Best possible PC upgrade path

[jonnyw]

Hi guys,

I'm in the process of doing a major overhaul on my PC. I use it mostly for gaming. I was wondering if I can get some input on the best possible upgrade path. Also, I don't have a budget but I'd like to be realistic. Here are my specs:

Processor: Intel i7 920 @ 2.67 GHZ (going to start by overclocking this but have limited experience)

GPU: Nvidia GTX 570 (going to get a GTX 780)

Memory: 6 GB @ 1033 MHZ (I heard anything more than 8 GB @ 1600 MHZ isn't worth it. Is this true? Also can anyone recommend me a some as well as a brand?)

Motherboard: EVGA 132-BL-E758

Power Supply: 600W (Going to get a 1000W power supply)

I've come to the conclusion that I'm better off just upgrading my current PC instead of getting a new one since my processor can be overclocked and comparable to current ones. My memory definitely needs an upgrade as well.

Anyone see any bottlenecks? Also can someone recommend me a good monitor to use at 2560 x 1600?

Any other advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[greenhawk]

Given that video card is about $700US, it is far from being a "budget" upgrade if that is what you want.

a bigger power supply is a waste of money unless you need it.

Overclocking might get some extra from it, but what are you using the computer for? I ask as overclocking might give no noticeable improvement if you are not CPU restricted.

RAM can generally help, but I think the issue is that the cpu you have does not take advantage of ram faster than 1600MHz. Nothing saying you can not place 24 GB into the machine (3 x 8GB), it just will sit there doing nothing most of the time.

Personally, I would look at a SSD first. if you are looking at over $1000 worth of spending, might as well make it something useful. a 512GB or similar SSD can be had for under $500 and will give a nice increase to how responcive the computer is.

Video card I would pass on personally as a faster card is nice, but it is not like it is double as fast as your current card. But the time you do a full upgrade you will be wanting something newer anyway.

RAM I would look at upgrading, even if only to 12GB (3x4GB) as that should be dirt cheap. going to 24GB if you want, but the price will increase a bit if you are wanting to stick to 1 ram stick per memory channel (in case you need to overclock the FSB to get the speeds you want). looking at local prices, 3x4GB would be about $150US currently. $270 gets 24GB (looking at 1600MHz ram, 1333Mhz would be a few dollars cheaper).

 

[jonnyw]

Given that video card is about $700US, it is far from being a "budget" upgrade if that is what you want.

a bigger power supply is a waste of money unless you need it.

Overclocking might get some extra from it, but what are you using the computer for? I ask as overclocking might give no noticeable improvement if you are not CPU restricted.

RAM can generally help, but I think the issue is that the cpu you have does not take advantage of ram faster than 1600MHz. Nothing saying you can not place 24 GB into the machine (3 x 8GB), it just will sit there doing nothing most of the time.

Personally, I would look at a SSD first. if you are looking at over $1000 worth of spending, might as well make it something useful. a 512GB or similar SSD can be had for under $500 and will give a nice increase to how responcive the computer is.

Video card I would pass on personally as a faster card is nice, but it is not like it is double as fast as your current card. But the time you do a full upgrade you will be wanting something newer anyway.

RAM I would look at upgrading, even if only to 12GB (3x4GB) as that should be dirt cheap. going to 24GB if you want, but the price will increase a bit if you are wanting to stick to 1 ram stick per memory channel (in case you need to overclock the FSB to get the speeds you want). looking at local prices, 3x4GB would be about $150US currently. $270 gets 24GB (looking at 1600MHz ram, 1333Mhz would be a few dollars cheaper).

Thanks for the input. As I said the computer is mainly for gaming and I hope the CPU won't be a bottle neck if I end up getting a GTX 780. Also I mentioned that budget really isn't an issue but I am willing to make changes if something is not worth the price.

Your right about the power supply. I just realized I have an 850W PSU so i should be good in that area.

I'm not sure what the native ram support on my i7 920 is tbh. In your opinion would I be better off using all available ram slots(6 available) 6 x 2GB @ 1333 mhz rather than 3 x 4GB @ 1600 mhz?

Lastly, forgive my ignorance but I'm not too familiar with SSD's. What is the main difference between them and regular hard drives? Also I was unaware that they made much of a difference as far as affecting the performance of a PC. Thanks for your help!

 

[DSF]

Even if your PSU were 600W it would be more than fine assuming it's a goof unit.

Generally speaking loading fewer RAM slots is better. It puts less stress on the memory controller and leaves room for expansion. However, since you already have 3 that's something to consider.

The very top end of the video card spectrum is generally more expensive than it's worth. I would stick with something like a GTX770 or an HD7970. If you're playing at 1080P a card like a 780 is unnecessary anyway. On the other hand, a 570 is still not a bad card - can you be specific about what your computer is struggling with that's driving the upgrade?

As far as the SSD, I think that's a no-brainer if you want improvement and have the money. I disagree with greenhawk though in that I think 512GB is overpriced right now. I would shoot for the 200-256GB range.

An SSD greatly improves read, write and random access speeds. What that translates to for the average user is a much "snappier" environment. Things like documents load instantly rather than taking a few seconds. For games that have to load large maps into memory, the loading time can decrease noticeably. Other than that there isn't much gaming-specific benefit, as games aren't really reliant on hard drive IO for performance.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Power Supply: 600W (Going to get a 1000W power supply)

Whoa, you really don't need more then a quality 500W unit for your setup. Going with a 1KW is unnecessary for non-SLI/Crossfire setups and also a bad idea as you loose efficiency at lower loads, which is where your system is running most of the time.

