I'd like some advice on upgrading my system

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blunt_eastwood

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 4, 2011
Messages
173
I currently have the below parts but would like to upgrade to a small form factor system so that I can easily take it with me to my friend's house or move it to the living room and play games on my TV.

Intel Core i5-3570K
Intel Core i7-990X
Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W
GA-Z77-DS3H LGA 1155 Z77 ATX Intel Motherboard
NZXT Source 210 Elite
Crucial 4 GB DDR3-1333 UDIMM 240 Pin Memory
CORSAIR XMS3 6GB
XFX Double D R9-270X-CDFC Radeon R9 270X 2GB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB Hard Drive

My plan is to sell the i7 chip, Antec PSU, motherboard, NZXT case, and both sets of ram, and put that money towards buying a Silverstone RVZ01B case, compatible motherboard, PSU, and RAM to use with my i5-3570k, HDD, and R9-270X.

What do you guys think of this plan? I currently play mostly FPS games like BF4, L4D2, and CS:GO but I'd like to get more performance out of BF4 and I figure if I'm upgrading all of these parts it might be worth just replacing the i5 and R9-270X as well. I'd also like to be able to play Evolve and Hardline when they come out.
 
How about a Corsair 250D or a Corsair 380T for a case as both of these allow you to use a full size PSU.
Also if your budget will allow I would recommend you step up to a socket 1150 mobo & CPU.
The R9 would be good for now with plans to upgrade when AMD & Nvidia come out with their new cards in 2015.
 
blunt_eastwood said:
What do you guys think of this plan?
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Well, how often do you actually play games at your friend's place and/or play games on your TV? For the latter, why not just get a long HDMI cable?

IMO, unless you're constantly planning to play games at your friend's place and/or play games on your TV (and can't use longer HDMI cable), this transformation really isn't worth the hassle. As it stands right now, all your current PC needs is a SSD, RAM, and GPU upgrade and it's pretty set until 2016 at the earliest. The SSD alone will make a huge difference in the overall responsiveness of the PC. In fact a $110 SSD upgrade would make more of a difference in BF4 for the money than spending close to $500 on a new Core i7 4790K and overclock capable Z97 motherboard.

In addition, using Newegg, virtually most of those LGA 1150 mITX motherboards available are a downgrade from your current motherboard in terms of quality.
 
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Dangman said:
Well, how often do you actually play games at your friend's place and/or play games on your TV? For the latter, why not just get a long HDMI cable?
Click to expand...

I don't actually play at my friend's house that often. Sometimes over Christmas or Thanksgiving I go home to my parents or friend's house and like to play some games, but I see your point that it's not worth all the hassle for that.

Regarding my gaming habits, I mostly play FPS for which I like to use my desk, but every now and then I like to play a third person game on my TV with the Xbox controller I bought. How could I make this work with an HDMI cable? Wouldn't I need to have a wireless keyboard and mouse and bring them into the living room every time I want to play there?

Dangman said:
IMO, unless you're constantly planning to play games at your friend's place and/or play games on your TV (and can't use longer HDMI cable), this transformation really isn't worth the hassle. As it stands right now, all your current PC needs is a SSD, RAM, and GPU upgrade and it's pretty set until 2016 at the earliest. The SSD alone will make a huge difference in the overall responsiveness of the PC. In fact a $110 SSD upgrade would make more of a difference in BF4 for the money than spending close to $500 on a new Core i7 4790K and overclock capable Z97 motherboard.

In addition, using Newegg, virtually most of those LGA 1150 mITX motherboards available are a downgrade from your current motherboard in terms of quality.
Click to expand...

Okay I see what you're saying. Let me start with a SSD and see if that helps things.

How's the Kingston SSDNow V300 Series SV300S37A/120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)?

Would you recommend that?
 
blunt_eastwood said:
Regarding my gaming habits, I mostly play FPS for which I like to use my desk, but every now and then I like to play a third person game on my TV with the Xbox controller I bought. How could I make this work with an HDMI cable? Wouldn't I need to have a wireless keyboard and mouse and bring them into the living room every time I want to play there?
Click to expand...
If your room is close enough to the living room, you can connect the TV to your gaming PC via that HDMI cable. You wouldn't necessarily need a wireless KB/M if you're using Steam Big Picture which is compatible with the Xbox 360 controller. At that point, now it's dependent or whether or not your 360 controller is wired or wireless. If you're planning on playing games that uses the KB/M only, then yes you would need a wireless keyboard and mouse. However, all of that would still be cheaper and less of a hassle than rebuilding your entire PC.

Still the key thing to note is "every now and then". That doesn't sound like you do it all that often.

blunt_eastwood said:
Okay I see what you're saying. Let me start with a SSD and see if that helps things.

How's the Kingston SSDNow V300 Series SV300S37A/120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)?

Would you recommend that?
Click to expand...

blunt_eastwood said:
I looked around a bit and I see that this PNY Optima SSD is on sale. Is it a good deal?
Click to expand...

I really wouldn't recommend either SSD since those happen to be the SSDs that a bit of bait and switch were occurring with. I mainly recommend the Samsung 840 Evo, Samsung 840 Pro, Samsung 850 Evo, and the Crucial MX100.
 
Dangman said:
If your room is close enough to the living room, you can connect the TV to your gaming PC via that HDMI cable. You wouldn't necessarily need a wireless KB/M if you're using Steam Big Picture which is compatible with the Xbox 360 controller. At that point, now it's dependent or whether or not your 360 controller is wired or wireless. If you're planning on playing games that uses the KB/M only, then yes you would need a wireless keyboard and mouse. However, all of that would still be cheaper and less of a hassle than rebuilding your entire PC.

Still the key thing to note is "every now and then". That doesn't sound like you do it all that often.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. So I can start my PC, go into Big Picture mode, and then go the living room and play because I have a wireless 360 controller.


Dangman said:
I really wouldn't recommend either SSD since those happen to be the SSDs that a bit of bait and switch were occurring with. I mainly recommend the Samsung 840 Evo, Samsung 840 Pro, Samsung 850 Evo, and the Crucial MX100.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I will look for a deal on one of those SSD's.
 
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