Looking to Upgrade my Most of my Components $500-$600 Budget

Big Beast · Dec 30, 2013

Approximate Purchase Date: 1-3 Months from now.

Budget Range: 500-600
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Internet use, and school work.

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: GPU, Motherboard, PSU, Case.

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg and Amazon
Location: South East Georgia

Parts Preferences: None

Overclocking: Yes

Sli: Yes
Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: Looking for the most bang for your buck parts that will last for 2-3 years. Playing mostly Skyrim and BF4 on Windows 7

Why Are You Upgrading: I cant SLI or OC on my current motherboard. My PSU is non-modular, its cables too short for good cable management, and its not powerful enough for SLI. My case is very barebones with out much cable management space and my PSU fan faces up instead of down. I am having trouble running BF4 on anything higher than medium and I cant use an ENB in Skyrim if I want 60FPS+ performance.

Here where the parts I was thinking:
PSU
CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

GPU
GIGABYTE GV-N660OC-2GD GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125443

Motherboard
ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837

Case
Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Black Pearl Silent ATX Mid Tower Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352021
OR

Corsair Carbide Series 400R Graphite grey and black ATX Mid Tower Gaming Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139008

My current system specs
i5-3570k
Hyper 212 plus
asRock z75 pro3
Gigabyte GTX 660
8gb gskill ripjaws ram
Rosewill Stallion RD500-2DB 500 watt
WD 1TB Blue HDD
Antec 300 illusion

I think these upgrades will allow me to get good performance for the next few years. I do have some confusion on what case I want. The R4 while attractive doesn't look like it has that much airflow towards the front intake fans. I know it has the intake holes on the sides but they don't seem as effective as having a more direct way to intake air. Also since I will be running SLI do I need a side intake instead of a window? Even though the GTX 660 is cooler than a polar bears toes, wouldn't two of them be rather hot? I wouldn't mind getting some aftermarket fans to increase airflow and a fan controller so everything is not running on max all the time, if you could recommend some I would appreciate it greatly. Lastly and on an offtopic side note are expensive keyboards and mice worth it? A lot of people have mechanical keyboards and $50+ mice I have never used any so I wouldn't know. I have a $30 Sharkoon Skiller keyboard and a $15 E-3lue Blue Cobra ll mouse and they work fine.

Thank You.

MC_K7 · Dec 30, 2013

Cooler than "pooler" bear toes? Never heard that one before lol

As for the side fan, since you have a limited budget I wouldn't install it yet. Monitor your temps and if you see that your cards are getting too hot for your taste you can always buy it after. But I would use your current budget to get the best possible components for now.

Big Beast · Dec 30, 2013

MC_K7 :

Pretty good right? Haha

I think my temps are pretty good right now considering my atrocious cable management. :/

MC_K7 · Dec 30, 2013

I also changed my PSU last year for a Corsair HX650 and it did wonders for cable management.

tsnor · Dec 30, 2013

you are buying gtx 660 + MB + PSU to get two 660 in SLI. =$440.

Alternative is keep current MB, PSU and buy a GTX 780 for $500, ebay the 660 for $100 total net = $400

Case, keyboard, etc work with either approach. I might like the 780 better. Or go with a 770 to save a few bucks.

Big Beast · Dec 30, 2013

Is was actually thinking about just upgrading case and power only and using the rest of my budget on a 770. Then getting a new mobo and a second 770. However that would be skirting a grand. If I had a job I'd go for it but since I'm only 15 nobody wants to hire me. The only reason I'm getting this money is because my dad does landscaping on the side sometimes and I work for him then. I don't know maybe I could do 760s but no 770s unless I get some more stable income.

tsnor · Dec 30, 2013

"maybe I could do 760s but no 770s unless I get some more stable income." .. Isn't the 770 Much Cheaper than the pair of 660s. (Even though you already have one 660, the MB + PSU + 2nd 660 adds up to more than just putting in a 770.) Consider running with a SINGLE 770 not a pair.

Big Beast · Dec 31, 2013

tsnor :

It would be I know. But restating what I said in my original post I don't like my MB because I can't OC. And my PSU because it is non-modular and its cables are so short I cant do anything with my cable management. And even though it would be more expensive for me won't SLI 660s perform on par with the 780? I think I might just bite the bullet and for 760s or a 770.

tsnor · Dec 31, 2013

Your thinking makes sense, and is very reasonable. It also has 'hobby' value - you get to play with airflow, card placement, new case and cabling. These should be fun -- not chores. When you're done you'll have a monster instead of just a beast.

Here's my somewhat fact based thinking. I have an sli/crossfire compatible MB (older x58 chipset) on the PC I use. I'd considered SLI when I replaced my GTX260 but all of the discussion of 'microstutter' and 'video driver frame pacing' scared me off. A single GPU solution seemed simpler and more consistently good and actually better for the same money. I decided that I was apt to see lower minimum frame rates with a pair of slower cards even though the average frame rate and the max frame rate would be better with SLI, and I thought I'd avoid some driver issues. Cost was not really an issue, but I'd have needed a new PSU, and could use the single gtx 260 in an even older q6600 system. Net I went with a new single card that max'ed the games I play at 1920 x 1200.

