Is my System Going To Be Bottlenecked?

DGates · Aug 24, 2013

So I am upgrading most of the components of my computer and basically just keeping the PSU and the RAM. I am concerned that my RAM may bottle neck my system since its kind of old. Here are my specs running on Windows 7 Home Premium 64:

-GIGABYTE GA-H87-D3H LGA 1150 Intel H87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
-Intel i7 4770
-CORSAIR Hydro Series H55
-EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 2GB GDDR5
-Kingston KHX1866C9D3T1K2/gGX (2X2GB sticks)
-Kingston KHX2000C9D3T1K2/4GX (2X2GB sticks)
-Samsung 840 pro 128GB X2 (RAID 0 config)
-PSU Corsair TX850W

I plan on playing games such as GTA V and Far Cry 3 and Call of Dutys, etc on high settings.

MC_K7 · Aug 24, 2013

A few observations:

- First of all your RAM won't bottleneck anything, it should be fine. Just make sure it's compatible with your board (there's usually a compatibility list provided on the board manufacturer website for each specific model). And by the way there's no point in getting super high end RAM modules, they might perform only 5% better compared to cheap entry-level RAM. For me RAM is probably the worst component to invest money on when building a computer, I mean by that the worst return on investment. Usually I advise people to get plenty enough (like 8GB or 16GB in total) but do not overspend on high-end modules. Cheap entry-level modules will do a perfectly fine job. You'll have a hard time noticing the difference between 1333Mhz RAM and 2166Mhz RAM when sitting behind the computer, or there might only be a 5% difference really.

- Getting 2 SSDs in RAID 0 isn't a good idea. Tom released an article on the subject recently and it's really not recommended. It will be a terrible return on investment in your case. Maybe only if you do real heavy video editing, that might be the only exception where I would be tempted to do it. But for gaming, hard drive performance isn't really important anyways, because during game play only the CPU and GPU are involved and not much the hard drive. I would advise you get only 1 x 250GB Samsung "Evo" instead and you will save a lot of money and you probably won't even notice the difference. For gaming, you do not need the Pro version, the new Samsung "Evo" cost much less and performs just fine.

- GeForce GTX-660 is one of last year model and not really the best bang for the bucks right now. If you can invest just a little more, I'd get the new GTX-760 instead which performs a lot better.

- Corsair TX-850 is kind of overkill for a single GTX-760 (or 660). I'd get the HX650 instead. The HX series is more high-end but most of all it's modular so it means less cables laying around in your case.

Thanatos Telos · Aug 24, 2013

MC_K7 :

A few observations:

- First of all your RAM won't bottleneck anything, it should be fine. Just make sure it's compatible with your board (there's usually a compatibility list provided on the board manufacturer website for each specific model). And by the way there's no point in getting super high end RAM modules, they might perform only 5% better compared to cheap entry-level RAM. For me RAM is probably the worst component to invest money on when building a computer, I mean by that the worst return on investment. Usually I advise people to get plenty enough (like 8GB or 16GB in total) but do not overspend on high-end modules. Cheap entry-level modules will do a perfectly fine job. You'll have a hard time noticing the difference between 1333Mhz RAM and 2166Mhz RAM when sitting behind the computer, or there might only be a 5% difference really.

- Getting 2 SSDs in RAID 0 isn't a good idea. Tom released an article on the subject recently and it's really not recommended. Maybe only if you do real heavy video editing, that might be the only exception where I would be tempted to do it. But for gaming, hard drive performance isn't really important anyways, because during game play only the CPU and GPU are involved and not much the hard drive. I would advise you get only 1 x 250GB Samsung "Evo" instead and you will save a lot of money and you probably won't even notice the difference. For gaming, you do not need the Pro version, the new Samsung "Evo" cost much less and performs just fine.

- GeForce GTX-660 is one of last year model and not really the best bang for the bucks right now. If you can invest just a little more, I'd get the new GTX-760 instead.

- Corsair TX-850 is kind of overkill for a single GTX-760 (or 660). I'd get the HX650 instead. The HX series is more high-end but most of all it's modular so it means less cables laying around in your case.

The Pro series is MLC, which equates to a longer life time, so it's actually a good idea.

MC_K7 · Aug 24, 2013

Thanatos Telos :

That's kind of a myth. Newer generations of TLC like the Evo series last hundreds of thousands of hours. Meaning for an average user it will last over 25 years. Even under very heavy use (over 50GB of writing per day, which nobody really does) an EVO is supposed to last at least 10 years. So chances are he will replace the drive before its end of life anyways. I'm not denying that MLC has longer lifetime, it's just that no matter what SSD you choose you'll probably replace it before its end of life even if it's TLC.

