Should I upgrade my Gaming System

[justdaryl]

I currently have a 3.5yr old system with a few minor upgrades since I purchased it
I play my games all at 2560x1440p max settings
BF3, SC2, CS GO
also photoshop and general web browsing/downloading

This is my current system
i7 920 (D0) @ 4ghz *stable*
Corsair H100 Cooler
Corsair Obsidian 800D
12gb Kingston Hyper X ddr 1600mhz @ 1200mhz *due to stability issues @ 1600mhz*
Antec truepower quattro 1000w
240gb Sandisk SSD Extreme *new*
MSI 7870 Hawk *new*
Dell u2713hm *new*

I'm thinking of upgrading to this and need recommendations.

(all parts will be purchased from msy)

Socket 1155
Cpu
- i5 3570k ($227)
- i7 3770k ($332)

Motherboards (bugdet $150 - $200)

- ASRock Z77-Extreme6 ($165)
- ASRorck Z77-Professional-M ($188)
- MSI Z77 Mpower ($198)
- Gigabyte G1-Sniper-M3 ($178)

Socket 2011

Cpu
- i7 3820 ($295)
* i7 3930k is too expensive for me *

Extra Cash on top for future proofing if worth it

Motherboards (bugdet $200- $300)
- ASRock Extreme 6 ($235)
- MSI X79A-GD65 ($265)
- Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 ($217)
(purshing the limits on budget)
- Asus P9X79-Pro ($319)
- Rampage IV Gene-X79 ($315)

Should I upgrade or just stick with my current Setup for another year or two ******

[Ken g6]

Personally, I'd wait six months and see if Haswell looks good on socket 1150.

Whatever you decide, forget about Socket 2011. And an ASRock Extreme4 is enough for most people on socket 1155.

[Sleepingforest]

Getting a better motherboard without a newer chipset isn't really futureproofing; its getting more of the current generation's ports and features. Like the poster above, I believe you are best simply waiting for Haswell for a CPU upgrade.

On the other hand, your GPU is comparatively weak for your resolution. A new generation of Radeons will roll out in the next few months; however, they will certainly be overpriced for their performance at the top end (which you will need to drive 1440p with max settings). What is your budget? I would generally recomend selling your 7870 and replacing it with. 7970.

You may want to get rid of your "bad" RAM (the faulty stick). For photoshop, RAM helps with processing speed. If you have the money (and windows 7 pro or better), then you may want to invest in 8GB sticks of ram. 2x8GB sticks leaves you room to upgrade and is an improvement over what you have now.

[justdaryl]

interesting, haven't heard about haswell till now haha. im so out of date.

the 7870 im actually quite happy with. i only bought it for my brother as a gift and decided to give him my gtx 580.

the 7870 hawk which I now have is overclocked from stock 1100/1200 -> 1350/1450 and its working very well at 1440p on all games (bf3 @ ultra settings avg of 45fps. so smooth enough but would love 60fps constant..

might consider going cf with that...

but with sc2 its not playable at ultra/extreme settings. avg fps of 30 which is eww.

im using windows 8 pro now and i forgot to add that im upgrading the ram as well. im using triple channel atm on ex58.

[Sleepingforest]

Crossfire can create tons of microstutter. Trust me, just sell the old one for like $150 and buy a 7970. The net cost out-of-pocket is only like $220, which just more than the cost of another good 7870.

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I'd stick with your current. Get a good ram kit with low timings and low voltages just for example: 1600 CL7.7.7.2x @ 1.5v... my DDR3 kit can do 1480MHz 6.6.6.21 @ 1.6v

[Blain]

Originally Posted by justdaryl

I play my games all at 2560x1440p max settings
BF3, SC2, CS GO
also photoshop and general web browsing/downloading

This is my current system
i7 920 (D0) @ 4ghz *stable*
12gb Kingston Hyper X ddr 1600mhz @ 1200mhz *due to stability issues @ 1600mhz*
240gb Sandisk SSD Extreme *new*
MSI 7870 Hawk *new*

I'm thinking of upgrading to this and need recommendations.


Should I upgrade or just stick with my current Setup for another year or two?

no upgrade, stick with your current hardware

[Sleepingforest]

Originally Posted by BTRY B 529th FA BN

I'd stick with your current. Get a good ram kit with low timings and low voltages just for example: 1600 CL7.7.7.2x @ 1.5v... my DDR3 kit can do 1480MHz 6.6.6.21 @ 1.6v

I'm thinking that new RAM won't make as much of a difference as a new
video card or more RAM. RAM timings don't make much of a difference outside of synthetic benchmarks for Intel.

