To upgrade or to build a new system?

PSGamer

PSGamer

PSGamer

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15 Nov 2008
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93
Hello!

Im currently umming and ahhing about a new computer... to be honest its partly sparked by the 4K TVs coming out... but I fear that it is a little early to start investing in 4k monitors and the like (I do currently have 3 1920x1080 monitors so i'm hardly struggling for resolution!!) But My computer's feeling a little sluggish... I still haven't made the hop over to a SSD so that something i'm thinking about. Basically I want to try and upgrade it so it'll play things like Assassin's creed Unity/current gen games without too much trouble on max/near max settings... I'm thinking of building a brand new computer but as this was my first real proper build (With a decent graphics card and stuff.) I dont wanna just resign it to the scrapheap as it were. Here are my current specs:

MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 3.2GHz
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 2x4GB DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz
Asus M4A88T-M AMD 880G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
2 TB Hard drive that i cant seem to remember the brand of but it's 7200rpm.

I'm thinking of changing to a SSD and using the 2TB HD for storage definitely... and my other question would be if I were to update to a more current graphics card, how much would the outdated CPU/Mobo/Ram bottleneck it? I could upgrade the CPU/Ram too... but again would it be worth it over building new?

Any and all replies are much appreciated!
 
Hello, I'm not definately going 4k, but at minimum i'd be running 3 monitor (5760x1080 at the moment)

I have a Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case (Which I want to change anyway) and a Corsair CX600 PSU.

I was looking at going up to about £500 ish, my drives are all sata and I do have a 64 bit OS.

Thanks for the quick reply!
 
Thanks very much!

Would there be a severe bottleneck just adding the GPU? Just curious!

and yes those ports would be fine for my monitors.
 
I really appreciate the help!

Tempted to go with the AMD... after a little googling it seems that there's quite the debate between these too but I feel like the much better graphics card may make the amd route better.... Thanks again!
 
Okay, thinking of biting the bullet sometime next week so I can build it on during the may day week, going to venture into overclocking properly this time also since i have a few days to just sit and fiddle!

I'm definitely thinking of going up in price to allow me to get the 780ti and the 4690k bundle, if I were to put my budget up to 700-800, would it be worth looking at something different in terms of graphics card/processor (perhaps a ram upgrade?) at all or would the performance increase be negligible to the point where I might as well buy a new case instead? Got my eye on the NZXT 340 you see....

I appreciate any feedback! apologies for the indecision.. its a little baffling with all the options available!
 
Before next Wednesday certainly!

looking like this so far:

WamoFhA.png
 
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Hm, the max amp on the 12v rail according to the box is 46A. Is the 45A you quoted average or maximum? I understand that its better to have headroom though!
 
All put together now, installing the OS, pictures to come perhaps!

Build went fairly smoothly, just one problem.... i had to upgrade to a raijintek ereboss because the thermis pro was out of stock (didnt realise till after i changed the order that a thermis not a thermis pro was recommended...)which was in stock! was all posted and such so nevermind) and because its a huge chunk of metal.. the fan fouls on the ram... bother... so have the stock cooler on instead for now

Nevermind, gives me an excuse to go for an AIO so there's no clearance problems!

Thanks again to OCUK for their customer service!
 
i am mostly likely just going to splurge on either a kraken x61 or a raijintek triton when they come into stock

problem is.. i installed the ereboss with thermal paste on like a numty before checking the clearance, would that revoke the ability to return it?
 
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yeah it is off set.. and the side that i was putting towards the ram is longer from the block... Gosh that's silly of me, will have another go at it tomorrow or maybe at the weekend, want to get the OS on it and such first before tearing the heatsink off again.

Thanks again Stulid! hats off to you, sir.

I shall update when I try the heatsink the 'right way round' ! ;)
 
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all up and running now, was getting around 110fps average on the 'custom' setting of heaven benchmark and about 45-50fps average on extreme... not bad! not gonna probe too much till the ereboss is on though

Edit - on 1920x1080

Seems like im having problems with the display port monitor being stuck at 640x480.. think the new card might not like my display port adapter or something, doh! Everything else is peachy though.. pc is quieter and better all over! - Fixed it!

Curiously.. What would be the upgrade path from now? Ram and then second 290x + Powersupply or?
 
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