Potential Updgrade, Advice Needed?

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Hi all,

I'm currently contemplating on whether or not to upgrade my current system or to hold off until the new Intel Processors are released next year. If I decide to hold off, would it be worth while upgrading my current graphics card to tide me over until I do upgrade? I mainly use my PC for FSX not really much other gaming.

My current system is as follows:

Q6600 O.C to 3.3GHz
ASUS P5Q Pro Motherboard
4GB Corsair XMS2 DDR 2 800MHz Ram
EVGA 9800GTX+ SSC Graphics Card
Corsair 650w PSU
2 x OCZ Agility 3 120GB SSD one for the O.S and one purely for FSX
1x 500GB WD Caviar Black for large FSX add-ons such as REXe etc.
1 x 500GB Samsung Spinpoint F1 for documents etc.

I'm debating whether or not to upgrade now to:

i5 3570K with an Overclock of around 4.5GHz
ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 Motherboard
GeIL EVO Veloce Hot-Rod 8GB PC3-19200C11 2400MHz
Corsair Hydro H60 or H80 Cooler

Or buying a NVidia 660 GPU and a new monitor, as my current one only has a native resolution of 1440x900.

Any help or suggestions is greatly appreciated.

Adam
 
Budget is no more than 500.

FSX runs ok on my current setup around 30fps in a small GA aircraft and fair weather with REXe textures and ORBX Australia, however I can't run anymore than 10% AI traffic or complex aircraft add-ons such as the PMDG NGX in heavy weather or complex sceneries.
 
FSX would benefit greatly from a better CPU, I'd guesstimate without a GPU upgrade you'd be looking at - at least a 40% FPS increase.

You could looking into picking up a second hand GTX570 or 7850 for around the £100 mark. This would give you a nice boost and should allow you to get the i5 bundle aswell for under £500.
 
At 100 posts you would get free P&P

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 660 OC Twin Frozr 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £25.99
Total : £465.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).



I'd lean towards getting a decent air cooler over the CLC options. You could sell off your old mobo bundle and GPU then look into the cooling later. Haswell isnt epected to be a leap in performance over IB, just even lower power consumption. Yes FSX loves nvidia hence the 660 GPU.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 660 OC Twin Frozr 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £108.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £25.99
Total : £494.35 (includes shipping : £9.50).



This mobo is SLI capable but FSX doesn't support SLI so it might be a "waste" of money for your needs.
 
Last edited:
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 660Ti Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £108.98
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB2133C11DC) £39.95
Total : £568.31 (includes shipping : £9.50).



More expensive, but has very good GPU... I wouldnt get OEM 3570k like hono suggested, the difference is 6 pounds and for that you get extra 2 years of warranty + heatsink.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 660Ti Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £108.98
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB2133C11DC) £39.95
Total : £568.31 (includes shipping : £9.50).



More expensive, but has very good GPU... I wouldnt get OEM 3570k like hono suggested, the difference is 6 pounds and for that you get extra 2 years of warranty + heatsink.

My bad I meant to click the retail. I've edited it now accordingly
 
Cheers for your responses guys.

I've had a look at your recommendations and crunched some numbers and this is what I've come up with.

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail
MSI GeForce GTX 660 OC Twin Frozr 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (Not sure if it will be worth me getting the more expensive one, as I'm unlikely to be in a position to upgrade my monitor anytime soon.)
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard (Am happy to go with the Gigabyte board, however I just preferred the look of this one)
GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler (I'm going to overclock so dont wnat to use the stock cooler)

All comes in at around £525

What are your thoughts?
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 660 OC Twin Frozr 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £108.98
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL38GB2133C11DC) £39.95
1 x Thermalright HR-02 Macho CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1155/LGA1366) £29.18
Total : £526.09 (includes shipping : FREE).



I do like the look of the Asrock mobos too. However you get a dual BIOS on the GB mobos plus their excellent 3 year uk based warranty. The Geil RAM should tie in just fine with the colour scheme.

The 612S is my default choice for a cooler but this thermalright macho is on offer so I'm going for that. Check the height against what your case allows when looking at heatsinks though
 
I'm always unsure as to what cooler I should buy as there are so many. With regards to a case, I currently have an Antec 300 with an Arctic Freezer 7 installed.

I'm not sure what the case allows in terms of a maximum height of heatsink?
 
I'm always unsure as to what cooler I should buy as there are so many. With regards to a case, I currently have an Antec 300 with an Arctic Freezer 7 installed.

I'm not sure what the case allows in terms of a maximum height of heatsink?

Upto 170mm I believe for the Antec 300. So the macho is fine and dandy. I'd sell your old mobo bundle with the Arctic Freezer to help shift it.
 
why get such expensive ram? iirc it wont make much real world diff no?
rather get the kingston grey for 26 quid and save that 20 quid or spend it to get a better gpu
 
why get such expensive ram? iirc it wont make much real world diff no?
rather get the kingston grey for 26 quid and save that 20 quid or spend it to get a better gpu

It's for FSX, so the GPU isn't that important. The improvement might be marginal on this socket going over 1600mhz but it does help......lifetime warranty with it too, so it makes sense to get the best kit you can.
 
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