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally Posted by Sleepingforest

I'm thinking that new RAM won't make as much of a difference as a new
video card or more RAM.

I agree.

Originally Posted by Sleepingforest

RAM timings don't make much of a difference outside of synthetic benchmarks for Intel.

It's not noticeable to people who are not sensitive to it.

EDIT: This page shows a valuable increase in fps with the UE3 engine. Others not so much. So to those who this suits i'd say it's not a bad choice.

[Ken g6]

Originally Posted by BTRY B 529th FA BN

EDIT: This page shows a valuable increase in fps with the UE3 engine. Others not so much. So to those who this suits I'd say it's not a bad choice.

That page is for the integrated graphics processor, which shares memory bandwidth with the CPU. If you use a discrete GPU, memory bandwidth doesn't matter nearly as much.

[mfenn]

Originally Posted by Ken g6

That page is for the integrated graphics processor, which shares memory bandwidth with the CPU. If you use a discrete GPU, memory bandwidth doesn't matter nearly as much.

Correct. More to the point, memory bandwidth does matter when you're running a discrete GPU, it's just that its the GPU memory bandwidth that matters, not CPU.

I've noticed a rash of people trotting out IGP (AMD and Intel) memory bandwidth vs. FPS tests recently and trying to apply them to the discrete GPU case. It just doesn't work that way.

OP, you won't gain much (if any) gaming performance by upgrading from your overclocked 920 to an Ivy Bridge processor because you have a relatively weak GPU for 2560x1440. There's nothing wrong with your 7870 per se, it's just that you're definitely GPU-limited given the high resolution.

[Torn Mind]

Wait for the Radeon HD 8xxx and Haswell, with the 8xxx taking priority first. If the 8xxx is enough, then you don't need to upgrade to Haswell unless something else necessitates it.

[Termie]

You definitely don't need a CPU upgrade for that system. If you want to tinker with Crossfire, it can be quite effective, especially with your GPU-limited situation. Given your CPU and GPU overclock, it seems you like to tinker. An HD7970 will not be nearly as fast even at full overclock, but it will be more straightforward and potentially smoother.

[justdaryl]

Guess what guys.
I got a dam bargain deal with a new PC System. Sellers having a baby so thats why he sold his Rig...

i7 3930k
Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme
Asus 7970 DC2T 3GB OC
Corsair Dominator GT 2133 16gb (4x4gb)
Corsair H80
Corsair Force Series 3 240gb SSD
Seaget 2TB hdd
Silverstone Silent 1500w PSU
Thermaltake Level 10 GT Case

THE PRICE WAS DAM GOOD...

$1900 WITH 3 YRS WARRANTY. SAVED MYSELF OVER $1000 WOOT WOOT..
WHAT A DEAL AYEEEEE

[Termie]

Originally Posted by justdaryl

Guess what guys.
I got a dam bargain deal with a new PC System. Sellers having a baby so thats why he sold his Rig...

i7 3930k
Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme
Asus 7970 DC2T 3GB OC
Corsair Dominator GT 2133 16gb (4x4gb)
Corsair H80
Corsair Force Series 3 240gb SSD
Seaget 2TB hdd
Silverstone Silent 1500w PSU
Thermaltake Level 10 GT Case

THE PRICE WAS DAM GOOD...

$1900 WITH 3 YRS WARRANTY. SAVED MYSELF OVER $1000 WOOT WOOT..
WHAT A DEAL AYEEEEE

CPU: $500
MB: $300
GPU: $400
RAM: $100
Cooler: $100
SSD : $160
HD : $100
PSU: $200
Case: $200
Total: $2060

Just using very rough approximations, you paid close to retail prices for that system. Not sure where you see $1000 saved, and it's certainly not $1000 less than the upgrades we had advised. But if you're happy and you had the money, then it was totally your call to make.

Edit: ok, the prices above aren't exactly accurate, but the components aren't really great picks, so I went more by what a similarly-performing part would go for. Basically I underpriced the GPU, RAM, psu and motherboard by $100 each. The system would be $2500 new from Newegg.

[Zap]

Those "retail" prices look more like hot deals pricing to me. Also, isn't that PSU more like $300? I do agree that $1000 was not saved (unless there's stuff not listed) out of this list, but I would personally never build a system using this exact combination of parts. Even with socket 2011 I would go with a different motherboard, different case, different RAM (4x4GB Samsung WOOT!) and most definitely a different PSU.

