Help me upgrade my gpu please!

[Skoomd]

I have been interested in building my own computer for a while now, but i'm only 15 and obviously don't have a lot of money. I just saved up about 5 grand, and am letting aside about 2k for a computer, but here's the thing, I have no idea what to get! That 2 bills includes things like a monitor and speakers too, so don't forget that. One thing i've been hung up on is a graphics card. I think i'm gonna grab myself an amd card, as they seem to have more options for all budgets. I was looking at both the 7950 and the 7870, both the HIS IceQ ones. I've heard that kind is very cool and quiet, which is very important to me. For those of you interested, here is my amazing computer specs I have now. Gets about 10fps in Battlefield 1942!
http://valid.canardpc.com/2709887
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/gx9hf/

So now that you know where i'm coming from, hopefully ya'll can get me a head start, because really, at this point in time, i'm so unsure what to get because no matter what I get in the end, it is certainly gonna be better than what I have now!

I usually play casual games, like world of warcraft, but I do also enjoy playing my favorite game, Battlefield 3, but sadly i've been bound to an xbox 360 crapbox because i'm not too sure my piece of sh*t can run it I will be playing at 1080p, and am hoping for at least 60 fps in all my games.

All the best,

Will

HIS H795Q3G2M IceQ Radeon HD 7950 Video Card - New...

HIS H787Q2G2M IceQ Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition Vide...

 

[gathor]

Only 15 and saved 5k lol. For 2k you will get nice gaming machine. I would suggest looking at some members specs (not mine thou) so you get rough idea of what you can run. Good luck with hunting.

 

[Widjaja]

Without pricing:-
i5 3570K
Z77 ATX Motherboard of medium tier e.g ASUS P8Z77-V or equivalent from other brand.
Corsair Dominator or Vengeance 2X4GB DDR3 RAM
128gb SSD OS, 1TB HDD games
650W PSU Corsair HX or TX
DVD Drive
Fractal ARC define Midi R2 Case
HD7870
LG IPS 23" monitor (Tend to be cheap over here).
Window 7 Home Premium
Leave the left over to DVI or HDMI cable, extra case fans, thermal paste, mouse and keyboard.

The HIS HD7870 should be fine.
A member here is getting some high temperatures in dual card config though.
My HD7870 gets up to 80degC max in stress tests and 65-75degC in games.

 

[DarkOCean]

man price on amd cards have have gone up and up $350 for a 7950 when did that happen? they where like $280 two months ago, i think its because the game bundle they've been doing on.

this one is cheaper SAPPHIRE 100352-2L Radeon HD 7950 Video Card - New...
and if you have a well ventilated case open coolers always perform better than blower style and are quieter.

 

[buildzoid]

dude if you get a average board some average sound and monitor you can get a 7970

 

[tacosRcool]

SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC128B/WW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-8GBXL

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K

SAPPHIRE 100352-2L Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Corsair Carbide Series 200R Black Steel structure with molded ABS plastic accent pieces ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UP4 TH LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with Dual Thunderbolt

CORSAIR CX Series CX750 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM

CORSAIR Hydro Series H60 (CWCH60) High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler

Western Digital WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Subtotal: $1,217.90 without an OS. All prices are from Newegg

Leaves plenty of room for other things like Monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. I prefer Steelseries mice and I like Razer keyboards. For monitors I really have no preference.

 

[Skoomd]

man price on amd cards have have gone up and up $350 for a 7950 when did that happen? they where like $280 two months ago, i think its because the game bundle they've been doing on.

this one is cheaper SAPPHIRE 100352-2L Radeon HD 7950 Video Card - New...
and if you have a well ventilated case open coolers always perform better than blower style and are quieter.

Oops meant to post this one instead... Didn't see it because it was out of stock! HIS H795QC3G2M IceQ Boost Clock Radeon HD 7950 Vid...

Thanks for all of the other responses. @tacosrule, do you think the Samsung 840 SSD is a worthy upgrade over the 830 you posted?

@buildzoid I don't really want to down on some of the other parts in the build to save up for a 7970, and certainly not sound. I'm a bit of an audiophile myself and good sound is important to me.

For those interested, these are the parts I was thinking in my build, similar to what you guys recommended.

Intel Core i5 3570k

Samsung 840 128GB SSD

Western Digital 2TB 7200RPM HDD

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H Motherboard

G-SKILL ripjaw 2x4GB 1600MHz Blue ram

Corsair AX720 PSU

Corsair H100i

Coolermaster Haf-X blue or Corsair obsidian 650D

Razer Blackwidow keyboard

Razer deathadder mouse or Steelseries Sensei

And for the monitor it depends on budget, which is why I opted for a 7870 or 7950, instead of a 7970. I was thinking the BenQ XL2420T if budget allows or just some 23-27" 1080p 60hz display.

For sound, I was opting for speakers because I already own the Turtle Beach x12 headset so i'm covered there, but if I want a more comfy, open gaming experience, I could use the speakers. I was looking at the Corsair SP2500 speakers as they have excellent reviews.

@gathor xD you may think it is a lot of money, but I need to save up for a car and college, hence why I didn't put all 5k into the budget.

 

[buildzoid]

go for the 7950 however your PSU is pretty serious overkill as an i5 3570k + board pull about 120w and the card can go to 250w when OCed so unless you plan to CF take the PSU down a little as your current power draw with everything OCed will be around 450w.
The H100i is worse than the H80i.
I don't like Gigabyte's bios but that's a matter of choice. Over all my favorite boards are from ASUS.
Those cases are really expensive. There are cheaper cases that would work just as well