Graphics card upgrade time, need advice

[Astra.Xtreme]

A new monitor is something I'll be getting in a month or two. Right now it's a pretty low end monitor I'm dealing with, so higher resolutions aren't something I'm looking at. Yet. That being said, getting a card with 4GB of vram enables me to worry about a new monitor (and higher resolutions) as being an actual thing and not dreaming about 1920x res anymore :s

Even if you do get a new monitor, your CPU is going to hold you back.  So with that, you'll likely need a new CPU and mobo, which will run you a $200-500 depending on what you get.

 

And for a monitor, if you're going to go above 1080p, you might as well get a 27" with a 2560x1440 resolution, and we're talking $400-800 for a decent one.

 

So if you plan on making that $600-1300 investment anytime in the next few years, then yeah maybe consider something with 4GB of vRAM.  But honestly, I don't think it's worth the high investment just to get a higher resolution.  1080p is what most people game on and it looks great.  Anything above that and performance dives drastically unless you have some serious power in your rig.  I would much rather keep it at 1080p and crank the quality and AA settings as high as I can go.

[LOC Veteran]

Yeah a CPU upgrade is coming down the line as well, probably in the next 3 or 4 months. Right now I'm on a 1280x1024 LCD, so any games I play I can max out since the resolution is fairly low. Unless the game is a CPU limited type game, of which there are plenty. Either way, I got the 4GB card mainly for the future when I do have a new monitor and CPU in this rig. Of course by then some 8GB card with snazzy DX15 will be out. :|

[neoadorable]

Yeah a CPU upgrade is coming down the line as well, probably in the next 3 or 4 months. Right now I'm on a 1280x1024 LCD, so any games I play I can max out since the resolution is fairly low. Unless the game is a CPU limited type game, of which there are plenty. Either way, I got the 4GB card mainly for the future when I do have a new monitor and CPU in this rig. Of course by then some 8GB card with snazzy DX15 will be out. :|

 

I think you made the right choice for the GPU, though if possible i'd have stretched the budget a little and gotten a 280. Not a big deal, though, that 4GB is nice for sure.

[LOC Veteran]

So not to bring back a thread for no reason or anything:

 

My friend decided it was time for my upgrade. So, along with the R9 270x I was able to get, he bought me a whole new system. Which I think will be insanely good for gaming compared to this old ass rig. He bought me:

 

ASUS M5A97 LE Motherboard

AMD FX-8350 Black Edition Vishera 8-Core 4.0GHz (4.2GHz Turbo)

CORSAIR CX series CX600 600W ATX

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3

Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache

Cooler Master Elite 430 Case

 

Needless to say, i'm quite happy right now. :D