Should I make a new system or should I upgrade?

[DSKII]

Hey everyone from TH!

I am a new member at TH and I'm not sure what to do at the moment, my parents bought me a mid-range pc 2-3 years ago. And by now most of those components are outdated AFAIK.

Here's a quick rundown of my rig. (Thanks to CPU-Z)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23898886/PC.html

I've always been and still am an avid gamer, and as you'd expect games starting to get sluggish as time was passing by, so I was wondering if any of you experts could give me advice on my rig.

(I am not quite savvy with computer hardware yet, but willing to learn!!)

Should I start again and build a new system from scratch? Or should I upgrade my current system?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

-DSKII

 

[X79]

Welcome to Tomshardware mate!

New system.

Give me a budget to work with, by filling this out:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/353572-31-build-upgrade-advice

 

[DSKII]

Welcome to Tomshardware mate!

New system.

Give me a budget to work with, by filling this out:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/353572-31-build-upgrade-advice

Approximate Purchase Date: I don't mind, I'm in no hurry at all!

Budget Range: €700-€1300. (Sorry for this big price range but I would love to have some kind of an idea for the low -> high end systems I can make with this. If you got the time please note the builds down like this if you want:

Low end:
System X

Med end:
System Y

High end:
System Z

System Usage: Gaming.

Are you buying a monitor: Yes, a 120Hz one. Not sure which one yet if you got any recommendations please share!

Parts to Upgrade: Everything, as stated before.

Do you need to buy OS: No.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: I don't mind.

Location: The Netherlands

Parts Preferences: I don't mind. But please elaborate why'd you chose a brand over another so I can learn from that.

Overclocking: Maybe, if I learn how to do this!

SLI or Crossfire: I don't mind. But please elaborate why'd you chose i.e crossfire over SLI so I can learn from that.

Your Monitor Resolution: Currently running 1280x1024 and willing to upgrade to 1920x1080.

Additional Comments: I would like a quiet PC, I am a competitive Tribes Ascend player and unfortunately I just get up to 50~60 fps on very low settings, the game looks amazingly good on max, so I would atleast want to run this game on max and have a steady 120 fps.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Outdated components, as stated before.

Cheers,

-DSKII

 

[p4nz3rm4d]

Welkom!

A dual graphics card setup will not fit your budget, but most motherboards have the capabilities so you can upgrade later if you see the need.

For a hypothetical rig, look at something like this:

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($415.66 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1129.57

This would be your System Z

 

[X79]

The Netherlands are a bit tricky to build for, using partpicker. So I'll be using Germany,

for the euro currency; but you'll have to check with shops meant for your nationality.

This isn't perfect, so it's just to give you a slight idea:


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (€206.91 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: Asus B85-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€95.64 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€117.39 @ Hardwareversand)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (€84.95 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€58.25 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card (€313.70 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (€59.90 @ Caseking)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (€54.90 @ Caseking)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer (€15.70 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (€87.90 @ Caseking)
Total: €1095.24
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-25 23:23 CEST+0200)

If you up the CPU to K edition, it can overclock. That's a feature that comes with an added price tag.

You only need 8GB 1600Mhz RAM for gaming.

The motherboard should be a suitable chipset, depending on if you're OC'ing for example. Since this is a non-K

it's not a Z87 chipset, but a different chipset. The GPU is a high-end one, but you can go higher:

- GTX 660

- GTX 660 Ti

- GTX 670

- GTX 680

- GTX 690 (not viable)

- GTX Titan (not viable)

- GTX 760

- GTX 770

- GTX 780

In that order, on the Nvidia side. So the GTX 670 is just a tad above midrange (660). On AMD it's something like:

- Radeon 7850

- Radeon 7870

- Radeon 7870 XT

- Radeon 7950

- Radeon 7970

- Radeon 7990 (Not viable)

New cards will release from AMD in a few months. Not viable refers to the pricetag, relative to the performance gained,

simply not being worth it for people who don't have infinite amounts of money. As for storage, SSDs don't belong in

low-end builds. So that's another way to categorize things. The case picked here, is one which provides good

sound-proofing; so it's quiet. When it comes to brands, the ones picked are all reputeable brands that tend to

serve up quality components; especially the likes of ASUS for example. In terms of your monitor, ASUS and BenQ

are some of the most noteworthy ones to check out. Hopefully you'll be able to better discern what will make for

a low-, med-, high-end PC.