How do I upgrade?

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thehotsung8701A

Senior member
May 18, 2015
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Hey guys

Several years ago I relied on you guys for parts needed to build my first gaming rig and now I require your assistance yet again to upgrade it. My rig has gotten to the point where even console are out-performing it.

I would like to be able to run The Witcher 3 and future games as it is the first game that my computer doesn’t even meet minimal requirement.

Here are my current computer spec:

Cooler Master HAF 922 Mid Tower Computer Case
Lite-On DVD Burner
Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5 “ Internal Hard Drive
ASUS P7P55D-E Pro LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6 Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Sapphire 100282SR Radeon HD 5850 1GB 256 – bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP
G. Skill Ripjaws Series 16 GB
Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66Ghz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor
OCZ StealthXStream 700W SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply

Thanks guys! Your suggestion have been great all these years.
 
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XavierMace

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2013
4,307
450
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Unfortunately you will have to replace the motherboard and processor to get any sort of reasonable upgrade. Video card wise an R9 290 or GTX960 would be substancial upgrades and only run about $200 if you're on a budget.
 
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thehotsung8701A

Senior member
May 18, 2015
584
1
0
XavierMace said:
Unfortunately you will have to replace the motherboard and processor to get any sort of reasonable upgrade. Video card wise an R9 290 or GTX960 would be substancial upgrades and only run about $200 if you're on a budget.
Click to expand...

Why do I need to replace my motherboard?
 
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thehotsung8701A

Senior member
May 18, 2015
584
1
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VirtualLarry said:
Because you need higher CPU performance, which means newer CPUs, which mean newer motherboards, because newer CPUs aren't compatible with older sockets.
Click to expand...

Oh I was thinking of just GPU and how a 3.0 PCI e GPU can fit in a 2.0 PCI e mobo slot.

Wow, this upgrade going to be almost as expensive as my whole computer build in 09.
 
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thehotsung8701A

Senior member
May 18, 2015
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LTC8K6

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
1,575
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You have ddr3 ram in your current system, yes?

If so, you can just use it with the new board.

That will save you a few dollars.
 
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jaydee

Diamond Member
May 6, 2000
4,496
2
81
thehotsung8701A said:
Oh I was thinking of just GPU and how a 3.0 PCI e GPU can fit in a 2.0 PCI e mobo slot.

Wow, this upgrade going to be almost as expensive as my whole computer build in 09.
Click to expand...

Guys, maybe you can evaluate or explain this better. How much of a benefit would a ~$230 GTX 960 or R9 280X with his current mobo/CPU be?

If the above GPU is playable for 6-9 months (resolution?), you can jump your CPU/mobo ahead by another 2 generations (Skylake instead of Haswell). You would of course need to go to DDR4 by that point, but the performance/efficiency difference (overall, not just the memory) could be well worth it.
 
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jaydee

Diamond Member
May 6, 2000
4,496
2
81
LTC8K6 said:
Well, his CPU is below the minimum for the game he mentioned.
Click to expand...

Minimum System Requirements
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz or AMD Phenom II X4 940
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
RAM: 6GB
OS: 64-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit Windows 8 (8.1)
HDD Space: 40 GB
DirectX 11

An i5-750 is faster than a Phenom II X4 940 (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/109?vs=80), so...

I guess it's up to the OP to determine, what's acceptable or not as far as resolution/details and how much he's willing to pay for it. If it were my money, it would at least be worth a shot throwing in a new GPU first. If you're happy with it, there you go. If it's not good enough and you're willing pay the money, then you know what to do.
 
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thehotsung8701A

Senior member
May 18, 2015
584
1
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LTC8K6 said:
Well, his CPU is below the minimum for the game he mentioned.
Click to expand...

Even though I lack VRAM and CPU for minimal setting...is that for 1080 resolution? Can I run it on low to medium on 900p or even 720p? All I care about is to be able to play the game.

