Which upgrade path to take?

[slightlyhuman]

At a crossroads on which upgrade path to take. Current rig:

MSI Z77
2x3GB DDR3
2600k @ 4.4ghz
256GB SSD
Tri-x 290x

I have the option to pick up another tri-x for $230(from a friend). If I went this option I would also grab more/better ram and push my OC on the 2600k.

My other(and more expensive option) is to upgrade my mobo/ram/cpu(prob 4770k or something) and just keep my single 290x. Main game I play is DayZ. Not sure if upping my CPU or going SLI would trigger more FPS(CPU I would assume). I also play BF4/hardline too.

I think my 2600k still has life left in it and don’t really see the benchmarks from upgrading to justify $500 in new parts. Thoughts?

 

[Termie]

The easiest way to tell which, if any, upgrade would help you is to run MSI Afterburner in the background while running DayZ and checking GPU and CPU usage.

My guess is that you do not need more GPU power. At the same time, you're only looking at getting a 15% bump going from a 2600K@4.4 to a 4790K@4.4. Remember that a 2600K will overclock better. You may be able to get your 2600K to match a typical 4790K.

 

[Smoblikat]

It doesnt look/sound like you need an upgrade. Though I have never seen 3gb DIMMS of RAM before, so if thats not a typo I suggest upgrading to 2X8gb.

 

[slightlyhuman]

It doesnt look/sound like you need an upgrade. Though I have never seen 3gb DIMMS of RAM before, so if thats not a typo I suggest upgrading to 2X8gb.

Oops! it's 3x2GB

 

[Termie]

Oops! it's 3x2GB

I'd recommend just an extra 2GB stick to bring it up to 8GB and to enable dual-channel operation once you exceed RAM usage of 4GB. I wouldn't bother buying all-new RAM just to get more or faster RAM. All you need is 8GB in dual-channel mode.

 

[slightlyhuman]

Problem is(I think) another 2GB stick of the same memory wouldn't be cheap AFAIK. I'm running an OC of 4.4ghz currently with this.

Please correct my ignorance if I'm wrong. Not even sure of the brand right now, need to open it up and see.

 

[Termie]

Problem is(I think) another 2GB stick of the same memory wouldn't be cheap AFAIK. I'm running an OC of 4.4ghz currently with this.

Please correct my ignorance if I'm wrong. Not even sure of the brand right now, need to open it up and see.

DDR3 is very cheap. You don't need a particular brand. A 2GB stick of Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1600 is typically around $20. If what you're using is really high-end RAM, it might be harder to find matching 2GB sticks of it, as high-end RAM isn't sold as small modules anymore. But in that case, I'd just downclock the high-end RAM to DDR3-1600. You'll get more from going dual-channel than you will from keeping a high RAM frequency.

 

[slightlyhuman]

DDR3 is very cheap. You don't need a particular brand. A 2GB stick of Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1600 is typically around $20. If what you're using is really high-end RAM, it might be harder to find matching 2GB sticks of it, as high-end RAM isn't sold as small modules anymore. But in that case, I'd just downclock the high-end RAM to DDR3-1600. You'll get more from going dual-channel than you will from keeping a high RAM frequency.

Thanks, going to look into grabbing a DDR3 2GB stick for the time being.

I don't too anything aside from the occasional game and gopo video editing and although that can be pretty taxing when convering raw footage, it's nothing my current setup can't handle well enough.

I suppose 8GB will hold me over for another year right?

 

[mfenn]

8GB should be fine for quite a while, since that's what games will be targeting for consoles and common PC configurations.