Looking for Upgrade Advice

[lvicious]

So I had this system since early 2010 I think. I do not do a lot of pc gaming. I have one mmorpg I play but when it's out on ps3 I'll migrate there. I mainly watch 720 and 1080p movies, anime and listen to a lot of music on this rig. I never did OC my i7920 or my 275's. I'd still like to OC my 920 as I see no need to switch at this time. Good for another 2-3 years maybe oc'd?

Anyway, I was just thinking that it's probably time for me to get some feedback on my rig and see where I can make some improvements. I was curious as well if my hardware could be the issue causing me headaches watching 10bit media. I used all the players, latest cccp codecs, read tons of forums and made no difference.. just will not play.

I want a damn good sound card as well. Just onboard sound as of now. Again, I do some research but I always like reading various opinions so I thought I'd post. I'm looking forward to seeing how the gtx 690's will perform.

I have a server and htpc but I just felt like it was time to give my pc some maintenance love if any. My budget is very open. I like to keep my rig options open for future upgrades and to be able to perform at a high lvl if I do decide to do any more gaming or anything else. So this isn't about just checking my email and browsing the web.

Thank you very much

V

1000w Thermaltake
Asetek 120mm Watercooler
multiple fans

Click to enlarge:

 

[Raiddinn]

The 275s are probably just too old to really have the performance needs covered of today's video applications.

You can get the fancy codecs and stuff, but if your cards can't do thing x then no software will make them able to do it.

Kinda like ATI HD 4000 series cards. They can't do Direct X 11, no way no how. If you need dx11, then you need a HD 5000, 6000, or 7000 series card. That is really all there is to it.

I know those high end 200 series nvidia cards have some beastly processing capabilties, but for things that didn't even exist when they were made they probably can't do it.

I would do like you are doing and keep an eye out on 1x of a better card you can upgrade to.

 

[aznshinobi]

I'd probably go for a single 680 or 1 7870 both are good enough the 7870 would be plenty of improvement from 2x275's but save you much more power and less heat. The overclocking is also sweet plus the 7870 is only $350 vs the $500 of the 680

 

[lvicious]

wonder how the power/heat will compare to those 2 and the 690 and thank you both. Gonna keep checking back for more opinions on this and the sound card and do some more reading around.

 

[aznshinobi]

The 690 will just be a dual PCB but single card of the 680. Just know it'll be like the GTX 590 that the x90 will always be 2 underclocked/downgraded x80's in it. You'd be better off going with a single 680 as I'm assuming the cost of the 690 would be so high it's not worth it.

 

[lvicious]

appreciate all the replies. Yeah I've never used AMD and probably won't start now but I'll definitely keep my options open. Now I just need to research a very good sound card.

 

[Raiddinn]

There is nothing wrong with AMD.

Nvidia is like Apple, and AMD is like Android.

 

[lvicious]

uh.. ok. That makes absolutely no difference to me and helps in no way whatsoever.

 

[azeem40]

He is saying AMD is not as bad as you're leading on. I have had NO problems on ANY of my AMD Cards.

 

[Raiddinn]

I think he understands what I am saying just fine on his own. I think he just wants to live in his little bubble where things are simple because he only has to worry about the products one maker has on the market rather than two.

It sounds to me like he wouldn't really care if he could hypothetically get twice as much graphics power for the same cost by buying AMD instead.

That is why I used the Apple vs Android metaphor. People who buy iPhones don't care that they pay twice as much for a worse phone. They aren't buying based on any kind of intelligent reasoning anyway.

 

[g-unit1111]

appreciate all the replies. Yeah I've never used AMD and probably won't start now but I'll definitely keep my options open. Now I just need to research a very good sound card.

No need - the built in audio will work fine for what you need it to do.