What exact model, and how old, is your PSU?

As a comparison, I'm running a 3770@4.3GHz, a HD7870, three HDDs, an ODD and an SSD on a 450W (idle 58-65W, load ~200W)...

As far as the SSD, I think that's a no-brainer if you want improvement and have the money. I disagree with greenhawk though in that I think 512GB is overpriced right now. I would shoot for the 200-256GB range.

Agree. A 256GB+HDD is the best way to go right now.

 

[Essence_of_War]

Hi guys,

I'm in the process of doing a major overhaul on my PC. I use it mostly for gaming. I was wondering if I can get some input on the best possible upgrade path. Also, I don't have a budget but I'd like to be realistic. Here are my specs:

Processor: Intel i7 920 @ 2.67 GHZ (going to start by overclocking this but have limited experience)

GPU: Nvidia GTX 570 (going to get a GTX 780)

Memory: 6 GB @ 1033 MHZ (I heard anything more than 8 GB @ 1600 MHZ isn't worth it. Is this true? Also can anyone recommend me a some as well as a brand?)

Motherboard: EVGA 132-BL-E758

Power Supply: 600W (Going to get a 1000W power supply)

I've come to the conclusion that I'm better off just upgrading my current PC instead of getting a new one since my processor can be overclocked and comparable to current ones. My memory definitely needs an upgrade as well.

Anyone see any bottlenecks? Also can someone recommend me a good monitor to use at 2560 x 1600?

Any other advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

1) That CPU should probably be OK for a little while longer if you're willing to OC it, to start, I'd be sure that you have a non-stock HSF, and a MoBo w/ unlocked multipliers (an x58 MoBo, which if I have google'd correctly, you appear to have! ). For HSF, I'd take a look at the CM 212 EVO , or the Arctic Freezer 13 , both of which should fit your CPU socket just fine.

2) GPU upgrade depends on what games/res you're playing. The 570 is respectable, but if you're planning on gaming at 2560x1600, it probably won't be able to keep up. The main problem is that the GTX 780 is around 50-60% more expensive than the 770 and it only improves performance by 20-30%. Before you pull the trigger on the 780, you should check the benches for the 770 and see if it hits the numbers you want to see in any of the games that you play.

3) If you're doing all/mostly gaming, you don't get much out of having > 8 GB of RAM. I don't even know that the RAM you currently have would affect gaming FPS much. If you really wanted to, you could go w/ this 3 module kit from Wintec to get to 12 GB of 1600, or 3x of this 4GB Crucial Ballistix. I'd probably go w/ 3x4GB for the reasons DSF points out.

4) As others have said, your PSU is probably OK, and 1KW would be overkill to say the least. 1 KW is like, 3x/4x Titan SLI w/ OC'd SB-E CPU.

5) I strongly concur w/ DSF/Insert_Nickname on 200-256ish GB SSD w/ a 1-2 TB HDD. SSD won't improve your gaming FPS, but it makes everything about interacting w/ your computer more pleasant. Boot is incredibly fast. Applications load instantly. Software updates install as quickly as they're downloaded. There is no "lag" in doing anything, and to be honest, it's glorious. I could deal w/ a slightly worse video card, but I would HATE to go back to not having an SSD.

6) As far as 2560x1600 monitors, TFT Central has a great review of the Dell u3014 . Price diverges rapidly between the 27'' 2560x1440 and 30'' 2560x1600 models, though. You can often find the Dell u2713hm or the Asus PB278Q for $550, both are 27'' 2560x1440 IPS/PLS panels and excellent, but the 2560x1600 models are basically a lock for $1k. You pay A LOT for those extra vertical pixels.

Basically, there is a strong arms-race between gaming at high-res, and video cards. The high-res monitor costs a good bit of money, and if you care about eye-candy and high fps, that sort of forces you into a high-end/expensive gpu. So although you don't have a budget, that should be something to keep in mind

 

[DSF]

Sorry, I missed the part of your post referring to 25x16, making my 1080P comment a little bit less helpful.

Personally I don't know that I'd make that move for a predominantly gaming machine. 1080P is already fairly high res when you're talking about the relatively small display size of a computer monitor. 25x16 puts a lot more stress on the video card without delivering much extra in terms of graphical quality if you ask me. I realize that's a personal preference issue, so if you have seen games on such a high-res display and know that it's something you want to move to, that's fine.

I can also understand if you want to move to a physically larger monitor and so you're looking at higher resolutions, although personally 24" is about as large a screen as I care to look at under normal computing conditions. (Again, personal preference reigns here.)

If that's really the case it might pay to even move past a 780 and consider an SLI or Crossfire setup. Your 850W PSU, assuming it's a quality unit, could handle that with no trouble. Do you know the model of PSU you currently have?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

There are a few concerns if the PC is not all for gaming. I have one that strictly is built to game on as I don't want any data corruption of sensitive materiel due to an unstable overclock. I would try an achieve 3.7-3.8Ghz if you do other things on that PC.

Stick with your GPU upgrade choice.

1K watt PSU is overkill.

You can adjust your RAM divider to run a lower frequency. Even though my sticks are 1866 I keep them at either ~ 1600 or 1200MHz depending on the divider

 

[sm625]

I wouldnt touch the GPU or RAM, aside form maybe overclocking each. It's jsut not worth it to add more when you alread have 6GB and it takes a hell of a lot of stuff runnign to eat that much. Definitely try to overclock the CPU, and even spend $30-$60 on a cooler if yours is stock. Experiment with disabling hyperthreading to get the fastest possible 4 thread configuration.