What should I upgrade?

George Hincapie

George Hincapie

George Hincapie

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I have had the system below for a while now and feel I'd like to upgrade some or all of it, but I have no idea what is still decent and what's past it.

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W)
Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (CML8GX3M2B1600C11)
AMD Radeon HD7800 Series

No budget set, happy to spend what is needed. I'm just not sure if I need to upgrade the video card or more than that. I play Eve and similar MMOs.

TIA.
 
Mate I think he means if you want to upgrade it should be GPU. 3570k is a fine CPU for gaming, esp once overclocked. Buy a new case if you want it to look better would be my other suggestion.
 
All depends on the budget :)

Upgrade stock cooler and get the cpu to 4+Ghz easy.

No psu spec listed?

Depending on psu then if money no object 980gtx or cheaper 970gtx or 290x...or sli/crossfire any those cards....all depends on how much you want to spend :)

Cheaper choice would be a 280 or 280X

Also what resolution do you game at?

New amd cards due out but could be a few months yet....might be worth waiting.
 
I would prefer Radeon, simply because that's what I've always used. I game at 1920x1080 and as mentioned would ideally like to run two monitors from one card. I think around £300 would be the most I'd want to pay for the video card.

I've had a look and found this - would it be up to the job?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-269-MS

As regards my PSU, it's a 500W OCZ. Is that OK or does that also need replacing?

I am not using the stock cooler, I have the BeQuiet Dark Rock 2 CPU Cooler, but the system is running at stock.
 
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Yes that would do the job nicely :)

How many amps are on the 12v rail for the psu?
Info will be on the psu itself.

Not sure what the minimum is for a 290x though.

if its the 7870 that you have then the upgrade would be a substantial one :)

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1056?vs=1034

Def get the cpu overclocked then...most of them just need the multy changed with no change in vcore to run at 4Ghz...just stress test using prime95 and keep an aye on temps that they stay under 80c
 
George Hincapie said:
I would prefer Radeon, simply because that's what I've always used. I game at 1920x1080 and as mentioned would ideally like to run two monitors from one card. I think around £300 would be the most I'd want to pay for the video card.

I've had a look and found this - would it be up to the job?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-269-MS

As regards my PSU, it's a 500W OCZ. Is that OK or does that also need replacing?

I am not using the stock cooler, I have the BeQuiet Dark Rock 2 CPU Cooler, but the system is running at stock.
Click to expand...

Same build as mine :) I'd upgrade the PSU to something like this.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-044-SS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2466

After that add in a R9 290 or GTX 970 of any kind and you have a decent build again, if you have no SSD get one for the OS. I personally wouldn't get a R9 290x on your budget because they cost £50 more than the R9 290 for 5%+ more performance.

R9 290: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-166-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

GTX 970: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-006-GX&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010
 
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Yes it's the 7870 I have. Thanks for the comparison - that looks great. Also compared the 290X against the GTX970 and it seemed overall that they were fairly similar.

The PSU gives 18A in each of 12V1 and 12V2. Is that enough? Or should I buy something bigger?
 
Not sure about the psu...some of the 290x say min 600w but that 290 says min 750w???

The 290 linked and a decent psu would still bring you under budget though.

Maybe post in graphic card section for advice from someone with more knowledge than me regarding those cards :)
 
postmanfw said:
Not sure about the psu...some of the 290x say min 600w but that 290 says min 750w???

The 290 linked and a decent psu would still bring you under budget though.

Maybe post in graphic card section for advice from someone with more knowledge than me regarding those cards :)
Click to expand...

Without any overclocks with a decent 550w PSU and low powered CPU you could probably get away with having R9 290 running on it but I wouldn't risk it.
 
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