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Should I upgrade?

S

Snuffhit

n00b
Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
9
Hi guys,

Need advice on whether or not I should upgrade my rig. It has served me well for the past 3.5 years. I plan to upgrade the following components as my 670 gtx is perfectly fine (6GB of DDR3, 1600 MHz RAM I can keep too):

i7 920 ===> i5 3570k
ASUS P6T ===> ASUS P8Z77-V PRO
Windows 7 premium 64 ===> Windows 8 64-bit

Do you think there is a need right now if my primary purpose is gaming (Planetside 2 for example and the other titles dropping this year)? My i7 920 is stock and overclocking on air is not an option where I live especially during summer.
 
1. don't do #3 at all, keep your windows 7

2. are you noticing a cpu bottle neck with your gtx 670 when you play games? i would think that you're processor is working just fine if all you are doing is gaming. you would benefit slightly from overclocking if you are seeing bottlenecking.
 
What are you using as your CPU cooler?

IIRC, the i7-920 can overclock a bit (using the right cooler, of course) without drawing a lot more energy or producing a lot more heat. If overclocking is a possibility (or a concern, given your environment), it would be better for you to wait for Sandy Bridge-E/Socket 2011 or Haswell/Socket 1150 and see what they offer.

As an aside, I concur with bigted on the Windows 7/Windows 8 "option."
 
Haswell should be out relatively soon. I would wait until then before making a decision.
 
Hey guys,

Thanks for the replies. My cooler is the Thermaltake ISGC-300. I have overclocked this sucker in the past (very easily reaching 3 GHz but my temps were a worry when I ran prime95.

Bottlenecking is extremely difficult to diagnose considering the fact that most games run at low frame rates during certain times regardless of your rig.
 
Snuffhit said:
Hey guys,

Thanks for the replies. My cooler is the Thermaltake ISGC-300. I have overclocked this sucker in the past (very easily reaching 3 GHz but my temps were a worry when I ran prime95.

Bottlenecking is extremely difficult to diagnose considering the fact that most games run at low frame rates during certain times regardless of your rig.
Click to expand...

it's pretty easy to diagnose actually, make sure vsync is disabled in your fav game, turn on cpu and gpu activity monitoring in your fav program (i have a second monitor and just pull up task manager and use GPU shark and look at % utilization, but i'm sure there are other better options). fire up your game on the main monitor. if you notice you have a couple cores pegged at 100% and your gpu utilization is 75%, then your processor can't keep up and is bottlenecking. however if your cores show 75% and your gpu is at 100%, you are getting full use of your gpu. when i had a 920, my 2 6850's were always at 99-100% so i never had a problem with my 920 slowing down my gaming. my 920 was oc'd to 3.8ghz on a cooler master hyper212+ and temps were never a problem.

i couldn't say if a 920 would hold back a 670 or not but if it is even a little, i'd go the overclocking route before buying a new setup
 
I've overclocked my i7 920 to 3.2 GHz. I have noticed a massive difference in game responsiveness and smoothness (my frame rate doesn't drop as low in those graphically straining situations now). I am however worried about system temps.

@ 3.2 GHz: Idle - 45 C, Max - 75
@ 3.4 GHz: Idle 55, Max - 85-90

I used prime95 for max temp determination. Do you think the 3.4 GHz temps are pushing it? I'd really like to stay at this frequency at it equals that of the i5 3570k.

I'm also aware that gaming won't push my processor close to that maximum but I'm still worried about chip damage. Any input?
 
Snuffhit said:
I've overclocked my i7 920 to 3.2 GHz. I have noticed a massive difference in game responsiveness and smoothness (my frame rate doesn't drop as low in those graphically straining situations now). I am however worried about system temps.

@ 3.2 GHz: Idle - 45 C, Max - 75
@ 3.4 GHz: Idle 55, Max - 85-90

I used prime95 for max temp determination. Do you think the 3.4 GHz temps are pushing it? I'd really like to stay at this frequency at it equals that of the i5 3570k.

I'm also aware that gaming won't push my processor close to that maximum but I'm still worried about chip damage. Any input?
Click to expand...

I've been running my Q9550 for a couple of years and it goes over 90 C in IBT. Previously had an E8400 in this computer that I did the same thing with - and never have a problem. My computer is in an HTPC case with poor airflow. The chips have pretty good thermal protection and will shut themselves down before causing damange, provided that you are not exceeding max voltage.
 
Ok, I'm guessing my temps aren't overly unhealthy.

I have yet another question... From a performance perspective, is it better to maximize processor clock frequency or RAM operating frequency?

If I go up to 3.4 GHz on my processor, I have to drop my RAM down due to the fact that I cannot exceed 1600 MHz.
 
Snuffhit said:
Anybody...

I'd like to know which clock frequency I should keep.
Click to expand...

My understanding is that today's computers don't really make use of all the memory bandwidth, so make the cpu speed the first priority.
 
In my opinion if you overclock that 920 even just a bit it really isn't much of an upgrade. I would stick with that 920 setup for another year and wait for something better before upgrading.
 
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