Upgrade - Best bang for buck?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ole
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Ole

Ole

Ole

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Morning gents

I'm considering a little upgrade to my system, as I've been noticing it's just starting to shows its age slightly. I mainly play MMOs (ESO and Wildstar) but dip into some FPS games as well (which tend to be a little more demanding).

Current system is as follows:

  • Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 (small overclock)
  • Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 (small overclock)
  • Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
  • Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gbs Solid State Hard Drive
  • Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
  • Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler

Just wondering what the most effective upgrade would be. Happy to spend £200-350 ish.

Most of my games are installed on a SATA drive, rather than the SSD listed above, does that make much difference?

Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
What about a 280x? If you have access to the Members Market, you can get some stunning deals, otherwise a b-grade graphics card?

You could alternatively crossfire, 7850's are dead cheap 2nd hand, around £80 IIRC.

What overclock have you applied to your 2500k?
 
SSD will make a difference to load times, not game peformance. I would recommend a higher overclock as MMOs like a nicely clocked CPU! As for the rest of the system the only weak point I see is the GPU.

Can you tell us what PSU you have? This will help determine an appropriate GPU recommendation.
 
Well to start with i would go clock your cpu,

Then in that price range you could get a 290 or at the top of the range a 780, dependent on PSU.
 
But he has said he plays fps as well, so if he has the budget then may as well get a bit of extra horse power now.
 
Wow, quick responses - cheers chaps!

Some very interesting options there. The PSU is: Corsair VX 450W ATX

As for the overclock on my CPU, I'm at work at the moment and can’t quite remember how far I went with it (I did it in 2011). I probably pushed it about as far as I’d feel comfortable taking it, but I’ll check tonight and post here. Sounds like GPU is the component to focus on then?
 
Fair point!! :)

Personally, I would look at getting a H100i and overclock that 2500k to 4.4ghz+ and get a 280x or another 7850 if your motheboard/PSU allow.

EDIT:

Ok, Crossfire is out of the question, but you could get away with a 7950/7970/280x and a better overclock.
 
The PSU will probably need upgrading if you want a 280 or 280X.

The VX450 is rather old now (6-7 years) and PSUs degrade over time.
 
Ole said:
Most of my games are installed on a SATA drive, rather than the SSD listed above, does that make much difference?
Click to expand...

Install them on the SSD and use the HDD just for storage. Things will load a lot quicker from the SSD.
 
stulid said:
Even better PSU, 10 year warranty, Gold rated efficiency and made by Superflower,

JonnyGuru review - http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=380

YOUR BASKET
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 280X TurboDUO 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £229.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £89.99
Total : £329.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions all - that PSU looks solid.

Seems like everyone is leaning towards the Radeons, rather than Geforce. Is it just the stronger card within my price bracket?
 
JonSmith said:
I'd overclock the CPU more if you could, the tranquilo is a reasonably decent cooler so I'd try and push for over 4GHz
Click to expand...

I'll check the level of my overclock this evening and post an update. Fairly sure it's over 4Ghz...

H100i is an interesting thought for pushing things even further. I've never done any liquid cooling.

Great to hear that the CPU is still up to scratch for my needs, that has been a real bargain given I paid £136 for it back in 2011!
 
stulid said:
Generally you get a better bang for your buck.
Click to expand...

Good stuff, thanks.

Another potential upgrade I have been considering is a new monitor. At the moment I have a fairly standard ~3 year old 24 inch Dell monitor. I'd like something larger.

I've also noticed the 120hz and 144hz monitors - does this make much difference if you're not gaming in 3D?

4k resolution screens also look pretty awesome!

Assuming I make the suggested upgrades, could my system run a larger/better monitor on high settings?
 
I've also noticed the 120hz and 144hz monitors - does this make much difference if you're not gaming in 3D?
Click to expand...

I think you'll notice a bit of a difference with first person shooters, everything looks and feels ever so slightly smoother. I doubt there's much to be said for MMOs however.
 
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