPower]

The main reason of mobo switch is PCIe 3.0, will the new video cards run well on 2.0?

My SSD is not even 50% full, it uses around 50GB, games are installed on a 250GB 840 (non-evo/pro)

I am not that of a hard core gamer to spend $300+ on video card, I could never get myself to spend more than $200 on them. The 280 is a significant improvement over 6850, I will stick with that for now.

 

[mfenn]

Changing the motherboard will have next to zero performance impact. The difference between PCIe 2.0 and 3.0 in single-card setups is barely measurable, certainly not noticeable.

Upgrading the GPU will certainly help game framerate, but will not improve general application performance or load times. The R9 280 is a good upgrade from the 6850 in terms of getting better framerates though I would recommend this MSI for $180 AR instead of the ASUS.

The biggest problem with your SSD performance is that you're buying them too small. 128GB SSDs are slow compared to 256GB and 512GB SSDs because they cannot drive as much NAND parallelism. They also get full quicker, meaning that the controller has to worked harder to find places to put the data.

Finally, you might want to pick up an aftermarket heatsink and overclock your 2500K. If you're absolutely opposed to overclocking, then a Haswell i5 will be a solid incremental upgrade in terms of CPU speed.

 

[dbcooper1]

You already have what you need for better performance without spending a penny or any time rebuilding- crank up the multiplier on that 2500k!

 

[escrow4]

Bigger SSDs are faster due to density. Try a 500GB EVO with a 970 and leave the mobo alone.

 

[DesiPower]

Thanks mfenn, so the 280 would run on the PCIe 2.0 slot? I remember reading on the reviews on some of them that they don't work and need 3.0 slot only, is that wrong?

I will look at some 250 gb ssd..

Will give OCing a try, I already have CM hyper 212 plus, is that enough for OCing?

 

[mistersprinkles]

Thanks mfenn, so the 280 would run on the PCIe 2.0 slot? I remember reading on the reviews on some of them that they don't work and need 3.0 slot only, is that wrong?

Whoever wrote that is missing screws. Any PCIE GPU will work in any PCIE slot. The only thing that'll happen is that if you put a PCIE 3.0 card in a PCIE 2.0 slot, you'll get 16X PCIE 2.0 which = 8X PCIE 3.0. It'll work though. That's guaranteed.

Look at the 970. 280 is a 7970 with a new name. That's been out for a loooong time. Get the new kid on the block. 970. Amazing value/performance.

 

[mfenn]

Thanks mfenn, so the 280 would run on the PCIe 2.0 slot? I remember reading on the reviews on some of them that they don't work and need 3.0 slot only, is that wrong?

Yes it is wrong. PCIe 2.0 and PCIe 3.0 are totally compatible. The only compatibility issue PCIe has ever had is PCIe 1.0, which was fixed in 1.1.

Will give OCing a try, I already have CM hyper 212 plus, is that enough for OCing?

Plenty.

 

[MongGrel]

Thanks mfenn, so the 280 would run on the PCIe 2.0 slot? I remember reading on the reviews on some of them that they don't work and need 3.0 slot only, is that wrong?

I will look at some 250 gb ssd..

Will give OCing a try, I already have CM hyper 212 plus, is that enough for OCing?

Crank that baby up a bit