Core System upgrade advice

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
This is a gaming machine

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$500-800 cad before taxes/shipping

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Toronto Ontario Canada

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
I only require a new Motherboard, RAM, CPU and aftermarket cooler.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I will be reusing my case, power supply (900w modular corsair), SSD's and Nvidia GTX 680

6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes, but within moderation, i am not looking to set records

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
I run 3x 24 inch monitors @ 1920x1080

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the month

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
I have no special requirements

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, 64-bit Windows 7 (switching to 10)



I am an occasional poster and long time lurker around these parts, humbly requesting upgrade advice.

I am currently running an intel i5-750 @3.5ghz paired with a GTX 680. the i5-750 has served me extremely well, but after 5 years i feel it may be time to look for a replacement. This is a gaming machine only.

What RAM do you have now?

If anything isn't the video card the slowest part?
//Danne

Dangman said:

What RAM do you have now?

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I do not plan on re-using ram, will buy new.

diizzy said:

If anything isn't the video card the slowest part?
//Danne

Click to expand...

Possibly yes, but i am not ready to replace it yet. Upgrading in stages.



https://pchound.com/GuN4nE/

These are the components I am considering for this upgrade.

dezimieren said:

I do not plan on re-using ram, will buy new.





Possibly yes, but i am not ready to replace it yet. Upgrading in stages.



https://pchound.com/GuN4nE/

These are the components I am considering for this upgrade.

Click to expand...

Considering that you're planning on buying a whole new set of RAM, why not just wait for Intel Skylake CPUs and its DDR4 RAM support? Not only would that mean cheaper and denser future RAM upgrades and a better guarantee that you'll see a noticeable increase with the upgrade.

I don't think you're gonna notice much improvement with an upgrade if you don't upgrade the GPU. It's not like that CPU is holding the current GPU back.

Exactly
//Danne

You need to upgrade that video card first or you will just end up spending about $500 (that's for everything but the GPU) for about 5% increase. Honestly at that resolution even a 980 TI would still be your bottleneck, unless you get multiple GPUs. If I were you I would just get a 980 and call it a day and then just save up until you can afford to replace the rest of the system. You are basically just wasting your money by not upgrading your GPU first. You can get a GTX 980 for about $630 CAD after rebates at NCIX.

[21CW]killerofall;1041712198 said:

You need to upgrade that video card first or you will just end up spending about $500 (that's for everything but the GPU) for about 5% increase. Honestly at that resolution even a 980 TI would still be your bottleneck, unless you get multiple GPUs. If I were you I would just get a 980 and call it a day and then just save up until you can afford to replace the rest of the system. You are basically just wasting your money by not upgrading your GPU first. You can get a GTX 980 for about $630 CAD after rebates at NCIX.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, however i feel that i should clarify a bit more as i realize i may have misled in the original post soliciting assistance.

While I do run 3x 24" monitors, I do not utilize surround for gaming. The additional screen real estate is used for displaying additional windows while day trading. For gaming purposes I use a single monitor @ 1920x1080. I have been gifted a used GTX 680 that will be SLI'd with my current 680, that's the motivation for not yet stepping up to a new GPU.