Recommend the best upgrade for my 4yo PC

monsterfurby · Jan 14, 2014

Hello everyone!

My gaming PC, which was built 4 years ago based on my needs and non-needs (for example, I didn't need a large HDD, and omitted that in favor of a better GPU and processor) for about 1000€, is by now showing its age. It is time to upgrade it. However, before I venture further, I would like to ask you for your advice on what exactly has the highest priority in order to ensure the best gaming performance.

In short: I would be very thankful for any help in finding my main bottleneck.

Specs:
Board: Gigabyte GA-H55-UD3H, Intel H55, ATX, DDR3, PCI-Express
CPU: Intel Core i7-860 Box 8192Kb, LGA1156
Power Supply: JERSEY "Game ZONE" ATX GE-650WS
GPU: Powercolor HD5770 1024MB GDDR5, PCI-Express*
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 250GB, 8MB, ST3250318AS
RAM: 2x 4GB-Kit DDR3 Crucial Value PC1333 CL9
Tower: Cooltek CT-K 1 Midi Tower, ATX

* note: I originally bought 2 identical GPU, but due to the way the tower is set up, the secondary one does not fit into the second PCIe slot. If you think that the most effective way to ensure better performance is just installing the second GPU, feel free to name "the tower" as the main bottleneck

I'd appreciate any help!

AshyCFC · Jan 14, 2014

I'd say it's the gpu so yeah if you replace the toweraand crossfire you'll see a better performance, that said they are a bit aged now.can your motherboard do pcie x8/x8 or x16/x4?

monsterfurby · Jan 14, 2014

AshyCFC :

Thanks for the response! It's PCIe x16/x4, so it should be possible to put a better GPU in place, with the main issues of course being
a) Does it fit into the tower (the midi tower format should be able to support everything I suppose, though some of the bulkier GPUs seem to require a bit of maneuvering)?
b) Does my PSU deliver enough power for it?
c) Which GPU would be appropriate for the system, i.e. strong enough to eliminate the bottleneck while not being overpowered/priced (no point in putting in a Titan when that just leads to the system performance being capped by the CPU or RAM instead of the GPU...)?

ScrewySqrl · Jan 14, 2014

a x16/x4 is almost pointless for crossfire.

how much money do you have for this upgrade?

monsterfurby · Jan 14, 2014

ScrewySqrl :

I would go up as far as ~350€ or 400$. In fact, I considered getting an R9 290, but I'm concerned that my 650W-PSU won't be enough for it.

ScrewySqrl · Jan 14, 2014

It should be plenty of juice, but I'd suggest a GTX770 over the R9 290, just because the high end AMD stuff is in short supply and overpriced due to bitcoin mining.

monsterfurby · Jan 15, 2014

ScrewySqrl :

Thanks for the pointer, that is good to know. As for the GTX 770, would you recommend the 4GB or 2GB version? It appears the 2GB has somewhat higher clock speed and is a bit more modestly priced, while the 4GB version has mainly the additional VRAM going for it. Is it worth the additional cost, performance-wise?

BrainDeadGamer · Jan 15, 2014

I personally would just get the 2GB, 2GB is plenty.

AshyCFC · Jan 15, 2014

I'd say if you like a bit of future proofing stump up for the 4gb, games like BF4 have shown that at the highest settings you can need more than 2gb VRAM but for now the 2gb is good enough.

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Recommend the best upgrade for my 4yo PC

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