Giving my computer some new life (1440p/4k gaming)

Brumboy

Brumboy

Brumboy

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11 Jan 2011
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Hi there,

My current computer is:

Motherboard - Asus P8P67 Intel P67 Mainboard - AMD Crossfire Support
CPU - Intel Core i5 2500K
Memory - GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel
Graphics Card - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
SSD - Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5 inch Basic SATA Solid State Drive
Hard Drive - Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache
Power Unit - BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply
Case - Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black
Optical Drive - Samsung SH-S223L/RSMN 22x DVD±RW SATA

I'm looking to game at 1440p and 2160p. I have around £600 to spend on a case, motherboard, gpu and memory.

1. Would a 290x or 970 be compatible with my motherboard and fit in my current case (can buy a new case if needed). I have no idea about the size of gpu's and motherboard compatability.
2. Would I be able to crossfire a 290x later on with my motherboard?
3. If I wanted to crossfire 290's would a 1000w PSU be sufficient?
4. Is there a major difference in gaming performance between 8gb and 16gb memory?

Some components I'm looking at:

Memory:

Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel - £55
Corsair XMS3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit - £100

Case - BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - White/Blue - £42

Power supply - EVGA SuperNova G2 1000W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply - £125

GPU - Still not 100% sure on how much to spend or what to get. My motherboard only supports crossfire but I've never really thought about running 2 GPU's. The choices I can see are 290x, 970, 780ti for 1440p and some 2160p gaming. However with the new AMD cards coming around June, I'm not sure if it's worth waiting to see what the new GPU's are like and how much the 290x and 970's drop in price.

Would appreciate some feedback!

And if anyone knows of a place/person that could put this computer together for me around the West Midlands area (dudley/birmingham/wolverhampton) that would be great too!

Thanks guys,

:)
 
1. 290x would work with motherboard, not sure about the case. You might want a new one with more cooling potential anyway because these cards tend to run quite hot.

2. Yes you would be able to crossfire later on.

3. 1000w would actually be overkill, a 800w ish power supply (from a reputable builder such as Superflower or Seasonic) would be fine in my opinion.

4. No, 8GB is perfect for gaming at the minute there is no need for more.

If you want to buy now go with:
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290X LE Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £245.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £49.99
Total : £305.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).




But I'm sure there will be deals when AMD release their 3xx series. That said there will always be something 'coming over the horizon, this is technology after all :D So bare in mind once the 3xx series is out people will start talking about Nvidia's next release etc. etc.
 
that motherboard doesn't suport sli and the second slot is pcie 2 x4 so you won't be able to run 970 sli. if you could get a z77 board with sli support or pcie x8 on the second slot. then i would go with this. as for the monitor 1440P is the best bet for now as a single high end gpu isn't good enough for 4k and even 2 970's or 290 struggle. 8gb of ram is fine for gaming. you could get away with 750/850w with 2x 290's if the system is not overclocked. with 2 cards and the cpu overclocked i would want 1000w.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (11227-13-40G) £249.95
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 1000W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £124.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £49.99
1 x **B Grade** BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £29.99
Total : £469.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
lee32uk said:
The £600 is for upgrades.
Click to expand...

Be that as it may, £600 is not going to get him proper 4k gaming based on his current rig. He has the option of going 970 sli which he can do with £600, his 530w PSU should be fine to handle it (based off of the power draw seen here: http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/geforce-gtx-970-sli-review,4.html ) but I'd call it too close for comfort personally.

Even without the PSU cost, 4GB system memory is baseline these days, and his motherboard doesn't support sli. The reason I said he could get two 970s and not a 295x2 (which can be had for cheaper than a 970 sli!) is obviously because that card alone uses almost as much power as his PSU can safely provide haha.
 
As per most of the above, you definitely need 8GB RAM for gaming, so upgrade your current or get a fresh kit

I would say Tropicocity has a great point, if you got the £500 295x2 and a 850/1kW PSU then you'd be set for high end 1440p gaming and decent but not spectacular settings 4K gaming. You would probably be over budget a bit but in essence you don't need a board upgrade for xfire at x8 x8 and it is a nice card

You would probably end up over budget though
Another option as suggested is to wait for the R9 3xx GPUs

You should also overclock that 2500k if you haven't already, they are made to be overclocked :D
 
1. Yes (for mobo compatibility) & No (for case; there are some cards like low-profile 970s that WILL work though).
2. No.
3. Yes.
4. No.

