Advice on worthy upgrades to my current gaming computer

[snobrdr2324]

Hello all, I have been reading a ton over the last few weeks and keep flip flopping on what I want to do with my gaming computer. The specs are as follows:

-i7 920 OCed to 3.5-3.8 depending on the ambient temp of the room.
-EVGA GTX 285
-ASUS P6x58 usb 3.0/sata 6.0 mobo
-6GB Corsair Dominator 1600mhz DDR3 with 7 cas latency
-1000w Enermax Galaxy PSU
-Cooler Master Full tower (cant remember model I've had it for 6+ years)
-640gb WD Blue HD
-Zigmatec Megahelms CPU cooler
-1920x1200 60hz monitor

I play BF3, Tomb Raider, Borderlands 2, Skyrim, Far Cry 3, Dishonored, Flight Simulator X(hugely CPU Bound) and WoW from time to time. As of now I can really play all of them except bf3 and FSX at reasonably high settings but I am getting the itch to run them at max. I'm looking at upgrading either just the GPU and hard drive possibly but I started thinking if I'm going to upgrade the HDD to possibly an SSD then I might as well do the rest of the guts too if its worth it. So my question is would I be selling myself short as someone who goes on long upgrade cycles (3-5) years making an incremental upgrade to the CPU to Ivy Bridge/Haswell? Or is the upgrade that significant that I could get another 3 years out of Ivy Bridge/Haswell and have it perform close to the modern offering at the time? I was afraid to upgrade now and have DDR4 systems pop up next year.

On the graphics side, according to nvidia Maxwell is coming next year and is a big leap from kepler so I'd hate to get a Kepler GPU now and then have them get significantly beaten in barely a year. I was looking at the gtx 770 but possibly the GTX 780 if it would last me 4 years like investing in the GTX 285 did 3 and a half years ago did.

I'm aware there is always something better around the corner but some improvements are incremental and others are giant leaps forward. I want to get in on the giant leaps forward so it will last the longest like the 920 seems to be holding up 4 years later. I want to get BF4 and would like to be able to play it well. I don't have a set budget but I'm not looking to spend money where it isn't a significant upgrade with tangible results in gaming/everyday computing.

The options I am considering to sum it up are:
1) Upgrade the GTX 285 to a GTX 770/780
2) Upgrade the GTX 285 and the HDD to a HDD+SSD
3)Upgrade the CPU to Ivy Bridge/Haswell i5 and the parts that go with it(mobo, ram) + a new Graphics card
4) Wait one more generation with what I have since it the options available today wouldn't be night and day different.

TL;DR is an entire system upgrade something worth while for gaming or just a GPU upgrade or neither and hold out for one more year for DDR4 possibly to upgrade? I realize this is mostly opinion based but would like to get as many opinions as possible. My concern comes mostly from my timing seems to fall at the end of a GPU and CPU generation.

 

[snobrdr2324]

Anyone?

 

[Jonathan Sifleet]

Leave the CPU and dont get an SSD. And get a 780 or the AMD equivelant.

 

[snobrdr2324]

Leave the CPU and dont get an SSD. And get a 780 or the AMD equivelant.

Will the 780 have the same longevity the 285 seems to have had? It is based off the Titan so I figure it should live through the maxwell generation. Also is the 780 worth it simply for longevity sake? I mean the 770 would easily play all my current and near future games but I was considering the 780 so it might make it 3 and a half years before it struggles where I thought the 770 might only make it 2 or something.

Also, I've heard SSDs add a ton of perceived performance to the system simply by reducing load times. The main game I have issues with is bf3 seems to take ages and ages to load more so than any other game.

 

[Jonathan Sifleet]

Leave the CPU and dont get an SSD. And get a 780 or the AMD equivelant.

Will the 780 have the same longevity the 285 seems to have had? It is based off the Titan so I figure it should live through the maxwell generation. Also is the 780 worth it simply for longevity sake? I mean the 770 would easily play all my current and near future games but I was considering the 780 so it might make it 3 and a half years before it struggles where I thought the 770 might only make it 2 or something.

Also, I've heard SSDs add a ton of perceived performance to the system simply by reducing load times. The main game I have issues with is bf3 seems to take ages and ages to load more so than any other game.

The 780 will definately last longer. They do increase loading speeds by like 5 seconds, but I personally dislike them. I'd rather spend more on a GPU and get a 1tb SSHD, than spending god knows how much on a SSD.

 

[snobrdr2324]

That makes sense, I've also heard the terabyte plus drives especially if I get the WD Black model are faster just due to the density increasing load times over a less dense drive like mine at 640.

Leave the CPU and dont get an SSD. And get a 780 or the AMD equivelant.

Will the 780 have the same longevity the 285 seems to have had? It is based off the Titan so I figure it should live through the maxwell generation. Also is the 780 worth it simply for longevity sake? I mean the 770 would easily play all my current and near future games but I was considering the 780 so it might make it 3 and a half years before it struggles where I thought the 770 might only make it 2 or something.

Also, I've heard SSDs add a ton of perceived performance to the system simply by reducing load times. The main game I have issues with is bf3 seems to take ages and ages to load more so than any other game.

