[–] BringingTelos [S] ago
I've been recommended a 380x/390x by one of my colleagues, but was put off by the extra heat/power-draw. I haven't really looked into the 290x but I'll do some more research, thanks for the recommendation.
As Stavon mentioned, the 2nd-gen CPUs don't support full PCIe 3.0. My Mobo seems to handle both sandy and ivy bridge CPUs. So if I wanted 3.0 performance from my board, I could buy a 3rd-gen Ivy bridge CPU and everything should work alright... I think? I've been out of the game too long, I need to re-educate myself.
If I don't upgrade my CPU, it seems that the 970 will either be bottlenecked, or won't work at all :/
[–] AmyAcker 1 point 0 points 1 point (+1|-1) ago
PCIe 2.0 will not bottleneck any modern GPU, running at x16 or x8. There is no need to upgrade your current CPU or motherboard for gaming.
The 380 is Tonga; basically a 285 with a 4GB VRAM option. 390(X) is Hawaii; not much improvement over 290(X) except in VRAM, and you are unlikely to need more than 4GB. They aren't worth their price, IMO. A 290(X) is a good option, and so is a 970.
[–] Stavon 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Problem is you want PCIe 3 for your GPU, but you need to upgrade MoBo, Processor and RAM as well to use it effectively.
[–] BringingTelos [S] ago
Dang, didn't think my build was that out of date. Looking into it, the Z77 will support 3.0 with a 3rd gen CPU... But I may be better off upgrading everything anyways since I'll have to eventually. I'll keep an eye out for sales and good builds I guess.