Upgrade Advice

[Maffew]

Hi all,

A few years ago I got some brilliant advice on a new build from some on the forums. At the time it was about a good a spec PC as I could buy so it's lasted me going on 5 years Here are the original specs:

1 x Intel 4930K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor
1 x Samsung 500GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s
1 x Asus HD 7970 Matrix Platinum 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
1 x Gigabyte X79-UP4 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 16GB (4x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit (KHX24C11T3K4/16X)
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 850W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (0-761345-06225-1)

I create VR experiences for a living and last year my PC was becoming a bit of a hinderence so I upgraded the graphics card to an EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti SC Black Edition
This was a brilliant upgrade and I have had no issues since, just a rock solid high framerate
Basically, I'd like to know how easily upgradeable the rest of the pc is. If I choose to update the CPU will I need to upgrade the motherboard,and whilst I'm upgrading the motherboard should I be looking at faster RAM?
I don't really want to spend a fortune just for the sake of it, but can understand how a 5 year old MOBO and CPU might cause a bit of a bottle neck
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[ExRayTed]

Is your machine struggling with anything specific or do you just have the upgrade itch?

I can't really see where you'd be able to spend reasonable money and get an appreciable benefit. Your CPU is still very good with 6 cores and 12 threads although if it isn't overclocked I'd definitely start there. Your RAM is the quickest DDR3 you can get, maybe get more if the apps you use like lots of RAM although finding some 2400mhz DDR3 at a reasonable price will be tough.

The rest is still very good to be honest. I'd be waiting a while before upgrading again because unless you spend very silly money I'm not sure you'd gain much at all.

 

[Maffew]

Ah that's good to hear!
Nothing is struggling really, the only thing that takes any amount of time is booting.
After spending so much on a graphics card I didn't want to be holding it back with old hardware. Thabks for the help

 

[tamzzy]

looks fine to me with a 1080ti slotted in
(I'm still rocking a 3770k with my 1080ti - so a 4930k is definitely fine)

 

[heatonpkmassive]

I'd agree with the above posters, that CPU is still very good and you appear to also have a nice board to overclock with.

Just get overclocking. You're lucky, to get your system sorted only requires some homework by yourself if you don't already know how to do it.

 

[Quartz]

Nothing is struggling really, the only thing that takes any amount of time is booting.

Are you not booting off the SSD? If you are, then Windows is likely waiting for something to time out. You should be able to find out what by looking in the Event Viewer - check the System log.

 

[Maffew]

Are you not booting off the SSD? If you are, then Windows is likely waiting for something to time out. You should be able to find out what by looking in the Event Viewer - check the System log.

Yeah I'm booting from the SSD. It usually hangs on the motherboard splash screen then boots fine. Thanks for the tip, I'll check the event log

I'll look into overclocking. I've only really tried it once on a previous pc and the anxiety was too much!
Any recommendations on software? I think I previously used CPU-Z?

 

[Quartz]

It usually hangs on the motherboard splash screen then boots fine.

That sounds as if it's hanging before it gets to Windows, so the event log won't help you. At a wild guess it's trying to boot from the network first, so go into the BIOS and check that that is disabled and check the boot order. A second wild guess is that your CMOS battery needs replacing.

 

[ExRayTed]

That sounds as if it's hanging before it gets to Windows, so the event log won't help you. At a wild guess it's trying to boot from the network first, so go into the BIOS and check that that is disabled and check the boot order. A second wild guess is that your CMOS battery needs replacing.

Yup, I'd check the boot order first then other options like fast booting etc