Hardware Which component should I upgrade?

[fossda]

I have a FX-8320 overclocked to 4.4GHz, and a stock clocked ASUS Radeon R9 290. Which one should I upgrade first to get higher fps? I play at 1080p and have a budget of around £200 for a CPU or GPU upgrade.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Erm... This isn't exactly my area (I just posted a thread pointing out that I'm specialized more in intel/NVidia hardware), but both of those components look like MORE than enough to get a full 1080p gaming experience at 60fps...

 

[Originality]

Umm... Get a second R9 290? I think that would give the biggest performance boost of the options requested.

 

[Joe88]

Of course you will need a beefy psu to power those, 850w the minimum, 1000w recommended
you might just want to hold off for now because in about 6 months or so, new cards are expected from both nvidia and amd
Your cpu could also use some upgraded, seems more and more games are starting to use the CPU more, but again amd's new zen cpu's are expected this year so you may want to wait and see.

 

[Armadillo]

If you must upgrade, then cpu.

Wouldn't bother with a 2nd gpu. AMD can be a little slow on the Xfire profiles, and it seems more and more stuff is coming out that just doesn't support it (sli/xfire) like batman and just cause 3. Also there's already plenty of titles an 83XX will bottleneck, maybe not to <60fps, but enough that won't take adavantage of two cards.

 

[Hatchetball]

Regular HDD or SSD (or hybrid)?
Also, what the hell are you trying to run that you can't run now with those specs?
Game title and current FPS you are getting please.

 

[fossda]

Intensive games like AC Unity and Syndicate, GTA V, etc. I play on very high at 30fps. I use an SSD.

 

[Osga21]

Sell the 290 and get a 390, maybe?

 

[fossda]

Does the 390 have better price/performance than a Nvidia card? Because I'm considering switching to Nvidia for the Gameworks.

 

[Armadillo]

Does the 390 have better price/performance than a Nvidia card? Because I'm considering switching to Nvidia for the Gameworks.

390 is just a higher clocked 290 with 8GB vram. That's it. No point at all to jump from a 290->390.

 

[fossda]

390 is just a higher clocked 290 with 8GB vram. That's it. No point at all to jump from a 290->390.

That's what I thought. Would the GTX 970 be a good upgrade for Gameworks games?

 

[Armadillo]

That's what I thought. Would the GTX 970 be a good upgrade for Gameworks games?

I suppose it depends how much you gameworks features mean to you. Generally speaking, outside of gameworks effects, the 290/390/970 are all within a few fps of each other.

Assuming you'd sell the 290, it will sell for about, 140-160, so you'd be looking at least another £100 on top to get a 970. So I guess it comes down to, is the gameworks stuff worth that to you? I wouldn't do it. If I insisted on upgrading now, then for me the only worthwhile jump would be the 980ti. Good performance jump over a 290 + the gameworks, but that's well over your £200 budget. I just don't think there is a worthwhile upgrade from 290 for £200, unless you really want gameworks and must have it now. If I wanted to make the jump from amd-nvidia, I'd save my £200 and keep saving for the new cards in 4-6 months.