Time to upgrade?

M

mithrandir33

n00b
Joined
Dec 29, 2010
Messages
16
Hello all:

I am starting to see some lag issues with my system with certain multitasking/gaming situations. I play arma2/3, dayz, minecraft, etc. I also sometimes like to play video on my second monitor while minecrafting. Both my monitors are 1920/1080. My current specs are as follows:

CPU: Intel i5-2500K
Mobo: ASUS P8Z68-V LE
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600
Video: GTX 560 Ti
Crucial 64 GB m4 SSD
Older Corsair Power Supply

I will eventually be purchasing a whole new system, but cannot afford it at this time. Student income is an issue. What would be the most cost effective upgrade for me? Video card? More memory?

Thanks everybody.
 
The processor shouldn't be the bottleneck, but there are several areas you could improve.

Regarding your multitasking, which tasks, programs, and games are your running simultaneously?

How full is your SSD?

How old is your power supply? Do you know the model number?

At first glance, I'd go video card (GTX 760 or HD 7970), SSD (at least 250GB), then power supply (at least 550 watts) in that order. If you haven't done so already, you should consider overclocking the i5-2500K to ta least 4GHz. (Do you have a third-party CPU cooler? If so, what?)
 
My main issue has recently been minecraft and movie watching. That is the main multitasking issue i was seeing.

My SSD is 3/4 full, and I was thinking an upgrade might be needed for that.

My power supply is from 2008, and is a Corsair 550VX enthusiast series.

I have a third party cooler, the True Spirit 140, and am going to look into overclocking very shortly.

Thanks for all the input. I will start looking at cards.
 
What do you think about this?

$260 - MSI GTX 760 2GB PCI-E 3.0 video card
$160 - Samsung 840 250GB SSD
$80 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550 watt modular power supply
====
$500 - Total (not including taxes or rebates)

If you're still having performance issues after this upgrade, then you may need to consider increasing the RAM by at least another 8GB.
 
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