Opinions on this upgrade

[sirgrotius]

Here are my current stats:

i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66 GHz Quad Core // GA-EX58-UD4P MoBo // GeForce GTX 275 896MB // OCZ Platinum 6 GB RAM // CORSAIR 750 W PSU.

I have a 27" monitor and pretty big tower that I'll be transferring over. I'd also like to keep the 750W PSU but am not beholden to that.

I want to be able to play games such as Skyrim at Ultra without stuttering. I'll be using one monitor. I like fast loads, ergo, the SSD (I use a MacBook Air as my biz computer, so am very used to solid state drives). I don't necessarily have a budget in mind, but I don't want to spend ultra luxe if I don't have to do so for my aims.

Here's some things I am eyeballing on Newegg:

- i7 2600 Sandybridge 3.4Ghz: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070 ($324.99)

- Crucial 256 GB SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148443 ($339.99)

- Corsair Vengeance 16 GB SDRAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145347 ($93.99) -- Is this overkill?

And this is where I'll need some more help...

- Should I just transfer over my current HD (750 GB) too? Or is this considered sloppy? It's not damaged or anything,but I guess there's something nice about a fully clean install

- I have no idea what video card to get. I've always been brand loyal to Nvidia but I see the latest and greatest card is Radeon...I don't need to blow over $500 for a card, but have no problem $400-$500 if it's cool, fast, and awesome

- Mobo. I struggle to understand the differences between all the options. Any you'd recommend, I'm assuming mine is a bit out of date

Thanks in advance!

 

[jdw_swb]

To be honest, I think you don't really need the upgrade you are planning.

Do you have an aftermarket cooler on your current CPU? If not, then you should buy one and OC your CPU as the i7-920 is still a great chip, especially with an overclock.

If you are determined to spend money, then an SSD would be a nice upgrade, but you might also consider a GPU upgrade.......updating your graphics card will provide a more noticeable improvement in gaming, than a CPU upgrade would.

 

[sirgrotius]

Very interesting. So maybe just pop in a new GPU and SSD. Do you have any GPU recommendations? I'm assuming in that case my motherboard won't bottleneck anything...

Oh, and I have 6 GBs of RAM on my current system. Neglected to mention that in my initial post.

 

[jerreddredd]

I built my wife and son new computers for Skyrim. They are both running it on ultra using an EVGA GTX 570 @ 1920x 1080 and 1920 x 1200 (son's).

I would do a fresh install if you can.

my wife and son's systems:

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (my son's OC'd to 4.5Ghz)
Noctua NH-C12P SE14 140mm SSO CPU Cooler
EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570
GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P LGA 1155 Intel Z68
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
Crucial M4 CT512M4SSD2 2.5" 512GB
SeaSonic X Series X-850 850W PSU
Fractal Design Define R3
1 x 120mm Fan
1 x140mm Fan
ASUS DVD R/W

Yeah, it is overkill for sure, but they will last a few years.

notes:
8 gb of ram is plenty
there are way cheaper PSU''s than the seasonic X
the 512GB SSD was a good call on my part (i would get a SAMSUNG 830 now though) my son's steam folder was almost 300GB!

the cases run very silent.

 

[beetlejuicegr]

I had 17-920 overclocked at 4ghz with a low budget ready watercool system . I had ati 5870 on it with 6gb of fast ram (1866). I had 2 SSDs on raid 0 for speed.

My motherboard died few days after the guarantee expiration date, i moved on to i5-2500k and a 100$-ish motherboard z68.

I don't see any reason for me to upgrade and there is slight difference in games compared to i7 920 i had (maybe 20% max).

I would suggest you wait for the new family of cpus, after socket 2011, to upgrade. Till then get some good SSD and maybe wait for ati 7870 (you are single monitor user ) or wait for the new nvidia gpus..

This way in a year you will just change motherboard / cpu /ram(maybe) /

However if you are trigger happy pc hobbyist go for it, if you can afford it, take a socket 2011 motherboard with a good i5 or i7 and 16gb of ram . Of course from my point of view i see it as a small step up (in games)..

 

[beetlejuicegr]

I built my wife and son new computers for Skyrim. They are both running it on ultra using an EVGA GTX 570 @ 1920x 1080 and 1920 x 1200 (son's).

I would do a fresh install if you can.

my wife and son's systems:

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (my son's OC'd to 4.5Ghz)
Noctua NH-C12P SE14 140mm SSO CPU Cooler
EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570
GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P LGA 1155 Intel Z68
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
Crucial M4 CT512M4SSD2 2.5" 512GB
SeaSonic X Series X-850 850W PSU
Fractal Design Define R3
1 x 120mm Fan
1 x140mm Fan
ASUS DVD R/W

Yeah, it is overkill for sure, but they will last a few years.

notes:
8 gb of ram is plenty
there are way cheaper PSU''s than the seasonic X
the 512GB SSD was a good call on my part (i would get a SAMSUNG 830 now though) my son's steam folder was almost 300GB!

the cases run very silent.

Can you adopt me? I am a dad too but maybe there is no problem with it lol

 

[jerreddredd]

Can you adopt me? I am a dad too but maybe there is no problem with it lol

LOL. I think not

However if you are trigger happy pc hobbyist go for it, if you can afford it, take a socket 2011 motherboard with a good i5 or i7 and 16gb of ram . Of course from my point of view i see it as a small step up (in games)..

+1 ^ I agree, very expensive and not a real performance boost over current Gen chips for gaming, unless your into 3 or 4 way sli/xfire and wide screen gaming.


For the OP:

If you decide not to do a full upgrade then, like JDW_SWB suggests, I would just upgrade the GPU and maybe throw in an SSD. Ram: 6Gbs is plenty for gaming.

Suggestions:
GPU:
GTX 560Ti or 570 (I am a nVidia fan and an EVGA fan (i own a EVGA GTX 590 and 3 x GTX 570's) EVGA customer support is the best. I always buy the "AR" version for the lifetime warranty.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130593
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604
SSD
Samsung 830 or Crucial M4 SSD >256Gb (if you are a gamer) these aren't the cutting edge fastest, both are very stable. (I own both) Of the two the 830 is the fastest and would be my choice. Tom's agrees also:http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-review-benchmark,3139-5.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147164
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147136
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148443
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148527

 

[sirgrotius]

Best answer selected by sirgrotius.