New gaming build, or revitalize my old one?

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Frankie

2[H]4U
Joined
Aug 2, 2009
Messages
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I recently upgraded to a U3014 and, not surprisingly, things are chugging on my 2010 desktop build fairly badly (mostly playing Bioshock Infinity maxed out).

Here's what I've got:
1 x Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80601930
3 x G.SKILL Trident 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Desktop Memory Model F3-16000CL9D-4GBTD
1 x XFX HD-597A-CNB9 Radeon HD 5970 Black Edition 2GB 512 (256 x 2)-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX
1 x ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

I really don't pay attention to computer tech much between builds, then I obsess over it for a month, then I forget about it again until something starts stuttering. Any chance a serious ($600-$1000) graphics card upgrade would put me right back in the thick of things again, or would it just be a bandage that wouldn't cover up my older processor?

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

Gaming. I'll do some PS and some heavy duty work number crunching, but I don't particularly care how long those things take.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

Say, $2,000, but can stretch if it makes a significant difference. Not worried about taxes and shipping.

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

US. Nevada.

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'll reuse my case (Silverstone TJ-09), unless it has clearance problems with the graphics card. Shouldn't need a power supply, I've got a 2010 vintage Antec TPQ-1200 1200W, I assume there won't be any connector issues. Would need everything else (though not anything like monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc).

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

See 4.

6) Will you be overclocking?

Yes, though nothing extreme.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

2560x1600

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

Within two weeks, unless there's something on the horizon waiting for, in which case I could wait a couple months.

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.

Would like Crossfire and/or SLI support. Other than that I don't think I have any specific needs.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

Will probably buy a new license.

Thanks for any help!
 
Danny Bui said:
Is that CPU overclocked?
Click to expand...

I'm not at home now, and I can't remember it for sure, since when it comes to OC I basically set it and forget it, but IIRC it is, but nothing extreme. I wanna say it's at 3.4 or maybe 3.6, but I'm probably pulling that out of my ass. I'll check when I get home.
 
Well if your CPU is overclocked close to 4Ghz, you could hold off on a CPU upgrade and would be fine with a SSD and a GPU upgrade.
 
IIRC, it seemed like I got a pretty poor overclocker of a 930 at the time, but I'll have to check.

What would you recommend for GPU(s) right now, given a 500-1200 budget?
 
With that kinda budget, I'd OC the 930, throw in an Nvidia 770GTX 4GB and Samsung 840 SSD and call it a day.
 
What's the current socket situation? 1150 is super new, so it doesn't have the higher end CPUs for it, or it's a more budget oriented socket, so it never will?

I've looked at a few GPU reviews and it seems like CFd 7970GE's have pretty impressive performance for a relatively reasonable price. Any issues here, e.g.tons of FPS but comes with guaranteed microstutter?

I've got a wishlist put together that I think includes everything I need, including a stupidly expensive motherboard (which I always fall for for some reason), a Samsung 840, i7-4770K, and 2x 7970GEs and it all clocks in at under $2400, which would be no problem.
 
Frankie said:
What would you recommend for GPU(s) right now, given a 500-1200 budget?
Click to expand...
GTX 770 4GB SLI.
Frankie said:
What's the current socket situation? 1150 is super new, so it doesn't have the higher end CPUs for it, or it's a more budget oriented socket, so it never will?
Click to expand...
Not sure what higher-end CPUs you're talking about since the LGA 1150 has the $330 Core i7 4770K for it. If you're looking for a six-core setup, then yeah LGA 1150 is a budget setup in that regards since only Intel's socket 2011 supports six-core CPUs. For your needs, the regular Core i5 4670K is enough.
Frankie said:
I've looked at a few GPU reviews and it seems like CFd 7970GE's have pretty impressive performance for a relatively reasonable price. Any issues here, e.g.tons of FPS but comes with guaranteed microstutter?
Click to expand...
Basically, I trust Nvidia's SLI implementation more. AMD has made some vast improvements in their Crossfire drivers over the past year but I'd still recommend a Nvidia SLI when possible.
Frankie said:
I've got a wishlist put together that I think includes everything I need, including a stupidly expensive motherboard (which I always fall for for some reason), a Samsung 840, i7-4770K, and 2x 7970GEs and it all clocks in at under $2400, which would be no problem.
Click to expand...
Yeah two of those parts are not the greatest choices as mentioned earlier.
 
Danny Bui said:
Not sure what higher-end CPUs you're talking about since the LGA 1150 has the $330 Core i7 4770K for it. If you're looking for a six-core setup, then yeah LGA 1150 is a budget setup in that regards since only Intel's socket 2011 supports six-core CPUs. For your needs, the regular Core i5 4670K is enough.
Click to expand...

I think I was just expecting to click on the socket and see a 1000 dollar CPU that I'd never buy at the top of the list, followed by a ~500 dollar CPU that's only 5% slower, so when I only saw a $330 max it seemed odd.

Yeah two of those parts are not the greatest choices as mentioned earlier.
Click to expand...

Meaning the CPU and GPUs? The .1 GHz and L3 Cache just doesn't matter much?

What's a good OCing MB? What do you get by buying something crazy like the:

MSI Z87 XPOWER LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 XL ATX Extreme Flagship High Performance Quad CFX/ Triple SLI Intel Motherboard

Thanks for all the help, think I might actually end up pulling the trigger on a new build.
 
Frankie said:
Meaning the CPU and GPUs? The .1 GHz and L3 Cache just doesn't matter much?
Click to expand...

From a gaming POV, not at all. It will, however, give you slightly faster results on those number crunching depending on what program you're using. Since you aren't concerned with it, no need to worry. Just grab an i5.

Frankie said:
What's a good OCing MB? What do you get by buying something crazy like the:

MSI Z87 XPOWER LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 XL ATX Extreme Flagship High Performance Quad CFX/ Triple SLI Intel Motherboard

Thanks for all the help, think I might actually end up pulling the trigger on a new build.
Click to expand...

You only need to spend about 1/4 of that on a decent motherboard. Unlike the old days where a good motherboard was as important as the lucky chip, these days it's more about the chip. Doesn't take much of a motherboard to reach 4.3Ghz - 4.5Ghz on Intel's latest CPUs.
 
Placed the order. Went with the i5 and 2 x GTX 770 4GB SLI.

Also picked up a Silverstone FT02 that I'm going to throw my old rig in.

Thanks for all the help guys.
 
Yeah, Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz. Would you recommend something else? It's not too late to change it, but seems like these had good reviews and were popular.
 
If you have the regular Vengeance RAM, the tall heatspreaders will interfere with the placement of tower-style CPU coolers like the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus/EVO series.

Did you purchase the MSI Z87 XPOWER alongside the i5-4670K?
 
tiraides said:
If you have the regular Vengeance RAM, the tall heatspreaders will interfere with the placement of tower-style CPU coolers like the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus/EVO series.

Did you purchase the MSI Z87 XPOWER alongside the i5-4670K?
Click to expand...

I got the short vengeance. They have spreaders but they're not the tall ones.

I did get the Z87.
 
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