Is it time to upgrade?

[Born2BSlow]

Hi guys,

My current rig is knocking on a bit although I've upgraded gfx fairly regularly.

Mobo: Gigabyte X58-UD3R
CPU: i7 950 @ 3.07GHz
12GB RAM
GFX: Geforce 980Ti
HDDrives:
Kingston SV300S37A240G SSD (C
Intel SSDSA2CW120G3 SSD Game installs
2TB SATA for storage
All in an Antec 1200 with plenty of airflow.

I recently watercooled the CPU (H100iGTX) when I had a 770 GTX and decided to run 2 in SLi after moving to a triple screen setup, the CPU screamed for mercy. I moved to the single 980Ti because the 2xgfx cards were so close (no spacing on PCI slots) there was too much heat build up when running PCars. Basically for what I ended up spending to get to triple screens I could have built a new PC.

I guess I'm just a bit underwhelmed, nothing seems to run buttersmooth fps, I mainly play Pcars and Assetto Corsa and I'm not convinced the single 980Ti is doing the business with triple screens.

Anybody got any thoughts or suggestions please?

 

[SamyBoy13]

In my opinion, your set up is okay, but I would upgrade CPU + mobo for a better one. I think CPU is bottlenecking your GPU for sure so CPU upgrade should really help with framerate. AMD CPUs are coming out soon so maybe it's worth waiting as they have potential to drop intel's prices that are ridiculous What is your budget?

 

[Doogles]

If you want triple screens then imo you need to upgrade the CPU/Mobo/RAM in the new year when either Zen or Kaby lands and see which one you like best. If you still arn't happy then adding another 980ti or selling it for something better would make sense.

 

[MatTheCat]

If you want triple screens then imo you need to upgrade the CPU/Mobo/RAM in the new year when either Zen or Kaby lands and see which one you like best. If you still arn't happy then adding another 980ti or selling it for something better would make sense.

'Something better'?

You mean a GTX 1080?

Selling a card that cost 600 GBP not that long ago in order to buy a card that costs over 700 GBP and offers marginal performance improvements over the card he already has?

That is an unfortunate CPU to own. Just one tick down the line, and he may have had a Sandy Bridge i7, which run easily at over 4Ghz on air, without increasing any volts. Clock speeds of CPUs matter a lot, especially when trying to run high resolutions or triple screens...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PABR7JHOyhs

 

[Born2BSlow]

Thanks for the input guys, I was thinking the CPU/MOBO/RAM (GeIL 12GB (3x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz) might be the problem, the original build was ordered 10th May 2011 according to my order history

Apart from the original HD6950 being replaced and a couple of power supplies it's not struggled with much, until the triple screens that is. It's my wife's fault for leaving me at home on my own for the weekend...

Budget, I suppose I'd be aiming to get a bundle for under £400, wouldn't want to spend more than that.

 

[Born2BSlow]

Altenatively, I want to be ready for VR version 2, so should I just muddle through as I am until Black Friday/Christmas sales nxt year and go with a new build? I'd probably go with a £1500-£2000 budget for PC if I did that.

I like the case I have for moving air so would get a smaller one for the existing internals and let the kids have it.

 

[Doogles]

'Something better'?

You mean a GTX 1080?

Selling a card that cost 600 GBP not that long ago in order to buy a card that costs over 700 GBP and offers marginal performance improvements over the card he already has?

That is an unfortunate CPU to own. Just one tick down the line, and he may have had a Sandy Bridge i7, which run easily at over 4Ghz on air, without increasing any volts. Clock speeds of CPUs matter a lot, especially when trying to run high resolutions or triple screens...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PABR7JHOyhs

Which is why I said he can either SLI or sell it, doesn't matter about the price a year ago the 1080 is at least 20% faster, I agree it isn't that much of a boost but it's something, if you try pulling tri monitors with 1080p you need all the power you can get if you want to be holding 60 fps all the time. Changing to a 6700k would give him a big boost though on it's own and OP might feel fine with a 980ti considering how good they still are.

 

[implosiveturnip]

Altenatively, I want to be ready for VR version 2, so should I just muddle through as I am until Black Friday/Christmas sales nxt year and go with a new build? I'd probably go with a £1500-£2000 budget for PC if I did that.

I like the case I have for moving air so would get a smaller one for the existing internals and let the kids have it.

If I were you, this is what I would do. In the meantime, if you have adequate cooling, I'd push that CPU as far as I could; a decent overclock would really help your minimum frame rates, and a little gpu overclock wouldn't hurt too.

 

[mistersprinkles]

Thanks for the input guys, I was thinking the CPU/MOBO/RAM (GeIL 12GB (3x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz) might be the problem, the original build was ordered 10th May 2011 according to my order history

Apart from the original HD6950 being replaced and a couple of power supplies it's not struggled with much, until the triple screens that is. It's my wife's fault for leaving me at home on my own for the weekend...

Budget, I suppose I'd be aiming to get a bundle for under £400, wouldn't want to spend more than that.

Why you buy Bloomfield when Sandybridge was available???

 

[Born2BSlow]

I'm not all that tech savvy, didn't do a whole lot of research and I don't really Overclock so I just bought to a whole PC budget.

I don't know what the difference is between Bloomfield and Sandybridge anyhow, this might make you go even more purple...

 

[Born2BSlow]

I've tried to overclock the cpu, I don't have a clue even after reading lots of threads and following step by step guides. Every attempt just caused it to crash.