Future upgrade path

dan958

dan958

dan958

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14 Oct 2012
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1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor **FREE SIMCITY PC GAME** (AD580KWOHJBOX) £99.95
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1 x Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £68.99
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2 x Cooler Master 12cm Sickleflow Red LED System Case Fan - (CM-R4-L2R-20AR-R1) £6.98 (£13.96)
Total : £415.34 (includes shipping : £17.10).

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1 x [url="http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-013-VX"]VTX3D HD 7870 Black Boost Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £155.99
1 x Silverstone Argon SST-AR01 CPU Cooler - 120mm (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1150 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £28.99
Total : £196.38 (includes shipping : £9.50).




I have the Arctic cooler for my GPU http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-060-AR



Hi,


Sorry for the dodgey layout.

I have the above set-up, it's working great for me at the moment, games run fine on max settings. (the cpu and GPU are slightly overclocked)

I'm not too sure how much in the future this build will last on max - medium settings. Any ideas on that?

Also, because I was on a budget when I bought this I believe the specs are not very upgradeable. I recently bought the GPU and that has worked wonders. If I was looking to spend a bit of money (this is something I would do maybe next year or so, but please spec me for if I was buying it now) what sort of components should I buy that are good for gaming, rendering files and screen capture? And also good at upgrading if and when I would need to in the future again.

No budget just yet, as i'm just trying to get a plan together for the future. (saving because i dont like to spend too much of my wages at once)
 
The GPU is a solid choice and will last a while. The RAM is also fine, perhaps add another 8gb purely for rendering speed.

The upgrade that will make the most difference is the motherboard / CPU and the inclusion of a fast SSD. Something like

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £275.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
Total : £546.77 (includes shipping : £9.00).



Or if that's too far over budget drop the i7 for an i5 and drop the SSD to a lower capacity.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £84.95
Total : £403.73 (includes shipping : £9.00).

 
Thanks. I knew I would have to update the CPU an mobo eventually. I'm hoping the price of SSD's would have dropped dramatically in the time until I get one :p

If I add another 2X4gb, how much difference would you say that would make? (i'm using 64bit)
 
An SSD would make a huge difference to load times and overall feel. Adding extra RAM will have no effect.

edit: Just noticed rendering is a factor, that may use extra RAM. Look at what the usage is currently.
 
Last edited:
ExRayTed said:
The GPU is a solid choice and will last a while. The RAM is also fine, perhaps add another 8gb purely for rendering speed.

The upgrade that will make the most difference is the motherboard / CPU and the inclusion of a fast SSD. Something like

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £275.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
Total : £546.77 (includes shipping : £9.00).



Or if that's too far over budget drop the i7 for an i5 and drop the SSD to a lower capacity.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £84.95
Total : £403.73 (includes shipping : £9.00).

Click to expand...

Good plan.
 
So with my current set-up, what do you think is making rendering go a bit slow (I understand that rendering is a slow process) my RAM or CPU?
 
Overclock your CPU as high as it'll go - the 6800Ks do a much better job there, but you should be able to get it to 4.3-4.5GHz. If you use GPU accelerated rendering, you'll get very decent results, otherwise you're held back a lot by the 5800K.
 
Great, got all the info I needed. Thanks everyone.

I'll put down a few pennies each month and come back here in about 2-3 months time and get the best deal that I can available.

teppic said:
Overclock your CPU as high as it'll go - the 6800Ks do a much better job there, but you should be able to get it to 4.3-4.5GHz. If you use GPU accelerated rendering, you'll get very decent results, otherwise you're held back a lot by the 5800K.
Click to expand...


I've got it running at 4.1 at the moment - think I can push it a bit more?
 
dan958 said:
Great, got all the info I needed. Thanks everyone.

I'll put down a few pennies each month and come back here in about 2-3 months time and get the best deal that I can available.
Click to expand...

As you get free delivery, keep an eye out for CPU+Board deals.
 
dan958 said:
I've got it running at 4.1 at the moment - think I can push it a bit more?
Click to expand...

A bit higher for sure. 4.5-4.8GHz is possible with tweaks, depending on the chip. It's not going to transform the machine, but it'll give it a bit of a kick.
 
Last edited:
I'll push it a little more tonight, but probably just go to 4.5. Won't do too much improvement, but better than nothing.

I'll be here a year next month, so free delivery. I will probably buy the components then.
 
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