Time for an Upgrade

mike_t

mike_t

mike_t

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3 Mar 2014
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To cut a long story short, last June my Asus P5N-D gave up after I may have fiddled with it a bit :rolleyes:. Due to this I'm now looking at a significant upgrade, or rather a complete rebuild as it seems to be. The games that I tend to play most are GTA IV with hi-res mods, ArmA3 and MS FSX.

The current (broken) specs are:

Coolermaster Cosmos S
Asus P5N-D
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 - I think, I'm currently on the other side of the world
8GB RAM - Not sure of brand or speed, I think it's in 4x2 though.
nVidia GeForce GTX295
2x 2TB HDD

I'm not sure of the PSU in there at the moment, I have a feeling it's 750W.

I'm trying to see what the fastest I can get for around £2000 is. So far I've come up with:

Asus X79 Sabertooth Intel X79
Intel 4930K 3.40GHz
Corsair Hydro H60 v2
Kingston HyperX Beast 4x8Gb 1866MHz dual channel
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780Ti GHz Edition

So far this comes to just over £1600, and I have a couple of questions:


  • Could I go any faster for £1600?


  • If I was going to spend a further £400, where would it be best spent? For example, upgrading to a 4960X or perhaps better RAM or a Titan Black? (or a combination?)


  • Should I now be paying more attention to cooling? How should I go about this?


  • Are the above items compatible? If not, which items should I be changing?

I'm conscious at the moment that I haven't built a PC in ages, and the array of components available now is MASSIVE.

Help and opinions appreciated!

Mike
 
How many monitors are you using?
Using your current case:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel 4930K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail (BX80633I74930K) £429.95
2 x MSI Radeon R9 290 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £349.99 (£699.98)
1 x Asus Rampage IV Formula Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £259.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance RED 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (CMZ16GX3M4X2133C11R) £169.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 1000W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £161.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £93.95
Total : £1,975.44 (includes shipping : £8.00).



In all honesty, this is overkill for your needs. This would be better suited, money better spent:

YOUR BASKET
2 x MSI Radeon R9 290 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £349.99 (£699.98)
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £239.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £139.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £93.95
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
Total : £1,399.49 (includes shipping : £8.00).



How old is your PSU? Make/Model?
 
Last edited:
Welcome. :)

Firstly, is this JUST a gaming rig? Are you doing any HEAVY video/photo edting?

If this is just for gaming, its WAY WAY over the top.

Firstly a quad-core 4770K is more than enough, even for SLI 780ti's.

And 32GB of RAM? gaming hardly uses 8Gb let alone 16Gb or 32GB.

Are you going to be overclocking too? That coole isn't upto much.
 
Doomedspeed said:
Welcome. :)

Firstly, is this JUST a gaming rig? Are you doing any HEAVY video/photo edting?

If this is just for gaming, its WAY WAY over the top.

Firstly a quad-core 4770K is more than enough, even for SLI 780ti's.

And 32GB of RAM? gaming hardly uses 8Gb let alone 16Gb or 32GB.

Are you going to be overclocking too? That coole isn't upto much.
Click to expand...

ppffttt......to early for me!!! Didnt notice he was new :rolleyes:

Welcome to the Forums Mike!
 
Thanks for the replies!

snips86x:
Is there a reason why you'd recommend 290s over the 780Ti?

I'm not sure on the PSU in all honesty, I think it's 750w and it's about 5 years old now.

Doomedspeed:
I haven't really started overclocking, I'm far too out of touch at the moment but it may be a possibility in the future.

As for the rig it's mainly for gaming although I do tend to do a fair bit of photo editing using LR4 and PS CS5.

Monitors at the moment are 2x 22" although I'm also looking at whether I'd be happier with a 27" setup- I suspect the answer is yes :)
 
mike_t said:
Thanks for the replies!

snips86x:
Is there a reason why you'd recommend 290s over the 780Ti?

I'm not sure on the PSU in all honesty, I think it's 750w and it's about 5 years old now.

Doomedspeed:
I haven't really started overclocking, I'm far too out of touch at the moment but it may be a possibility in the future.

As for the rig it's mainly for gaming although I do tend to do a fair bit of photo editing using LR4 and PS CS5.

Monitors at the moment are 2x 22" although I'm also looking at whether I'd be happier with a 27" setup- I suspect the answer is yes :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for confirming.

The reason I went with the 290's is really the price vs performance. I'm running a 7970 (re-branded 280x) and use CS5 and LRv5 a lot with no issues, also using 8gb (16gb would be better however). There is nothing the AMD cannot do compared to nVidia in these regards.

As Doom pointed out, the X79 platform would be massivly overkill and still would be for what you're going to be using it for.

*insert updated spec*

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £349.99
1 x Iiyama Prolite GB2773HS-GB1 144Hz 27" Widescreen LED 1MS Monitor - Black £263.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £239.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £139.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £93.95
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 650W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £89.99
2 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99 (£131.98)
Total : £1,474.86 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
Last edited:
I remember that a few years ago when I was playing ArmA2 there were issues between how nVidia and ATI cards handled certain games - is this still the case at all?

