To Tier Or Not To Tier - Best Gear For A Mage

I've recently got my first character to the dizzying heights of level 60 and was all set to run off and start farming for my tier 0 gear(actually managed to get 3 pieces already), but now find myself reconsidering.

I've heard that a lot of the tier sets aren't actually very good compared to other drops you can get and that upgrading to tier 0.5 is almost worthless?

That's all well and good but it does leave me, a bit of a newbie to WoW, with one question... What non raid gear is better for an elemental mage than my tier stuff?

I've basically gone along the route of getting as much +INT, +Spell damage, +Fire, +Ice, +Spirit as possible in that order at the moment and am pretty much wearing all blues that offer those, most of them from lvl 55+ quests/mobs/instances.

I have no idea how good my stat bonuses are for someone who's recently reached 60 and no idea if any of my gear is good or woefully in need of upgrading.

Anyone who can offer me advice, feel free to look at my gear on this link

http://www.rpgoutfitter.com/WoW-GM/char.cfm?char=Kinsul@EU-Moonglade

Other than that, any advice on if I should go after my Magister set or advice on better gear within my reach would be very appreciated!