In my eyes you have only two options: Wait until you can do a proper upgrade overall (i.e. change mobo and CPU, which means really wait until at least Skylake later in the year) or upgrade now. But if you upgrade now there's only one smart path to get decent 4k performance without breaking the bank: Get a new case, PSU, ram and a 295x2. Obviously this is going to be closer to 800 than 600. If you don't get a 295x2 then you can't enjoy 4K all that much and if you go single-card then you can't really go cf/sli until you upgrade mobo. All in all, wait until next year for a major upgrade or go with the 295x2 route. Anything else is foolish.
 
This computer was my first build so I made a very foolish mistake of getting a mobo that doesn't support SLI or a bigger PSU but I've learned from those mistakes now lol

I guess at the moment 290x or 295x2 are the only choices with my mobo.

But my 530w wouldn't run a 290x would it? So even if I went for a 290x or 295x2 I'd have to upgrade my PSU anyway. This time round I'd go for a 1000w PSU so I wouldn't have to worry about upgrading for SLI in the future.

So I'd definitely get the EVGA SuperNova G2 1000W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply for £125 as recommended by you.

But is TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit compatible with my mobo?

4 x DIMM, Max. 32GB, DDR3 2200(O.C.)/2133(O.C.)/1866(O.C.)/1600/1333/1066 Hz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory

And some of you are saying my case might not be big enough for this GPU so can you recommend a large case so I wouldn't have a problem with future upgrades? (don't mind if it's quite large).

I do like the look of the BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - White/Blue - £42. Is that ok for crossfire/SLI and a new PSU? am I looking for E-ATX / XL-ATX Cases?

PSU - £125
Memory - £50
Case - £50-£75

£250 so far, then £35 for labour for a local computer shop to put it together :p So £250ish so far without the GPU.

GPU's...is the Sapphire AMD Radeon R9 295 X2 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card worth an extra £250 over the 290x? I mean it's a lot of money but then long-term it should last me a lot longer than a 290x which will mean a 1/2 years extra of not having to buy a new GPU. Plus I can always SLI 295x2's

Or another option could be to wait and see the price of the 390x, it might be a bit foolish to buy AMD's flashship GPU when a new one is coming and it could be about £500? so I'd rather get a 390x than a 295x2. I just didn't think that I would be willing to spend £500 on a GPU lol
 
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But my 530w wouldn't run a 290x would it?
Click to expand...

Should do, its a decent PSU and not a £10 potato.

But is TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit compatible with my mobo?

4 x DIMM, Max. 32GB, DDR3 2200(O.C.)/2133(O.C.)/1866(O.C.)/1600/1333/1066 Hz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory
Click to expand...

Yes it is, it may not be able to run at 2400Mhz as the memory controllers in Sandybridge CPUs are not as strong as Haswell/Devils canyon.
 
stulid said:
Should do, its a decent PSU and not a £10 potato.



Yes it is, it may not be able to run at 2400Mhz as the memory controllers in Sandybridge CPUs are not as strong as Haswell/Devils canyon.
Click to expand...

Awesome. Should be nice going from 1600Mhz to 2200Mhz lol

Yeah I know and I was tempted to just get 8gb memory and a 290x but now I'm thinking about increasing my budget for the sake of not having any regrets later on. So if I put my GPU budget to £500 I am looking at a 295x2 or possibly a 390x when it comes out.

The PSU and memory is 100% decided (pretty obvious I guess). Just need to get a new case ready for a beast of a GPU :p
 
stulid said:
The 295X2 is 12" long or 30.5cm

These will fit it and the 120mm rad,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.95
1 x Anidees AI-6B Midi Tower Case - Black £69.95
1 x Antec P100 Mid Tower Silenced Computing Case £66.95
1 x NZXT Source 340 Midi-Tower Case- Black Window £59.99
Total : £314.89 (includes shipping : £27.55).

Click to expand...

Anidees AI-6B Midi Tower Case - Black seems to be the largest by dimensions so that looks good. I'm not bothered about the look just want it to be large enough for a 295x2/390x and possible crossfire.

Thanks for the suggestions and everyone else.

I'm getting excited now :cool:
 
Silent Base 800 looks nice:)

But again it requires the middle HDD to be moved (i think it can be refitted into the 5.25" drive bay area).

Graphic card

Standard (mm)290
Without Middle HDD Cage (mm)400
Click to expand...
 
That's not a big deal really. Does look cool!

Just to confirm i5 2500k & P8P67 is fine for a 295x2 or 390x? I won't be severely limited by the CPU for these GPU's and 4k gaming?

I would obviously prefer to keep the CPU and mobo. Otherwise that's another £300+..
 
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