Recommended upgrades?

[pontifex]

I built this desktop PC several years ago (like 5 maybe?) and then I got a similarly specced gaming laptop and have been using the laptop 99% of the time. I decided to start using this PC again because I can upgrade it much easier and cheaper than the laptop.

Current specs:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz
Socket 1155 LGA (0x1)

AsRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3

8 GB RAM

Nvidia Geforce GTX580

650w Corsair PSU

2x DVD RW drives

2x 500 GB drives (not SSD)
1x 1 TB drive (not SSD)

24" LCD Monitor

Windows Vista (I will be upgrading to Win7 this weekend. I have no interest in Win8 or 10).



What would be a good upgrade path keeping cost to a minimum but still allowing me to play all the latest games at fairly high settings?

I can run fallout 4 on ultra settings and still get above 60 FPS. i think i have to run it on medium settings on laptop.

Rainbow Six Siege apparently doesn't run on Vista so have to wait until this weekend to see how it runs. Have to run it on fairly low settings on the laptop.

War Thunder runs about 50-60 FPS on movie setting.

so maybe I don't need to upgrade just yet?

 

[Arachnotronic]

If you're happy with the performance of your system, don't fix what isn't broken, but here are a couple of high impact upgrades you can make (in order of bang-for-the-buck):

1. Buy a decent aftermarket CPU cooler for you CPU and overclock that sucker to 4.3GHz+.

2. Add an SSD as your boot/OS drive & for games you play often

3. Sell the GTX 580 and buy a GTX 970.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Ditto to the above. What resolution do you use?

 

[pontifex]

Ditto to the above. What resolution do you use?

1920x1080

 

[pontifex]

If you're happy with the performance of your system, don't fix what isn't broken, but here are a couple of high impact upgrades you can make (in order of bang-for-the-buck):

1. Buy a decent aftermarket CPU cooler for you CPU and overclock that sucker to 4.3GHz+.

2. Add an SSD as your boot/OS drive & for games you play often

3. Sell the GTX 580 and buy a GTX 970.

I think i did buy a good aftermarket cooler but i don't think i over clocked it

 

[Arachnotronic]

I think i did buy a good aftermarket cooler but i don't think i over clocked it

Oh, good! I suggest giving the cooler a good cleaning (it's been 5 years after all...) and then going for it!

 

[pontifex]

So for the SSDs, are they all 2.5"? Isn't that the same size as a laptop HD?

If so, do they come with brackets to fit in a desktop?

Any recommendations for a good SSD on a budget?

 

[Brainonska511]

So for the SSDs, are they all 2.5"? Isn't that the same size as a laptop HD?

If so, do they come with brackets to fit in a desktop?

Any recommendations for a good SSD on a budget?

They make 2.5" to 3.5" bracket adapters - some are made so you can fit 2 SSDs in one 3.5" slot. In one case, I used a bit of tape to attach an SSD to the top of a 3.5" drive cage.

How much are you looking to spend? You can often find Sandisk Ultras or Samsung Evos in the 250GB range for under $80.

 

[RussianSensation]

If you're happy with the performance of your system, don't fix what isn't broken, but here are a couple of high impact upgrades you can make (in order of bang-for-the-buck):

1. Buy a decent aftermarket CPU cooler for you CPU and overclock that sucker to 4.3GHz+.

2. Add an SSD as your boot/OS drive & for games you play often

3. Sell the GTX 580 and buy a GTX 970.

I agree with this post.

1. If this cooler fits in the case, it'll max out i5 2500K easily. Even this $15 cooler would be able to handle 4.5-4.6Ghz on a 2500K.

2. For SSD, I'd look at a 500GB Samsung 850 Evo.

3. For GPU, at current prices, I'd recommend XFX R9 290X/R9 390X over the 970 though. Another option could be to wait for an EVGA B-stock 970 as it sometimes goes on sale for $240-250.

 

[Arachnotronic]

I agree with this post.

1. If this cooler fits in the case, it'll max out i5 2500K easily. Even this $15 cooler would be able to handle 4.5-4.6Ghz on a 2500K.

2. For SSD, I'd look at a 500GB Samsung 850 Evo.

3. For GPU, at current prices, I'd recommend XFX R9 290X/R9 390X over the 970 though. Another option could be to wait for an EVGA B-stock 970 as it sometimes goes on sale for $240-250.

