Should I upgrade?

Alekty · Apr 26, 2013

Hi, so this is my first post ever in here and I kinda dont know alot about hardware but here goes.

I currently have:
Motherboard: Asus P6T.
CPU: i7-930 @ stock and stock cooling.
GFX: Asus GTX 660 ti
Ram: 12 Gb KingstonHyperX @ 1600 mhz

I play games like GW2, Crysis, Arma ect. and I am not able to run these games on max settings without a significant FPS drop (I do not enjoy playing games at 30 fps.)

I have been thinking of two solutions:

Solution 1:
Buy a GTX Titan and watercooling for my CPU that I could then OC.

Solution two:
Buy a GTX 680, a i7-3770k and a new motherboard (also would an i5-3570k be an idear?)

I am a little unsure if my current CPU actually needs an upgrade, I hear alot of people claiming that the i7-series are all so powerful that they are not even capped out yet but on the other hand, I can easially get my CPU to run at 80% usage and I am worried that solution one would just cause me to have the same issue on 6 months time..
And when I look at benchmarks of i7-3770k vs. i7-930 there is a huge leap

Please help

/Alekty

o1die · Apr 26, 2013

If you haven't, try overclocking your 930; the asus board can do this easily.

edogawa · Apr 26, 2013

Your processor is still powerful by today standards; don't need to upgrade it quite yet. You may see some improvements with the new processors, but not worth it to upgrade now. Overclock the 930 first some and wait till haswell to upgrade if you want to.

The GPU is on the weaker side, and that is your issue.

You should buy either of the following:
7970Ghz
GTX 670(difference between 670 and 680 is only a few frames and not worth 100 dollars.)
Titan isn't worth it for a single 1080p setup, so the above choices will be powerful solutions for you.

Also, the 700 series are coming out next month I think? So a 770 would be a good upgrade:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Nvidia-GeForce-GTX-700-Kepler,22204.html

If you don't need hyper-threading go with an i5 if you decide to upgrade the processor.

JD88 · Apr 26, 2013

Unless you are playing at a very high resolution, your CPU is definitely your bottleneck here. I would suggest getting aftermarket cooling and overclocking it substantially. There should still be some life left in it. The 930 is just clocked pretty low at stock speeds to be a great gamer.

You might be able to get another year or so out of it, then upgrade when newer parts are available.

What monitor resolution are you playing at? Other than Crysis 3, the 660ti should have little trouble maxing the games you mentioned.

joecole1572 · Apr 26, 2013

Hey. What resolution do you play your games at? Also, do you want to have a milt-monitor set-up?

The Titan might be a waste if you are playing at 1920x1200 or lower, so I would suggest the GTX 680 (or AMD 7970).

The CPU and Mobo are fine for now, save your money to upgrade them in a year or 2. If you must upgrade the CPU, the i5-3570k would be almost identical to the i7-3770k in gaming situations.

Alekty · Apr 26, 2013

joecole1572 :

I do indeed play at 1920x1200

What I am hearing so far is , fix the CPU - if that helps enough, great, if it doesnt wait for the 700-series and buy a new GFX aswell?

Also as for motherboard, a P8Z77-V LX, Sabertooth or what would you recommend?

joecole1572 · Apr 26, 2013

Alekty :

Then, as the others have stated, upgrade to the GTX 670 or the AMD 7970 and overclock your CPU. This should be able to get you max settings on all your games.

Edit: you can also try to overclock your current GPU as well

edogawa · Apr 26, 2013

Do you have an upgrade budget? Haswell and 700 series come out soon.

Alekty · Apr 26, 2013

edogawa :

$1400-1500ish USD

bigcyco1 · Apr 26, 2013

Wait for Haswell and the 700 series it's not worth upgrading what you have right now imo.

edogawa · Apr 26, 2013

What I think you should do:

1. Get a 700 series card in may.
2. Upgrade to haswell in June( I think it releases then).

It will cost about 1000 bucks in the end for the upgrades.

Alekty · Apr 26, 2013

Does having dual monitors affect me FPS? (ONly playing on one and windows on the other)

bigcyco1 · Apr 26, 2013

Yes if your playing on both it effects your fps but since you said your only playing on one i don't think that's your problem.It wouldn't effect your fps.

JD88 · Apr 26, 2013

I'm not so sure this is a graphical issue or that any GPU upgrade is or will be necessary in the near future. Overclock the CPU and of that doesn't help, upgrade it and the motherboard when Haswell comes out in June.

hitesh12 · Apr 26, 2013

IMO you should stick with your current cpu and upgrade to a better gpu (now or after 7xx comes out ). Also overclock your cpu

edogawa · Apr 26, 2013

It wont affect you unless you get a third monitor and start playing on all three at once.

bigcyco1 · Apr 26, 2013

Facepalm** all these different answers are going to confuse op just wait for Haswell and the 700 series it will effect his fps using anymore then a single monitor.But op said only using one for gaming so it shouldn't be a problem.

edogawa · Apr 26, 2013

bigcyco1 :

That's what I've been saying. XD That's the nature of threads somethings though, everyone has an opinion.

bigcyco1 · Apr 26, 2013

edogawa :

That's true.

RobCrezz · Apr 26, 2013

Your system is decent.

You need to bear in mind that to run the highest settings on intensive games, you need top end parts (otherwise it would be pointless people buying these top end parts with nothing to take advantage of them).

You will still get great graphic quality at lower settings.

pell380 · Apr 26, 2013

no need to upgrade your system is good
good cpu and and good gpu and good ram u have

wait for the next gen

Alekty · Apr 27, 2013

Thanks everyone for all the lovely input

I think I have come to the conclusion, I will overclock my current CPU with some watercooling, seems I should be able to quite easially get it to a 3.8ghz or more.
I will wait for next generation CPU's and see how they preform compared to what i've got and I will see how a decent 700 compares to my 660ti aswell.

Again thanks everyone.

/Alekty

Should I upgrade?

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