I need some opinions on upgrades!

Matt4469

Matt4469

Matt4469

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Joined
13 Jan 2010
Posts
7
Hey all, I currently have a system I built about 4/5 years ago (from overclockers naturally!).

Mobo- Gigabyte EX58-UD5
CPU- Intel i7 920 (stock speeds atm)
Ram- 6gb ddr3 2133MHz
GPU- Sapphire Radeon HD 5870
PSU-Corsair 850W

Its probably worth mentioning i currently game at 1920x1080p

Now im really tempted to upgrade the 5870 to an MSI GTX 970. However, im wondering if my other components would bottleneck it if i went ahead with the purchase. I havnt noticed any game pushing my cpu to the point its sitting at 100% load, so i do think that would be fine, but im mostly concerned about a lot of the more modern games recommending 8gb of ram. So i guess my main questions are

A) am i right in assuming that my CPU wont cause me any majour bottleneck issues (i only ask with it being an older generation of i7)

B) Is it worth it to upgrade the 6gb of ram i currently have to 8gb or would that have little impact on overal performance in games (will having 6gb of system ram limit the graphics settings that i can use regardless of me upgrading to a 970)

C) The EX58-UD5 only has PCIE 2.0 slots will that hinder the performance of the 970 at all. Am I correct in believing that the PCIE 3.0 cards are backwards compatible with PCIE 2.0 in the first place ?

If I can help it I dont want to have to purchase a new mobo and cpu etc as my funds are limited. I used to be able to run new games at pretty much maximum settings so im hoping that by upgrading the GPU i will be able to once again! (or at least very close) Any help or advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you in advanced!
 
Upgrade wise i would:

Get a New GPU, the 970 is ideal.

Overclock you're CPU. You'll be surprised how much the bottleneck (and it will bottleneck the 970) will decrease once you OC it. :)

So, you may need to pick up decent CPU cooler too. Have you got one? If not, what case and budget do you have?

Kryja said:
Have a look at this thread you can replace your 920 with a 12 core xeon for less than £100

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18618052
Click to expand...

Surveyor said:
Isn't it 6 cores, 12 threads?
Click to expand...

It's a hex core, as said.

And it's only relly an upgrade if the user is to OC it, so he may aswell save money and OC his 920 first, it should cope pretty well.
 
Hey thanks for the fast replies!


Doomedspeed i have the antec 902 gaming case at the moment, If i dont need to get the RAM i could use that money to buy a cpu cooler instead. If there are any sufficient coolers for a reasonable price im sure i could afford both though to be honest. :P

I had a quick look online after i read your comment and it seems there are a few other people who have the i7 920 and a gtx 970, those people are claiming a clock of about 3.4-3.7 ghz removes any bottleneck for them. Is there a particular CPU cooler that you would recommend and a clock speed that you think i should aim for?

Thanks! :)
 
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