Worth an upgrade?

Sparx

Sparx

Sparx

Soldato
Joined
30 Jul 2007
Posts
5,270
Location
Lincolnshire
So it's been 3 nearly 4 years since my last upgrade. My current spec is quite dated now (see below) but it still runs well but it is a tad sluggish.. I was looking at getting an i7-4770K and re-using my RAM, PSU and sound card.

Games wise currently I just play League of Legends, Guild Wars 2, CoD, CS:GO, etc which my 6950 plays them all just fine. But I am planning on getting Battlefield 4 so not sure whether I should buy a 7950 or 760 GTX or wait until the new series GPUs later?

CURRENT SPEC
CPU - Intel i5 750 1st gen Lynnfield (2.6 OC'd @ 3.5GHz)
COOLER - Corsair H50 (1st gen)
MOBO - Asus P7P55D-E Intel P55 (Skt 1156)
GPU - Asus HD 6950 OC 2GB GDDR5
SSD - OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB (1st gen SATA2)
HDDs - 1TB (2x 500GB WD and Samsung)
RAM - 8GB OCZ Intel Extreme XMP (4x 2GB)
PSU - EVGA SuperNova NEX 650W Modular (80+ Gold)
SOUND - Asus Xonar DGX 5.1


New PC spec potentially.. I don't feel the absolute dire need to upgrade as my PC runs fine, it's just that itch.. It's been so long.. :D

- Is it worth an upgrade?
- Should I reuse my existing 8GB RAM or buy a new 16GB RAM kit (although that will cost me another £100+)
- Is the H110 worth it? I was contemplating going back to air cooling with the Dark Rock Pro 2 (also approx £40 cheaper)
- I plan on overclocking the 4770K but not to the extreme, is it worth it buying a H110 and do I really need the ROG board? It looks nice but I like a silent/enclosed PC so I will not even see the board anyway..
- I'm also tempted to go micro ATX and get the 350D and then look into a mATX mobo of course..

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £275.99
1 x Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI HERO Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £169.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H110 280mm High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060014-WW) £94.99
1 x Toshiba (7K3000.D) 3TB SATA 6GB/s 64MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA300) HDD £89.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 330R Silent Mid Tower Case - Black £74.95
Total : £855.90 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
Last edited:
Sparx said:
So it's been 3 nearly 4 years since my last upgrade. My current spec is quite dated now (see below) but it still runs well but it is a tad sluggish.. I was looking at getting an i7-4770K and re-using my RAM, PSU and sound card.

Games wise currently I just play League of Legends, Guild Wars 2, CoD, CS:GO, etc which my 6950 plays them all just fine. But I am planning on getting Battlefield 4 so not sure whether I should buy a 7950 or 760 GTX or wait until the new series GPUs later?

CURRENT SPEC
CPU - Intel i5 750 1st gen Lynnfield (2.6 OC'd @ 3.5GHz)
COOLER - Corsair H50 (1st gen)
MOBO - Asus P7P55D-E Intel P55 (Skt 1156)
GPU - Asus HD 6950 OC 2GB GDDR5
SSD - OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB (1st gen SATA2)
HDDs - 1TB (2x 500GB WD and Samsung)
RAM - 8GB OCZ Intel Extreme XMP (4x 2GB)
PSU - EVGA SuperNova NEX 650W Modular (80+ Gold)
SOUND - Asus Xonar DGX 5.1


New PC spec potentially.. I don't feel the absolute dire need to upgrade as my PC runs fine, it's just that itch.. It's been so long.. :D

- Is it worth an upgrade?
- Should I reuse my existing 8GB RAM or buy a new 16GB RAM kit (although that will cost me another £100+)
- I plan on overclocking the 4770K but not to the extreme, is it worth it buying a H110 and do I really need the ROG board? It looks nice but I like a silent/enclosed PC so I will not even see the board anyway..

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £275.99
1 x Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI HERO Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £169.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H110 280mm High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060014-WW) £94.99
1 x Toshiba (7K3000.D) 3TB SATA 6GB/s 64MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA300) HDD £89.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 330R Silent Mid Tower Case - Black £74.95
Total : £855.90 (includes shipping : FREE).

Click to expand...

Looks nice, I really like that case. Ooozes style. :D

What`s your budget for a Gpu, as there are a few good deals at the moment. Or as you said, wait to see some reviews when the new AMD series are released.
 
Idleman said:
Looks nice, I really like that case. Ooozes style. :D

What`s your budget for a Gpu, as there are a few good deals at the moment. Or as you said, wait to see some reviews when the new AMD series are released.
Click to expand...

Well circa £200 if I want to buy a new GPU; so I'm looking at the MSI Twin Frozr 7950 or Asus GTX 760.. But to be honest my 6950 is still chugging games along just fine, hence I think I may hold off on the GPU until the next series..

But in all honesty my PC does run ALL of my games just fine and I was going to wait until Intel's next generation of CPUs and AMDs GPUs.. It's just my inner nerd is coming out lately and I really have the itch to upgrade.. :(
 
Idleman said:
Ah well, then spend your money wisely. :D

Do you need an i7?
Click to expand...

Not particularly as I only game, but there is a £60 difference.. Looking at reviews though BF3 makes good use of the i7's hyper threading (10+ fps increase) so I'm hoping BF4 makes even more use of it.. ;)
 
Hmm I'm tempted but looking online 2014 is going to be a quiet year for Intel apart from Haswell-E which I'm not interested in.. AMD is coming up with the new 8/9xxx GPUs soon but I'm not sure if it's worth just grabbing an Asus GTX 760 or just waiting..

So far this is what I'm contemplating buying..

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £275.99
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 760 DirectCUII OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £203.99
1 x Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI HERO Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £169.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H110 280mm High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060014-WW) £94.99
1 x Toshiba (7K3000.D) 3TB SATA 6GB/s 64MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA300) HDD £89.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 330R Silent Mid Tower Case - Black £74.95
1 x Corsair AF140 Quiet Series Low Noise High Airflow - Single Pack (CO-9050009-WW) £14.99
1 x Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition Low Noise High Airflow - Single Pack (CO-9050001-WW) £13.99
Total : £1,088.87 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
Only a £14 difference between them. My point with the 760 was NVIDIA seem to perform circa 10+ fps better (currently) over AMD cards in Battlefield 3 and a few other select games (I only game @ 1920x1080)

And the nice red Asus GPU will match with the ROG mobo and Corsair fans.. :D
 
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