Out of the Hardware Loop - New Desktop

[dr0be]

Time has come for a new desktop and as usual I have fallen out of the loop and have a few questions. My current setup is a Q6600, 4GB DDR2-800, GTX260, and a Gigabyte P35-DS4 mobo; this set up has been lacking lately in the gaming department (DAO, WoW, BFBC2 - all 1920x1080 with high settings) and Im looking forward to Skyrim, DAO2, Diablo3, BF3, etc. So looking at benchmarks I was assuming it's the RAM and CPU bottlenecking the video card.

I did some benchmark, customer review, and newegg browsing and came to the conclusion of the following upgrades in the $500-$600 range.
RAM: 4GB DDR3-1600 (7-9-7-24)
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500k
Mobo: Not sure yet because 2500k is LGA1155, which all mobos are recalled atm.
VGA: Keep the GTX260
HDD; Buy a 2nd WD 500GB 7500RPM and Raid0 for the first time for some extra speed.

My plan was to build up some more money and by that time the 1155 mobos will be back out. So my questions;

1) Is my CPU/RAM bottlenecking my video card? Or is the vcard just as outdated?
2) The i5-2500k seems really cheap for such a high benchmark; is there a catch?
3) I have a corsair HX620W PSU - this would be enough power to run the new setup I'm assuming?
4) What mobo chipset would be ideal atm, and can it run SLI (would it be worth it?)?
5) Would Raid0 be worth the extra ~$60 (another HDD)?

Thank you.

 

[mfenn]

Time has come for a new desktop and as usual I have fallen out of the loop and have a few questions. My current setup is a Q6600, 4GB DDR2-800, GTX260, and a Gigabyte P35-DS4 mobo; this set up has been lacking lately in the gaming department (DAO, WoW, BFBC2 - all 1920x1080 with high settings) and Im looking forward to Skyrim, DAO2, Diablo3, BF3, etc. So looking at benchmarks I was assuming it's the RAM and CPU bottlenecking the video card.

Is your Q6600 at stock? If so, then your parts are actually quite well balanced. If you upgrade just the CPU, then you'll be significantly limited by your GTX 260.

RAM: 4GB DDR3-1600 (7-9-7-24)

Don't waste your money on DDR3 1600 or CAS 7. The savings you get by going down to DDR3 1333 CAS 9 will be far better spent elsewhere (e.g. GPU).

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500k
Mobo: Not sure yet because 2500k is LGA1155, which all mobos are recalled atm.

Good

VGA: Keep the GTX260

See above, you'll need to upgrade. Taking into account the games that you want to play, I'd suggest at least something at the level of the GTX 560 or 6950.

HDD; Buy a 2nd WD 500GB 7500RPM and Raid0 for the first time for some extra speed.

No, just no. You're looking at a marginal gain where it matters (random access) and a higher chance of data loss.

1) Is my CPU/RAM bottlenecking my video card? Or is the vcard just as outdated?

See above, what you have currently is quite well balanced, so upgrading one will leave the other as a bottleneck.

2) The i5-2500k seems really cheap for such a high benchmark; is there a catch?

Nope

3) I have a corsair HX620W PSU - this would be enough power to run the new setup I'm assuming?

Yep

4) What mobo chipset would be ideal atm, and can it run SLI (would it be worth it?)?

P67, yes, and no in that order.

5) Would Raid0 be worth the extra ~$60 (another HDD)?

Nope

Thank you.

You're welcome! 🙂

 

[fffblackmage]

You're currently limited by your GTX260, not the Q6600 (stock or OC'ed).

 

[wuliheron]

Yeah, I'd upgrade the video card and maybe overclock the cpu before thinking of replacing everything. Might as well see if you can save a little money and stretch out the useful life of the system. It's not like the i5 2500k mobos are available yet anyway.

 

[Zap]

1) Is my CPU/RAM bottlenecking my video card? Or is the vcard just as outdated?
2) The i5-2500k seems really cheap for such a high benchmark; is there a catch?
3) I have a corsair HX620W PSU - this would be enough power to run the new setup I'm assuming?
4) What mobo chipset would be ideal atm, and can it run SLI (would it be worth it?)?
5) Would Raid0 be worth the extra ~$60 (another HDD)?

1) Get new graphics card first. Then continue your upgrade path if it isn't enough. A new graphics card will work fine with future upgrades.

2) Catch is that you'll have to buy a new motherboard and new RAM, plus maybe reinstall your OS.

3) Yes.

4) For Sandy Bridge, until Z68 comes out, P67 is it (once it becomes available again). It supports SLI, but you have to buy specific models for SLI to be enabled. Read specs of whatever motherboard you are looking at carefully before buying. For instance, Asus P8P67 and P8P67 LE do not support SLI, but P8P67 Pro does. Is it worth it? Maybe, depending on which card you end up going with and which games/resolution you play at.

5) An SSD will be better than RAID. However, if you are trying to be on a budget, get a new hard drive but don't run RAID. The higher end new drives out-perform your old 500GB so you'll get better performance anyways. Likely choices based on performance are Seagate 7200.12 drives in 250GB/500GB sizes, Samsung F4 320GB, Samsung F3 1TB or WD Black 1TB.