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- Joined
- 4 Nov 2013
- Posts
- 115
- Location
- Essex
Hi guys,
I've got a little cash to put into my PC and was hoping to get some input from you guys as to what would be the best way to spend it. The reason I'm asking for help is that there are so many options I've gotten a little confused. This post is pretty long, so apologies in advance!
Currently my PC consists of the following:
My budget for upgrading is ~£300. The PC is used for gaming and uni work pretty evenly. I ran SLI for a bit, but the games I play simply don't need it at 1080p and the noise needed to cool the cards to decent temps was pretty obnoxious. So I relegated the second GPU to be dedicated to PhysX, then removed it altogether as it felt like a waste of electricity!
I've been running my Classy on Skyn3t's Rev 3 bios, and left it at the default clock and memory settings (1100 and 6000) for most games as it's plenty powerful enough and I don't want to compromise the life of the card for no tangible benefit.
However, I am a big Star Citizen fan, and from the DFM i can see that a single 780 is not likely to be enough. Honestly I don't care about 144Hz really - I've found that I can't really see the difference between say 60 and 100 anyway. Ideally I'd swap my monitor for 3 60Hz ones, but space prevents that. Since I've been playing SC I've taken the Classy up to a stable 1276MHz at 1.2v and left it there for the time being. I'm averaging around 50fps in this configuration (up around 5fps from the 1100MHz setting) but would like just a little more if possible. Currently the DFM is bugged for SLI for many users, myself included, so I can't get a handle on how SLI would perform for me.
So...my first thought was a 4770K. But while many people believe that HT is the future of games, currently it hinders games as much as it helps! Often it runs better with HT off, which makes me think upgrading is pointless as even when it does work the gains are minimal:
http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1061&page=13
http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Star-Citizen-Benchmark-Arena-Commander-v0-8-571/page6
Then I thought I could sell both Classys and buy a 780Ti, probably the SC ACX model. But that doesn't seem like a great idea as I'd lose the potential to add my second card if it transpired one was not enough.
So my next thought was a sound card. But I'm actually really happy with the audio from the Hero, and worry that a) I won't notice much difference, and b) an additional card in the case will have a negative impact on the GPUs when in SLI.
The next option was doubling RAM to 16GB. But, like the CPU, it kinda feels like an upgrade done for the sake of having a better machine on paper. I don't see 8GB being insufficient for my needs for a long time, so again the actual benefit to me is slim.
After this I considered a mechanical keyboard. I use a Corsair K50 now, and I like it a lot. I've never tried a mechanical one, but have heard good things and it's one of those purchases I'll make when I've run out of other things to improve!
Finally, I've been thinking about watercooling the Classy. I didn't do it when I bought the rig as it was my first and, to be honest, daunting enough without the extra learning curve water cooling demands. But I feel like I might be up for it now. I was thinking perhaps I could WC the Classy now, then perhaps add the second card into the loop somewhere down the line. One thing I wondered about, though, is how this might affect the lifetime of the card. If I did WC it, chances are I'd want to increase voltage and clock speeds. I'm aware that even in this state the temp's would be far lower than they are now, but is temperature the only thing to worry about? Or, to put it another way, if 2 cards were left on 24/7, one running 1.2v on air at 70 degrees and another underwater running 1.3v at 60 degrees which would die first?
TL;DR; Well, I don't blame you! But if you had a chance to look at my current PC spec, please could you advise on how you'd spend ~£300 in order to improve it?
Thanks for any suggestions/advice!
I've got a little cash to put into my PC and was hoping to get some input from you guys as to what would be the best way to spend it. The reason I'm asking for help is that there are so many options I've gotten a little confused. This post is pretty long, so apologies in advance!
Currently my PC consists of the following:
- Maximus VI Hero
- 4670K @ 4.0GHz
- H100i w/Scythe GTs
- 8GB Ripjaws-X RAM (C11 2133MHz)
- 780 Classified SLI
- 840 Evo SSD
- 2TB 7200rpm HDD
- Cooler Master V1000 PSU
- Corsair Air 540 Case w/3x Scythe GTs front, AF140 back, 2x Scythe GTs top
- VG248QE 144Hz Monitor
My budget for upgrading is ~£300. The PC is used for gaming and uni work pretty evenly. I ran SLI for a bit, but the games I play simply don't need it at 1080p and the noise needed to cool the cards to decent temps was pretty obnoxious. So I relegated the second GPU to be dedicated to PhysX, then removed it altogether as it felt like a waste of electricity!
I've been running my Classy on Skyn3t's Rev 3 bios, and left it at the default clock and memory settings (1100 and 6000) for most games as it's plenty powerful enough and I don't want to compromise the life of the card for no tangible benefit.
However, I am a big Star Citizen fan, and from the DFM i can see that a single 780 is not likely to be enough. Honestly I don't care about 144Hz really - I've found that I can't really see the difference between say 60 and 100 anyway. Ideally I'd swap my monitor for 3 60Hz ones, but space prevents that. Since I've been playing SC I've taken the Classy up to a stable 1276MHz at 1.2v and left it there for the time being. I'm averaging around 50fps in this configuration (up around 5fps from the 1100MHz setting) but would like just a little more if possible. Currently the DFM is bugged for SLI for many users, myself included, so I can't get a handle on how SLI would perform for me.
So...my first thought was a 4770K. But while many people believe that HT is the future of games, currently it hinders games as much as it helps! Often it runs better with HT off, which makes me think upgrading is pointless as even when it does work the gains are minimal:
http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1061&page=13
http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Star-Citizen-Benchmark-Arena-Commander-v0-8-571/page6
Then I thought I could sell both Classys and buy a 780Ti, probably the SC ACX model. But that doesn't seem like a great idea as I'd lose the potential to add my second card if it transpired one was not enough.
So my next thought was a sound card. But I'm actually really happy with the audio from the Hero, and worry that a) I won't notice much difference, and b) an additional card in the case will have a negative impact on the GPUs when in SLI.
The next option was doubling RAM to 16GB. But, like the CPU, it kinda feels like an upgrade done for the sake of having a better machine on paper. I don't see 8GB being insufficient for my needs for a long time, so again the actual benefit to me is slim.
After this I considered a mechanical keyboard. I use a Corsair K50 now, and I like it a lot. I've never tried a mechanical one, but have heard good things and it's one of those purchases I'll make when I've run out of other things to improve!
Finally, I've been thinking about watercooling the Classy. I didn't do it when I bought the rig as it was my first and, to be honest, daunting enough without the extra learning curve water cooling demands. But I feel like I might be up for it now. I was thinking perhaps I could WC the Classy now, then perhaps add the second card into the loop somewhere down the line. One thing I wondered about, though, is how this might affect the lifetime of the card. If I did WC it, chances are I'd want to increase voltage and clock speeds. I'm aware that even in this state the temp's would be far lower than they are now, but is temperature the only thing to worry about? Or, to put it another way, if 2 cards were left on 24/7, one running 1.2v on air at 70 degrees and another underwater running 1.3v at 60 degrees which would die first?
TL;DR; Well, I don't blame you! But if you had a chance to look at my current PC spec, please could you advise on how you'd spend ~£300 in order to improve it?
Thanks for any suggestions/advice!