I think gamers are overspending when choosing the Pro. I recommend the Pro series only for people who do video editing or use very heavy software that require a lot of writing to the disk (which is not the case for gaming). As I explained earlier, hard drive performance isn't really important for gaming. He won't even be able to tell difference between a Pro and a Evo when sitting behind the monitor. Making the jump from a mechanical drive to a SSD is such a huge improvement, that most users wouldn't be able to tell the difference between two different SSD models.

And definitely DO NOT Raid 0 SSDs for gaming, that's just throwing money through the window.

DGates · Aug 24, 2013

Ok thats great that my RAM will be fine for me. A few things about the SSDs:

1. I know that the samsung 840 pro is overkill but I forgot to mention I would like to start recording myself playing some of these games with a program like FRAPS. I havent been able to do it in the past because it would lower my fps really badly.

2. The reason I was going to do RAID 0 with the two 128GB SSDs is because I got them cheaper than buying one 256GB and I figured setting up RAID 0 with them would be like having on 256GB. Im not worried about losing data if something happens to one of the drives because I keep all media on a back up external drive and my documents in the cloud on google drive.

Lastly concerning my GTX 660 it was kind of an impulse buy that started this whole upgrade for my computer. My friend said the same thing and recommended a 670 but its just too expensive for me. So do you think the 760 is more worth it?

Thanatos Telos · Aug 24, 2013

DGates :

Ok thats great that my RAM will be fine for me. A few things about the SSDs:

1. I know that the samsung 840 pro is overkill but I forgot to mention I would like to start recording myself playing some of these games with a program like FRAPS. I havent been able to do it in the past because it would lower my fps really badly.

2. The reason I was going to do RAID 0 with the two 128GB SSDs is because I got them cheaper than buying one 256GB and I figured setting up RAID 0 with them would be like having on 256GB. Im not worried about losing data if something happens to one of the drives because I keep all media on a back up external drive and my documents in the cloud on google drive.

Lastly concerning my GTX 660 it was kind of an impulse buy that started this whole upgrade for my computer. My friend said the same thing and recommended a 670 but its just too expensive for me. So do you think the 760 is more worth it?

The 760 is about 2-3 fps behind the 670 in most games.

MC_K7 · Aug 24, 2013

DGates :

1 + 2): I don't know much about FRAPS but you might want to check this or do more research and reading before you buy:

https://frapsforum.com/threads/ssd-or-harddrive.1344/

According to these guys FRAPS doesn't really write much faster on a SSD. So what I would do is get a single 250GB or 512GB SSD. And get a secondary mechanical drive, like a 2TB or something and write your FRAPS recording to it. Since your OS, software, and games will all be running on the SSD, then FRAPS will have the secondary HDD all for itself so the performance shouldn't drop as much. Of course you can also use the secondary HDD to store your data (pictures, movies, music, etc...) but those aren't loaded when playing a game so that won't impact FRAPS performance (unless the drive becomes full of course).

3) A few months ago, the 670 was still selling for 400$. They recently released the GTX-760 at a price launch of only 250$ and it performs almost on par with a 670 (might be only 5% behind or something). So the 760 is one of the best bang for the bucks on the market right now.

DGates · Aug 24, 2013

Ok I can trade in my 660 since I havent opened it and spend about $40 more to get it and thats what I'll do. I mean I am not going to be making a living off recording myself gaming or anything but just wanted to try it out so Im not too concerned about having an additional HD. Mostly I just want to have a few newer games installed and play those at nice high levels. In addition I do not want to have anything be too outdated in a year but I think I should be fine especially if I get the 760

MC_K7 · Aug 24, 2013

DGates :

I still recommend getting a secondary HDD to store your pictures, music, movies, etc... Otherwise your SSD might fill too fast. Most gamers today will get something like this:

- 1 x Samsung 840 EVO 250GB
- 1 x WD 1TB Black (or you can get the 2TB if you need more space)

That's a very good bang for the bucks and will give you very good performance for your storage.

DGates · Aug 25, 2013

MC_K7 :

DGates :

I still recommend getting a secondary HDD to store your pictures, music, movies, etc... Otherwise your SSD might fill too fast. Most gamers today will get something like this:

- 1 x Samsung 840 EVO 250GB
- 1 x WD 1TB Black (or you can get the 2TB if you need more space)

That's a very good bang for the bucks and will give you very good performance for your storage.

Well in that case then I'll just keep my original 320GB HDD for Storage and the SSDs for games and applications. Thanks for the help guys

Search

Is my System Going To Be Bottlenecked?

DGates

Honorable

MC_K7

MC_K7

Distinguished

Thanatos Telos

Honorable

MC_K7

Distinguished

DGates

Honorable

Thanatos Telos

Honorable

MC_K7

Distinguished

DGates

Honorable

MC_K7

Distinguished

DGates

Honorable

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page