Upgrading an old system [HELP]

[CBreeze]

So the time has come where I need to perform the next upgrade on my PC, as my current build is a few years old now and is slowly beginning to struggle to run the newest games on decent graphics. This is my current build;

CPU: Intel Core i5 2380P @ 3.10GHz Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology

RAM: 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (8-8-8-20)

Motherboard: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. H61MA-D2V (Intel Core i5-2380P CPU @ 3.10GHz)

GPU: 2048MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series (Sapphire/PCPartner)

Storage: 111GB Samsung SSD 840 EVO 120GB ATA Device (SSD)
931GB Western Digital WDC WD10EZEX-00BN5A0 ATA Device (SATA)

PSU: CIT 750W Power Supply Unity with PSU and Dual 12v Rails

I have to admit as I have got older I have fell out of touch with the best components at the moment, I built this computer myself a few years ago and as I said I feel it is time to upgrade!

I’m seeking advice on firstly what components need upgrading, and secondly what new components to purchase. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the PSU I have is dreadful and should be replaced pretty much immediately, so should I start with that?

I recently got an SSD and it’s worked a treat and my RAM seems to be doing just fine too.

So I’m stuck with this dilemma, do I upgrade my PSU and GPU to say an MSI NVIDIA GTX 970 Gaming Twin Frozr HDMI DVI-I DP Graphics Card (the number one best seller on Amazon?)

Will my motherboard be able to deal with this card? Will the processor?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[daveybrat]

Most of your system still looks good. That CIT power supply is very low-end and should be replaced.

I think you have it right, new power supply and a GTX 970. 🙂

 

[CBreeze]

Thanks for your reply!

That confirms my suspicions on the PSU, would a 600W Corsair CXM PSU be good enough with a new 970?

 

[daveybrat]

Thanks for your reply!

That confirms my suspicions on the PSU, would a 600W Corsair CXM PSU be good enough with a new 970?

That power supply would be more than enough.

 

[Murloc]

I agree with changing PSU + GPU as this will give you the greastest increase in performance for your money, a 600W decent one will be future proof for pretty much any mainstream single gpu configuration.

You may also want to download the latest version of samsung magician and upgrade the SSD's firmware if you experience performance degradation as that model has specific issues.
Depending on how recently you got the 840EVO maybe you can still exchange it at the shop, in which case I'd do it because the "fix" actually just rewrites stuff more frequently, lowering the life.

 

[mfenn]

What are the games that your machine has trouble with? If you lower the resolution and details, do your framerates improve or not really?

Also, do you know which 7800 series card you have? 7850 or 7870?

 

[amittalkin]

Will my motherboard be able to deal with this card? Will the processor?

Nop, here I would suggest upgrading CPU,GPU and Mobo as well. Your current CPU surely bottleneck GTX 970.

 

[lehtv]

Nop, here I would suggest upgrading CPU,GPU and Mobo as well. Your current CPU surely bottleneck GTX 970.

I'm not so sure it does. Sandy Bridge is no slouch. Performance per GHz is about 20% behind Haswell:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/363?vs=1368 (Both here boost to 3.2GHz on 4 cores, but the Haswell boosts 200MHz higher on 1-2 cores. i5-2380P = i5-2400 without iGPU)

A 3.2GHz haswell doesn't noticeably bottle GTX 970, maybe slightly in some CPU heavy games but not in general. 20% less CPU performance isn't going to create bottlenecks in GPU heavy games, but it will highlight the problem in those CPU heavy games.