What to upgrade my gaming/editing rig?

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blaxalex

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Sep 8, 2014
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Title says it all - Budget is probably 500-600, since my PSU and GPU are pretty good already..
I was also thinking of SLI'ng my 770 but i don't know (Dual monitor ATM)

Here's my stats -

CPU - 2.8GHz Intel Core i7 930
Motherboard chipset-Intel X58
Memory-12GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
Graphics -GTX 770 2gb
Hard drives-1.5TB, 7,200 rpm
PSU -750 watt

I'm thinking of an upgrade for better photo editing/video editing, i feel like it's lacking power and making me lean towards a macbook pro..I would not want one though

P.S I was thinking of triple monitor too..
 
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CPU: If you want future proofing, then you have to go with Haswell-E, specifically, the 5820K
get it at TD: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9105902&srkey=GNT-102519566
you can get a $15 coupon to use on ANYTHING at TD by simply asking TD for one, just put in your e-mail here...
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terroralpha

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Jun 23, 2009
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what software do you use for photo editing? photoshop and illustrator are CPU intensive so if i were you i would probably step up to an intel i5 4xxx series CPU and probably an H97 motherboard. that would be a ~$300 upgrade. if you want to spend another $300 you can get a second GTX 770, but that's only useule for hi res gaming. if you don't game on a 1440p monitor or better, then don't bother with SLI.
 
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Fireman Dave

Fireman Dave

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I'd be looking at upgrading the CPU, which would also mean a new CPU. If Haswell-E doesn't fit into your budget (because that'd mean new RAM as well), then perhaps some retailers might start dropping prices on socket 2011 gear?
 
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blaxalex

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Wow! did not expect such a fast reply. I'm planning to do photoshop/lightroom/premiere mainly. I've noticed there's quite a lag using my gaming rig to edit photos unlike on my friend's macbook which was weird to me. I've been gaming on one monitor ATM, not really that much interested in triple monitoring..just really want a faster editing/better looking editing set up
 
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blaxalex

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I've been thinking of just upgrading motherboard and CPU just don't know which one, been out of the market for a long time :p. I guess my budget is up to 1000 - I'm starting to get more gigs with my photography + working full time at a company so..its worth the investment
 
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terroralpha

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if the OP has a MC near him, he can get the new 5820k for $300, an X99 motherboard for about $150, and 8GB of ram for $100. totaling to about $600 after tax.

however, the issue here is that adobe photo editing software does NOT make use of more than 4 cores. where i work we have Dell Precisions with dual quad core Xeons. when the designers apply a filter or something to a large TIFF, the first 2 core on each CPU start working, the other two cores on each CPU do nothing.
 
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blaxalex

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To Terroralpha,

You seem know more than me since I haven't gotten back into looking for parts for PC till now.
Would you suggest upgrading just the CPU+Mobo , or recreating the entire PC? Also there's MC nearby so that's ez pz getting parts as soon as i finalize ze parts :D
 
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terroralpha

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that's not entirely your gaming rigs fault. adobe make most of their sales to Mac users so they spend much more time fixing the Mac versions of their software. also, Mac OS X is essentially a fancy brand of Unix, which is FAR more efficient than windows when it comes to appropriating resources. yes, it is true that Macs perform better with Adobe software while running lower speced hardware, but you can run their software just as well if you beef up your PC a little.

like i said, a new H97 mobo and a i5 4xxx series CPU will speed things up A LOT.
 
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terroralpha

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do you plan to over clock?
 
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blaxalex

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Would want to stay away from over clocking :), also budget goes all the way up to $1000
- if i'm to upgrade my rig, i would want it the best /good for the next 2-3 years again
 
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terroralpha

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CPU: If you want future proofing, then you have to go with Haswell-E, specifically, the 5820K
get it at TD: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9105902&srkey=GNT-102519566
you can get a $15 coupon to use on ANYTHING at TD by simply asking TD for one, just put in your e-mail here: http://www.tigerdirect.com/sectors/campaigns/include/events/2014/backToSchool_discount/index.asp?sdtid=7065622&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&utm_source=Linkshare&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=lw9MynSeamY&AffiliateID=lw9MynSeamY-P4PlgOnW1XXl4ke8Lo2spw

next, motherboard: gigabyte's X99 - UD4 should be a good choice since Asus has not put out their lower spec models: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128751
i would love to recommend an EVGA board, but they have a lot of unresolved problems in their last 2 generations of motherboards. so i would not look to them for a promising and future proof solution. My experience with ASRock is very limited so i can't recommend them. i've only used 1 of their boards in a build i put together for a client. so far so good though.

for memory, i would get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148864
1 set should be plenty, but you can take a second to make it a 16GB rig and use all FOUR channels of memory.

CPU cooler: one thing i was shocked to find out was that the new Haswell E CPUs don't come with a reference cooler. so you have to get your own, this is the best option: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608041

this should run you $815 if you are buying 1 set of ram, or $930 if you want 2 sets to take up all 4 channels.

HOWEVER, if you have a microcenter near you, you can get the CPU and motherboard a hell of a lot cheaper. MC sells this CPU for only $300 and takes $40 off any mobo when you buy a matching CPU and mother board at the same time. but for some dumb reason MC doesn't carry noctua coolers. if you go to MC don't buy the crap coolers the sales people will try to push on you, just order a noctua cooler online.
 
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blaxalex

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Sep 8, 2014
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Just a dumb question - probably because it's late..why did I need new set of rams again? Looking these into MC and theyre pretty affordable :D
 
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