New rig?

[Arachnotronic]

Hi all, here is my current rig:

i7 860 @ 3.36 GHz
8GB DDR3-1600
Asus P7P55 WS SuperComputer
WD Caviar Black 1.5TB ,Seagate 1.5TB 7200 RPM,1x Seagate 1TB 7200 RPM, 1x 500gb
2x GeForce GTX 470 @ 720/1440/837
Antec 750W TruePower
Antec Three Hundred Chasis

Now, I have the $$$ to put together an all-new build (I'm talking $3,000-$3400), but my question is: is it the right time to do a new build, or should I wait? If it IS the right time, I'm thinking the following:

i7 970 (or 990x? Is it worth the extra $400?)
Asus Rampage III Extreme
Corsair Vengeance 24GB DDR3-1600
HDD Setup above + OCZ Vertex 3 240GB
3x Radeon 6970 2GB
Antec 1200W
Antec Nine Hundred Chasis

Thoughts?

 

[podspi]

I wouldn't buy any 9xx series CPU right now. I'd either go with a 2600K build, wait for Bulldozer, or wait for SB-E and its 990X equivalent.

 

[alyarb]

totally wrong time to spend $3000 on a 10% boost. next time wait for a new node to come out before sidegrading.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Yeah? You might be right -- once CPUs hit 22nm (or 32nm in AMD's case) and GPUs hit 28nm, we might see some *big* gains again.

What I might do is go BD 8-core and then upgrade my GPUs later. OR just wait for 2nd gen BD.

 

[RyanGreener]

If you want to improve that build, why not just overclock that CPU and upgrade your GPUs?

 

[Arachnotronic]

What GPUs would be a worthwhile upgrade? (And I'm already OC'd from 2.8GHz to 3.36...this chip is a dud -- even with a Noctua NH-D14 cooler, it doesn't play nicely with higher clocks)

 

[RyanGreener]

Ohh, I didn't know your CPU was "maxed out" at 3.36 GHz and assumed it was a small/mild overclock. Anyways, for the GPUs, you could just move on to the next generation of GPUs (GTX 570/580s?)

 

[bart1975]

Why even bother upgrading with that setup? That is still a beast of a system. Just add a few ssd's and be done with it. Maybe raid 0 a few 120 gig ssd drives

 

[Zap]

Your rig looks pretty nice as it is. If the money is burning a hole through your wallet, there are other things you can do without building a whole new system. Here are some suggestions:

1) Buy a new monitor. You can go with a nice 30" or a smaller IPS/S-IPS screen. Your 23" Acer is probably a TN screen.

2) Revamp your drives. Get a big SSD for your C: drive, and replace others with fewer but bigger drives. Heck, you can get two 3TB drives and have more space than before with half the drives.

3) Buy a new case. The Antec 300 is a budget case. Spring for something nice, like a Corsair, a higher end Antec, Lian Li, etc. The Antec 1200 isn't that great either - it is just HUGE. If you want your rig to stand tall for effect, how about a Lian Li PC-X900B if you can fine one (I think just discontinued)? It has three 120mm intakes and two 120mm exhausts, puts the PSU on the bottom, has drive bays on top (may need PSU extensions and longer SATA cables though) and no drives to block air from the front fans going to your graphics cards. Also, it is all aluminum, and is black inside and out.

What GPUs would be a worthwhile upgrade? (And I'm already OC'd from 2.8GHz to 3.36...this chip is a dud -- even with a Noctua NH-D14 cooler, it doesn't play nicely with higher clocks)

Maybe it is the motherboard? Maybe you need to relax RAM speeds?

 

[Arachnotronic]

So I'm going to hang on to my cash for when Bulldozer 2nd gen/Ivy Bridge come out. No need to spend money when all my applications run flawlessly!

 

[pruitts]

totally wrong time to spend $3000 on a 10% boost. next time wait for a new node to come out before sidegrading.

same side here...
maybe I'll wait for the new node to come out..:thumbsup:




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value point distribution reviews

 

[skipsneeky2]

860 is still a good cpu i wouldnt upgrade with $3,000 sitting in my pockets ill take that money if it was me and just bank it till you got $6,000 and ivy bridge comes out and you blow your current rig out of the water with dual gtx580s or gtx590s? never spent over $1,800 on a rig yet and this one has a i7 950 and a gtx580 and trust me i dont need nothing else besides a ssd perhaps

 

[skipsneeky2]

i held my temptation for the 980x and the gtx590 when i had the cash even for them,couldnt warrant the purchases,

 

[podspi]

I'd recommend going for a decent-sized SSD and saving the rest. Your current bottleneck is IO

 

[Arachnotronic]

i held my temptation for the 980x and the gtx590 when i had the cash even for them,couldnt warrant the purchases,

Yeah, neither can I. SNB quad core right now is a tempting upgrade (it's only cost about $500 for 2600k + mobo, but this is not a significant upgrade).

@ podspi - What benefits will I see to an SSD? I can't fit my games on one (and I primarily game).

 

[podspi]

Yeah, neither can I. SNB quad core right now is a tempting upgrade (it's only cost about $500 for 2600k + mobo, but this is not a significant upgrade).

@ podspi - What benefits will I see to an SSD? I can't fit my games on one (and I primarily game).

Startup, Shutdown, paging to the hard drive barely affects (perceptible) performance.

If you don't page to the disk and only game (and can't afford an SSD large enough to hold the games) then it might not be a huge upgrade, but for me it was. It's very hard to quantify -- but an SSD literally made my computer feel like the fastest computer I had ever used ever imaginable. Loading applications occurs without hesitation, the machine never gets bogged down (unless I am doing something that takes 100% of all cores, of course), and it restarts (literally) faster than it takes for me to grab another cup of coffee.

There is one huge downside to owning a machine w/ an SSD though. Once you do, every other computer you use will feel SOOO SLOW. :biggrin:

 

[Edrick]

SB-E

end of discussion.