Upgrading Advice

[JOSHSKORN]

I'm not looking to upgrade my machine, yet, but for my own curiosities, I'd like to know what I would NEED to upgrade overall. I may upgrade sometime in 2011 or 2012, or unless my computer somehow dies out sooner, which I doubt.

If I were to upgrade today, I'd probably top off my machine with something similar to a dream machine, although I wouldn't get a SSD, due to the price. I might get parts like these:
Core i7 980-X - I may overclock this within reason
Hard Drive SATA III 1 TB
AMD HD 5970
6 GB Memory
Motherboard - Not totally sure about this one in particular but I don't think that's relevant. Continue reading.


Now it seems to me that these particular products would run hotter than what I currently have in my machine, so I'd have to get more fans and a better heatsink. That's fine. Note that I also have a DVD-ROM and a DVD-DL in my computer, too. My question is this, though. How much power would I need to run such a machine? That is, PSU, wattage, and so forth. When I got my computer 3 years ago, I purposely got a better PSU than what was in there, but I'm not sure if it'll still be good enough. I think it's a Thermaltake 750-watt. I do not plan on running my machine in crossfire mode, so it will only ever see 1 video card in it at a time, not 2, 3 and 4. Do I need a more powerful PSU for what I'm thinking of upgrading to?

 

[bastage]

Dude.. a 980x & no SSD.. Talk about some fucked up priorities..

 

[JOSHSKORN]

Dude.. a 980x & no SSD.. Talk about some fucked up priorities..

Did you ever think that just for a minute that by time I do upgrade, the price COULD be just right? I'm just saying if I was to upgrade today, and today for my budget, SSD isn't affordable, and plus I don't think they make them in high enough capacities. I mean, I did say 2011/2012. Not like I've actually spent the money yet, so nothing's definite.

 

[E4g1e]

Did you ever think that just for a minute that by time I do upgrade, the price COULD be just right? I'm just saying if I was to upgrade today, and today for my budget, SSD isn't affordable, and plus I don't think they make them in high enough capacities. I mean, I did say 2011/2012. Not like I've actually spent the money yet, so nothing's definite.

At this point, the HDD is by far the biggest bottleneck to the performance of today's fastest and/or most powerful CPUs. If you're going to stick with conventional mechanical storage you might as well not upgrade the rest of your system (other than those components which need upgrading in order to support the particular drive that you're considering) at all, especially if you only recently upgraded the major core components of your current system.

 

[horrorshow]

AMD 1090T
ATI 5870 (single card, WAIT for something newer)
4gb DDR3 1600 (can double it later for cheap)
Asus 890GX chipset-based motherboard
Intel SSD 80gb
Samsung Spinpoint 1tb

That's my rationale.

 

[bastage]

Did you ever think that just for a minute that by time I do upgrade, the price COULD be just right? I'm just saying if I was to upgrade today, and today for my budget, SSD isn't affordable, and plus I don't think they make them in high enough capacities. I mean, I did say 2011/2012. Not like I've actually spent the money yet, so nothing's definite.

i7 980x + 1tb Samsung f3 7200 = 1075 dollars
i7 950 + 240gb Corsair Force SSD + 2tb Samsung f4 5400 rpm = 987

& Any what way you slice it the system with the SSD is just going to be plain down right faster. So there is no conceivable way that you can say a 980x is in budget & a SSD is not.

 

[JOSHSKORN]

i7 980x + 1tb Samsung f3 7200 = 1075 dollars
i7 950 + 240gb Corsair Force SSD + 2tb Samsung f4 5400 rpm = 987

& Any what way you slice it the system with the SSD is just going to be plain down right faster. So there is no conceivable way that you can say a 980x is in budget & a SSD is not.

OK so back to my original question. Do I need stronger PSU or not? Is 750 watts sufficient? You have made me think about reading an article I came across about building a balanced PC which I most likely would do when I'm ready to upgrade. Really, they're just beginning to make software that challenges mid-to-upper range 3 year old hardware. Not that I will build something that's top of the line, but I'll do my homework when the time is right. Figured I'd ask a few things here and there.

 

[Dangman]

I'm not looking to upgrade my machine, yet, but for my own curiosities, I'd like to know what I would NEED to upgrade overall. I may upgrade sometime in 2011 or 2012, or unless my computer somehow dies out sooner, which I doubt.

