littletlw

Distinguished
Jan 22, 2012
36
0
18,530
Hello,
I currently have an Asus P5E-VM HDMI motherboard with an intel quad core Q6700 cpu and a ATI Radeon 3870 video card and 2x1GB ram in a silverstone GD02MT case with a 750watt powersupply, window 7 home premium. I have had this system for about 4yrs upgraded windows last yr now I think its time to give it a little upgrade. So I'm asking you what you think give me some suggestions please. Thanks
 
Solution
Yes, the PSU should be plenty powerful and it doesn't sound like the issue.

I would recomend you try two things.

1. Make sure integrated graphics are turned off in the BIOS if your board has them.

2. Uninstall the current drivers. Then follow that up by using a program called Driver Sweeper to remove any traces of both the Nvidia drivers as well as any other drivers you had installed from the previous card. Then reinstall the new Nvidia drivers making sure to select a "clean install" during the process (there should be a check box if you use custom installation rather than standard).

87ninefiveone

Distinguished
Oct 16, 2011
449
0
18,860
Based on your previous system I'm going to guess your a gamer, but since you haven't upgraded in a while I'll assume your a light to moderate gamer (Hey how did he know? Spooky right?).

So, assuming you have a decent budget to build a PC that will last you another four years or so here's the plan;

1. Intel Core i5 2500K or 2600K. 2500K if you play games, 2600K if you've got extra money or use threaded applications a lot. Going for a non-K version will save a couple of bucks if you're not into overclocking.
2. Intel Z68 or P67 motherboard. Z68 features SSD caching, switchable graphics, and some boards have PCI 3.0 compatibility. Both are good for overclocking. P67 boards usually run 10-20% cheaper than a comparable Z68 (excepting maybe ASUS).
3. Graphics are a personal choice, but the GTX 560 Ti is widely regarded as the best bang for the buck these days.
4. RAM - Everyone seems to buy G-Skill, I don't know why, frankly I think they're ugly as hell and look like porcupines, but the fact is it's cheap and dependable. 1600MHz with CAS 9 or better is generally considered a sweet spot in performance and price. I like Corsair and Crucial personally, but G. Skill is cheap and popular.
5. You're case and PSU sound fine and should stand up to SLI if you decided to go that way as long as you don't go any larger than the afformentioned 560 Ti setup.

Good luck and make sure you post up what ever you decide to go with!
 

87ninefiveone

Distinguished
Oct 16, 2011
449
0
18,860
$300-400 eh?

Ok less lavish then...

1. Intel Core i3 2100 - $125
2. Asrock Z68 Extreme 3 Motherboard $120
3. 2 x 2GB Crucial Ballistix Sport Memory (2x @ $14.99ea) = $30
4. Asus Geforce GTX 550 Ti - $130

Total - $405

The Core i3 is still an excellent gamer, the Asrock seems to be widely regarded as a cheap full feature board from what I've read, Crucial memory has a lifetime warranty, and the 550 Ti provided roughly 2x the gaming performance of your current 3870. I got all those prices from newegg so if you look around you could probably do it cheaper.

And if you want to just add a bit to your current system I'd say go for a new GTX 570. It will probably be bottle necked by your current CPU, but it will be good a ready when you do upgrade the whole system. Average cost...$350.

EDIT: Also, if you can do a clean install of windows. This usually provides a significant performance boost. Alternatively get a decent degfrag program like Auslogics Disk Defrag and a registry cleaner (McGlary Utilities) that should also provide a decent speed boost if your current install is a bit older. You might also consider a GTX 560 or 550 Ti along with a 100GB or so Solid State Drive. This would also provide a good speed boost within your budget range.
 

littletlw

Distinguished
Jan 22, 2012
36
0
18,530
Ok I think I have decided to do a total overhaul keeping the silverstone case.What do you think of this as my cpu motherboard combo INTEL I7 2600K QUAD CORE CPU MAXIMUS Z68 MOTHERBOARD 32GB DDR3 MEMORY COMBO KIT. Now i will also want to upgrade my powersupply, video card(s) and i was also thinking going liquid cooled might have to modify the case though not a big problem. What do you think give me some suggestions
 

87ninefiveone

Distinguished
Oct 16, 2011
449
0
18,860
I don't know which Maxiimus board you're looking at but personally I think those are way overpriced for what you get. I'd stick with the normal Asus P8Z68, or an MSI Z68AGD65 or GD80. They're around $200 and provide good bang for the buck in the ATX board class. Both are good overclockers and have generally favorable reviews from most owners.

The Intel 2600K is full of win. That's what I've got and I have zero complaints. I've been able to achieve a stable Turbo Boost based OC up to 4.5 GHz on a Corsair H50.

32GB is beyond overkill. Buy 8GB of 1600MHz CAS 9 and spend the money you'll save on a better GPU.

If you can take a closer look at your PSU and find the 12V rail rating for amps and use that number to judge if you really need a new one or not. 750W is still very respectable and will pretty easily run up to two GTX 560 Ti's in SLI, or a single GTX 570 or 580 if the amperage on the 12V rail is high enough.

I wouldn't go water cooling if I was you. It's a really big buy in and quite spendy unless you're seriously into overclocking. Instead, go with a high end air cooler or a sealed liquid cooler like the Corsair H80 or H100 which provide plenty of cooling for all but some of the most extreme overclocks.
 

87ninefiveone

Distinguished
Oct 16, 2011
449
0
18,860


I give them a solid meh. The 1155 chips offer 95% of the performance for 50-75% less. If money were no object then the new X79 stuff is great, but for those of us who want to eat and have a nice PC Z68/P67 and 1155 is the way to go.
 

littletlw

Distinguished
Jan 22, 2012
36
0
18,530
upgraded video card yesterday to a Asus gtx560 ti 900mhz installed latest driver from nvidia and now windows 7 loads very slow about 10min hangs on welcome screen for long time games are very choppy seem to have a very high cpu usage for some reason thought maybe it was psu but its a thermaltake 750w should be powerful enough shouldnt it
 

87ninefiveone

Distinguished
Oct 16, 2011
449
0
18,860
Yes, the PSU should be plenty powerful and it doesn't sound like the issue.

I would recomend you try two things.

1. Make sure integrated graphics are turned off in the BIOS if your board has them.

2. Uninstall the current drivers. Then follow that up by using a program called Driver Sweeper to remove any traces of both the Nvidia drivers as well as any other drivers you had installed from the previous card. Then reinstall the new Nvidia drivers making sure to select a "clean install" during the process (there should be a check box if you use custom installation rather than standard).
 
Solution