A worthwhile PC upgrade?

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8 Oct 2010
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Hi, I'm thinking of buying a few new parts for my PC, but not sure what to go for and if you think my PC is adequate enough for the newer games.

What I have currently...

CPU
Intel Core i5 760 @ 2.80GHz
Lynnfield 45nm Technology

RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 662MHz (9-9-9-24)

Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. P55A-UD3 (Socket 1156)

Graphics
PLG2488H (1920x1080@144Hz)
BenQ GL2450H (1920x1080@60Hz)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 (NVIDIA)

Storage
111GB Samsung SSD 840 EVO 120GB ATA Device (SSD)
931GB SAMSUNG HD103SJ ATA Device (SATA)


I was thinking possibly my CPU/motherboard? Is it worthwhile spending a few hundred upgrading or shouldn't I bother really?

Thoughts/advice :)
 
Your current pc spec seems a bit outdated . If you have money to spend on an upgrade ,upgrade it to like a i7 4770k and a gtx 970 or something along those lines
 
Have you considered overclocking your cpu and seeing how the games that you want to play run?

A760 should be fine for 1080p at slightly reduced settings.
 
You would see a bigger increase by overclocking the cpu (the i5 760 should do at least 4ghz with a decent cooler) and getting a better gpu. Why is your ram running so slow or is it only a 1333mhz kit?
 
Not sure if I'll change the gpu, its fairly recent.
Don't know why the ram is running so slow, that's what it says on speccy.
Never overclocked before, so its something I will need to look into. The last thing I want is an unstable, overheated CPU.
 
if you haven't already enable the XMP function (if your board and mobo support it) and it will increase the ram speed to 1600mhz if that's the speed it should be running at.

my ram without XMP enabled runs at the same speed but as it supports XMP I enabled this and now its running at 1600mhz

PC should be ok, might be worth getting a new GPU, I have just ordered a GTX 970 and I am still running a I7 950 @ 3ghz with a slight OC to 3.2ghz
 
Overclocking when considering a platform upgrade has zero risk providing you don't fry your cpu having wanted to keep it for another build.

If you're happy with the results you stay put
If you're not happy then you upgrade

The cooler you buy will carry over to your next cpu.
 
The old 1156 socket i5's are still great CPU's

What games aren't running well?

Id imagine in most cases the GPU although recent is the bottleneck.

Motherboard is a good one for clocking the i5 though should you wish, easy to do.
 
I didn't think the GPU was the problem, but my CPU? I paid around £150 for the GPU a few months ago, don't feel like upgrading it atm.

I need to look more into overclocking, I might do that instead of upgrading.

I only primarily play CS:GO atm, on low settings, but I find in some areas on certain maps it's not as smooth as I want it to be. I want to buy GTA 5 when it comes out in the PC and I don't want my PC to be jittery.
 
Another thing if I decide to overclock.

Shall I invest in a new case/better cooling? I've noticed my PC feels generally more hot than it ever used to be. Last thing I want is it to be even hotter when I overclock, resulting in something really messing up.

I essentially only have a side case fan and this monster on my CPU:

h5FcPkm.jpg


Is it also recommended that I re-apply thermal paste at the bottom of it? Or shouldn't I bother with that?

Cheers.
 
If I were you I would run HWMON and let us know how high your cpu and motherboard gets when gaming at stock.

This way we know your stock temps are low enough to be normal and have plenty of headroom for an overclock.

I also think your case needs more ventilation. The GPU and CPU are probably filling your case up with hot air that isn't being dissipated fast enough.

Has your case got plenty of breathing room around it?

Running your pc outside of it's case in a cardboard box is a great way to see your best case temps.
 
What case would be recommended for good air flow, etc? I honestly do not care about LED lights, how it looks. It can be as ugly as possible. Don't care much about it :D
 
Cpu is rather warm seeing as it's at stock speed with a decent cooler on it. Idle temp is high as well. GPU looks a tad warm as well although I haven't had anything air cooled for years so may not be the best to judge on that. New case with decent airflow I think. How much do you want to spend?
 
I'd agree that it seems your case has bad airflow.

Run your pc with as much as your case removed as possible and see what happens to your temps.
 
Shivy's suggestion of the Raijintek Agos seem's like a good choice. It may be cheap but it's certainly not nasty. It has excellent cooling options and has dust filters for all mesh areas, something many more expensive cases lack. It takes cpu coolers up to 160mm high and yours is 153mm so no problems there. There is a review here.
 
I'll probably end up getting a case, my one isn't great.

I decided to open it up and de-dust everything. I'll be honest, the last time I did it was a few months ago. However, when I took out the GPU, it was spotless? The fans looked brand new, not a spec of dust anywhere, which seemed strange.

I decided to take the side fan of my CPU cooler and oh my goodness. The amount of dust that sat inbetween the CPU cooler fan and the heatsink...

I think it should help temps for the meantime, but a new case is definitely on the list to buy.

I also took out my RAM and I have:

Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) 1600MHz

However on Speccy it says @ 666Mhz - I need to fix this, right?

Do you think I should try overclocking my CPU after a new case/some cooling, etc? And then decide if I need to upgrade the CPU/motherboard to something new?

Cheers.
 
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