Do I need to upgrade?

carl5363

carl5363

carl5363

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15 Oct 2011
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Hi Guys, I upgraded last year but not sure whether upgrading now would be worth it?
It's a gaming PC so will be purchasing games like Far Cry, Dragon Age etc.

Ram: GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB1600C9DC)
PSU: XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
Mobo: Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM
GFX: Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

I'm mainly looking at GFX card and CPU - I have a £300 budget so open to ideas.

Cheers
 
You do not need a CPU upgrade (try overclocking it).

You can crossfire your card with another (could do with a bigger PSU) or buy a better single card.

Do you have an SSD?
 
What monitor do you have?
If you're not happy with performance a slight overclock will be a good idea.

The system is still solid, SSD would be a good addition and if you want more GPU grunt a 970 would fit the budget.
 
Thanks for the quick reply Stulid.

I have 2 SSD's so don't need another.

Will SLI be a better route to go down or single card? I assume my PSU wouldn't take SLI so would need a new one if I did go down that road.
 
A suitable PSU is going to set you back say £70 then the cost of the 2nd card (probably 2nd hand now).

I think if you do need more grunt, sell the current card and put all monies towards a single one.
 
ThaReaperGuy said:
What monitor do you have?
If you're not happy with performance a slight overclock will be a good idea.

The system is still solid, SSD would be a good addition and if you want more GPU grunt a 970 would fit the budget.
Click to expand...

I have a 'Hyundai ImageQuest N91W 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver'. I bought it 7 years ago so is getting on a bit but still does a job.
 
stulid said:
OH.

Do a monitor upgrade first.

That has a poor resolution, your 7950 will never struggle to play games on that.
Click to expand...

Will go with that and do a slight overclock on the CPU then.

Any recommendations for a monitor? I did look at ASUS VG248QE 24-inch the other day and looked decent.

EDIT: I've just seen the monitors you've posted - will take a look at those. cheers
 
I have a Radeon HD 5830 which I am going to be replacing with a 970 next month (budget is £260) and is the last thing I need to upgrade.

everything seems fine from your specs and GPU would be the best thing to upgrade.

I haven't had much dealing with SLI but would have thought one upgraded card would be better than doing SLI on a older model.
 
What case do you have so we can recommend a descent cooler for OCing, I had that chip Oced to 4.5 ghz easy (still would but gave that comp to my dad he doesn't need the oc so its running away at stock just now lol)
 
scotsdragon said:
What case do you have so we can recommend a descent cooler for OCing, I had that chip Oced to 4.5 ghz easy (still would but gave that comp to my dad he doesn't need the oc so its running away at stock just now lol)
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I have the Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black (CC-9011023-WW).

I've never OC'd before - assume I can OC it with what I currently have?
 
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If your using stock cooler no, you need a good after market cooler to handle the extra heat generated by overclocking, with that case corsair says you can support any heat sink cooler upto 165mm tall or maybe an h100 as it says it has 2x120mm fan mounts on top, wazza done a really good guide for ocing on that mobo (ill see if I can find it) and a descnt monitor would be great those 144hz ones suggested would be awesome.
 
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scotsdragon said:
If your using stock cooler no, you need a good after market cooler to handle the extra heat generated by overclocking, with that case corsair says you can support any heat sink cooler upto 165mm tall or maybe an h100 as it says it has 2x120mm fan mounts on top, wazza done a really good guide for ocing on that mobo (ill see if I can find it) and a descnt monitor would be great those 144hz ones suggested would be awesome.
Click to expand...

I don't have a stock, I have a Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler I've just OC'd it to 4.1ghz and all 4 cores are running between 68 & 70 temps which seems ok to me...will carry on running OCCT program until I get an error but seems stable. cheers guys.
 
68 to 70 is not bad for occt you wont see that high while gaming, that cooler is ok but its not the best. (as well all know when ocing best is only another word for cost lol)
 
stulid said:
OH.

Do a monitor upgrade first.

That has a poor resolution, your 7950 will never struggle to play games on that.

Do your eyeballs a favor and rescue them,

YOUR BASKET
1 x AOC G2460PQU 24" Widescreen 144Hz 1ms Gaming LED Monitor - Gunmetal £193.99
1 x AOC G2460FQ 24" Widescreen 144Hz 1ms Gaming LED Monitor - Gunmetal £169.99
Total : £378.98 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Click to expand...

Hi All, I'm just about to buy one of those monitors but not sure what the actual difference is between them looking at the specs. worth just getting the cheaper one?
 
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