Many thanks for the help too!
 
I do not believe that this is the case any more... performance wise, each brand will run better on different cards. For example I believe with Mantle BF4 runs better on AMD than Nvidea (someone correct me). The AMD cards generally cost less, you can alost get two 290's for the price of a 780ti...

Either way, here is a spec...

YOUR BASKET
2 x MSI Radeon R9 290 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £349.99 (£699.98)
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £233.99
1 x Avexir Blitz 1.1 Original 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C9 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U21330908G-2BZ1) £169.99
1 x Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI HERO Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £157.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 750W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £99.95
1 x NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case - Black £94.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £93.95
1 x Samsung SE-S208DB/TSBS External Slimline 8x DVD-RW (TV Connect) - Black £21.98
Total : £1,739.32 (includes shipping : £13.75).



This will be a bit of a power house and will do everything you want and a LOT more...
 
I wouldn't go with the OEM chip, you only get 1yr warranty. The retail gives you 3. He also hasn't expressed an interest in swapping his case!

I would also change the motherboard for something cheaper. While he has expressed an interest in overclocking later down the line, there is not need for that spec board - all the features will not be used. The MSI I've done about will be perfect, same goes for the RAM. Save ££ and get the same speed RAM for less.
 
Last edited:
Mine looks pretty :P

Also, Mike has suggested that OC'ing may be something he is interested in doing in the future. From what I have found, basic overclocks are pretty easy to do on both the CPU and GPU... usually require you to change 2-3 values in the bios... anyway...

yes, from my spec you could probably stand to change some of the components out for cheaper ones and if you're not planning on changing the case and the one you already have does not have a window, then I would get a gigabyte board (probably the OC of the sniper), some cheaper RAM and save the money towards one of the new Dell 4K monitors that are supposedly coming out this year at sub £700 :)
 
Add a 780ti to Snips' build; leave the monitor for now and get one of these ROG Swift monitors when they arrive - 27" 1440p 144hz *drool*

http://rog.asus.com/296652014/news/...78q-swift-27-inch-wqhd-g-sync-gaming-monitor/

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 780Ti DirectCUII OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £527.99
Total : £537.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).



EDIT:

snips86x said:
It is a nice card, but the 290x is on par and for 1/3 of the price, it's pretty much a no-brainer! If you want one, go for it!
Click to expand...

Check your calculator again ;)

The ASUS 780ti is well priced at the moment, and the promise of a 1440p 144hz monitor would swing it for me.
 
Last edited:
Fulax said:
Add a 780ti to Snips' build; leave the monitor for now and get one of these ROG Swift monitors when they arrive - 27" 1440p 144hz *drool*

http://rog.asus.com/296652014/news/...78q-swift-27-inch-wqhd-g-sync-gaming-monitor/

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 780Ti DirectCUII OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £527.99
Total : £537.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Click to expand...

GOD DAMN!!! That is a sexy mointor :D :cool:

The Only Beardy said:
Not sure the 290x is a 1/3 the price of the 780ti....
Click to expand...

Sorry, that should have been 1/3 less :rolleyes:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 780Ti DirectCUII OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £527.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £239.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £139.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £93.95
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 650W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £89.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
Total : £1,317.48 (includes shipping : £8.00).



You could even add 2 new mech drives and raid them :D
 
Last edited:
Fulax said:
Add a 780ti to Snips' build; leave the monitor for now and get one of these ROG Swift monitors when they arrive - 27" 1440p 144hz *drool*

http://rog.asus.com/296652014/news/...78q-swift-27-inch-wqhd-g-sync-gaming-monitor/

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 780Ti DirectCUII OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £527.99
Total : £537.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).



.
Click to expand...

That swift is insane.

Even a 780ti won't run games at a decent framerate on high/max..

for a Swift, you Need ATLEAST 780ti SLI, which is insane..

I think these are before their time.
 
Yes. Yes. Yes. I'm liking where this thread is going now :D

snips86x said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 780Ti DirectCUII OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £527.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £239.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £139.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £93.95
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 650W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £89.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £65.99
Total : £1,317.48 (includes shipping : £8.00).



You could even add 2 new mech drives and raid them :D
Click to expand...

I'm liking this set up a lot.

[ETA: Would I gain anything by going for any of the OC cards like the GHz edition? Or would that impact on future intentions to SLI?]

Doomedspeed said:
for a Swift, you Need ATLEAST 780ti SLI, which is insane..
Click to expand...

Why buy one for the price of one when you can have two for the price of two.....
 
Last edited:
You seriously considering 780Ti's in SLI?

Why not wait for the 790?

The GTX 790 is a bit more surprising though. It is expected to be a dual-GPU graphics card, and is rumored to carry two GK110 GPUs. The GPUs would not be fully enabled, as Nvidia would want to keep its TDP below 300 W. VideoCardz.com expects each GPU aboard the card to have 2496 enabled CUDA cores, making a total of 4992 CUDA cores. Each GPU is also expected to be able to address 5 GB of GDDR5 graphics memory that would run over a 320-bit wide memory interface.
Click to expand...
 
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