Good news for you when you go SLI with the 660s is that nvidia clearly has good frame pacing technology (better, more mature than AMD) and great SLI scaling in most games.

Final thought, your current equipment is quite good to excellent. Good choices. If you pull your current MB, PSU and case you may find a friend/family who would love you to build them a $500 system adding an i5, $150 video and memory to the parts you have, it would be far better than anything else they could get at that price-point.

Here's a recent ref on the minimum frame rate vs. average frame rate thought. "A single GeForce GTX 760 is perfectly capable at 5760x1080, dipping below 30 FPS in only a few frames. Adding cards raises the average frame rate slightly, but also causes minimum frame rate to drop under 20 FPS." "One GeForce GTX 780 is faster, but still not fast enough for Surround at 5760x1080. A second 780 imposes even lower minimums as it simultaneously bolsters the average frame rate." http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-760-vs-780-sli,3686-5.html

Big Beast · Dec 31, 2013

tsnor :

Your thinking makes sense, and is very reasonable. It also has 'hobby' value - you get to play with airflow, card placement, new case and cabling. These should be fun -- not chores. When you're done you'll have a monster instead of just a beast.

Here's my somewhat fact based thinking. I have an sli/crossfire compatible MB (older x58 chipset) on the PC I use. I'd considered SLI when I replaced my GTX260 but all of the discussion of 'microstutter' and 'video driver frame pacing' scared me off. A single GPU solution seemed simpler and more consistently good and actually better for the same money. I decided that I was apt to see lower minimum frame rates with a pair of slower cards even though the average frame rate and the max frame rate would be better with SLI, and I thought I'd avoid some driver issues. Cost was not really an issue, but I'd have needed a new PSU, and could use the single gtx 260 in an even older q6600 system. Net I went with a new single card that max'ed the games I play at 1920 x 1200.

Good news for you when you go SLI with the 660s is that nvidia clearly has good frame pacing technology (better, more mature than AMD) and great SLI scaling in most games.

Final thought, your current equipment is quite good to excellent. Good choices. If you pull your current MB, PSU and case you may find a friend/family who would love you to build them a $500 system adding an i5, $150 video and memory to the parts you have, it would be far better than anything else they could get at that price-point.

Here's a recent ref on the minimum frame rate vs. average frame rate thought. "A single GeForce GTX 760 is perfectly capable at 5760x1080, dipping below 30 FPS in only a few frames. Adding cards raises the average frame rate slightly, but also causes minimum frame rate to drop under 20 FPS." "One GeForce GTX 780 is faster, but still not fast enough for Surround at 5760x1080. A second 780 imposes even lower minimums as it simultaneously bolsters the average frame rate." http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-760-vs-780-sli,3686-5.html

You are right and I do agree with you. I think I have what i'm going to do mapped out. Im going to buy the HX 750 and 760 first. Sell my 660 and hold on to my old PSU. Then later get the Define R4 and the new mobo and keep what they replaced. Using my left over parts im going to build my parents a new PC. Q3-Q4 of this year I will get a second 760 and maybe a mechanical keyboard.

tsnor · Jan 1, 2014

The gtx 760 is a great card. The separation between the 660 and 760 is clear, but not huge. The 760 is the same performance as the 660 in some games (skyrim), 30% faster in others. Are you getting enough bump with the 760 to be happy ? Here's one article. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-760-review-gk104,3542.html

The delta cost for you going gtx760 from gtx660 is roughly $150 ($250 for gtx760 minus $100 for GTX660 sale). Then another $250 to get 2 X 760 SLI = $400 total.

The delta cost for you going gtx660 SLI is <$200 total vs $400 total for gtx760.

If you are definitely going SLI then sticking with the GTX 660 might make sense.

The single card alternative might be GTX770 for delta cost of $250. ($350 for gtx770 minus $100 for GTX660 sale), but only makes sense if you decided not to SLI for a few years.

Big Beast · Jan 2, 2014

Well right now have around $250 saved up. To be honest I kind of want to wait and think about what I want to do for my graphics upgrade just so I know what I want to do for sure and not buy hastily and regret it. I think I will just buy the HX 750 and a new case. Still not sure if I want the Define R4 or the 400r. I like the looks and the sound dampening of the R4, but on the other hand the 400r looks to have better cooling.

Search

Looking to Upgrade my Most of my Components $500-$600 Budget

Big Beast

Honorable

tsnor

MC_K7

Distinguished

Big Beast

Honorable

MC_K7

Distinguished

tsnor

Splendid

Big Beast

Honorable

tsnor

Splendid

Big Beast

Honorable

tsnor

Splendid

Big Beast

Honorable

tsnor

Splendid

Big Beast

Honorable

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page