Christmas Money / PC Upgrade

[ShantzMD]

Hello Anandtech system Builders. I just got some money for Christmas and Newegg gift cards and want to see what the best bang i can get for my buck.

1. I use my PC mostly for gaming (TF2, DOTA2, Bioshock infinite, Battlefied, etc) and general internet and media streaming.

2. I have $200 in Newegg gift cards but can also spend an additional 200 in cash.

3. Will be buying in the US.

4. Would like to buy most of my stuff from Newegg.

5. Dont have a brand preference but I will post my current build specs.

6. Here is my current build:
CoolerMaster HAF X
Corsair TX 650W PowerSupply
Intel i5-2500k overclocked to 3.3
Hyper 212+ Cooler
Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4-B3 LGA 1155
GSkill Ripjaws 8GB DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Cas 9
MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II OC 2GB
OCZ Vertex2 55GB SSD
Samsung F3 1 TB HDD
ASUS VS278Q-P 27 Inch LCD 1920x1080
Corsair K95
Logitech G500 Mouse

7. It is currently overclocked

8. 1920x1080 Resolution monitor

9. Would like to buy now

X. I dont need any software for the system.

So i am open to reusing components and just wanted to see if it worth it to upgrade any of my components or spend my money elsewhere.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Fairly solid system as it currently stands. I would say a new GPU except that they are priced outrageously high right now due to crypto-currency mining. I would advise waiting for a few months to see what happens.

SSD's have been going on sale for around $.50 per GB so a Toshiba, Crucial, or Corsair 500gb would be a really nice upgrade. Then you could fit the OS and game files on the faster drive.

 

[Cerb]

I concur. Get a ~250GB or ~500GB SSD (probably an 840 Evo or M500, given prices lately), replacing that poor old 60GB, and wait out the upper midrange GPU prices for awhile.

 

[ShantzMD]

Is there any real difference in the 840 Evo and the 840 Pro? Thanks for the feedback guys.

 

[Essence_of_War]

The 840 Pro is intended for more intensive random write workloads, like that you might see in a database or as a fast photo/video editing scratch space.

If you're using the SSD as a boot/applications drive, they'll perform virtually identically, so I'd go with the Evo.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Is that a misprint on your cpu speed? You said it was overclocked to 3.3, but I believe that is the stock speed.

 

[Termie]

If you are satisfied with the performance of your system, you don't need to upgrade anything. That video card is still capable of running all of your games at decent settings, and while your SSD is only big enough to hold the OS and maybe one or two games, you at least have an SSD.

But I agree with others - SSD and then video card are your priorities. Given that Newegg gift cards aren't good for much other than computer parts, why not buy a 250GB SSD with the gift card, and save your cash for something else you need in your life outside of the computer world? The $200 in gift cards won't get you any video card worth upgrading to, but that doesn't mean you should spend the rest of your money to get one.

 

[mfenn]

I concur. Get a ~250GB or ~500GB SSD (probably an 840 Evo or M500, given prices lately), replacing that poor old 60GB, and wait out the upper midrange GPU prices for awhile.

I concur with your concurrence. The M500 240GB is about $15 less expensive than the 840 EVO 250GB right now, so I'd go with that.

 

[ShantzMD]

I took your advice and just pulled the trigger on the M500 240GB. Should be a good upgrade from my current SSD. Will i have any issues reusing my Win7 key?

 

[mfenn]

It should be fine given that you're on the same motherboard. The Internet activation might fail and you might end up having to call MS, but they'll activate it after you explain that you upgraded the drive.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Have you considered overclocking your CPU? 3.3Ghz is the default clock speed. You should be able to get a least 4.2-4.3Ghz.