Considering a couple upgrade ideas

aceytrixx · 18 Jan 2014 at 17:49

So I might have a bit of extra cash next week after paying off some bills etc and am looking to do some upgrades to my PC. At the moment I have

I5 3570k at 4.2ghz
8gb ram
2x7950
SSD
1080p 120hz monitor

so im toying around with an i7 3770k. Also briefly considered selling my 7950s while I can get a decent bit for them and then look into something like 780 sli but probably not going to see a massive performance increase I'd imagine? If neither an i7 or new gpus are going to net me much more performance then I'll probably look into a bigger monitor although as much as I'm interested in 21:9 and 1440p monitors I really feel I've become too used to 120hz although I don't pay online or even play fps much so I could probably adjust back.

I should have about 4-500 to spend.

Idleman · 18 Jan 2014 at 17:52

Do you have access to the MM?

aceytrixx · 18 Jan 2014 at 17:58

Nope. 300 or so posts to go

aceytrixx · 20 Jan 2014 at 07:33

I'm actually having a couple issues with my system at the moment. Often when I quit a game I can't load up a 2nd one without a restart. Would this be anything related to crossfire? I'm doing a windows reinstall this week once I find my discs to see if that cures it.

matt_fsr · 20 Jan 2014 at 16:34

aceytrixx said:
I'm actually having a couple issues with my system at the moment. Often when I quit a game I can't load up a 2nd one without a restart. Would this be anything related to crossfire? I'm doing a windows reinstall this week once I find my discs to see if that cures it.

Sounds like it could well be crossfire/driver related.

From what I read up when researching getting a new CPU, there's very little difference between the 3570k and 3770k for gaming. Depends on what other tasks you use if for, but personally I couldn't justify the difference in price for almost no benefit.

If I were you, I'd go for a bigger screen.

Or, what's your audio setup? Do you have good speakers? I have these:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-000-AE&tool=3

And yes, they are every bit as good as the reviews suggest!

aceytrixx · 20 Jan 2014 at 17:53

I'm using the Creative Gigaworks T3 2.1 at the moment that I'm pretty happy with certainly not something I want to replace at the minute.

If the problem is crossfire or driver related (I'm going to do some testing later on disabling one of my cards and see what happens then) then I'll probably end up selling both and grabbing a 290x or something.

The more reading one done it seems improving the pc on my i5 might improve things a bit. Maybe got 4.5 or 4.6 temps on our are still pretty low never seen it go above 60 yet.

Yeah a new monitor would be a nice upgrade my current 23 inch is feeling a bit small bit depending on if I feel a difference between 120hz and 60hz after some more testing tonight will see where that one goes. Although if I do switch down to 1 gpu then I'd really be looking at sticking with 1080 maybe an ultra wide at a push.

Will see what I can figure out after playing around tonight but it seems like assuming all goes well and I can fix the crossfire problem then perhaps I could justify a 1440p monitor.

aceytrixx · 20 Jan 2014 at 21:22

so set my monitor to 60hz and honestly im perfectly happy with that and couldnt really see the difference between that and 120hz. im not a competitive fps gamer so thats probably why its a bit of a non issue.

Tried the above running just 1 7950 and was totally happy with what I was getting. Will now seriously think about selling the 2nd one I have or will consider selling both and getting a 290x. Still need to make a decision about what monitor if anything I go for. Or just keep with the single 7950 for the time being and wait for the new gpus to launch end of the year/early next. Decisions Decisions...

Terrabytez · 20 Jan 2014 at 21:27

Sell both and look at a 780 Ti. Quite frankly, the best single GPU on the market.

That is unless you bring a Titan in, which is pure overkill.

xtremefx · 20 Jan 2014 at 21:33

sound card?

aceytrixx · 20 Jan 2014 at 21:59

Terrabytez said:
Sell cards and look at a 780 Ti. Quite frankly, the best single GPU on the market.

That is unless you bring a Titan in, which is pure overkill.

Considered a 780ti but was under the impression the 290x is as good for the or is it more a case of the 290x = 780? Not really followed these new cards as I wasn't planning to upgrade but some unexpected cash and that bit of paying around I did earlier makes me realise it might not cost that much depending what I get for the 7950s especially while they are worth something.

xtremefx said:
sound card?

I may indeed add a sound card to this but I would probably just get a Xonar which isn't too expensive.

xtremefx · 20 Jan 2014 at 22:23

? What about this?will surely boost your sound. Again, depending on what you do with your pc.

aceytrixx · 21 Jan 2014 at 09:32

I think that sort of thing is a bit overkill for my audio needs. Probably sounds excellent though.

As I see it now my options look like

Keep both 7950s and add a 1440p monitor like the DGM. Possibly the Dell.

Sell the cards and get either a 290x or 780ti pocket the rest and wait till I can afford a 2nd card and a monitor. Could get a 780ti and then wait till g sync 1440p monitors are out which could be an option.

Get a card and a monitor (probably a 290x and a DGM given the price difference unless I end up with significantly more than I am thinking I'll have) and wait until I can add a 2nd one. Hoping for decent frame rates.

Seem about right?