The 780 will definately last longer. They do increase loading speeds by like 5 seconds, but I personally dislike them. I'd rather spend more on a GPU and get a 1tb SSHD, than spending god knows how much on a SSD.

 

[Jonathan Sifleet]

That makes sense, I've also heard the terabyte plus drives especially if I get the WD Black model are faster just due to the density increasing load times over a less dense drive like mine at 640.

Leave the CPU and dont get an SSD. And get a 780 or the AMD equivelant.

Will the 780 have the same longevity the 285 seems to have had? It is based off the Titan so I figure it should live through the maxwell generation. Also is the 780 worth it simply for longevity sake? I mean the 770 would easily play all my current and near future games but I was considering the 780 so it might make it 3 and a half years before it struggles where I thought the 770 might only make it 2 or something.

Also, I've heard SSDs add a ton of perceived performance to the system simply by reducing load times. The main game I have issues with is bf3 seems to take ages and ages to load more so than any other game.

The 780 will definately last longer. They do increase loading speeds by like 5 seconds, but I personally dislike them. I'd rather spend more on a GPU and get a 1tb SSHD, than spending god knows how much on a SSD.

Ooh, now that I think about it, you may what to consider getting an SSHD instead of a SSD

 

[snobrdr2324]

Are the hybrid drives really that beneficial vs a standard 1tb drive?

 

[Jonathan Sifleet]

Are the hybrid drives really that beneficial vs a standard 1tb drive?

They are indeed, they're essentially the storage of a HDD and the performance of an SSD.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/296326-32-sshd

 

[g-unit1111]

Are the hybrid drives really that beneficial vs a standard 1tb drive?

No. Do not purchase a hybrid drive. They are made specifically for laptops. Get a real SSD instead. The OCZ Vector and Samsung 840 Pro are the best of the best right now. They will pretty much annihilate any SSHD you can think of.

 

[snobrdr2324]

Well after doing a but more reading I think I'm going to either by a used 600 series cards if anyone has any advice or more likely a new 760 and OC it and hold off for one more year. Maxwell is coming 2014 and its claimed to be double the performance per watt that's current gen stuff. It also will also be able to have a unified memory pool like the new consoles which is a cool feature.

So do you guys think the gtx 760 will play BF4 on ultra at 1920x1200? That's really the #1 game for me until next year as most my other games will be for ps4.

My other question is it seems logical to wait for DDR4 to be the standard to upgrade CPU but it doesn't appear that will be the case until skylake in 2015. How much longer before the 920 becomes a bottleneck on a gaming system even OCed? Is Haswell worth it now to ensure the next 2 or even 3 years before the transfer to DDR4 or will the 920 make it that long for just gaming/basic tasks?

 

[g-unit1111]

Well after doing a but more reading I think I'm going to either by a used 600 series cards if anyone has any advice or more likely a new 760 and OC it and hold off for one more year. Maxwell is coming 2014 and its claimed to be double the performance per watt that's current gen stuff. It also will also be able to have a unified memory pool like the new consoles which is a cool feature. Also DDR4 is coming to high end late this year it looks like so 2014 is the year of the big upgrades.

So do you guys think the gtx 760 will play BF4 on ultra at 1920x1200? That's really the #1 game for me until next year as most my other games will be for ps4

I heard Broadwell was supposed to come before Maxwell. But yeah a 760 should handle that resolution fine, it'd be better than buying the last generation used.

 

[g-unit1111]

Well after doing a but more reading I think I'm going to either by a used 600 series cards if anyone has any advice or more likely a new 760 and OC it and hold off for one more year. Maxwell is coming 2014 and its claimed to be double the performance per watt that's current gen stuff. It also will also be able to have a unified memory pool like the new consoles which is a cool feature. Also DDR4 is coming to high end late this year it looks like so 2014 is the year of the big upgrades.

So do you guys think the gtx 760 will play BF4 on ultra at 1920x1200? That's really the #1 game for me until next year as most my other games will be for ps4

I heard Broadwell was supposed to come before Maxwell. But yeah a 760 should handle that resolution fine, it'd be better than buying the last generation used.

 

[snobrdr2324]

Well after doing a but more reading I think I'm going to either by a used 600 series cards if anyone has any advice or more likely a new 760 and OC it and hold off for one more year. Maxwell is coming 2014 and its claimed to be double the performance per watt that's current gen stuff. It also will also be able to have a unified memory pool like the new consoles which is a cool feature. Also DDR4 is coming to high end late this year it looks like so 2014 is the year of the big upgrades.

So do you guys think the gtx 760 will play BF4 on ultra at 1920x1200? That's really the #1 game for me until next year as most my other games will be for ps4

I heard Broadwell was supposed to come before Maxwell. But yeah a 760 should handle that resolution fine, it'd be better than buying the last generation used.

Maxwell is nvidias new chip and broadwell is the revision of Haswell for intel. I just re wrote the last portion of my previously post reflecting the news that DDR4 won't be mainstream until skylake in 2015 and was curious if this means the 920 can last until the DDR4 switch or if I should just go with Haswell now?