Looking for advice on upgrading my PC

Hi folks, I am looking to get an upgrade for my graphics card. I think its on its way out and would appreciate some advice on a new one that would work well with my current pc (spec below). If anything else in my spec could do with being replaced while I am replacing the graphic card let me know.

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 III ADVANCED CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690 (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache

Motherboard
Gigabyte Z97-HD3: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs

Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready

1st Storage Drive
240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)

2nd Storage Drive
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5003AZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)

Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)

USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence

What's your budget for the upgrades?

Out of interest, what makes you think that yours is on the way out?

I have actually found the reason I have been having problems with my screen blacking out but I can still hear sounds. When it does this I am forced to use the button to restart the pc. Also my main monitor blacks out randamly lately. It looks like mini hdmi port might be damaged, so I have swapped it out with a dvi and its working fine so far. Upgrade wise, I could spare up to £500 maybe £600.

Xharken said:

I have actually found the reason I have been having problems with my screen blacking out but I can still hear sounds. When it does this I am forced to use the button to restart the pc. Also my main monitor blacks out randamly lately. It looks like mini hdmi port might be damaged, so I have swapped it out with a dvi and its working fine so far. Upgrade wise, I could spare up to £500 maybe £600.

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Do you still want to upgrade the graphics?

Yea, my card is very old now and its about time I upgraded it. Any advice you could offer would be appreciated.

Xharken said:

Yea, my card is very old now and its about time I upgraded it. Any advice you could offer would be appreciated.

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What’s your main gaming monitor, what make and model? Or resolution and refresh if you know?

My main monitor is a Samsung S24C300H 21.5 inch. Resolution: 1920x1080, Refresh: 60hz

Xharken said:

My main monitor is a Samsung S24C300H 21.5 inch. Resolution: 1920x1080, Refresh: 60hz

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On that monitor you're really not going to get any meaningful performance increase out of a newer card, the 970 will still max everything out at 1080p 60hz apart from perhaps Metro games which are exorbitantly demanding.

What issues are you having with gaming? When was the last time you reinstalled Windows?

Personally, if it were me, I'd use that cash to upgrade the monitor to a 1440p 144hz GSync or a 4k 60Hz Gsync, and then save up for a modern graphics card.