Upgrades for PC built on the GA-890FXA-UD5

[Gavster]

My PC has been running smoothly on a Giggabyte GA-890FXA-UD5 motherboard for quite a while now, and would like to know if there are any worthwhile upgrade options, or whether I should consider a complete rebuild with a new motherboard, CPU and graphics card.

To be frank, I prefer incremental upgrades, but I suspect this board is near the end of the line. For instance, I don't have the best CPU, but I am not sure if an upgrade would result in my PC running much faster than it is at the moment. Does anyone have a better specification than me with this board, and if so, what would your recommendations be?

[regit]

If depend for what you want your pc .The cheapest will be if you buy only new graphic card  as hd 7870/7950, you will have big bost in game. Chang for Fx 8xxx add you  few fps more  in game, and  faster work in apps .I have phenom 965 and hd 7950 and i can play in all game on high.
Or if you want change platform to intel. Or wait to new year for new amd & intel platform.

[AgentFXA]

AM4 socket is about to launch later this year!

Other than that a 8350 CPU, a better GPU (380/390) and faster ram (1833) is what you can do. AMD Gigabyte boards usually last 3 years by my experience. 

[Gavster]

Thanks for advice, that is really helpful, but leads me to more questions.

I would like to upgrade to to an AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz, but I am not sure whether my board is compatible or not - how will I know?

As regards the graphics, can anyone recommend the coolest running hd 7870/7950 available? I don't want to overclock the GPU, rather I would prefer it to run without overheating my rig. I have run the Sapphire Vapor-X HD5750 for 3-years but if there is a cooler GPU out there I would be interested....

[Tiger]

There are four different PCB (Printed Circuit Board) revisions of the GA-890FXA-UD5. Of the four, only rev 3.1 supports FX CPUs. The revision number is printed on the lower left corner of the PCB.

The HD 7870 is several years old and is superseded by the R9 200 series and this years R9 300 series. A 384-Bit or 256-Bit video card would be a big improvement over the 128-Bit UD 5750.

Radeon R9 280
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150706&Tpk=N82E16814150706
System Requirements: 750W (minimum)

[Gavster]

There are four different PCB (Printed Circuit Board) revisions of the GA-890FXA-UD5. Of the four, only rev 3.1 supports FX CPUs. The revision number is printed on the lower left corner of the PCB.

The HD 7870 is several years old and is superseded by the R9 200 series and this years R9 300 series. A 384-Bit or 256-Bit video card would be a big improvement over the 128-Bit UD 5750.

Radeon R9 280
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150706&Tpk=N82E16814150706
System Requirements: 750W (minimum)

Thanks for the heads up on the compatibility of my motherboard with the latest AMD FX CPUs. Unfortunately, I purchased the GA-890FXA-UD5 motherboard many years ago, so I have version 2. Instead of an FX CPU, I am looking for an AMD Phenom II 980 3.7 GHz 4-core processor, but they don't ever seem to come up for sale on eBay, so I may have to wait before I can upgrade my CPU.

In the meantime, I have taken your advice and purchased the Sapphire R9 280x Dual X 3gb which is a big improvement over the 128-Bit UD 5750 as you suggest.