Graphics Card upgrade

Thank you for the link! I was assuming because of my motherboard's age, I would be unable to use today's graphic cards. What are the downsides of using today's cards on a PCIe 2.0? Is there a performance hit I should look at while viewing more modern cards?

From some links on the page you posted, I looked through the site on some of the reviews. It was basically either the 4GB GTX 960 or the R9 280x. I am considering the 4GB GTX 960. I understand that the R9 280x is a similar price and has slightly better specs but I have a lot of accessories plugged in and love the low power usage on the 960. It is also a lot quieter it seems. With such a low power usage I could even SLI in the future if the card drops dramatically in price since a 970 is probably superior than 2x 960s. It was a mess trying to read a lot of comparisons between the two since apparently both sides have bias "fans" with a lot of contradicting views. I am also unsure if it will fit/work on my motherboard, what do you think?

EVGA GeForce GTX 960 [4GB]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487128
SAPPHIRE R9 290x [3GB]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202137
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X58
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131665

The results were about a single digit percent to less. Toms has reviews on both of those GPUs so you can see how each fair on your games.

You can also put both into GPUBOSS for a rundown.

As to stress testing, there's FURMARK but as you know these cards may start high and drift down. Example at http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-290x-thermal-paste-efficiency,3678.html and since both can do that you can't declare it's only the 290's issue.
Bob

I will take another look, never smart to rush things after all. I have read a few threads on Toms comparing them and am looking at the R9 280x. I have some concerns on how hot it runs but it is said that I can control that. I am confused over the 750psu REQUIRED in the specs but some argue that its just extra insurance.

I am unable to find the 4GB 960 on GPUBOSS sadly.

You can find reviews on the 4GB 960 and such to see if it makes any difference. As you know, these GPUs have some open discussions about " 970 is having problems consistently using 4gb of ram without a performance hit, " so it begs the question what you are attempting to do. 4K gaming isn't the goal for sure. That's not enough oomph to get much past 20 FPS on 4K.

As to the power, we can find reviews on Watts for the card and then you double that to stay out of trouble.

To figure it out for sure you put a Watt meter on your rig. Then you double that to arrive at the minimum safe PSU wattage for that rig. You still want to know your Amperes per rail but if you go with double the Watts and a single rail +12V it's yet to be a machine that will get into trouble.
Bob

I was considering the 760 Ti but adding a few extra dollars does seem to make a huge difference. Is there a program to "stress test" graphics card? Both of them currently work still but 1 crashes maybe at most twice a week.

Plug 'gpu stress test' into google....seems to be a few hits.
It might be a good idea to get a temp monitor prog.
Something you can sit and watch while the test runs.
Things are going to get toasty quick.
If things get too toasty shut down the test don't wait for the machine to crash.

I wish to give this tower to a sibling when I build my new one and the current gpu is on its last legs. I won't be building it until later this year so I want this tower "fixed" until then.