It's pretty incredible how much life the OP will be able to get from the CPU from just overclocking it...3.3GHz -> 4.5GHz is a 36%(!) jump.

I see where you're coming from with the Radeons (perf/$), but GTX 970 runs significantly cooler & is far quieter. OP can also count on a reasonable OC, to boot.

I also realize that I say this as somebody with a ridiculously loud & hot sig system.

 

[RussianSensation]

I see where you're coming from with the Radeons (perf/$), but GTX 970 runs significantly cooler & is far quieter. OP can also count on a reasonable OC, to boot.

The cooler part doesn't matter as much since R9 290X is rated at 95C @ 24/7 operation.

The really quiet 970 is $320 right now (Ya prices have skyrocketed in the last month). Considering R9 390X costs $340, that 970 makes no sense.

The cooler on the XFX R9 390X is also improved over the 290X version.

"The XFX R9 390X Double Dissipation Core Edition is a quiet card at the desktop environment and when gaming at stock speeds. We were not able to notice the card’s fans over the rest of the system and games that we were playing. Overclocking the card increased the noise produced by the card making it noticeable on the bench. The sound of the fans blended in with the rest of the system and did not distract us from gameplay."

390X offers ~ 980 level of performance for close to GTX970 prices, comes with 8GB of extra VRAM as a bonus. There is actually a way to get 390/390X even cheaper than I outlined:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37935492&postcount=2

Once 970 reaches price parity with 390/390X, it's not a good buy imo.

Also, 390/390X do much better at 1440p, which makes them safer buys to keep over the next 2-3 years.

I really don't like how 970 falls apart at 1440P but 390 level cards don't.

Even the 980 doesn't look that great against 390X at 1440P, actually loses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G2EMUOhEMM

Eventually, next gen games will become as demanding at 1080p as current games are at 1440p and for that reason at equal prices, I'd pick a card that has more raw horsepower for 1440p. Usually, cards that perform better at high resolution age better for 1080p too.

If the OP won't overclock though, then 970 makes more sense due to multi-threaded drivers that help on slower CPUs.

 

[pontifex]

hmm...tried to play Rainbow Six Siege after upgrading to win7 and it loads but I cann't play. If I select a situation, it plays the intro video but then makes me sit at the loading screen forever.

also this video card apparently only has 1.5 GB memory. Running that game on max settings requires over 4 GB of video memory.

I let the game autodetect settings so the memory usage is below 1.5 gb but still get the same results. I found there is a driver update for win7 and this card so I am installing that now and will try again.


rainbow six issue was corrupt game files. fixed that and it works.

 

[pontifex]

I ended up buying a 500 GB SSD, the Samsung Evo 850 model.

Some weird issues - when booting, it loads the windows splash screen, then like my mouse, keyboard and video go out for a minute or so then the I get the login screen. this happened with my old regular HD, but it only lasted for a second.

Also, within a minute or so of loading into windows, my whole pc freezes for up to like 2 minutes. sometimes it freezes again for a much shorter period of time.

As of writing this I haven't left the PC booted very long to see if it happens again after it's been running for awhile, but I can reproduce these issues consistently.

The Samsungg drive software says the fw is up to date. I updated my bios, I set the SSD to SSD in the bios, i also enabled AHCI. windows 7 is completely up to date.

I found some other people with similar issues but their fixes so far have not solved the issue.

 

[pontifex]

i just rebooted again and this time none of the issues that came up before came up this time.

maybe it needed to be left on for awhile???

also my bios has a thing for OC where it will auto-oc to different speeds. I set it to 4.2 but how do i know it's working?

I have cpu-id and it seems to fluctuate between 4191 and 1596 or while the program is running. So I assume that's working?

 

[pontifex]

looking at the r9 390 (not the 390x) and it seems that I need a 750w power supply minimum and 850 recommended? I guess I couldn't run it off my 650w?

the GTX970 is 500w minimum. but the GTX 970 only has 4 GB memory whereas the R9 390 has 8 GB.

From reviews it seems the R9 390 is a better card. It seems that 8 GB will really come in handy with newer games.