Question about progression of technology for the last 3 years.

[utahraptor]

Hey there, I am thinking about upgrading my rig when Skylake drops this fall. I am wondering what major milestones have hit in a few areas.

Current Specs:

CPU 3770K (Stock Settings)
GPU MSI 680 GTX Lightning (Stock Settings)
RAM 16 GB (2,133 MHz)
SSD Corsair Force GS 360 GB (SandForce SF-2200 SSD)
CPU Cooling (Corsair H100 CLC)
Monitor: 2 1920x1200 screens (IPS, 60 Hz)
GPU: I am already decided on a 980ti
Case: Corsair Carbide 500R

• CPU: I am already decided on a 6770K or equivalent.
• SSD What technological advancements have come since mine came out? Are they twice as fast yet? Are most people mounting on the motherboard now via M2 or are 2.5 inch drives still the best option?
• Monitor: Is 1440 vs 1200 a big advantage? Would it be worth it?
• Case: What neat new cases are coming out? I saw one at E3 I think that had the video card mounted outside of the case. Anyone know about that one?
• Sound Card: When Vista or Win7 came out I heard rumors that discrete sound cards would no longer work right due to some fundamental change at the OS level. Is that true or still true? Are they worth it?
• CPU Cooler: Have they perfected the closed loop coolers yet? I can't run my H100 past low before terrible noise and it can't cool the 3770K with over-voltage.
• RAM: Have they advantaged to the point that 2,400 MHz or better is affordable? What about latencies, have they come down? Do any current DDR4 kits have measurable superior performance to top end DDR3? How does the cost compare at equal performance/size?

 

[mfenn]

- SSD : In terms of raw throughput you'll see a big improvement over your SF-2281 only if you go with a PCIe based drive (M.2, slot, or SATA Express). However, raw throughput is relatively unimportant. Newer SSDs (including SATA ones) are much better in terms of sustained IOPS and performance consistency, which is what you notice more than raw speed.
- Monitor: This is a matter of opinion, but for gaming I don't really see a big difference between 1920x1080 and 2560x1440. Being able to crank up AA at a lower resolution is generally sufficient. However, in terms of productivity, having a larger desktop (virtually) is incredibly useful and justifies 2560-wide monitors IMHO.
- Case: Depends on what you mean by neat. Certainly newer cases will provide equivalent cooling with much lower noise than the old "High Air Flow" monsters.
- Sound Card: Vista killed hardware-accelerated sound effects. However, audio is easy enough to do in software (running on the CPU or GPU) that you don't really lose any fidelity. The difference between sound cards really comes down to the quality of their DACs. And if you're serious about DAC quality, IMHO you should do digital out of the PC to an outboard unit.
- CLCs: Just like air coolers, there are quiet CLCs and loud ones, which makes sense the noise of both are generally governed by the fans. A big dual 140mm CLC like the Kraken X61 is definitely capable of being quiet, just like a big dual 140mm HSF like the Noctua D15 is.
- RAM: DDR4 2400 is going to be the "standard" affordable, good price-performance DDR4 speed. That being said, DDR4 as a whole has minimal benefits over DDR3 in the client space and really just increases costs right now.