Well it would help if you told us exactly the specs of your PC and what you're planning on using the PC for.

But considering that your upgrade timefram is in 2011/2012, more than likely any socket LGA 1156 and LGA1366 route is out. Later this year and early next year, Intel is releasing their new Sandy Bridge CPUs.

Did you ever think that just for a minute that by time I do upgrade, the price COULD be just right?

Wrong assumption. Intel's Extreme Edition CPUs rarely drop to "just right" prices. In fact, Intel usually don't drop the prices of their CPUs that much after the release of a newer Intel product line. I.E the prices of the Pentium D CPUs during the era of the Intel Core 2 Duo/Quad days or the prices of Intel Core 2 Duo/Quads during the era of the Intel i5/i7 and LGA 1156/1366 days.

So bastage's comment wasn't out of line considering Intel's pricing history.

I'm just saying if I was to upgrade today, and today for my budget, SSD isn't affordable, and plus I don't think they make them in high enough capacities. I mean, I did say 2011/2012. Not like I've actually spent the money yet, so nothing's definite.

Judgning from the prices of the rest of the parts you just chose, a SSD is definitely within your budget range. All you have to do is cut back on the i7 980x, the RAM, GPU, and mobo and you'll still retain similar quality and perfomance from cheaper priced CPUs, RAM, GPU, and mobo while significantly speeding up your system. I'm more than willing to bet that the high-priced RAM and motherboard that you chose won't make up nowhere near the difference in performance that a SSD would provide.

Now it seems to me that these particular products would run hotter than what I currently have in my machine, so I'd have to get more fans and a better heatsink. That's fine. Note that I also have a DVD-ROM and a DVD-DL in my computer, too. My question is this, though. How much power would I need to run such a machine? That is, PSU, wattage, and so forth. When I got my computer 3 years ago, I purposely got a better PSU than what was in there, but I'm not sure if it'll still be good enough. I think it's a Thermaltake 750-watt. I do not plan on running my machine in crossfire mode, so it will only ever see 1 video card in it at a time, not 2, 3 and 4. Do I need a more powerful PSU for what I'm thinking of upgrading to?

Since you're planning on overclocking, then yes you'll need a larger PSU, perferably in the 950W range and above with at least 78A on the +12V rail.

And just to be clear: You're trying to ask what exact parts should YOU upgrade to in 2011 and 2012? Or are you trying to say what category of parts should you upgrade in 2011 and 2012?

 

[JOSHSKORN]

Well it would help if you told us exactly the specs of
Since you're planning on overclocking, then yes you'll need a larger PSU, perferably in the 950W range and above with at least 78A on the +12V rail.

OK....THIS was the answer I was hoping for from the OP, although I don't understand the 78A and the +12V rail portions.

And just to be clear: You're trying to ask what exact parts should YOU upgrade to in 2011 and 2012? Or are you trying to say what category of parts should you upgrade in 2011 and 2012?

To be clear, when I DO upgrade in that time frame, and I want similar parts at that time. They probably will have better stuff at that time, obviously but what I buy THEN will probably be comparable to what the best thing is NOW, aside from maybe a couple of things, for instance maybe an AMD/ATI 6000 series video card running on DirectX 12. I presume that'll be out when I'm ready to upgrade. I assume by then, the Core i7 980-X or a comparable chip will be in the $250 range. However, I do have my eyes on the next generation: Sandy Bridge, which I've been eying since 2008 or so. I'm guessing when that hits the market, the lower quality chips won't be quite as good as the Core i7 980-X but the mid and upper range ones will either compare or blow them away. I'll figure that out when I need to, but for now, I got what I needed to know in regards to my PSU. Thanks.

 

[bore_u2_death]

OP, it seems like you cannot give a straight answer as to what your processor requirements are in between talking about now and next year. If you want Gulftown level performance for $250 and an ATI 6000 series, wait for it to come out and then make a thread so that we can recomend items with retail availability and real prices and real performance numbers. In the meantime, we can discuss the PSU.

For a Radeon 5970, if you were to buy it by itself, you would probably do OK. Check out HardOCP's power figures. Their system has a 920 @ 3.6GHz.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/11/18/amd_ati_radeon_hd_5970_video_card_review/7

At full load your 750 watt PSU would be at 540/750=72% of its rated maximum at full load. You can check more reviews on other sites, but I think it'll be fine.