Time to Upgrade after 4 Years. Gaming Rig.

[tgznyc]

Approximate Purchase Date: Hoping to buy parts around Black Friday - Cyber Monday weekend to try to find deals.

Budget Range: No specific budget. Hoping to upgrade so my machine lasts for another 4 years.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Internet.

Parts Not Required: I am hoping to only change my mobo, cpu, and go to 16gig Ram. I will list my current parts so you guys can see if I can keep what I want.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: No Pref.

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: None.

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments:
Here is a list of parts in my current machine.
Asus P5Q-Pro
E8500
Corsair 650tx
4 Gig GSkill 1000
GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Upgraded this a few months ago but it seems like my cpu is too much of a bottleneck to get what I am looking for out of it. Not sure if I can keep this on my new build?)


Here are the parts I am thinking about, but I am completely out of the loop with what is good now and what works well together so I was hoping you guys can tweak my choices. Like I said I don't really have a specific budget but I would like to be able to run all the current gen PC games at highest graphics.

ASRock Z68 PROFESSIONAL GEN3 LGA 1155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157263

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231456

How do you guys think these will work together? I was considering an Asus Mobo but I keep hearing how much their quality has gone down so I figured I'd try ASRock out.

Do you guys think I can keep my Card and PSU? Or should I upgrade both as well?

Thanks for your time guys!

 

[geofelt]

What you listed will work. Here are my thoughts:

1) 2500K is as good as it gets, and will be god for a long time.

2) ASROCK seems to offer good value, but I don't think you get much more from an enthusiast board unless you will be experimenting with high voltage overclocks.
A more mainstream unit like this might be just as good:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271
For what it is worth, Asrock is an Asus spin off, originally intended to supply lower cost motherboards. It seems as though they decided to offer a lot more for your money.

3) Fast ram is wasted on a 2500K. You are looking at 1-2% real app difference or fps compared ot 1600 ram or even 1333.
Save a bit and look at this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231429

4) Your psu is good for up to a GTX580; you are good there.

5) Wait and see how you do with the GTX560ti. It will give you good performance, but probably not at the highest level of eye candy. If it is a evga unit you have a 90 day step up option. If you want more than a GTX580, I would wait a few months to see what the next gen 28nm cards offer. Sli by adding another GTX560ti is possible, but you are looking at changing the psu to do that.

6) Consider including a SSD into your build for the os and some apps. It truly does make a difference.

 

[candlelarbra5212]

you should get the mobo geo suggested, also you probs don't need 16gb ram, I would go for 8.
The gtx 560ti should be fine at least for a while, mine runs BF3 higher than high (ut not ultra)
Dont go the 580 just upgrade ram, mobo, cpu and wait 6 months then consider sli'ing with a new PSU or get a new graphics card,
And if you leave it then after you've built the cpu, mobo and ram decide to get a new psu and another 560ti then you havn't lost anything,

 

[tgznyc]

Thanks for the recommendations guys.

Geo, right now I am using a Velociraptor 10k hd. Is there a big difference by upgrading to a SSD?

I will go ahead with the changes you made for me.

I need a heatsink, do you think this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018&Tpk=nh-d14 is overkill? Seems like a lot of people OCing the 2500k are using it, but I'm a little worried about space.

Also, should I order everything from Newegg or is there another place you guys can recommend? Does Newegg offer store wide discounts on cyber Monday?

 

[geofelt]

Thanks for the recommendations guys.

Geo, right now I am using a Velociraptor 10k hd. Is there a big difference by upgrading to a SSD?

I will go ahead with the changes you made for me.

I need a heatsink, do you think this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018&Tpk=nh-d14 is overkill? Seems like a lot of people OCing the 2500k are using it, but I'm a little worried about space.

Also, should I order everything from Newegg or is there another place you guys can recommend? Does Newegg offer store wide discounts on cyber Monday?

The velociraptor was good in it's time. The 10k rpm reduced access times and that was good for the os which does lots of small random reads and writes.
But a SSD has negligible access times, and is 40x faster in random i/o.
From a sequential point of view, the 10k rpm does not help the velociraptor; current 1tb drives have denser platters, so their sequential throughput is faster, even at 7200rpm.
A SSD will be 2-3x faster in sequential.

So yes, a SSD will make a big difference. Everything will feel quicker.

The NH-D14 is about as good as it gets. It still is only 160mm tall, and will fit most cases. The fans may be impacted by tall ram heat spreaders. ( which are useless anyway)
Unless you are seeking maximum high voltage overclocks, a modest cooler will be fine. Look at the Xigmatek gaia or cm hyper212 which cost about $30.

 

[tgznyc]

Geo thanks again.

I didn't realize how expensive SSD drives are. I'm looking at between 450-500 for a 240gb. I think I will hold off for a while but that will definitely be something I do in the future.

I have a CM 212 on my cpu right now, and like it a lot, so I'll probably just use that again.

Can you or anyone else comment on alternative retailers to newegg. I am reading a lot of posts on there about Newegg giving people problems with rma'ing doa mobo's. Last thing I need is to deal with that type of hassle.

 

[geofelt]

Geo thanks again.

I didn't realize how expensive SSD drives are. I'm looking at between 450-500 for a 240gb. I think I will hold off for a while but that will definitely be something I do in the future.

I have a CM 212 on my cpu right now, and like it a lot, so I'll probably just use that again.

Can you or anyone else comment on alternative retailers to newegg. I am reading a lot of posts on there about Newegg giving people problems with rma'ing doa mobo's. Last thing I need is to deal with that type of hassle.

On the SSD, I suggest a 60-120gb ssd for the os and some apps. Use a hard drive for overflow, backups, etc.

I like newegg. In my experience, they will bend over backwards if you have a reasonable request. Personally, I think their customer service is the best in the business.

They do not offer computer advice or problem solving. If an inexperienced buyer can't figure out their problem, newegg is the wrong place to go to.