Upgrade or new build?

[LANEElgn]

thanks in advance for any help,

So a few years ago I came here for help building a new PC. Several people helped me out and I got an order together and a few weeks later I built my first PC. It's been great, haven't had many problems, and does just about everything I need it to. But... it feels like it could be a lot faster. In some games I get these horrible framerate drops that last for soooo long, makes it almost unplayable. Random game crashes aren't fun either. I also keep running out of space so I'm going to have to buy a new/bigger harddrive for it regardless of anything else I do. I feel like the graphics card could use an upgrade at the very least. I've got some extra cash right now and I'm debating on weither I should upgade it, or just build something new.

Here's what I 'think' it has, again this was a couple years ago so I can't remember everything exactly. I think they said this CPU had just came out but I could be wrong.

CPU: Intel i7-920
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME
Ram: (I think...) G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) (not sure on this, it's red, I know that heh)
HDD: 640 GB (no clue)
GPU: GTX 260

again, any tips are appreciated, sorry for the noobness heh.

-Ron

 

[sadams04]

IMHO, buy a CPU cooler, overclock the i7-920, and add a new GPU and hard drive. Do you have a budget in mind?

 

[LANEElgn]

not really, I'm pretty open minded at this point. There's not really a rush on it so it's not like I can't wait till next month if I need to.

CPU cooler, there's a fan on top of the CPU now that came with it, is that what that is? or is that someing different?

I've played with the overclocking before but have no real experience with it, I'm sure there's a thread about it I can look into.

new GPU, add another 260? I have no experience with dual graphics cards. What goes into that?

 

[majin ssj eric]

That i7 920 is still a great processor and is more than capable of playing any current games. Your problem is that GTX 260. Just get at least a GTX 560Ti in there and a large second HDD and you will be set. An aftermarket cpu cooler would also be a good idea but on;y if you are going to mess with overclocking, otherwise the stock one is fine. You won't need to overclock the 920 to get good gaming results with a 560Ti....

 

[LANEElgn]

Ok, I'm open to the 560, anything specific I should know? Never replaced a GPU before.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

It can sometimes be a little tricky to remove the gpu, but basically its just remove the screw(s) that hold it to the case. and a bit of force to pull it out.

 

[LANEElgn]

would that be this one?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130610&cm_re=560_ti-_-14-130-610-_-Product

 

[ScrewySqrl]

I'd suggest this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162074

$30 cheaper, just as overclockable

 

[pacioli]

I agree with the GTX 560 Ti suggestion. I moved from a GTX 260 up to the 560 and am very pleased with it. The 260 was a great card for its day but that day was 2 years ago.

The GTX 560 Ti at stock speeds is good. To really see what the 560 can do you should get a factory OCed card. Several manufacturers offer OCed cards
Toms did an article on 5 cards but missed some of the manufacturers.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-560-ti-roundup-asus-engtx560-graphics-card-overclocking,2858.html
This is the hardware canucks review of OCed cards
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/40552-nvidia-geforce-gtx-560-ti-roundup-asus-evga-gigabyte-msi.html
I always get EVGA cards because of the lifetime warranty even when they may be 1-2 fps slower

 

[LANEElgn]

Best answer selected by LANEElgn.