Time to upgrade...! (4 year old system)

Bloodrayne

Bloodrayne

Bloodrayne

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Joined
8 Feb 2004
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258
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In the wetlands...
Hi all,

Four-ish years ago I posted here with regards to upgrading my aging system to play Skyrim, but now I'm looking at the next wave of titles (such as the Witcher 3) and feeling that my lack of upgrades since my initial purchase means that my current system will no longer cut the mustard.

Am I looking at a complete over-haul, or is their specific areas that I should be looking to upgrade?

My current specs are:
  • Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor
  • Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
  • MSI GeForce GTX 560 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (2)
  • Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive
  • Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus' Certified Power Supply (CMPSU-600CXV2
  • BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Case - Black
  • Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX)
  • Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (0F10383)
  • Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366)
  • Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Thanks for any pointers - no real budget set so long as the upgrades can be progressively done over time, if they all need to change at the same time then probably would like to keep it at £800 tops?
 
All you need is a new GFX card, bigger SSD.

Have you overclocked that CPU yet?

What resolution is your monitor.
 
Doesn't sound too bad then - I've not overclocked my CPU; but could certainly look into it if it can be done and still be stable.

Monitor is currently an ACER S230HL - probably not the best as it was bought as a stop gap when my last one died on me without warning.

The SSD is currently carefully managed with Windows and other non-moveable files being the only thing on it; but some more space would certainly be useful.
 
What Dacads posted is spot on especially if you need a new PSU.

I know that the board you has has about 4 pre-set overclock profiles in the BIOS, so try the lowest one, monitor temps and stability and work up. But for best results do it yourself so you set the the right amount of Vcore for your CPU.
 
Bloodrayne said:
Doesn't sound too bad then - I've not overclocked my CPU; but could certainly look into it if it can be done and still be stable.

Monitor is currently an ACER S230HL - probably not the best as it was bought as a stop gap when my last one died on me without warning.

The SSD is currently carefully managed with Windows and other non-moveable files being the only thing on it; but some more space would certainly be useful.
Click to expand...

Not at all and definitely especially considering you have a "High performance cooler" :p

You could also quite easily fit a new 1440p monitor into your budget:

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ GW2765HT 27" Widescreen LED Gaming Flicker FREE Monitor - Black £299.99
Total : £309.59 (includes shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT).

 
Sorry to bump an old thread; but given that I've not yet got around to buying the graphics card - would it be worth dropping the monitor upgrade and getting a 980 Ti instead?

Or... given that I've waiting this long already, should I wait and see what AMD are planning first?
 
If you're getting a beefy GPU, make sure the PSU is up to it. Not sure how much these newer cards draw.

Your current 600W may be enough, wait for someone else to comment :)
 
If you're going for a nvidia 900 series gpu 980 or lower the current psu will be fine as they are pretty low power consumption. the 980ti and the radeon 290 would probably be ok too but I would still want a slightly beefier psu for those cards. Probably wouldn't get a 290 though as the 300 series is on the horizon.
 
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