Overdue Upgrade!

cannedfool

cannedfool

cannedfool

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Joined
9 Dec 2008
Posts
6
Hi all,

Its been a while since i posted on here (long while) but i am after some advice.

I am looking at a two stage upgrade of my PC (assuming that is the best option).

At the moment:
I am currently running an intel Q8300 with 4GB 800mhz DDR2 plugged into my Asus PQ5-Pro (yea totally need an upgrade) topped off with my MSI TwinFrozr GTX 470. Its powered by a Corsair tx650w PSU and is connected to my Dell SP2309w (which may also need an upgrade).

I am not really playing anything too taxing on my PC, Heros of the storm, hearthstone and a few other bits and bobs. However i would like to start moving back to PC gaming from my PS4. Especially Project Cars as i am a little miffed i cant use my GT-pro wheel :(

The plan was to upgrade my Mobo, CPU and Ram with a view to changing the graphics card later in the year. I currently have around £450 to spend now and will probably look at something like a GTX 970 later on.

At the moment i have in mind an i7 Devils Canyon 4790 with the ASUS Maximus VII Ranger and then 8GB of Ram. My heart isn't set on this but i would prefer a red mobo simply because i want to keep my now 15 year old Thermaltake Xaser III case (with a view to modding it a little).

Is anyone able to provide any advice/suggestions on this upgrade. Although i don't have loads of cash to splash i do like to make sure what i get lasts a while so like to buy half decent specs.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Kind Regards,

Alex.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4690 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £175.99
1 x MSI Radeon R9 380 Gaming 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £158.99
1 x MSI B85-G43 Gaming Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £74.99
1 x Avexir Core Red Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16001104G-2CIR) - Red Light £49.99
Total : £469.56 (includes shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT).




That'd be your £450 used up, GPU included, and would give you a mahoosive performance boost, very decent @ 1080p. Up to you if you want to go down this route, or go for more expensive i5-K (or i7-K if you plan on two video cards not one), mobo, and GPU, and in stages.

The GPU could be swapped for a GTX 960 if you prefer Nvidia.
 
cannedfool said:
hmm, Interesting idea. Wondering if i would get the longevity from it compared to an i7 and 970 later on.
Click to expand...

Yes and no.

Here's what I mean - by the time that 380 (or 960) isn't powerful enough for your needs, and a 970 could still cut it, there'll be newer, more powerful cards out than the 970, which you could buy with the money you saved now.

That 470 needs getting rid off ASAP if you want to play modern games.

As for the CPU - the i5-4690 will be fine for a good few years. Overclocking for games really isn't necessary on the modern i5's. And it matches the i7-4790 for gaming on 99% of titles as most games use 2-4 cores.

The single-core strength of CPUs will continue to improve. The next i5s will be faster for most games than the present i7s, despite not having more threads. Intel is setting the pace for games developers with their CPU designs, i.e. games have to be made to run well on mid-range processors like the i5 or the market would be too small for those games.

And also, see this example regarding DirectX 12:

What we find is that Star Swarm and DirectX 12 are so efficient that only our most powerful card, the GTX 980, finds itself CPU-bound with just 2 cores. For the AMD cards and other NVIDIA cards we can get GPU bound with the equivalent of an Intel Core i3 processor, showcasing just how effective DirectX 12’s improved batch submission process can be. In fact it’s so efficient that Oxide is running both batch submission and a complete AI simulation over just 2 cores.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8962/the-directx-12-performance-preview-amd-nvidia-star-swarm/4
Click to expand...

My aim isn't to talk you out of buying an i7 and 970 if you want to, but to reassure you that you don't need to break the bank if you might regret it. :)
 
Thanks Danny, being out of the upgrade game for a while ;) i really value your advice.

I did think about going down the new GFX card route as my 470 would just hold me back. its really made me think.

I had seen a lot about the new i5/7s being even more emense than the current ones. Its is why i posted my thread to ask about spending the money now knowing i was a little late in the cycle to start going top end.

outside of my £450 birthday money i do have a little bit more, ~£150, which i was thinking of spending on maybe on a new monitor (nothing amazing obviously) or a new Case. i might be tempted to toss it towards this build and carry on with my trusty Thermaltake Xaser III (modding looks difficult and its not amazing for air flow) and my Dell monitor (runs at 2048x1152 60hz).

really want to get something ordered ready for the weekend to build it so lot of thinking tonight.

I think my next question is do i go 4gb GFX or stay at 2?
 
I would say for 4gb, mainly because it will last longer games will only use more. But you'll be fine with 2 :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SLI - Devils Canyon Core i5 4690K Bundle **£12 Saving** £263.98
1 x **B Grade** Sapphire Radeon R9 280 Dual-X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £155.99
2 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2400HC11CDC01) £49.99 (£99.98)
1 x Raijintek Themis Direct Contact CPU Cooler £19.99
Total : £549.54 (includes shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT).



Over your budget but included in the extra £150.

You get an overclockable system, lasting you longer, not that it will struggle. I never had an issue with mine, and it clocked to 5ghz :D

B grade 280x, great little card for the money :)
 
So in the end i topped it up a little and went for the following; Was going to save a few pounds on the mobo but i just love the VII and i wanted an optical out for my speakers without trying having to mess around with my XFI Fatal1ty sound card. I originally wanted 16GB of ram so thought why not bump that up.

I went against the 280x only because its not fully DX12 so seemed the 380 was the better plan.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £154.99
1 x MSI Radeon R9 380 Gaming 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
1 x Asus Maximus VII Ranger Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £135.95
2 x Avexir Core Red Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16001104G-2CIR) - Red Light £41.66 (£83.32)
Total : £611.51 (includes shipping : £8.00 Inc.VAT).

Thanks for all your help Gents its muchos appreciated!
 
Last edited:
Yeah fair point, i forget about DX12. Still, 380 is the same card, almost! :p

I would have gone for some faster RAM personally, but it won't make a noticeable difference. Nice little build. Hope you have a decent cooler?
 
I did think about the ram speed but fell in love with the red LEDs lol.

Its going to be stock for the moment in terms of cooling until i can afford something really pretty :D

Might even return it to water cooling now that im not moving house 3 times a year (it used to be around 10 years ago but it couldn't hack all the traveling, leaked and nearly blew everything).
 
Well even that cheap one I said, I've currently got and had on my 4690k, and it would hold 70c max under stress test, 4.6ghz at 1.25 vcore. Not bad for £20! :p
 
If i hadn't already ordered before u posted it would have been on there lol.

i need to upgrade the fans in my case to something less Jet engine like so will look into them.
 
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