But, dude's happy and it was indeed cheaper than going out and buying those exact parts, so

[mfenn]

Originally Posted by justdaryl

Guess what guys.
I got a dam bargain deal with a new PC System. Sellers having a baby so thats why he sold his Rig...

i7 3930k
Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme
Asus 7970 DC2T 3GB OC
Corsair Dominator GT 2133 16gb (4x4gb)
Corsair H80
Corsair Force Series 3 240gb SSD
Seaget 2TB hdd
Silverstone Silent 1500w PSU
Thermaltake Level 10 GT Case

THE PRICE WAS DAM GOOD...

$1900 WITH 3 YRS WARRANTY. SAVED MYSELF OVER $1000 WOOT WOOT..
WHAT A DEAL AYEEEEE

Congrats, you paid $1900 for a machine that games like my $1000 build at the top of this forum (7970).

[justdaryl]

i am happy.

As the prices here in australia is as follows. Cheapest i can find also.

$579 i7 3930k
$512 Asus Rampage IV Extreme
$500 Asus 7970 DC2T
$289 Corsair Dominator GT 2133 16gb
$115 Corsair H80
$220 Corsair Force Series 3 240gb SSD
$99 Seagate 2TB HDD
$299 Silverstone 1500watt PSU
$278 Thermaltake Level 10 GT
$100 Samsung Blu Ray Writer

-----------------------------------
$2991 Total here in australia.

Now my gf can use it to also do her video/photo editing and rendering.

$1900 is a great deal for me and YES i am happy

[loki993]

Originally Posted by justdaryl

i am happy.

As the prices here in australia is as follows. Cheapest i can find also.

$579 i7 3930k
$512 Asus Rampage IV Extreme
$500 Asus 7970 DC2T
$289 Corsair Dominator GT 2133 16gb
$115 Corsair H80
$220 Corsair Force Series 3 240gb SSD
$99 Seagate 2TB HDD
$299 Silverstone 1500watt PSU
$278 Thermaltake Level 10 GT
$100 Samsung Blu Ray Writer

-----------------------------------
$2991 Total here in australia.

Now my gf can use it to also do her video/photo editing and rendering.

$1900 is a great deal for me and YES i am happy

Well you being in Australia does make a difference. I don't know if you can get stuff like newegg there, plus even if you could the shipping would be a killer.

I'm sure its a good deal. Absolute overkill, but a good deal. Then again you shouldn't have to worry about upgrading anything but the graphics card for a good long while.

I do have one question just out of curiosity....why do you play at 2560x1440p ? Is that the native resolution for your monitor?

[biostud]

wait, but you should have gotten a 7950/boost or 7970 instead of the 7870.

[lehtv]

Congrats, looks like a very nice rig! And the price is definitely not bad for Australian dollars (which would've been helpful to say in the OP, how are we to know...).

What I really like about is that the motherboard can do Crossfire on triple slot cards. This means that you could make a super quiet crossfire/sli setup using Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo or Accelero Extreme coolers

wait, but you should have gotten a 7950/boost or 7970 instead of the 7870.

He did get the Asus 7970 DC2T

[justdaryl]

Originally Posted by loki993

Well you being in Australia does make a difference. I don't know if you can get stuff like newegg there, plus even if you could the shipping would be a killer.

I'm sure its a good deal. Absolute overkill, but a good deal. Then again you shouldn't have to worry about upgrading anything but the graphics card for a good long while.

I do have one question just out of curiosity....why do you play at 2560x1440p ? Is that the native resolution for your monitor?

I wish I could order from newegg and all the other affordable websites. That what sucks about being in australia so dam far away and the postage is always a killer

i play at 2560x1440p as that is the native resolution of my monitor (dell u2713hm).

Got that a a bargain price also for $480 with 3yrs warranty + free postage.

[loki993]

Originally Posted by justdaryl

I wish I could order from newegg and all the other affordable websites. That what sucks about being in australia so dam far away and the postage is always a killer

i play at 2560x1440p as that is the native resolution of my monitor (dell u2713hm).

Got that a a bargain price also for $480 with 3yrs warranty + free postage.

Yeah but you guys have cool cars and great weather. Id take that over cheap computer parts anyday....

[RaistlinZ]

Originally Posted by loki993

Yeah but you guys have cool cars and great weather. Id take that over cheap computer parts anyday....

I'd take cheap computer parts over good weather almost any day of the week.

It looks like you got a sweet deal, OP. What are you going to do with your old rig?

[mfenn]

Originally Posted by lehtv

And the price is definitely not bad for Australian dollars (which would've been helpful to say in the OP, how are we to know...).

One million