I want to wait till the r9 390x with HBM comes out to be future proof. I also plan on running in 4K and a 3.5 VRAM doesn't cut it knowing that console use 6 VRAM so 6VRAM is probably going to be the minimal requirement soon.
 
LTC8K6

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
1,575
126
thehotsung8701A said:
Even though I lack VRAM and CPU for minimal setting...is that for 1080 resolution? Can I run it on low to medium on 900p or even 720p? All I care about is to be able to play the game.

I want to wait till the r9 390x with HBM comes out to be future proof. I also plan on running in 4K and a 3.5 VRAM doesn't cut it knowing that console use 6 VRAM so 6VRAM is probably going to be the minimal requirement soon.
Click to expand...

You're in a little bit of an interesting spot as far as deciding what to do.

You can likely "play the game" in some fashion, with just a video card upgrade.

However:

There are new video cards coming soon.

There are new CPUs coming soon.

It is always tough to decide whether to wait, or pull the trigger.

I think the combo I linked, with a new video card, will last you a while. It will be a huge boost for you, and it doesn't look like there's going to be a big leap in desktop CPU performance.

On the other hand, I know that Intel's Skylake desktop chips will be coming in 2015.

If it were me, I would wait.

First, to see the video card fallout.

Second, to see what Skylake looks like.

Now that I think about it, with the jump you are making, it makes more sense to wait for Skylake, as it's supposed to be out in the second half of 2015.

You've waited this long, you might as well see the latest hardware choices before spending your dough.
 
BTRY B 529th FA BN

BTRY B 529th FA BN

Lifer
Nov 26, 2005
15,056
304
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I would overclock the cpu and see how it runs first before making any decision. I'm still on an old i7 970 and it's able to run UT4 with some stack lag though
 
LTC8K6

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
1,575
126
If he's just going to overclock the i5-750, then he'd be sticking with the 1GB HD5850 card, so it doesn't seem like he could do much with Witcher 3?

Both the i5-750 and the HD5850 seem pretty weak to me to try to run that game?

Your i7-970 is a halfway decent jump in performance over an i5-750.

It's able to hang on a little bit better because of it's clock speed, it's 6 cores, it's hyper-threading, and it's massive cache. :cool:

The i5-750 has none of those. D:

Intel Core i5 750 - 2.66GHz/3.2Ghz- 4C4T - 1MB L2 - 8MB L3

Intel Core i7 970 - 3.20GHz/3.46Ghz - 6C12T - 1.5MB L2 - 12MB L3
 
J

jaydee

Diamond Member
May 6, 2000
4,496
2
81
thehotsung8701A said:
Even though I lack VRAM and CPU for minimal setting...is that for 1080 resolution? Can I run it on low to medium on 900p or even 720p? All I care about is to be able to play the game.

I want to wait till the r9 390x with HBM comes out to be future proof. I also plan on running in 4K and a 3.5 VRAM doesn't cut it knowing that console use 6 VRAM so 6VRAM is probably going to be the minimal requirement soon.
Click to expand...

Wow, isn't that going to be like an $800 video card? It's your money, do what you want, but going from 2009 CPU/GPU to that kind of GPU is pretty... serious!
 
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mfenn

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Jan 17, 2010
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www.mfenn.com
jaydee said:
Wow, isn't that going to be like an $800 video card? It's your money, do what you want, but going from 2009 CPU/GPU to that kind of GPU is pretty... serious!
Click to expand...

:thumbsup: I agree. OP, can you give us some parameters here? Like specifically, how much are you willing to spend?
 
X

XavierMace

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2013
4,307
450
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thehotsung8701A said:
I want to wait till the r9 390x with HBM comes out to be future proof. I also plan on running in 4K and a 3.5 VRAM doesn't cut it knowing that console use 6 VRAM so 6VRAM is probably going to be the minimal requirement soon.
Click to expand...

A) There's no such thing as future proof.
B) You've already mentioned budget concerns. That's incompatible with gaming at 4K.
 
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