Thinking of an upgrade soon:

[Qel]

Been thinking of upgrading for a while now. Mainly playing Planetside 2 at the moment but looking forward to Rome 2 and I guess BF4. This would mainly be for games but hoping to do some video/photoshop work too, nothing major though.

Currently using:
Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail
Asus P6T SE Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (TR3X6G1600C9)
Sapphire HD 5770 1GB Graphics Card
Corsair HX 650W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply
Antec P183 Case
+ 2x 1tb hd.
At 1440x900.


From that I would like to keep the case, hard drives and hopefully the PSU and was thinking to buy something like this:

Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail

Asus Z87-PRO Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard

Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 WindForce 3x OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Couple of case fans to stick in the front of the P183

+ an LG IPS237L-BN 23 inch Full HD IPS LED Widescreen Monitor from elsewhere (1920x1080).

Possible later purchases: Sound card, SSD, possibly an Avermedia capture card.

770 or 770 SLI or 780? Wait for new AMD/Maxwell?
Torn between going with a single 770 for now and then potentially SLI in future if I feel the performance isn't good enough or I want more screens, or just getting a 780 and sticking with that for 3-4 years. Or just use one 770 for a year or two then get some kind of Maxwell card when they've been out for a while if the performance difference is worth it.

If I did go with the 770 I was thinking to go for the 4gb version partly so I don't regret it in future should vram requirements increase. Also just thinking if I end up wanting more screens or higher res in future I have the extra 2gb there already. (This is probably stupid thinking but hey that's why I'm posting)

PSU
Is my current PSU ok to continue with if I buy this setup with either a single 770 or 780? Obviously if I decided to SLI in future I'd look to buy a new psu but I can deal with that if/when I go that route.

Overclocking
Never done it before but would buy the 'K' version of any cpu I end up going with just to leave the possibility there, wouldn't be looking to do anything to start with at least.

Welcome any thoughts on the above/other suggestions.

Thanks

PS

Budget would be around £1200 max though less than that would obviously be nice.

 

[Skynet5]

You will want to overclock, bf3 mp loves a good clock, so does PS2.

Try and buy SSD from the get go, that the biggest boost you'll have.

PSU won't be enough for SLI, be close but IMO just not enough, 750w ideally. I'd go 780 now and then look for SLI when savings allow.

Unless your gaming on more than 1080p I wouldn't worry too much about 4GB. Plus DX11.2 might well solve all these problems for us by allowing the GPU to use system RAM. From what I've read it isn't a HW change, so current DX11 cards may be able to have almost endless video ram. More research needed here...but if this is the case, which it looks to be...those peeps that spent all this cash on 4gb editions maybe a little peeved.

Other than that looks good, sure you don't want to go x79

 

[Qel]

PSU won't be enough for SLI, be close but IMO just not enough, 750w ideally. I'd go 780 now and then look for SLI when savings allow.

As I said I realise were I to go the SLI route in future I'd need a new psu. I was asking would the current 650W one be ok for now with a single 770 or 780, I can then look at a new psu if I ever decide to actually do SLI.

 

[Skynet5]

As I said I realise were I to go the SLI route in future I'd need a new psu. I was asking would the current 650W one be ok for now with a single 770 or 780, I can then look at a new psu if I ever decide to actually do SLI.

Apologies, just mis-read. Desktop in my rig draws 620w under load. All your stuff will be more efficient, and 1 card less so, yeah you'll be fine.

 

[olivier renault]

770/770 SLI or 780? Wait for new AMD/Maxwell?

Not a big fan of SLI. Nor triple monitor for that matter, with the Oculus on the way. I'd like to have more than 2GB these days, but the 4GB version is way overpriced, especially compared to a 780.

And for the waiting game on AMD, I don't give into speculation. I'd get the best you can afford, which would be a 4770K. I don't see AMD beating those any time soon.

Your PSU is fine for either.

Overclocking is easy these days. Saying that, you could get a GPU, and overclock your 920. These go up to 4GHz (maye not that high on your motherboard), and give a healthy boost. That way, you don't spend so much, and you get some practise on overclocking (which is a little bit more involved with the 920), and you can invest in a good cooler (SilverArrow, NH-D14, Phanteks...). Minimum cost, might bring maximum benefits, especially consider the GPU you have, which is a major bottleneck for gaming. P183 might be a pain with big air coolers though. Something like the Matterhorn Pure or the NH-D14 should fit.

You could also get a SSD (128GB). Helps with system responsiveness and general feel.

 

[d_brennen]

If not getting a decent sized SSD for boot drive I can recommend SSD caching. 64GB SSD and Intel smart response works great with a decent big hard drive

 

[Qel]

Not a big fan of SLI. Nor triple monitor for that matter, with the Oculus on the way. I'd like to have more than 2GB these days, but the 4GB version is way overpriced, especially compared to a 780.

And for the waiting game on AMD, I don't give into speculation. I'd get the best you can afford, which would be a 4770K. I don't see AMD beating those any time soon.

Never tried SLI. The 780 is very tempting and no SLI hassle, but expensive, so just thinking I could go with a 770 and have the option of SLI in the unlikely event I need more performance. 780 is nice though... but is it total overkill for one monitor and how much longevity does it have... Graphics card is really the only thing I'm doubting here.

Regarding AMD I meant purely in terms of new graphics cards later this year/early next year.

SSD - I realise it's nice to have and I'll more than likely get one at some point this year, just viewing that as a luxury item, well the whole thing is a luxury item really but... not essential and can easily be added later.

 

[d_brennen]

At a certain point some items don't yield as much of an improvement as the price suggests... I'd skip a 4770k to have an SSD (even for cache duties) any day

 

[Skynet5]

At a certain point some items don't yield as much of an improvement as the price suggests... I'd skip a 4770k to have an SSD (even for cache duties) any day

Wise words.

I'd OC the heck out of you 920, with a 780. Just an experienced guess, but if you could close down 3.8ghz that might not bottleneck a 780.

780 + SSD is a valid excellent upgrade, appreciate that's not what you were thinking though. But you could do that as a starter as see what you think, then upgrade the rest if you felt it wasn't.

 

[Skynet5]

Personally u should seriously reconsider the viewing of an SSD as a luxury item, its essential. I would say moving to a 4770k when you on an i7 920 as a luxury upgrade as you said! The SSD would give you a much better experience.

 

[olivier renault]

Wise words.

I'd OC the heck out of you 920, with a 780. Just an experienced guess, but if you could close down 3.8ghz that might not bottleneck a 780.

780 + SSD is a valid excellent upgrade, appreciate that's not what you were thinking though. But you could do that as a starter as see what you think, then upgrade the rest if you felt it wasn't.

Yeah, you can always upgrade the main board later if it's not satisfactory. Saves you around £400, and might just do the trick. Your graphics card is likely holding you back severely. And a SSD is great with software like Photoshop.