What to upgrade next?

[wovixx]

Hi all. I'm currently in the process of upgrading my system, thanks to spare income falling into my pocket. I originally built this PC with the idea that I would mainly game on my console, however I, unsurprisingly, have gotten back into PC gaming. (just so much prettier heh) However, I also use this computer for rather heavy video editing at the moment thanks to school, so I would also like that to be kept in mind.


anyway: I am interested in upgrading some of my stuff, and was just curious if you all had suggestions. Note that everything is stock for the time being, so if your suggestion is to overclock, I'm all ears. Been thinking about overclocking my CPU for some time anyway.

(quick note: I'm not near my Desktop atm, so this is all based off memory. but i'm 70% sure all of this is right)

Mobo: http://www.amazon.com/ASRock-MB-Z68X4G3-Intel-Z68-Motherboard/dp/B005FE52X6/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1328261568&sr=8-6

CPU: i5-2500k

RAM: DDR3 1333mhz 8gb (don't remember the brand name; for what it's worth, I believe it has a red metal coating)

PSU: 650w (don't remember brand. most likely corsair)

Now we get into my most recent upgrades...

HDs: (all 7200 RPM if that matters)
1 TB OS/Program Drive
500gb Photo Drive
2 TB Video Footage Drive

GPU: Sapphire Radeon 7970 (B-Day present to myself) http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-PCI-Express-Graphics-21197-00-40G/dp/B006P88VO8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1328261867&sr=1-1


So I guess we get to the crux of the matter. Looking at the specs above, what is the next thing to replace/upgrade? I'm not really planning on buying another 7970, so i don't see the point of upgrading my PSU (then again, if you have a good suggestion I'd more than consider it)
Budget wise? reasonable. I'm not looking to spend another 500+ on a single component, I just wanted my GPU to last me a good long while, like my old 460 did.

 

[jmsellars1]

That all looks great for your usage. For video editing you MAY benefit from more RAM but I think you could benefit most from a decent SSD. The Samsung 830 128GB is a good choice, I have that one myself.

 

[AdrianPerry]

Build still looks solid.

The only component MAYBE MAYBE worth changing is the 1333MHz RAM for 1600MHz but I highly doubt its worth it and more than likely wont make any real world performance difference.

As jmsellars1 said, SSD is by far your best upgrade choice. And that 7970 is going to give you some incredible graphics performance increase over your 480

Over-clocking your i5-2500k would also yield some nice performance increase especially with some more modern games being more CPU intensive Clocking up to somewhere around 4.5GHz is a fairly easy task and requires very little effort. A good CPU cooler would be recommended, but please don't buy into these closer water-loop Corsair things....if you want to water-cool, do it properly Good air coolers include the Hyper 212+/Hyper EVO or the Noctua NH.

 

[wovixx]

thanks for all the help guys. I've never really had a SSD, so I guess my question is this: what the heck do you put on them? I'm guessing the OS, but beyond that I have no real idea. I know I bought a somewhat heavy-duty after market CPU cooler (air cooler i think), but my one attempt at OCing failed when I first got it all, so i didn't pursue it further. I'd love to bump it up though. I'll look into it when I get home.

 

[jmsellars1]

Think of an SSD as a low capacity, high performance hard drive. You can put whatever you like on it, try to find one big enough to fit your OS and any programs then just store any movies/music/photos on a big hard drive.

 

[wovixx]

Best answer selected by Wovixx.

 

[wovixx]

Think of an SSD as a low capacity, high performance hard drive. You can put whatever you like on it, try to find one big enough to fit your OS and any programs then just store any movies/music/photos on a big hard drive.

both of your answers were great, so I just chose your most recent. Thanks!

 

[jmsellars1]

No problem