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Need some hardware upgrade advice

K

Khali

n00b
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Messages
8
I posted this same message over on the Crunching@EVGA, my crunching team, forums but I thought I would toss it out here and see what you folks here at [H] might have to say.

Amazon has the EVGA 780Ti 3GB VRam Superclocked with the reference cooler (I prefer the reference cooler since it removes the heat from the case where the ACX cooler just dumps it into the case) for $689.99 and a $10 rebate right now. Free two day shipping with my Prime account. I am tempted but I have to wonder if I would not bee better off to wait for the higher end Maxwell cards to be released. My GTX 680 2GB VRam does the job right now. It's only failing is with Skyrim heavily modified with texture mods, it runs out of VRam from time to time.

Aside from rare Skyrim issues the 680 is fine. That being said I am debating about upgrade my i5-3570k to a i7-3770k for HT and add in a pair of stock 750Ti's for crunching for $623.97 before shipping and taxes instead of going the 780Ti route.

The i7-3770k will work in my current Motherboard and I think my Cooler Master Gemin II CPU cooler will do a good job with the i7.

Here is my current system that I want to maximize for crunching while being able to play games from time to time. Yet, not have to build a totally new system.

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K
ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
CORSAIR Vengeance LP 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
EVGA 02G-P4-2680-KR GeForce GTX 680 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
2x SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC512D/AM 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Desktop Upgrade Kit
Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
SeaSonic Platinum Platinum-860 860W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply
SAMSUNG DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA
Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
COOLER MASTER GeminII S524 120mm Long Life Sleeve CPU Cooler

Comments or suggestions?
 
Khali, you may want to say what projects you are planning. HT doesn't always help depending on the project. PrimeGrid is a good example of that. It may be a wasted expense for an older processor.

The 750Ti's are nice for the low power draw, but I haven't seen them scream pick me when it comes to output. However, my only other card on that level is my 650Ti. So, others would have to chime in on the choice of video cards.

Another thing to consider is Haswell-E http://www.guru3d.com/news_story/intel_haswell_e_roadmap_confirms_launch_in_q3_2014.html
 
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I run a little bit of everything on Boinc. My main interest is projects dealing with the Bio Medical field but I will run just about anything if need be. So far I have ran tasks from 18 different projects and I have a few more I want to try out. I have only been crunching since January so I am still testing out projects before settling down with a batch of favorites. Plus amassing a pile of low level badges from each project. Not a real big badge fan but I figure I might as well run each new project long enough to at least get the first tier badge while I am at it.

The 750's seem like a nice compromise fit with the i7-3770k. A modest increase in CPU power via HT and nudge on the GPU front with the 750's yet not pushing my power supply beyond its limits.

The problem with any of the Haswell based CPU's is they would require a new Motherboard.

Right now I am inclined to go with the 780Ti and just wait for the new Haswell CPU's to be released and maybe go down in price a little before jumping in and replacing the CPU, motherboard, and probably the memory if DDR5 makes its appearance.
 
780Ti will certainly draw more power and be a much better producer over all. I just don't know about the efficiency if compared to multiple 750Ti's. Not everyone has a ton of slots to fill. Hyper Threading would only net you probably up to ~30% increase on most projects that benefit from it. So, if the cost is worth it, go for it. Otherwise, I would hold off. Grandpa and brilong have looked at the HT at PrimeGrid in the last couple challenges they were in there and at least two of the sub projects saw no gain and potentially loss in production using HT.

Linux 64bit also tends to have better results at many projects. Especially if they use VINA. Some people have claimed up to 50% better results, so it definitely comes down to which projects. I have a couple 750Ti's. One is an EVGA and the other is a PNY.
 
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