I already have this build, what would you do to Improve?

[spat55]

I have say £100, however I am not doing this right away, trying to save now as i brought this 3 months ago, so things might also be cheaper in the future so keep this in mind...

CPU: i5 3570k (no overclock as have stock cooler and isn't bottlenecking anything)
GPU: Sapphire Radeon 7850 (no overclock, not use to the idea, tried it at full clock speeds, without volt changes, no artifacting but a bsod?)
PSU: XFX Core Edition 550w (Great PSU but wish it was modular!)
RAM: 8GB 1600MHZ Corsair Vengence (No need to upgrade as don't use it all anyway)
MOBO GA-Z77-D3H (Can't change anyway as I have OEM OS)
CASE Coolmaster Elite 430 (Cheap and effective, but has bad cable management, but nice cool temps as have 3 case fans)
HDD 1TB Western Digital Black Caviar 7200rpm 64mb Cache (Here I think I could improve, with a nice SSD for my OS)
DVD DRIVE Cheap and cheerful sony. (No need to upgrade this as I have my PS3 for Blu-Ray)

On a overview I think the best I could do is upgrade to a SSD, and or a new cooler for the CPU as I will eventually OC it in 2 or so years. I could also get the use out of a much better cooler. The other thing I defo could, do and it will not cost anything is a GPU OC. Then I could get more performance to the 7870 spec maybe.

I don't understand getting the Overclock, can someone give me a tester that highlights the artifacts? I am using the MSI Afterburner with the Kombustor.

EDIT: Also would a Crossfire be any good? Because in a year the 7850 might be even cheaper then I could put the two together, does many games support it?

 

[spat55]

Gonna bump, also mods, while this is againist rules what am I meant to do? make a new thread?

 

[JMer806]

I'd say you're on the right track. SSD prices are plummeting these days, and I'd expect to see a 256GB of a nice model - Samsung, Intel, or Crucial M4 in particular - on sale for less than $130 or so around Black Friday. You can already see them occasionally for less than $150 AR.

So, I'd get an SSD no smaller than 120 GB and move your OS, internet, and commonly used apps there.

After that, a CPU cooler is a good investment if you plan to O/C. Most likely though in two years a better upgrade will be a new video card. But, for the sake of argument I'd say a high-quality air cooler (I like the Hyper 212 Evo) will be good enough without the risks and price that come with water coolers.

 

[spat55]

I'd say you're on the right track. SSD prices are plummeting these days, and I'd expect to see a 256GB of a nice model - Samsung, Intel, or Crucial M4 in particular - on sale for less than $130 or so around Black Friday. You can already see them occasionally for less than $150 AR.

So, I'd get an SSD no smaller than 120 GB and move your OS, internet, and commonly used apps there.

After that, a CPU cooler is a good investment if you plan to O/C. Most likely though in two years a better upgrade will be a new video card. But, for the sake of argument I'd say a high-quality air cooler (I like the Hyper 212 Evo) will be good enough without the risks and price that come with water coolers.

Yes, what i was thinking, in england though we dont get black friday really, waiting till christmas, thats the best sales here :lol: also SSD prices will have dropped by then. the hyper evo is cheap and cools really well...

 

[TheBigTroll]

if you have artifacting, you can see it without the need of tools. how much of a overclock did you get on your 7850 without a BSOD?

not much you can do in terms of a upgrade other than a SSD.

 

[spat55]

if you have artifacting, you can see it without the need of tools. how much of a overclock did you get on your 7850 without a BSOD?

not much you can do in terms of a upgrade other than a SSD.

Can't remember now, I got upto around 900mhz on core clock, then thought f'it so went to 1050mhz core and 1450 memory clock, but I didn't see any artifacts and left it for 5 minutes till I got a BSOD. I now have it back to stock as I want to make sure I don't damage it, for now I do just want the highest OC without voltages up'ed, don't mind doing that in 1 or 2 years though.

 

[TheBigTroll]

might want to up the voltages a little to achieve 1ghz core.

 

[spat55]

might want to up the voltages a little to achieve 1ghz core.

But how do I know I am not killing it? I really would like something that tells me I am artifacting.

 

[TheBigTroll]

if you see random shapes or triangles, you got artifacting

 

[spat55]

if you see random shapes or triangles, you got artifacting

Thing is I would struggle to see them, expecially if they are super small. I don't want to be artifacting at all as I know that I will be killing it.

 

[TheBigTroll]

artifiacting is pretty obvious. i have yet to see small artifacting

 

[spat55]

artifiacting is pretty obvious. i have yet to see small artifacting

Why did I not see it then? I got a BSOD, is it because it can handle it put needs overvolting?

 

[TheBigTroll]

you might want to increase the voltage a little to try to get it stable. or just keep the overclock to around 900mhz-950.

do you actually need the extra oc as of now?

 

[spat55]

you might want to increase the voltage a little to try to get it stable. or just keep the overclock to around 900mhz-950.

do you actually need the extra oc as of now?

I have it on a 1080p TV, so it isn't desperate, but I did get it so I could OC it. I want to run everything on ultra really, so it would be nice, but I am not going to overvolt this early on.

I might be doing eyefinity in around 6 months, then I might need to crossfire.