Another upgrade advice thread...Happy New Year!

Born2BSlow

Born2BSlow

Born2BSlow

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So 18 months old...all ok, running sweet, sort of. Considering a change to nvidia graphics for a change but open to suggestions. Tried some overclocking but kept running into stability issues so knocked it on the head. Recently noticed what i can only describe as the whump whump whump sound like distant helicopter blades when playing high level graphics (mainly racing games) and the graphics seem to slow then resume, laggy i suppose. Anyhoo enough of the inane chatter, couple of options up to £250 then £250 - £500 range options.

Current system:
HD 6950 DirectCU II 2048MB GDDR5
Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366)
Intel 320 Series 120GB
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard
GeIL 12GB (3x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Triple Channel
Antec 1200 Twelve Hundred (V3 with USB3.0) Ultimate Gaming Case
Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 850W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache

...over to you guys...pretty please!
 
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Happy new year to you, too :)

Have you been trying to overclock on the stock cooler? That would explain your stability issues. Certainly you don't need to upgrade your CPU yet. A new GPU would be nice, and an aftermarket CPU cooler if you don't have one.

Start by identifying the source of that whump whump whump sound.
 
Thanks for the response Fulax, yes stock cooling just air, but the case has some big fans and moves air nicely. Is it worth me looking at liquid cooling kits, anything easy to fit that could help me out?

Should I get just the CPU cooler?
 
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You still need direct cooling for the CPU if you want to overclock it. I can't seem to find how much clearence your case has for big air coolers. Most ATX will have room for at least 160mm. The Phanteks cooler below is under 160mm, the Alpenfohn just over. Then there are the two Corsair AIO water coolers. The h105 is the newer version of the h100i, available in a few weeks, with a thicker radiator.

The AIO coolers are easier to fit - much less fiddly. Neither require any maintenance.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060009-WW) £99.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £93.95
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler £49.99
1 x Phanteks PH-TC12DX CPU Cooler - Black £44.98
Total : £298.46 (includes shipping : £8.00).



If you feel you're struggling graphically you could also upgrade your GPU. What resolution is your monitor?
 
Oh right I have a big heatsink with a built in fan I think... I just ran HWMnitor (browsed through the overclocking and cooling thread) and ran pCars to spank it, both CPU & GPU temps hitting 74Deg with no overclock...guess I need to cool the CPU and think about a GPU upgrade. I think I'll spend the extra and look at liquid cooling and I'll wait for the 105, no need to rush.

Monitor res is 1920x1080 and the case is a full gaming one so loads of room for goodies...

I was thinking of getting another gpu the same as the one i have and run the two, but as it's quite old now would it be better to get 2 the same? I can use the old one in my sons rig which is my previous one. At 2x£150 is there a single card that would do a better job.

Sorry for so many questions, I haven't kept up with tech since initial build and i had help with that.
 
I wouldn't bother with a second 6950; just give that one to your son. I'd also advise getting a single £300 card over two £150 card - less noise, less heat, less potential compatability/driver issues etc.

For under £300 you're looking at a 280X, although they aren't exactly great value at the moment because they're popular with bitcoin/litecoin/whatever miners. If you're in no rush you could wait for one to come on Today Only or Week Only offer. The MSI Gaming 280X currently goig for £290 was on offer for £220-230 a couple of weeks ago.

For £380 you can currently get a 780 or a non-reference 290. Both are very, very good card that will destroy anything you throw at them at 1080p.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X "BF4 Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (11227-00-50G) £379.99
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 WindForce 3x OC Rev2.0 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N780OC-3GD) £379.99
1 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X Rev2.0 WindForce 3X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Battlefield 4 PC Game £289.99
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 280X TurboDUO "BF4 Edition" 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £259.99
Total : £1,319.57 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
Fulax, you sir are a gentleman. Thanks for your help, so I'm going with the aio cooling option to begin with, then a 780 when I've sorted out the tax man at the end of Jan, just can't resist!

On top of that I'm going to try to get to the bottom of my whumping noise issue...

...then it will be world peace before or after a lottery win...haven't decided yet!

If you're ever near Wolves I owe you a bevvy! :D
 
For higher resolutions and multiple screens I'd go for the 290 for its extra gigabyte of VRAM. AMD's Eyefinity also seems to be considered a better multi-screen solution that Nvidia's Surround.
 
Hi there fonts of all PC knowledge, sorry to resurrect this old thread but my previous plans were derailed by notification of a lack of employment (a contractors life for me lol)

I still have the ATI Radeon HD 6950 DirectCU II 2048MB GDDR5, and looking to switch to Nvidia but trying to spend a little less.

I saw this and was wondering if there is anything that can beat this on a bang for buck basis, triple screens are not going to happen any time soon, a single 24" samsung LED is all I have:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-212-MS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1830

I start a 12 month gig tomorrow, so can relax the purse strings a little.
 
Hello again Fulax, sorry if you get bored of answering this stuff.

OK stupid question time...why is a 2Gb 770 better than a 4gb 760?

I wanted NVIDIA because I'm involved in pCars and that generally performs better with nvidia cards.
 
The 770 is comfortably the faster card. The 4gb VRAM on that 760 would help at higher resolutions, but at the kind of resolutions it does the 760 would probably be too slow to give you decent frame rates anyway.
 
Thanks again Fulax...but you got me looking more and more up to the point I went for the 4GB 770 ... yh I blew my budget but hey, a guy's gotta have toys right?

Your help was much appreciated by me, but not the missus who didn't want me to spend that much ;)
 
Resurrecting my old thread rather than creating a new one.

My current rig still in play:

Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard
Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366)
GeIL 12GB (3x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz
Gigabyte GTX770 4096MB
OS: Kingston 240GB SSDNow V300 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 3
Game Install: Intel 320 Series 120GB
Antec 300 Three Hundred Gaming Case
Antec High Current Gamer M 850W "80+ Bronze" Modular Power Supply
Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache

My problem is that the wife and kids are always on it when I want it.

Extra Bits I have
Antec 1200 Twelve Hundred (V3 with USB3.0) Ultimate Gaming Case
HD 6950 DirectCU II 2048MB GDDR5

So my options are, buy a pre-built OC PC or take the opportunity to upgrade and use my extra bits (I will keep the GTX770, put the HD6950 in the existing box and new build in the 1200 case)

So my upgrade bits, looking for best bang for buck and keeping the price fairly reasonable so far:

Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£25 Saving** £360.98
Corsair RM Series RM 1000 '80+ Gold' 1000W Power Supply (CP-9020062-UK) £129.95
Corsair Hydro H100i GTX 240mm High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060021-WW) £101.99
Corsair Vengeance Pro Red 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (CMY16GX3M2A2400C11R) £79.99
2 x Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU) £77.99
Sub Total : £690.74
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
UPS Access Point Ex.VAT
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £139.75
Total : £838.49

Either option cheaper than a divorce :)

I would appreciate the wisdom/advice of OC Forum members. Many thanks in advance for any opinions.
 
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