Upgrade, Sidegrades, downgrades? Oh My

jchurch83

Distinguished
May 17, 2010
75
0
18,640
I was hoping to get some input from those more experienced and knowledgeable about computer parts, not that i'm not but as far as really get into what will be considers an upgrade/side etc. I have been looking over different parts and was in one of those "I want to rebuild a PC" moods, those who love building computers and pricing out parts know what I mean.

My system
mobo - asus rampage III extreme 1366
CPU - Intel i7 930 @2.8
Ram - 12gig kingston hyperX t1
GPU - sapphire HD 7970
Hard drive - kingston SSD os/games - Ocz SSD programs - other drives for storage

the GPU and Hard drive are not of concern to me because they are as good as it will get.

The CPU/mobo is my main concern. I have been looking through different CPUs as follows

Core i7 2700K Sandy Bridge 3.5
Core i7 3930K Sandy Bridge 3.2
Core i7 Extreme 3960X

I really don't want to get into spending a thousand $ on a processor so really the Extreme 3960 is out. The other 2 seem to have little difference from what I've read as both are unlocked and can be overclocked with ease. My main concern is that those are not really a big enough upgrade to warrant spending the money to upgrade the CPU + Mobo as they are both different sockets and I would also upgrade the Ram as the ram I have now is Tri-channel and these boards do not support it.

So the short version - is it really worth upgrading right now from what I have to any new processor/mobo/ram combo?
Any thoughts or information would be greatly appreciated
 

jchurch83

Distinguished
May 17, 2010
75
0
18,640
from what i've read regarding the Ivy bridge is that the performance increase over sandy bridge will be minimal at best as far as power goes, the big thing with Ivy bridge is going to be the lower power consumption which seems as it will be a bigger perk for the mobile market. ( this is just what i've read I am in no way saying this is accurate)

If the above is at all correct I can see the real benefit of the Ivy bridge will pushing the sandy bridge prices down a bit more.


With that being said - So you are pretty much saying at this point it the foreseeable future there isn't any reason to change out the CPU/mobo/ram I have until something past Sandy/Ivy bridge comes out (getting into 2013 if the world doesn't end.. lol) ?

 

deadjon

Distinguished
Oct 21, 2009
757
0
19,060
Answer - Don't Upgrade.

Reasoning - The i7 930 can be Overclocked to 3.8 - 4.4Ghz with a ~£50 Air cooler whacked onto it. This will provide you with enough performance to drive that stupidly fast 7970.

Right now that 7970 will be bottlenecked though.

Wait for Haswell to be released - Or at least Ivy Bridge - E

Your system, when OC'd will run any game out there @ Max Settings with no issue for years to come.
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
If you have the $$$ to spend however now might be the time to get a really good monitor or PSU. Or perhaps a gaming keyboard/mouse, desk, speakers, etc. No point in spending $$$ on something that won't really pay off, but if you are in good shape then now is the time to buy the things that should carry over from build to build for years to come.
 

jchurch83

Distinguished
May 17, 2010
75
0
18,640


Sadly the peripherals are all covered - I run 3 27" Asus LED LCD, I run a 850w SeaSonic PSU (SeaSonic FTW!) Razer Lycosa keyboard (tried others and just keep coming back to this one) and the Razer Swtor edition mouse.
:)
 

jchurch83

Distinguished
May 17, 2010
75
0
18,640


I run a Corsair H60 cooler, usually during gaming my CPU doesn't get over ~ 40c - I've been a little worried to overclock it - what would you say is acceptable temps once overclocked to be at?


 

jchurch83

Distinguished
May 17, 2010
75
0
18,640


for me overclocking always seemed like one of those "taboo" things. I don't want to kill the lifespan of my hardware and never saw a real reason to OC my system... perhaps It is Time!
 
Pretty much the same temperatures. Its a water Cooler. nearly making the rest of the temps in the case....irrelevant. However keep eye on other temps to. But yea your CPU will be fine OC'd with that cooler. If you need some good Applications OC'ing and dont want to use the bios.
 

jchurch83

Distinguished
May 17, 2010
75
0
18,640


my ambient temp is generally low and the 7970 runs really cool (55-60c Max @ 50% Fan speed playing SWTOR, MW3, Skrim ftw) so I think the overall temps in the case pose no real issues. The Asus Motheboard has a built in CPU Level up feature that basically says "Make your CPU an i7 950 - or Make your CPU an i7 970 etc. Seems to be the easiest way to overclock it.
 


They are made to be overclocked, why do you think the motherboards have automatic overclocking features?

 

jchurch83

Distinguished
May 17, 2010
75
0
18,640


I use the Tritton AX Pro headset, have a standard sub/speaker combo but with having a downstairs neighbor and fiance I don't play much from the speaker

my desk/set up - The desk is a customer cut L shaped desk painted Black with a Razer logo painted by my lovely fiance on the corner of the L
http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy148/jchurch83/CurrentMonitorDeskSetup.jpg
 

jchurch83

Distinguished
May 17, 2010
75
0
18,640


Spend money on fiance? Does not compute? I can't plug her into my computer so that doesn't seem like a good idea :p
 



It WILL shorten the lifespan to overclock...but the lifespan of a modern CPU is 20-30 *years*. If you cut the lower end of that in quarter, its still 5 years, by which time its horridly obsolete anyway.